Screen (furniture)

“ At night it is often agreeable to have a bedroom door left open. Yet one does not want to sleep in an actual draught, and a screen such as is shown in Fig. 6 will be found most useful.
This screen is in one piece, six feet six inches high and eighteen inches wide. The frame is made from pine, white-wood, or any other wood to match the trim of the room. Two cross-rails are fixed so as to remain equal distances apart, thus forming three panels to the screen. ”

“ There is no aperture so shaped that it cannot be framed in screens by the ablest screen makers. In the case of the metal screen the bent work is really a work of art, in that they are not puckered or pinched, but are sans humps, sans bumps, sans everything but beauty, rigidity and conformity to conditions. ”

“ If your house happens to have the hall and living-room combined, and no vestibule, you can place a large screen near the entrance door and obtain a little more privacy. A standing screen of wooden panels is better than a folding screen, for the folding screen is rarely well-built, and will be blown down by the draft of the open door. A standing screen may be made by any carpenter, and painted or stained to match the woodwork of the room. ”

“ When all are dry and the screen covered, the whole can be varnished; a shilling's worth of varnish will more than do it. Photographic views look very well on a screen, better, I think, than the cards. A screen is very useful to hide an unsightly door, or to stand in a draught. ”

“ One of the most important qualities any such screen should possess, is that of due subordination to the great architectural features of the locality in which it is placed. Where ornament is spread all over the surface of a screen, or where the main lines wander about in capricious directions, the eye is arrested by the metal work as a plane surface ”

“ The runs [352] are made of narrow strips of wood, fastened to the under side of two end pieces, for the screen frames to slide in. Corresponding strips are placed in a suitable position on the floor, to keep the screens steady in sliding. The frames holding the run pieces are longer than the chimney back is wide, and the upper one is placed as high as the brickwork, the shelf, or mantel, over the fireplace being an extension of the upper part, or frame. The screens are in pairs, as shown in Fig. 3, each one extending to the center of the fireplace. ”

“ Every screen manufacturer has his own scheme for fastening the screen cloth firmly in both metal and wood frames. The idea is that the cloth must not sag in the frames, on the largest openings in doors or windows, porches, etc., that when either whacked by the children or inadvertently struck by adults, the cloth will remain taut and rigid and stay in place in the frame. The tubular metal frame in this connection seems the most logical metal frame. It is lighter and as strong as the other types of metal frames. ”

“ Of course, you want air and as much as you can get of it; therefore the narrower the frame the more perfect the screen.
The metals used in frames are pretty much up to the quality of your screens’ maker. They are to be had of bronze and various concoctions of bronze dependent on the patents of your purveyor; of grass finish, copper finish; steel enameled; steel painted; steel grained to look like the wood trim; steel galvanized and steel regalvanized; monel metal.
To be honest, there are two better classifications of screens: those that are rustless and those that are not. ”

“ An eye on the door and a hook on the screen will serve as a fairly secure fastening against intrusion. Any pretty material that matches the paper of the room may be used to cover this screen, and the edges should be bound with gimp and large-headed tacks to give it a good appearance.
A Heavy Fire-screen
For a dining-room, living-room, or library, an attractive design for a heavy fire-screen is shown in Fig. 7. This is constructed of oak, ash, or other hard-wood. It is thirty-six inches wide, forty-two inches high, and the rails and feet are one and one-eighth inches thick. ”

“ Contrary to usual opinion screens can be most attractive and fit in with the surrounding wood trim, and be a department of house furnishing not to be belittled. And don’t fail to realize that a lot of trouble can be saved and unsightliness be avoided, if the screen is thought of before building your home—and if the roller type is installed, you have no storage care, or removal and recurring slavery. ”

“ They can therefore see for themselves that you never move from the chair for a single instant, even if it were possible to do so. Handkerchiefs around the ankles will be better seen than cords or ropes. The screen must stand well out in the room, so that there may be no suspicion of a confederate ‘lending you a hand’ from any door. On a small table, concealed by the screen, but quite out of your reach, even if your hands were free, are placed a bell, a tambourine, an umbrella, and a slate or sheet of blank paper. ”

“ It is, however, often necessary to work during the day, and in this case a screen of muslin or cambric is stretched across the window to insure privacy. This screen is almost a necessity to the merchants in smaller cities, where all work is done in daytime, and may be utilized to good advantage in attracting the curiosity of passers-by. ”

“ The sliding screens are usually used on the double hung window and slide on a slide. The best slides are of metal backed by wood. A double hung window can be screened by a single screen or a double one, dependent on the wish of the purchaser. ”

“ HINTS FOR PRIVATE THEATRICALS.—III.
My dear Rouge Pot,—I promised to say something about scenery screens.
If the house happens to boast a modern pseudo-Japanese screen of a large size (say six feet high) , it will make a very pretty background for a drawing-room scene, and admit of entrances as I suggested. But screens with light grounds are also very valuable as reflectors, carrying the light into the back of the stage. There is generally a want of light on the amateur stage, and all means to remedy this defect and brighten up matters are worth considering. ”

“ The table is placed in such a position that the operator sits with his back to a window and has the black calico screen in front of him and to his right. The object of the screen is to protect the workman against draughts. ”

“ Shades are essential, and so should be also window-screens from the appearance of the first fly in the spring until the last one has vanished in the fall.
An open fireplace in a dining-room is unsurpassed for cheer and comfort there, as it is everywhere. A screen should always be in readiness to temper the glow and glare while the family are at meals. ”

“ Decorative china and plants, however, are luxuries, though less or more within the reach of all. A screen, though usually looked upon as a luxury, is in the dining room almost a necessity, and it can be bought or manufactured at home for a nominal sum. Many a guest has been well nigh martyred at table with a fire in the rear and sunlight to the fore, whose meals might have been made a delight by a careful adjustment of shades and blinds and the judicious intervention of a screen between chair and grate. ”

“ If it is desired to secure a screen that will cut off the heat but not the light of the fire, the craftsman will work with larger areas of clear glass. On the other hand, it may be felt desirable to make a nearly opaque screen to cut off both light and heat. ”

“ I always made it a rule to have a screen placed before my sideboard as soon as dessert was put upon the table; for in the times to which I allude it was the fashion to clear the cloth, and place the decanters, finger-glasses, d’oyleys, and wines (glasses) on the well-polished mahogany. By having my screen, I could arrange my relays of glasses and decanters, my tooth-picks, my snuff-box, and many other matters too numerous to mention, besides being always at my post to keep up the festivity of the evening, and preserve our family character for hospitality. ”

“ Show the screen and set it on an easel in front of cabinet. Slightly dampen the muslin and place a lamp back of it on a chair, lower lights a trifle; your assistant or medium in cabinet takes the atomizer, and from behind sprays all over the back of screen with the solution of prussiate of potash, which [159] slowly brings colors out. The effect is weird, and, although perhaps not artistic, it is a novelty and is apparently done by unseen agency. If a light is placed at back of screen, the audience can see that no one approaches the screen. A little music covers the sound of the atomizer. ”

“ So large is the field from which he may select his models, that it is perhaps more to the purpose to touch upon the styles of fire-screens to be avoided: such as the colossal brass or ormolu fan, the stained-glass screen, the embroidered or painted banner suspended on a gilt rod, or the stuffed bird spread out in a broiled attitude against a plush background. ”

“ Having made the body part of the screen, make the scrolls that form the top, and bind them in place with wire or the little metal clamps. This top should measure about three inches high from the top of the screen.
For the sides and bottom make a frill of any form, somewhat after the pattern shown in the illustration.
When the metal-work is finished, coat it with a good black paint to improve its appearance and prevent its rusting. Small cans of such paint may be purchased at any paint or hardware store. If it should become too thick, it may be thinned by adding alcohol. ”

“ A drawing-room scene is made very pretty by hanging up pairs of the summer white muslin curtains, looped with gay ribbons, as if there were windows in the sides of the stage. [104]
If a fireplace is wanted and will do at the side, a mantelpiece is easily represented, and a banner screen will help to conceal the absence of a grate. A showy specimen of that dreadful thing, a paper grate-ornament, flowing well down into the fender, may sometimes hide deficiencies. ”

“ Half a century later still, it is used in the Restoration play of The Duke of Guise to indicate, not this normal back curtain, but a screen placed across the recess itself, or the inner stage which had developed out of it, behind ‘the scene’. [80] Webster’s use seems to be an individual one. Properly a ‘traverse’ means, I think, not a curtain suspended from the roof, but a screen shutting off from view a compartment within a larger room, but leaving it open above. ”

“ It simply requires a room which can be made perfectly dark. At the window (if there are more than one) commanding the broadest prospect have a perfectly tight, opaque screen fitted, with a small hole cut in the lower part for the insertion of the lens. Over this fasten a small mirror to receive the image, at such an angle as will throw the reflection down upon a stand placed two or three feet from the window, and thus make it possible for the spectator 153to view the scene in its normal condition. ”

“ The first thing I noted when we sat down was the absence of any small articles—books or papers or lamps—and I remarked on this, somewhat rudely perhaps, to Edvar.
"Whatever you wish is accessible," he explained with a smile. He rose and went to the draped wall. Drawing back the folds of the curtains in several places, he showed the metal wall covered with dials and apparatus. I noted especially a small screen, like a motion picture screen. ”

“ Remember too, the great help a screen is in every bedroom which is big enough to have one without over-crowding, that one can easily have too many pictures and ornaments which encourage dust and enrage the housemaid, and that even the soiled linen basket should be chosen carefully. ”

“ The front of the house is, as a rule, open to the street, but if the owners wish for privacy they slide a paper screen into position. At night wooden shutters, called amado, cover the screens. Each shutter is held in place by the next, and the last shutter is fastened by a wooden bolt. ”

“ The only real objection to a muslin screen is the loss of light which it entails. It is not only a poor reflector of light, but it allows much of the light to pass through it. With many such screens, the picture is as well visible behind the screen as it is in front of it. ”

“ There are also beautiful old Indian or Japan lacquered screens, light, and with very little pattern on them; even imitation Fig. 5. ones of Indian pattern paper are admissible to narrow purses, but anything real is always much more satisfactory. If again your bower is a modern Frenchified concern, then screen off its angles by écrans of gay tapestry or embroidered folding leaves, or paper-covered screens of delicate tints with sprays of trailing blossom, and here and there a bright-winged bird or butterfly. ”

“ Where one has a window opening on to an air shaft or a court that gives no view but infringes one's privacy a delightful screen which will not deprive one of too much light and air, but effectually screen the window is made from a box the length of the window-sill, fitted with double casters to allow it to be moved from place to place. ”

“ This law does good service in autotypic work.
As we have seen, the rays of light must pass through the screen during exposure. This screen consists of equally thick opaque black and transparent white lines. Where the light acts with full intensity it will be more diffracted over the black lines. It makes the lines of the screen broader on the negative, and will, therefore, have more covered places, which in the after printing of the prints cannot be penetrated by the light, and thus represent the light places in the print covered with fine dots. ”