PEEP SHOWS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 92, 9 July 1927, Page 27

PEEP SHOWS

Nothing is more fun to do on a rainy day than to make a peep-show, and if you have some paste or can make some, it won’t be necessary to go out of your own house for any of the materials.

You will need a pasteboard box, a shoe box will do, but a slightly larger one is better, scissors, paste, some tis-sue-paper, and magazines and catalogues from which you can cut out pictures.

In the centre of one end of the box cut a hole large enough to peep through. It is not necessary, but it adds to the appearance to bind the edges with coloured paper, gold or passepartout tape. If you want to be very elegant, cover your box with flowered wall-paper. Suppose you make your first peepshow to represent a living room. From the coloured advertisements in the magazine, cut out pictures of furniture to put in—chairs, tables, davenports, rugs, bookcases. Arrange them inside the box as in a room. To make them stand up, put a paper prop behind them with one end pasted to the picture, the other to the floor. The sides of the box are the walls of the room. JVhere you want windows to come paste white tissue paper for curtains. Before pasting anything it is safer to look through the peep-hole to be sure it is in a position to be seen. From magazines or papers you can find some figures in action to enjoy the room you have furnished. They may need pasting on heavier paper to make them stand upright. When everything is in place, paste a piece of coloured tissue over the ton. Red paper makes a pretty light. Keep the box cover on when you are not using your peep-show to protect it from tearing and dust. When you are tired of making rooms you may like to cut out farm animals and waggons and make a barn-yard. If you can find wild animals and trees, you can even make a jungle. For out-of-door scenes, I should use light blue tissue paper to cover the top, which will represent the sky.