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With an ailment incurred in World War I taking me away from the drawing board where I earned my living more and more into the outdoors, for health as well as satisfaction of that longing for the great open spaces, I formed the habit of strolling leisurely through the woods and dawdling along nature's byways.

In the course of these strolls, being novelty minded, I soon came to recognize and to gather odd bits of wooded growths to be fashioned into novelty lamps, walking sticks, bird houses, etc. Burls, those knots or excrescences (tree warts we call them) seen growing on trunks of many trees, with their artistically twisted grain make beautiful bases for wooden lamps; sections of hollow limbs or trunks of small trees make rustic wren houses; and for canes I found varied oddly shaped saplings, the most artistic being young sassafras growth which had been wound around and about and strangled by wild grape vine, leaving a spiral groove around the stick, deepened by the young sassafras's attempt to grow around and outwit the strangling vine. Young foot-high black haw trees or shrubs when mounted on a burl base and silvered or gilded make excellent table center pieces. Silvered and hung with bright silver coins they are especially nice for silver anniversary gifts.

A few years ago I gathered fifteen-, and twenty-foot strips of wild grape vine, scaled and white enameled them and used them as outlines of billowy clouds in the celestial background of the Christmas decorations at the church in Indianapolis, Indiana, my home, where I serve as permanent chairman of the decorating committee. The wavy and irregular lines of the vine gave it the effect desired.

It follows, inevitably, that on these strolls I would gather nuts, and in ever increasing quantity. My wife's love for fancy baking demanded a lot of these, in addition to the "store" nuts. Nuts became a staple article in the household, and a byword in the home, though sometimes in a jocular way. A friend remarked recently that I must have been born under pistachio, the nut.

THE FANCIER my wife's baking became the more insistent she became on more careful extraction of the kernels. And when she demanded unbroken halves or slices for cake top decoration and for fancy cookies she unknowingly started my new hobby. Unbroken halves or slices were too much to expect of our Hoosier hickory and black walnuts, so for this order I started splitting the Brazil nuts, among others, with a band or coping saw. The best way, although slower, to perform this operation is to hold the nut in a small vise and saw it in two, flat and lengthwise, with a coping saw. Anyway, the discarded half shells of these Brazil nuts reminded me of dried leaves. The leaf like structure and genuine wood coloring suggested their use to achieve a bas relief effect on picture frames and on the bases of wooden lamps I was fashioning. It worked out well. And if these half shells could be used in this manner why not other nuts, half, whole or otherwise?

I then conceived the idea of creating a plaque bouquet made entirely of nuts on a suitable wooden background, beginning with the coconut for a vase or bowl. I made several of these and offered them for sale at our church's annual fall festival or bazaar at which affair Mrs. Hartman and I operated a booth where we sold novelty articles that I had made myself, such novelties as the aforementioned lamps, canes, bird houses, etc., also baskets made of turtle shells; trays and dishes made of old phonograph records; pretzel "ponies" and lawn and back yard ornaments. The nut plaques easily overshadowed all the other novelties so I decided to center my hobby activity on them.

This hobby and health now go hand in hand, as Mrs. Hartman and I take advantage of every opportunity to get out into the open country. With a well packed lunch basket we hit the highways and byways and when lunch time comes we try to "spread" at a roadside table near an inviting woods where there is a chance of some nutting.

I soon got to gathering green, prematurely fallen nuts as well as the usable ones, also auxiliary pieces, such as twigs, buds and the like, as I found they could be used in many ways to soften and enhance the arrangement. Anything pertaining to nuts that could in any way be used to make a more artistic design was picked up. Half grown black walnuts, found in plentiful number during the summer under any black walnut tree offer a beautiful petal pattern for different flowers when sawed in two. (See No. 9 on the photograph) Some acorns, when picked green, shrivel to an interesting corrugation when they dry. Others split open in drying and are used to represent opening buds (No.3). Young, inch-long coconuts, discarded by nature while still in flower base, dry to a wood hardness and can be used to represent an opening bud or seed pod. In any way they add beauty to any design of this kind (No. 6). The blossom petals from these dried young coconuts can also be used to fashion a wild rose. Some pine cones when sliced while they are still green offer artistic uses for foliage (No. 11).

ALL MANNER of existing or imaginary flowers can be fashioned from various combinations of nuts or parts of nuts or cones or auxiliary parts such as buds or twigs.

Combinations shown in the photograph other than those already mentioned, include: No. 1—A kind of daisy with almonds with a buckeye for center (more petals can be had for this flower by placing the almonds with the pointed end toward the center, which would perhaps be a better representation of the intended flower anyway); No. 2—Large hickory nuts for tulips; No. 4—Black locust beans for petals with a pin oak acorn for center; No. 5—The butt end slice of a pine cone for a rose; No. 8—Hickory nuts for petals with a pig nut (with hull) for center; No. 9—Split, prematurely fallen black walnuts for the petals with a pig nut (without hull) for center, to represent a kind of clematis; No. 10—A slice of a California big cone which could represent a giant cosmos or a hibiscus. Petals from this giant cone can also be used to fashion other flowers; No. 12—The butt end of another kind of cone for a zinnia or a mum; No. 14—Filberts for petals with a sycamore seed center; No. 15—The reverse side of the same cone shown in No. 12, for a dahlia; No. 16—White oak acorns for petals with an Australian pine cone for center.

Halved butternut, pecan or English walnut shells can also be used for foliage, or just used in the composition wherever something is needed to round out the bouquet.

An attractive composition is more to be desired than botanical correctness, so if any nut flower is not a true or approximate representation of the blossom named it can be passed on as a variant, or left to represent whatever the observer's imagination may choose. Peanuts, pistachio or white oak acorns arranged on a twig make good stand-ins for pussy willow. Twigs or sprays of this kind should be fastened flat to the background so as not to break or otherwise become damaged when the plaque is brushed or otherwise cleaned.

On some of the plaques I have used as many as twenty-eight or thirty different kinds of nuts or cones. On commercial designs especially, those which I make for nut shops, etc., I try to put on as many different kinds of nuts as possible. On others and smaller ones, fewer nuts look better.

WORK ON these plaques usually begins with a rough pencil sketch of a design in mind but all too often I wander away from the original design if I think this or that flower or other item looks better elsewhere in the composition. As mentioned before, an attractive composition should be the designer's principal aim, so sometimes I just build the bouquet as my eye or discretion dictates. For an over-all design I usually fashion the various flowers singly and in appreciable numbers and in many ways and styles. I have these in separate bins and when I assemble the bouquet I pick what flower I want.

These flowers are made by gluing the nuts, usually half shells, for petals onto a cardboard, allowing space for proper fit of whatever nut is chosen for the center. The cardboard is then trimmed away from around the petals, a hole is drilled through the lower end of the nut chosen for the center, through which a wire is drawn and then run through the center of the flower and drawn tight to answer as the stem for the time being.

When the flower is attached to the plaque a small hole is drilled for it through the plaque and through that hole the wire stem is then drawn and pulled tight with pliers attached to other such wires in the back of the plaque. These flowers when first made are dipped in a varnish of lacquer to harden and help set the component parts. The next step is the wiring of a quartered coconut shell, or coconut husk (the outer shell), to the plaque for the vase or bowl. The outer husk or the shell serve equally well for the vase or bowl.

Then just above the bowl, as if the bowl was heaped with them, I fasten some of the more common nuts or cones to the plaque for body or filling. As the fashioned flowers are then attached over and around this filling, these common nuts and cones become more or less hidden. It is for this reason I use the more common nuts. This body or filling is needed to round out the bouquet and to give it depth. It is best to keep the bouquet as compact as possible, so the twigs and stems and any parts intended for foliage are placed mostly flat against the background. I usually place the twigs and sprays with the lower ends of them stuck in tight behind the nuts and flowers already fastened to the plaque and the upper ends wired to the plaque. This wire is looped over the end of the twig or spray and drawn tight through a single hole drilled through the background and fastened, to other such wires in back of plaque. Wherever stems show in the design I use natural ones. The wires serve this purpose on the other pieces.

Except for glue or other adhesive agent used in fashioning the flowers, only fine wire is used to fasten the various parts to the plaque. A common paper plate is used to cover up the wire ends on the back of the plaque on the circular designs, and cardboard cut to size is used for the others. The finished article is given a final over-all coating of varnish, lacquer or liquid plastic to waterproof the plaque and to set the component parts more firmly.

The plaque bases, or backboards, are varied as I make some of them myself and pick up others wherever I can find them. I have found some attractive old wooden plates, trays and picture frames at used goods stores and the Goodwill Industries, sometimes for a song. The best, and the most popular pieces for my purpose, are the twelve-inch wooden plates made by a Cleveland company. Often I fit pieces of discarded plywood into old picture frames for background. These wooden frames should be without color and should harmonize with the design intended for them. Small oval pairs I cut out of pieces of plywood and use without frame. Trying for different designs is one thing that helps to make this hobby fascinating. I have no set pattern and, in many cases, I let my eye and imagination dictate.

THE PRICES of these plaques vary, depending on style, size, etc. The first few I made I sold for whatever I could get for them, but as I made more of them I called on department store buyers to establish a value. Most buyers were reluctant to commit themselves, realizing that a lot of time is involved in making them, but one picture store manager did give me his idea of their worth, on which I base my prices. The time element doesn't bother me too much, as I have plenty of it and this whole thing is a hobby in every sense of the word. It is no mass production enterprise, nor do I have big profit in mind, but a reasonable income is desired, of course. A twelve-inch plate sells for $15 and up, depending on quality. Some larger ones, especially those for commercial houses or nut shops, bring $25 or $30 or more. Smaller ones, usually in oval pairs, sell for the price of one large plate. A local store has handled the plaques on consignment, the store taking one-third of the sale price. I also sell them from my home, but hope to have other arrangements before too long. I exhibited the plaques at the Indiana State Fair this fall and won a blue ribbon.