All simple or compound colors, and all the shades of color which nature or art can produce, and which might be thought proper for the different kinds of painting, would form a very extensive catalogue, were we to take into consideration only certain external characters, or the intensity of their tint. But art, founded on the experience of several centuries, has prescribed bounds to the consumption of coloring substances, and to the application of them to particular purposes. To cause a substance to be admitted into the class of coloring bodies employed by it is not sufficient for it to contain a color; to brightness and splendor it must also unite durability in the tint or color which it communicates.

To make Black Paint.

Usage requires attention in the choice of the matters destined for black. The following are their properties:

Black from peach-stones is dull.

Ivory-black is warm. strong and beautiful when it has been well attenuated under the muller.

Black from the charcoal of beech-wood, ground on porphyry, has a bluish tone.

Lampblack may be rendered mellower by making it with black which has been kept an hour in a state of redness in a close crucible. It then loses the fat matter which accompanies this kind of soot.

Black furnished by the charcoal of vine-twigs, ground on porphyry, is weaker, and of a dirty gray color when coarse and alone, but it becomes blacker the more the charcoal has been divided. It then forms a black very much sought after, and which goes a great way.

To make Paints from Lampblack.

The consumption of lampblack is very extensive in common painting, It serves to modify the brightness of the tones of the other colors, or to facilitate the composition of secondary colors. The oil paint applied to iron grates and railing, and the paint applied to paper snuff-boxes, to those made of tin-plate, and to other articles with dark grounds, consume a very large quantity of this black. Great solidity may be given to works of this kind by covering them with several coatings of the fat turpentine, or golden varnish, which has been mixed with lampblack, washed in water, to separate the foreign bodies introduced into it by the negligence of the workmen who prepare it.

After the varnish is applied the articles are dried in a stove by exposing them to a heat somewhat greater than that employed for articles of paper. Naples yellow, which enters into the composition of black varnish, is the basis of the dark brown observed on tobacco-boxes of plate-iron, because this color changes to brown when dried with the varnish.

To make a Superior Lampblack.

Suspend over a lamp a funnel of tin plate having above it a pipe to convey from the apartment the smoke which escapes from the lamp. Large mushrooms, of a very black, carbonaceous matter, and exceedingly light, will be formed at the summit of the cone. This carbonaceous part is carried to such a state of division as cannot be given to any other matter, by grinding it on a piece of porphyry.

This black goes a great way in every kind of painting. It may be rendered drier by calcination in close vessels.

The funnel ought to be united to the pipe, which conveys off the smoke, by means of wire, because solder would be melted by the flame of the lamp.

To make Black from Ground Pitcoal.

The best for this purpose is that which has a shining fracture. It affords, perhaps, the most useful brown the artist can place on his palet, being remarkably clear, not so warm as Vandyke brown, and serving as a shadow for blues, reds, or yellows, when glazed over them. It seems almost certain that Titian made large use of this material. Coal, when burnt to a white heat, then quenched in water, and ground down, gives an excellent blue black. This belongs to artists' colors.

To make Black from Wine-lees.

This black results from the calcination of wine-lees and tartar, and is manufactured on a large scale in some districts of Germany, in the environs of Mentz, and even in France. This operation is performed in large cylindric vessels, or in pots, having an aperture in the cover to afford a passage to the smoke, and to the acid and alkaline vapors which escape during the process. When no more smoke is observed, the operation is finished. The remaining matter, which is merely a mixture of salts and a carbonaceous part very much attenuated, is then washed several times in boiling water, and it is reduced to the proper degree of fineness by grinding it on porphyry.

If this black be extracted from dry lees, it is coarser than that obtained from tartar, because the lees contain earthy matters which are confounded with the carbonaceous part.

This black goes a great way, and has a velvety appearance. It is used chiefly by copper-plate printers.

Another. - Peach-stones, burnt in a close vessel,, produce a charcoal, which, when ground on porphyry, is employeed in painting to give an old gray.

Another. - Vine twigs reduced to charcoal give a bluish black, which goes a great way. When mixed with white it produces a silver white which is not produced by other blacks; it has a pretty near resemblance to the black of peach stones, but to bring this color to the utmost degree of perfection, it must be carefully ground on porphyry.

To make Ivory and Boneblack.

Put into a crucible surrounded by burning coals, fragments or turnings of ivory, or of the osseous parts of animals, and cover it closely. The ivory or bones, by exposure to the heat, will be reduced to charcoal. When no more smoke is seen to pass through the joining of the cover, leave the crucible over the fire for half an hour or longer, or until it has completely cooled. There will then be found in it a hard carbonaceous matter, which, when pounded and ground on porphyry with water, is washed on a filter with warm water and then dried. Before it is used it must be again subjected to the matter.

Black furnished by bones is reddish. That produced by ivory is more beautiful. It is brighter than black obtained from peach-stones. When mixed in a proper dose with white oxide of lead, it forms a beautiful pearl gray. Ivory-black is richer. The Cologne and Cassel-black are formed from ivory.

Fine Black Color.

Take some camphor and set it on fire; from the flame will arise a very dense smoke, which may be collected on a common saucer by holding it over the flame. This black, mixed with gum arabic, is far superior to most India-ink.

Miniature painters, who use colors in small quantities, sometimes obtain a most beautiful and perfect black by using the buttons which form on the snuff of a candle when allowed to burn undisturbed. These are made to fall into a small thimble, or any other convenient vessel which can be immediately covered with the thumb, to exclude the air. This is found to be perfectly free from grease, and to possess every desirable quality.

To Paint in White Distemper.

Grind fine in water Bougival white, a kind of marl or chalky clay, and mix it with size. It may be brightened by a small quantity of indigo, or charcoal-black.

The White destined for varnish or oil requires a metallic oxide, which gives more body to the color. Take ceruse, reduced to powder, and grind it with oil of pinks and 1/4 oz. of sulphate of zinc for each pound of oil. Apply the second coating without the sulphate of zinc, and suffer it to dry. Cover the whole with a stratum of sandarach varnish. This color is curable, brilliant and agreeable to the eye.

Boiled linseed oil might be employed instead of oil of pinks, but the color of it would in some degree injure the purity of the white.

Another. - White is prepared also with pure white oxide of lead, ground with a little essence, added to oil of pinks and mixed with gallipot varnish. The color may be mixed also with essence diluted with oil, and without varnish, which is reserved for the two last coatings. If for a lively white, the color is heightened with a little Prussian blue or indigo, or with a little prepared black. The latter gives it a gray cast. But pure white lead, the price of which is much higher than ceruse, is reserved for valuable articles. In this particular case, if a very fine durable white be required, grind it with a little essence, and mix it with sandarach or varnish.

To Paint in Light Gray and Distemper.

Ceruse, mixed with a small quantity of lamp-black, composes a gray, more or less charged, according to the quantity of black. With this matter, therefore, mixed with black in different doses, a great variety of shades may be formed, from the lightest to the darkest gray

If this color be destined for distemper, it is mixed with water; if intended for oil painting, it is ground with nut-oil, or oil of pinks, and with essence added to oil, if designed for varnish. This color is durable and very pure, if mixed with camphorated mastic varnish; the gallipot varnish renders it so solid that it can bear to be struck with a hammer, if, after the first stratum it has been applied with varnish, and without size. For the last coating sandarach varnish, and camphorated varnish are proper; and for the darkest gray, spirituous sandarac varnish.
 

Ceruse, or white lead, still predominates in this color, which is treated as the other grays, but with this difference, that it admits a mixture of lake instead of black. Take the quantity, therefore, of cernse necessary, and grind it separately. Then mix it up, and add the lake and Prussian blue, also ground separately. The quantities of the last two colors ought to be proportioned to the tone of color required.

This color is proper for distemper, varnish, and oil painting. For varnish, grind it with mastic gallipot varnish, to which a little oil of pinks has been added, and then mix it up with common gallipot varnish. For oil painting, grind with unprepared oil of pinks, and mix up with resinous drying nut-oil. The painting is brilliant and solid.

When the artist piques himself upon carefully preparing those colors which have splendor, it will be proper, before he commences his labor, to stop up the holes formed by the heads of the nails in wainscoting with putty.

Every kind of sizing which, according to usual custom, precedes the application of varnish, ought to be prescribed as highly prejudicial, when the wainscoting consists of firwood. Sizing maybe admitted for plaster, but without any mixture. A plain stratum of strong glue and water spread over it, is sufficient to fill up the pores to prevent any unnecessary consumption of the varnish.

The first stratum of color is ceruse without any mixture, ground with essence added to a little oil of pinks, and mixed up with essence. If any of the traces are uneven, rub it lightly, when dry, with pumice-stone. This operation contributes greatly to the beauty and elegance of the polish when the varnish is applied.

The second stratum is composed of ceruse changed to flaxen gray by the mixture of a little Cologne earth, as much English red or lake, and a particle of Prussian blue. First, so make the mixture with a small quantity of ceruse, that the result shall be a smoky gray, by the addition of the Cologne earth. The red, which is added, makes it incline to fleshcolor, and the Prussian blue destroys the latter to form a dark flaxen gray. The addition of ceruse brightens the tone. This stratum and the next are ground, and mixed up with varnish as before.

This mixture of colors, which produces flaxen gray, has the advantage over pearl gray, as it defends the ceruse from the impression of the air and light, which makes it assume a yellowish tint. Flaxen gray, composed in this manner, is unalterable. Besides, the essence which forms the vehicle of the first stratum contributes to bring forth a color, the tone of which decreases a little by the effect of drying. This observation ought to serve as a guide to the artist, in regard to the tint, which is always stronger in a liquid mixture than when the matter composing it is extended in a thin stratum, or when it is dry.
 

The basis of this color is still formed of ceruse. Three-fourths of this oxide, and a fourth of ochre de rue, umber earth, and yellow de Berri; the last three ingredients being employed in proportions which lead to the required tint, give a spatter equally proper for distemper, varnish, and oil.
 

A given quantity of ceruse, half that quantity of ochre de rue, a little umber earth, red ochre, and yellow ochre de Berri; compose this color proper for distemper, varnish, and oil.

For varnish, grind with a little drying nut-oil, and mix up with the gallipot varnish.

For oil painting, grind with fat oil of pinks added to drying oil or essence, and mix up with plain drying oil, or with resinous drying oil.
 

The composition of these is simple, yellow ochre mixed with ceruse, ground with water, if destined for distemper; or drying nut-oil and essence, in equal parts, if intended for varnish; and mixed up with camphorated mastic varnish; if for delicate objects, or with gallipot varnish, give a very fine color the splendor of which depends on the doses of the ceruse, which must be varied according to the particular nature of the coloring matter employed. If the ground of the color is furnished by ochre, and if oil painting be intended, the grinding with oil added to essence may be omitted, as essence alone will be sufficient. Oil, however, gives more pliability and more body.
 

This is employed only in distemper. It may, however, be used with varnish. A vegetable color serves as its base. It is made with Dutch pink and ceruse, and ground with mastic gallipot varnish, and mixed up with gallipot varnish.
 

Cases often occur when it is necessary to produce a gold color without employing a metallic substance. A color capable of forming an illusion is then given to the composition, the greater part of which consists of yellow. This is accomplished by Naples or Montpellier yellow, brightened by Spanish white, or by white of Morat, mixed with ochre de Berri and realgar. The last substance, even in small quantity, gives to the mixture a color imitating gold, and which may be employed in distemper, varnish, or oil. When destined for oil, it is ground with drying or pure nut-oil, added to essence or mixed with drying oil
 

Yellow is the foundation of chamois color, which is modified by a particle of minium, or what is better, cinnabar and ceruse in small quantity. This color may be employed in distemper, varnish, and oil. For varnish, it is ground with 1/2 common oil of pinks, and 1/2 of mastic gallipot varnish. It is mixed with common gallipot varnish. For oil painting, it is ground and mixed up with drying oil.
 

Olive color is a composition the shades of which may be diversified. Black and a little blue, mixed with yellow, will produce an olive color. Yellow de Berri, or d'Auvergne, with a little verdigris and charcoal, will also form this color.

It is ground and mixed up with mastic gallipot, and common gallipot varnishes. For oil painting, it is ground with oil added to essence, and mixed up with drying oil.
 

To make Olive Color for Distemper.

When intended for distemper, it will be necessary to make a change in the composition. The yellow above-mentioned, indigo, and ceruse, or Spanish white, are the new ingredients which must be employed.
 

Blue belongs to the order of vegetable substances, like indigo, or to that of metallic substances, like Prussian blue; or to that of stony mineral substances, as ultramarine; or to that of vitreous substances colored by a metallic oxide, as Saxon blue. Ultramarine is more particularly reserved for pictures. The same may, in some degree, be said of Saxon blue.

When prussiate of iron or indigo is employed without mixture, the color produced is too dark. It has no splendor, and very often the light makes it appear black; it is. therefore, usual to soften it with white.

To make Blue Distemper.

Grind with water as much ceruse as may be thought necessary for the whole of the intended work; and afterwards mix it with indigo, or Prussian blue.

This color produces very little effect in distemper, it is not very favorable to the play of the light; but it soon acquires brilliancy and splendor beneath the vitreous lamina of the varnish. Painting in distemper, when carefully varnished, produces a fine effect.

To make Prussian Blue Paint.

The ceruse is ground with oil if for varnish, made with essence, or merely with essence, which is equally proper for oil painting; and a quantity of either of these blues sufficient to produce the required tone is added.

For varnish, the ceruse is generally ground with oil of pinks added to a little essence, and is mixed up with camphorated mastic varnish, if the color is destined for delicate objects; or with gallipot varnish if for wainscoting. This color, when ground and mixed up with drying oil, produces a fine effect, if covered by a solid varnish made with alcohol or essence.

If this oil color be destined for expensive articles, such as valuable furniture subject to friction, it may be glazed with the turpentine copal varnish.

Ultramarine.

A vitreous matter colored by oxide of cobalt gives a tone of color different from that of the prussiate of iron and indigo. It is employed for sky-blues. The case is the same with blue verditer, a preparation made from oxide of copper and lime. Both these blues stand well in distemper, in varnish, and in oil.

Saxon blue requires to be ground with drying oil, and to be mixed with gallipot varnish. If intended for oil painting, it is to be mixed up with resinous drying oil, which gives body to this vitreous matter.

Blue Verditer

May be ground with pure alcoholic varnish added to a little essence; and may be mixed up with compound mastic varnish if the color is to be applied to delicate articles. Or mastic gallipot varnish, added to a little drying oil, may be used for grinding, and common gallipot varnish for mixing up, if the painting is intended for ceilings, wainscoting, etc. This color is soft and dull, and requires a varnish to heighten the tone of it, and give it play. Turpentine copal varnish is proper for this purpose, if the article has need of a durable varnish.
 

Every green color, simple or compound, when mixed up with a white ground, becomes soft, and gives a sea-green of greater or less strength, and more or less delicate, in the ratio of the respective quantities of the principal colors. Thus, green oxides of copper, such as chrome green, verdigris, dry crystallized acetate of copper, green composed with blue verditer, and the Dutch pink of Troyes, or any other yellow, will form, with a base of a white color, a seagreen, the intensity of which may be easily changed or modified. The white ground for painting in distemper is generally composed of Bougival white (white marl), or white of Troyes (chalk), or Spanish white (pure clay); but for varnish or oil painting, it is sought for in a metallic oxide. In this case, ceruse or pure white oxide of lead is employed.

To make Sea-Green for Distemper.

Grind separately with water, mountain-green and ceruse; and mix up with parchment size and water, adding ceruse in sufficient quantity to produce the degree of intensity required in the color. Watin recommends the use of Dutch pink of Troyes and white oxide of lead, in proportions pointed out by experience; because the color thence resulting is more durable.

In the case of a triple composition, begin to make the green by mixing Dutch pink with blue verditer, and then lower the color to sea-green, by the addition of ceruse ground with water.

To make Sea-Green for Varnish and Oils

Varnish requires that this color should possess more body than it has in distemper, and this it acquires from the oil which is mixed with it. This addition gives it even more splendor. Besides, a green of a metallic nature is substituted for the green of the Dutch pink, which is of a vegetable nature.

A certain quantity of verdigris, pounded and sifted through a silk sieve, is ground separately with nut-oil, half drying and half fat; and if the color is intended for metallic surfaces, it must be diluted with camphorated mastic, or gallipot varnish.

On the other hand, the ceruse is ground with essence, or with oils to which 1/2 of essence has been added, and the two colors are mixed in proportions relative to the degree of intensity intended to be given to the mixture. It may readily be conceived that the principal part of this composition consists of ceruse.

If this color be destined for articles of a certain value, crystallized verdigris, dried and pulverized, ought to be substituted for common verdigris, and the painting must be covered with a stratum of the transparent or turpentine copal varnish.

The sea-greens, which admit into their composition metallic coloring parts, are durable and do not change.

The last compositions may be employed for sea-green in oil painting, but it will be proper to brighten the tone a little more than when varnish is used, because this color becomes darker by the addition of yellow, which the oil developes in the course of time.
 

A mixture of lake with vermilion gives that beautiful bright red which painters employ for sanguine parts. This red is sometimes imitated for varnishing small appendages of the toilette. It ought to be ground with varnish and mixed up with the same, after which it is glazed and polished. The mastic gallipot varnish is used for grinding; gallipot varnish for mixing up, and camphorated mastic varnish for glazing.
 

Carminated lake - that which is composed of alum charged with the coloring part of cochineal, ceruse, and carmine - forms a beautiful crimson. It requires a particle of vermilion and of white lead.

The use of this varnish is confined to valuable articles.
 

Violet is made indifferently with red and black, or red and blue; and to render it more splendid, with red, white, and blue. To compose violet therefore, applicable to varnish, take minium, or what is still better, vermilion, and grind it with the camphorated mastic varnish to which a fourth part of boiled oil and a little ceruse have been added, then add a little Prussian blue ground in oil. The proportions requisite for the degree of intensity to be given to the color will soon be found by experience. The white brightens the tint. The vermilion and Prussian blue, separated or mixed, give hard tones, which must be softened by an intermediate substance that modifies, to their advantage, the reflections of the light.
 

This color is composed of red, yellow and black. The English red, or red ochre of Auvergne, ochre de rue and a little black, form a dark chestnut color. It is proper for painting of every kind. If English red, which is dryer than that of Auvergne, be employed, it will be proper, when the color is intended for varnish, to grind it with drying nutoil. The ochre of Auvergne only be ground with the mastic gallipot, and mixed up with gallipot varnish.

The most experienced artists grind dark colors with linseed oil, when the situation will admit of its being used, because it is more drying. For articles without doors nut-oil is preferable. The colors of oak-wood, walnut-tree, chestnut, olive, and yellow, require the addition of a little litharge ground on porphyry: it hastens the desiccation of the color, and gives it body.

But if it is intended to cover these colors with varnish, as is generally done in wainscoting, they must be mixed up with essence, to which a little oil has been added. The color is then much better dispersed to receive the varnish, under which it exhibits all the splendor it can derive from the reflection of the light.
 

Vitreous oxide of lead (litharge), is of no other use in painting than to free oils from their greasy particles, for the purpose of communicating to them a drying quality. Red litharge, however, ought to be preferred to the greenish yellow; it is not so hard, and answers better for the purpose to which it is destined.

When painters wish to obtain a common color of the ochrey kind, and have no boiled oil by them, they may paint with linseed oil, not freed from its greasy particles, by mixing with the color about 2 or 3 parts of litharge, ground on a piece of porphyry with water, dried, and reduced to fine powder, for 16 parts of oil. The color has a great deal of body, and dries as speedily as if mixed with drying oil.
 

Boil together for 2 hours on a slow and equal fire, 1/2 oz. of litharge, as much calcined ceruse, and the same of terre d'ombre and talc, with 1 lb. of linseed oil, carefully stirring the whole time. It must be carefully skimmed and clarified. The older it grows the better it is. A quarter of a pint of this dryer is required to every pound of color.
 

It is performed with water-colors on fresh plaster, or a wall laid with mortar not dry. This sort of painting has a great advantage by its incorporating with the mortar, and drying along with it becomes very durable.

The ancients painted on stucco, and we may remark in Vitruvius what infinite care they took in making the plastering of their buildings, to render them beautiful and lasting, though the modern painters find a plaster of lime and sand preferable to it.
 

The Genevese employ a kind of stone, known under the name of molasse, for constructing fire-places and stoves, after the German manner. This stone is brought from Saura, a village of Savoy, near Geneva. It has a grayish color, inclining to blue, which is very agreeable to the eye. This tint is similar to that communicated to common whitewashing with lime, chalk, or gypsum, the dullness of which is corrected by a particle of blue extract of indigo, or by charcoal black.
 

Dip a brush in water from a common lye, or in soapy water, or in water charged with a 20th part of the carbonate of potash (pearlash), and draw it over the tiles. This washing thoroughly cleanses them, and disposes all the parts of the pavement to receive the distemper.

When dry, dissolve in 8 pts. of water 1/2 lb. of Flanders glue; and while the mixture is boiling, add 2 lbs. of red ochre; mix the whole with great care. Then apply a stratum of this mixture to the pavement, and when dry apply a second stratum with drying linseed oil, and a third with the same red mixed up with size. When the whole is dry, rub it with wax. Brown beeswax can be whitened by boiling it in alum water.
 

Badigeon is employed for giving an uniform tint to houses rendered brown by time, and to churches. Badigeon, in general, has a yellow tint. That which succeeds best is composed of the saw-dust or powder of the same kind of stone and slacked lime, mixed up in a bucket of water holding in solution 1 lb. of the sulphate of alumina (alum). It is applied with a brush.

At Paris, and in other parts of France, where the large edifices are constructed of a soft kind of stone, which is yellow, and sometimes white when it comes from the quarry, but which in time becomes brown, a little ochre de rue is substituted for the powder of the stone itself, and restores to the edifice its original tint.
 

To make it Black.

First, the canvas, linen, or cloth is to be washed with hot or cold water, the former preferable, so as to discharge the stiffening which all new canvas, linen, or cloth contains; when the stiffening is perfectly discharged, hang the canvas, linen, or cloth up to dry; when perfectly so, it must be constantly rubbed by the hand until it becomes supple; it must then be stretched in a hollow frame very tight, and the following ingredients are to be laid on with a brush for the first coat, viz.; 8 qts. of boiled linseed oil, 1/2 oz. of burnt umber, 1/4 oz. of sugar of lead, 1/4 oz. of white vitriol, 1/4 oz. of white lead.

The above ingredients, except the white lead, must be ground fine with a small quantity of the above-mentioned oil, on a stone and muller; then mix all the ingredients up with the oil, and add 3 oz. of lampblack, which must be put over a slow fire in an iron broad vessel, and kept stirred until the grease disappears. In consequence of the canvas being washed and then rubbed, it will appear rough and nappy; the following method must be taken with the second coat, viz. the same ingredients as before, except the white lead; this coat will set in a few hours, according to the weather; when set take a dry paint-brush and work it very hard with the grain of the oanvas; this will cause the nap to lie smooth.

The third and last coat makes a complete jet-black, which continues its color: Take 3 galls. of boiled linseed oil, an ounce of burnt umber, 1/2 oz. of sugar of lead, 1/4 oz. of white vitriol, 1 oz. of Prussian blue, and 1/4 oz. of verdigris; this must be all ground very fine in a small quantity of the above oil; then add 4 oz. of lampblack, put through the same process of fire as the first coat. The above are to be laid on and used at discretion, in a similar way to paint. To make lead color, the same ingredients as before in making the black, with the addition of white lead in proportion to the color you wish to have, light or dark.

To make it Green.

Yellow ochre, 4 oz.; Prussian blue, 3/4 oz.; white lead, 3 oz.; white vitriol, 1/2 oz.; sugar of lead 1/4 oz.; good boiled linseed oil sufficient to make it of a thin quality, so as to go through the canvas.

To make it Yellow.

Yellow ochre, 4 oz.; burnt umber, 1/4 oz.; white lead, 6 or 7 oz.; white vitriol, 1/4 oz.; sugar of lead, 1/4 oz.; boiled linseed oil, as in green.

To make it Red.

Red lead, 4 oz.; vermilion 2 oz.; white vitriol 1/4 oz.; sugar of lead 1/4 oz.; boiled linseed oil as before.

To make it Gray.

Take white lead, a little Prussian blue, according to the quality you want, which will turn it to a gray color; a proportion of sugar of lead and white vitriol, as mentioned in the other colors, boiled linseed oil sufficient to make it of a thin quality.

To make it White.

White lead, 4 lbs.; spirits of turpentine, 1/4 pt.; white vitriol, 1/2 oz.; sugar of lead, 1/2 oz.; boiled oil sufficient to make it of a thin quality.

The above ingredients, of different colors, are calculated as near as possible; but, as one article may be stronger than another, which will soon be discovered in using, in that case the person working the color may add a little, or diminish, as he may find necessary.

The same preparation for wood or iron, only reducing the oil about 3 qt. out of 8, and to be applied in the same manner as paint or varnish, with a brush.
 

On Coloring Materials.

The composition of colors as respects those leading tests of excellence, preservation of general tints, and permanency of brilliant hues, during their exposure for many centuries to the impairing assaults of the atmosphere, is a preparation in which the ancient preparers of these oily compounds, have very much excelled, in their skilfulness, the moderns. It is a fact, that the ancient painted walls, to be seen at Dendaras, although exposed for many ages to the open air, without any covering or protection, still possess a perfect brilliancy of color, as vivid as when painted, perhaps 2000 years ago. The Egyptians mixed their colors with some gummy substance, and applied them detached from each other without any blending or mixture. They appeared to have used six colors, viz., white, black, blue, red, yellow, and green; they first covered the canvas entirely with white, upon which they traced the design in black, leaving out the lights of the ground color. They used minium for red, and generally of a dark tinge. Pliny mentions some painted ceilings in his day in the town of Ardea, which had been executed at a date prior to the foundation of Rome. He expresses great surprise and admiration at their freshness, after the lapse of so many centuries. These are, undoubtedly, evidences of the excellence of the ancients in their art of preparing colors. In the number of them there is, probably, not much difference between the ancient and modern knowledge. The ancients seem to have been possessed of some colors of which we are ignorant, while they were unacquainted, themselves, with some of those more recently discovered. The improvements of chemistry have, certainly, in later times, enriched painting with a profusion of tints, to which, in point of brilliancy at least, no combination of primitive colors known to the ancients could pretend; but the rapid fading in the colors of some of the most esteemed masters of the Modern School, proves at least there is something defective in their bases or mode of preparing them. This fault is peculiarly evident in many of the productions from our esteemed master, Sir Joshua Reynolds, which, although they have not issued from his pallet more than 40 years, carry an impoverishment of surface, from the premature fading of their colors, so as almost to lose, in many instances, the identity of the subjects they represent. On this head (and a most important one it is), the superiority of the ancient compounders completely carries away the palm of merit.
 

Separate from the stone the most apparent parts of the ultramarine, reduce them to the size of a pea, and, having brought them to a red heat in a crucible, throw them in that state into the strongest distilled vinegar. Then grind them with the vinegar, and reduce them to an impalpable powder; next take of wax, red colophonium, and lapis lazuli, an equal quantity, say 1/2 oz. of each of these three substances; melt the wax and the colophonium in a proper vessel, and add the powder to the melted matter, then pour the mass into cold water, and let it rest eight days. Next take two glass vessels filled with water, as hot as the hand can bear, knead the mass in the water, and when the purest part of the ultramarine has been extracted remove the resinous mass into the other vessels, where finish the kneading to separate the remainder; if the latter portion appears to be much inferior, and paler than the former, let it rest for 4 days, to facilitate the precipitation of the ultramarine, which will extract by decantation, and wash it in fair water.

Ultramarine of four qualities may be separated by this process. The first separation gives the finest, and as the operation is repeated, the beauty of the powder decreases.

Kinckel considers immersion in vinegar as the essential part of the operation. It facilitates the division, and even the solution of the zeolitic and earthy particles soluble in that acid.

Another Method.

Separate the blue parts, and reduce them, on a piece of porphyry, to an impalpable powder, which besprinkle with linseed oil, then make a paste with equal parts of yellow wax, pine resin, and colophonium, say, 8 oz. of each; and add to this paste 1/2 oz. of linseed oil, 2 oz. of oil of turpentine, and as much more mastic.

Then take 4 parts of this mixture, and 1 of lapis lazuli, ground with oil on a piece of porphyry, mix the whole warm, and suffer it to digest for a month, at the end of which knead the mixture thoroughly in warm water, till the blue part separates from it, and at the end of some days decant the liquor. This ultramarine is exceedingly beautiful.

These two processes are nearly similar, if we except the preliminary preparation of Kinckel, which consists in bringing the lapis lazuli to a red heat and immersing it in vinegar. It may be readily seen, by the judicious observations of Morgraff on the nature of this coloring part, that this calcination may be hurtful to certain kinds of azure stone. This preliminary operation, however, is a test which ascertains the purity of the ultramarine.

To Extract the Remainder of Ultramarine.

As this matter is valuable, some portions of ultramarine may be extracted from the paste which has been kneaded in water; nothing is necessary but to mix it with four times its weight of linseed oil, to pour the matter into a glass of conical form, and to expose the vessel in the balneum maria of an alembic. The water of which must be kept in a state of ebullition for several hours. The liquidity of the mixture allows the ultramarine to separate itself, and the supernatant oil is decanted. The same immersion of the coloring matter in oil is repeated, to separate the resinous parts which still adhere to it; and the operation is finished by boiling it in water to separate the oil. The deposit is ultramarine; but it is inferior to that separated by the first washing.

To Ascertain whether Ultramarine be Adulterated.

As the price of ultramarine, which is already very high, may become more so on account of the difficulty of obtaining lapis lazuli, it is of great importance that painters should be able to detect adulteration. Ultramarine is pure if, when brought to a red heat in a crucible, it stands that trial without changing its color; as small quantities only are subjected to this test, a comparison may be made, at very little expense, with the part which has not been exposed to the fire. If adulterated, it becomes blackish or paler.

This proof, however, may not always be conclusive. When ultramarine of the lowest quality is mixed with azure, it exhibits no more body than sand ground on porphyry would do; ultramarine treated with oil assumes a brown tint.

Another Method.

Ultramarine is extracted from lapis lazuli, or azure stone, a kind of heavy zeolite, which is so hard as to strike fire with steel, to cut glass, and to be susceptible of a fine polish. It is of a bright blue color, variegated with white or yellow veins, enriched with small metallic glands, and even veins of a gold color, which are only sulphurets of iron (martial pyrites); it breaks irregularly. The specimens most esteemed are those charged with the greatest quantity of blue.

Several artists have exercised their ingenuity on processes capable of extracting ultramarine in its greatest purity; some, however, are contented with separating the uncolored portions of the stone, reducing the colored part to an impalpable powder, and then grinding it for a long time with oil of poppies. But it is certain that, in consequence of this ineffectual method, the beauty of the color is injured by parts which are foreign to it; and that it does not produce the whole effect which ought to be expected from pure ultramarine.

It may be readily conceived that the eminent qualities of ultramarine must have induced those first acquainted with the processes proper for increasing the merit and value of it, to keep them a profound secret. This was indeed the case; ultramarine was prepared long before any account of the method of extracting and purifying it was known.

Artificial Ultramarine.

Sulphur, 2 parts; dry carbonate of soda, 1 part. Put them into a Hessian crucible, cover it up, and apply heat until the mass fuses, then sprinkle into it gradually a mixture of silicate of soda and aluminate of soda (the first containing 72 parts of silica, the second, 70 parts of alumina); lastly, calcine for 1 hour, and wash in pure water.
 

Having reduced the ore to powder, calcine it in a reverberatory furnace, stirring it frequently. The chimney of the furnace should have a strong draught, in order that the calcination may be perfect, and the arsenical and sulphurous acid vapors may be carried off. The calcination is to be continued until these vapors cease to be disengaged, which is easily ascertained by collecting in a ladle a little of the gas in the furnace; the presence or absence of the garlic odor determines the fact. When calcined, boil the result slightly in an excess of weak nitric acid, in a glass matrass, decant the supernatant liquor, and evaporate the solution thus obtained, nearly to dryness, in a capsule of platina or porcelain. This residuum is to be thrown into boiling water and filtered, and a solution of the subphosphate of soda to be poured into the clear liquor, which precipitates an insoluble phosphate of cobalt. After washing it well on a filter, collect it while yet in a gelatinous form, and mix it intimately, with eight times its weight of alumina, in the same state - if properly done the paste will have a uniform tint, through its whole mass. This mixture is now to be spread on smooth plates and put into a stove; when dry and brittle, pound it in a mortar, enclosed in a covered earthen crucible, and heat it to a cherry-red for half an hour. On opening the crucible, if the operation has been carefully conducted, the beautiful and desired product will be found. Care should be taken that the alumina in the gelatinous form be precipitated from the alum by a sufficient excess of ammonia, and that it is completely purified by washing with water filtered through charcoal.
 

Saxon blue may be successfully imitated by mixing with a divided earth prussiate of iron at the moment of its formation and precipitation.

Into a solution of 144 grs. of sulphate of iron pour a solution of yellow prussiate of potash.

At the time of the formation of iron add, in the same vessel, a solution of 2 oz. of alum, and pour in with it the solution of potash, just sufficient to decompose the sulphate of alumina, for a dose of alkali superabundant to the decomposition of that salt might alter the prussiate of iron. It will, therefore, be much better to leave a little alum, which may afterwards be carried off by washing

As soon as the alkaline liquor is added, the alumina precipitated becomes exactly mixed with the prussiate of iron, the intensity of which it lessens by bringing it to the tone of common Saxon blue. The matter is then thrown on a filter, and, after being washed in clean water, is dried. This substance is a kind of blue verditer, the intensity of which may vary according to the greater or less quantity of the sulphate of alumina decomposed. It may be used for painting in distemper.
 

Dissolve the copper, cold, in nitric acid (aquafortis), and produce a precipitation of it by means of quicklime, employed in such doses that it will be absorbed by the acid, in order that the precipitate may be pure oxide of copper, that is, without any mixture. When the liquor has been decanted, wash the precipitate and spread it out on a piece of linen cloth to drain. If a portion of this precipitate, which is green, be placed on a grinding-stone, and if a little quicklime, in powder, be added, the green color will be immediately changed into a beautiful blue. The proportion of the lime added is from 7 to 10 parts in 100. When the whole matter acquires the consistence of paste, desiccation soon takes place.

Blue verditer is proper for distemper, and for varnish, but it is not for oil painting, as the oil renders it very dark. If used it ought to be brightened with a great deal of white.
 

To a solution of bichromate of potassa add a solution of nitrate of lead as long as a precipitate falls. Wash and dry it.
 

Is a compound of cadmium and sulphur. It is obtained by precipitation from a salt of cadmium by a current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, or by an alkaline sulphide.
 

Is a chromate of baryta, made by mixing hot saturated solutions of bichromate of potassa and nitrate of baryta. Wash and dry the precipitates. It is considered superior to chrome yellow.
 

Twelve oz. of ceruse, 2 oz. of the sulphuret of antimony, 1/2 oz. of calcined alum, 1 oz. of sal ammoniac. Pulverize these ingredients, and having mixed them thoroughly, put them into a capsule or crucible of earth, and place over it a covering of the same substance. Expose it at first to a gentle heat, which must be gradually increased till the capsule is moderately red. The oxidation arising from this process requires, at least, 5 hours' exposure to heat before it is completed. The result of this calcination is Naples yellow, which is ground in water on a porphyry slab with an ivory spatula, as iron alters the color. The paste is then dried and preserved for use. It is a yellow oxide of lead and antimony.

There is no necessity of adhering so strictly to the doses as to prevent their being varied. If a golden color be required in the yellow, the proportions of the sulphuret of antimony and muriate of ammonia must be increased. In like manner, if you wish it to be more fusible, increase the quantities of sulphuret of antimony and calcined sulphate of alumina.
 

Take 4 lbs. of litharge, well sifted, divide it into 4 equal portions, and put it into as many glazed earthen vessels. Dissolve also 1 lb. of sea-salt in about 4 lbs. of water. Pour a fourth part of this solution into each of the 4 earthen vessels, to form a light paste; let the whole rest for some hours, and when the surface begins to grow white stir the mass with a strong wooden spatula. Without this motion it would acquire too great hardness, and a part of the suit would escape decomposition. As the consistence increases dilute the matter with a new quantity of the solution, and if this is not sufficient recourse must be had to simple water to maintain the same consistence. The paste will then be very white, and in the course of 24 hours becomes uniform and free from lumps; let it remain for the same space of time, but stir it at intervals to complete the decomposition of the salt. The paste is then well washed, to carry off the caustic soda (soda deprived of carbonic acid) which adheres to it: the mass is put into strong linen cloth and subjected to a press. The remaining paste is distributed in flat vessels, and these vessels are exposed to heat, in order to effect a proper oxidation (calcination), which converts it into a solid, yellow, brilliant matter, sometimes crystallized in transverse striae.

This is Montpellier yellow, which may be applied to the same purposes as Naples yellow.
 

This kind of fecula, so fertile in gradation of tone by the effect of mixtures, and so grateful to the eye in all its shades, so useful to the painter, and so agreeable to the delicate beauty, is only the coloring part of a kind of dried insect known under the name of cochineal.

A mixture of 36 grs. of chosen seed, 18 grs. of autour bark, and as much alum thrown into a decoction of 5 grs. of pulverized cochineal, and 5 lbs. of water, gives, at the end of from 5 to 10 days, a red fecula, which, when dried, weighs from 40 to 48 grs. This fecula is carmine. The remaining decoction, which is still highly colored, is reserved for the preparation of carminated lakes.
 

Heat 6 buckets of rain-water, and when it commences to boil throw in 2 lbs. of finely-powdered cochineal; continue boiling 2 hours, and then add 3 oz. of pure water, and immediately afterwards 4 oz. of binoxalate of potash. Boil again 1 minute, then remove the vessel from the fire, and let the decoction stand 4 hours. Draw off the supernatant liquid with a syphon into numerous basins, and put them aside upon a shelf for about 3 weeks, at the end of which time a mouldy pellicle will be formed, which is to be carefully removed with a whalebone, or by means of a small sponge attached to the end of a stick. The water is then run off through a syphon, which must reach to the bottom of the pans, the carmine being so compact that it adheres. This carmine is dried in the shade, and is of an intensely brilliant hue.
 

Boil the stems of woad in alum-water, and then mix the liquor with clay, marl or chalk, which will become charged with the color of the decoction. When the earthy matter has acquired consistence, form it into small cakes and expose them to dry. It is under this form that the Dutch pinks are sold in the color shops.
 

The small blackthorn produces a fruit which when collected green, is called yellow berries. These seeds, when boiled in alum-water, form a Dutch pink superior to the former. A certain quantity of clay or marl, is mixed with the decoction, by which means the coloring part of the berries unites with the earthy matter and communicates to it a beautiful yellow color.
 

Boil for an hour in 12 lbs. of water 1 lb. of yellow berries, 1/2 lb. of the shavings of the wood of the Barberry shrub and 1 lb. of wood-ashes. The decoction is strained through a piece of linen cloth. Pour into this mixture, warm, and at different times, a solution of 2 lbs. of the sulphate of alumina in 5 lbs. of water; a slight effervescence will take place, and the sulphate being decomposed, the alumina which is precipitated will seize on the coloring part. The liquor must then be filtered through a piece of close linen, and the paste which remains on the cloth, when divided into square pieces, is exposed on boards to dry. This is brown Dutch pink, because the clay in it is pure. The intensity of the color shows the quality of the pink, which is superior to that of the other compositions.
 

By substituting for clay a substance which prevents a mixture of that earth and metallic oxide, the result will be Dutch pink of a very superior kind.

Boil separately 1 lb. of yellow-berries and 3 oz. of the sulphate of alumina in 12 lbs. of water, which must be reduced to 4 lbs. Strain the decoction through a piece of linen, and squeeze it strongly. Then mix up with it 2 lbs. of ceruse, finely ground on porphyry, and 1 lb. of pulverized Spanish white. Evaporate the mixture till the mass acquires the consistence of a paste; and, having formed it into small cakes, dry them in the shade.

When these cakes are dry, reduce them to powder, and mix them with a new decoction of yellow-berries. By repeating this process a third time a brown Dutch pink will be obtained.

In general the decoctions must be warm when mixed with the earth. They ought not to be long kept, as their color is speedily altered by the fermentation. Care must be taken also to use a wooden spatula for stirring the mixture.

When only one decoction of wood or yellow berries is employed to color a given quantity of earth, the Dutch pink resulting from it is of a bright-yellow color, and is easily mixed for use. When the coloring part of several decoctions is absorbed the composition becomes brown, and is mixed with more difficulty, especially if the paste be argillaceous; for it is the property of this earth to unite with oily and resinous parts, adhere strongly to them, and incorporate with them. In the latter case the artist must not be satisfied with mixing the color; it ought to be ground, an operation equally proper for every kind of Dutch pink, and even the softest, when destined for oil painting.
 

Boil 4 oz. of the raspings of Brazil-wood in 15 pts. of pure water till the liquor is reduced to 2 pts. It will be of a dark-red color, inclining to violet, but the addition of 4 or 5 oz. of alum will give it a hue inclining to rosecolor. When the liquor has been strained through a piece of linen cloth, if 4 oz. of the carbonate of soda be added with caution, on account of the effervescence which takes place, the color, which by this addition is deprived of its mordant, will resume its former tint, and deposit a lake, which, when washed and properly dried, has an exceedingly rich and mellow violet red color.

Another. - If only one-half of the dose of mineral alkali be employed for this precipitation, the tint of the lake becomes clearer, because the bath still retains the undecomposed aluminous mordant.

Another. - If the method employed for Dutch pinks be followed by mixing the aluminous decoction of Brazil-wood with pure clay, such as Spanish white and white of Morat, and if the mixture be deposited on a filter to receive the necessary washing, a lake of a very bright dark rose-color will be obtained from the driers.

Lakes from other Coloring Substances.

By the same process a very beautiful lake may be extracted from a decoction of logwood. In general, lakes of all colors, and of all the shades of these colors, may be extracted from the substances which give up their coloring part to boiling water, because it is afterwards communicated by decomposition to the alumina precipitated from sulphate of alumina, by means of an alkali, or the tincture may be mixed with a pure and exceedingly white argillaceous substance, such as real Spanish white, or white of Morat.
 

Carmine united to talc, in different proportions, forms rouge employed for the toilette. Talc is distinguished also by the name of Briancon chalk. It is a substance composed in a great measure of clay, combined naturally with silex.

Carmine, as well as carminated lakes, the coloring part of which is borrowed from cochineal, is the most esteemed of all the compositions of this kind, because their coloring part maintains itself without degradation. There are even cases where the addition of caustic ammonia, which alters so many coloring matters, is employed to heighten its color. It is for this purpose that those who color prints employ it.
 

Are made with extract of safflower (carthamus), obtained by digesting it, after washing with cold water, in a solution of carbonate of soda, and precipitating by citric acid. It dyes silk and wool without a mordant. The extract is evaporated upon saucers as a dye-stuff, and, mixed with powdered talc, forms a variety of rouge.
 

Boil 1 part of madder in from 12 to 15 pints of water, and continue the ebullition till it be reduced to about 2 lbs. Then strain the decoction through a piece of strong linen cloth, which must be well squeezed; and add to the decoction 4 oz. of alum. The tint will be a beautiful brightred, which the matter will retain if it be mixed with proper clay. In this case, expose the thick liquor which is thus produced on a linen filter, and subject it to one washing, to remove the alum. The lake, when taken from the driers, will retain this bright primitive color given by the alum.

Another Method.

If, in the process for making this lake, decomposition be employed, by mixing with the bath an alkaline liquor, the alum, which is decomposed, deprives the bath of its mordant, and the lake, obtained after the subsequent washings, appears of the color of the madder bath, without any addition: it is of a reddish brown. In this operation 7 or 8 oz. of alum ought to be employed for each pound of madder.

This kind of lake is exceedingly fine, but a brighter red color may be given to it, by mixing the washed precipitate with alum-water, before drying.

Improvement on the above.

If the aluminated madder bath be sharpened with acetate of lead, or with arseniate of potash, the operator still obtains, by the addition of carbonate of soda, a rosecolored lake of greater or less strength
 

Dragon's blood, infused warm in varnish, gives reds, more or less dark, according to the quantity of the coloring resin which combines with the varnish. The artist, therefore, has it in his power to vary the tones at pleasure.

Though cochineal, in a state of division, gives to essence very little color in comparison with that which it communicates to water, carmine may be introduced into the composition of varnish colored by dragon's blood. The result will be a purple red, from which various shades may be easily formed.
 

A mixture of carminated varnish and dragon's blood, added to that colored by prussiate of iron, produces violet.
 

Boil stick-lac in water, filter the decoction, and evaporate the clear liquor to dryness over a gentle fire. The occasion of this easy separation is, that the beautiful red color here separated adheres only slightly to the outsides of the sticks broken off the trees along with the gum-lac, and readily communicates itself to boiling water. Some of this sticking matter also adhering to the gum itself, it is proper to boil the whole together; for the gum does not at all prejudice the color, nor dissolve in boiling water; so that after this operation the gum is as fit for making sealing-wax as before, and for all other uses which do not require its color.
 

Take any quantity of cochineal, on which pour twice its weight of alcohol, and as much distilled water. Infuse for some days near a gentle fire, and then filter. To the filtered liquor add a few drops of the solution of tin, and a fine red precipitate will be formed. Continue to add a little solution of tin every 2 hours, till the whole of the coloring matter is precipitated. Lastly, edulcorate the precipitate by washing it in a large quantity of distilled water and then dry it.
 

The sediment of cochineal that remains in the bottom of the kettle in which carmine is made, may be boiled with about 4 qts. of water, and the red liquor left after the preparation of the carmine mixed with it, and the whole precipitated with the solution of tin. The red precipitate must be frequently washed over with water. Exclusively of this, 2 oz. of fresh cochineal, and 1 of crystals of tartar, are to be boiled with a sufficient quantity of water, poured off clear, and precipitated with the solution of tin, and the precipitate washed. At the same time 2 lbs. of alum are also to be dissolved in water, precipitated with a lixivium of potash, and the white earth repeatedly washed with boiling water. Finally, both precipitates are to be mixed together in their liquid state, put upon a filter and dried. For the preparation of a cheaper sort, instead of cochineal, 1 lb. of Brazil wood may be employed in the preceding manner.
 

Inclose 2 oz. troy of the finest Dutch madder in a bag of fine and strong calico, large enough to hold three or four times as much. Put it into a large marble or porcelain mortar, and pour on it a pint of clear soft water cold. Press the bag in every direction, and pound and rub it about with a pestle, as much as can be done without tearing it, and when the water is loaded with color pour it off. Repeat this process till the water comes off but slightly tinged, for which about 5 pts. will be sufficient. Heat all the liquor in an earthen or silver vessel till it is near boiling, and then pour it into a large basin, into which 1 oz. of alum, dissolved in 1 pt. of boiling soft water, has been previously put: stir the mixture together, and while stirring pour in gently about 1 1/2 oz. of a saturated solution of subcarbonate of potash; let it stand till cold to settle; pour off the clear yellow liquor; add to the precipitate a quart of boiling soft water, stirring it well; and when cold separate by filtration the lake, which should weigh an oz. Fresh madder-root is superior to the dry.

To give Various Tones to Lake.

A beautiful tone of violet, red, and even of purplered, may be communicated to the coloring part of cochineal by adding to the colored bath a solution of chloride of tin.

Another. - The addition of arseniate of potash (neutral arsenical salt), gives shades which would be sought for in vain with sulphate of alumina (alum).

To make a Carminated Lake by Extracting the Coloring Part from Scarlet Cloth.

To prepare a carminated lake without employing cochineal in a direct manner, by extracting the coloring matter from any substance impregnated with it, such as the shearings of scarlet cloth.

Put into a kettle 1 lb. of fine wood-ashes with 40 lbs. of water, and subject the water to ebullition for 1/4 of an hour; then filter the solution through a piece of linen cloth till the liquor passes through clear.

Place it on the fire; and having brought it to a state of ebullition, add 2 lbs. of the shearings or shreds of scarlet cloth, dyed with cochineal, which must be boiled till they become white, then filter the liquor again, and press the shreds to squeeze out all the coloring part.

Put the filtered liquor into a clean kettle, and place it over the fire. When it boils pour in a solution of 10 or 12 oz. of alum in 2 lbs. of filtered spring-water. Stir the whole with a wooden spatula till the froth that is formed is dissipated, and having mixed with it 2 lbs. of a strong decoction of Brazil-wood, pour it upon a filter. Afterwards wash the sediment with spring-water, and remove the cloth filter charged with it to plaster dryers or to a bed of dry bricks. The result of this operation will be a beautiful lake, but it has not the soft velvety appearance of that obtained by the first method. Besides, the coloring part of the Brazil-wood which unites to that of the cochineal in the shreds of scarlet cloth, lessens in a relative proportion the unalterability of the coloring part of the cochineal. For this reason purified potash ought to be substituted for the wood-ashes.
 

Dissolve 1 lb. of the best pearlash in 2 qts. of water, and filter the liquor through paper; next add 2 more qts. of water and 1 lb. of clean scarlet shreds, boil them in a pewter boiler till the shreds have lost their scarlet color; take out the shreds and press them, and put the colored water yielded by them to the other. In the same solution boil another lb. of the shreds, proceeding in the same manner; and likewise a third and fourth pound. Whilst this is doing, dissolve 1 1/2 lbs. of cuttle-fish bone in 1 lb. of strong aquafortis in a glass receiver, add more of the bone if it appears to produce any ebullition in the aquafortis, and pour this strained solution gradually into the other; but if any ebullition be occasioned, more of the cuttle-fish bone must be dissolved as before, and added till no ebullition appears in the mixture. The crimson sediment deposited by this liquor is the lake: pour off the water, and stir the lake in 2 galls. of hard spring-water, and mix the sediment in 2 galls. of fresh water; let this method be repeated 4 or 5 times. If no hard water can be procured, or the lake appears too purple, 1/2 an oz. of alum should be added to each quantity of water before it is used. Having thus sufficiently freed the latter from the salts, drain off the water through a filter, covered with a worn linen cloth. When it has been drained to a proper dryness, let it be dropped through a proper funnel on clean boards, and the drops will become small cones or pyramids, in which form the lake must be dried and the preparation is completed.

Another Method.

Boil 2 oz. of cochineal in 1 pt. of water, filter the solution through paper, and add 2 oz. of pearlash dissolved in 1/2 pint of warm water and filtered through paper. Make a solution of cuttlebone, as in the former process, and to 1 pt. of it add 2 oz. of alum dissolved in 1/2 pt. of water. Put this mixture gradually to the cochineal and pearlash as long as any ebullition arises, and proceed as above.

A beautiful lake may be prepared from Brazil wood, by boiling 3 lbs. of it for an hour in a solution of 3 lbs. of common salt in 3 galls. of water and filtering the hot fluid through paper; add to this a solution of 5 lbs. of alum in 3 galls. of water. Dissolve 3 lbs. of the best pearlash in 1 1/2 galls. of water, and purify it by filtering; put this gradually to the other till the whole of the color appears to be precipitated and the fluid is left clear and colorless. But if any appearance of purple be seen, add a fresh quantity of the solution of alum by degrees, till a scarlet hue is produced. Then pursue the directions given in the first process with regard to the sediment. If 1/2 lb. of seed-lac be added to the solution of pearlash, and dissolved in it before its purification by the filter and 2 lbs. of the wood and a proportional quantity of common salt and water be used in the colored solution, a lake will be produced that will stand well in oil or water; but it is not so transparent in oil as without the seed-lac. The lake with Brazil wood may be also made by adding 3 oz. of anatto to each pound of the wood, but the anatto must be dissolved in the solution of pearlash.

After the operation, the dryers of plaster, or the bricks which have extracted the moisture from the precipitate, are exposed to the sun, that they may be fitted for another operation.
 

Dissolve sulphate of iron (copperas, green vitriol) in water; boil the solution. Add nitric acid until red fumes cease to come off, and enough sulphuric acid to render the liquor clear. This is the persulphate of iron. To this add a solution of ferrocyanide of potassium (yellow prussiate of potash), as long as any precipitate is produced. Wash this precipitate thoroughly with water acidulated with sulphuric acid, and dry in a warm place.

Soluble Prussian Blue.

Add ferrocyanide of potassium to a solution freshly made of green vitriol in water. The white precipitate which falls, becomes blue on exposure to the air, and is soluble in water.
 

Melt saltpetre in a crucible heated to dull redness, and throw in gradually chrome yellow until no more red fumes arise. Allow the mixture to settle, pour off the liquid portion, and wash rapidly the sediment. The liquid portion contains chromate of potash, and may be used to make chrome yellow.

To make Blue.

A diluted solution of sulphate of indigo.

To make Pink.

Cochineal boiled with bitartrate of potash and sulphate alumina, or a decoction of Brazil-wood with sulphate alumina; the color may be varied by the addition of carbonate potash.
 

A decoction of Brazil-wood and logwood affords, with carbonate of potash, a permanent purple.
 

Boil 4 oz. of the best anatto and 1 lb. of pearlash, 1/2 an hour, in 1 gall. of water, and strain the solution through paper. Mix gradually with this 1 1/2 lbs. of alum, in another gallon of water, desisting when no ebullition attends the commixture. Treat the sediment in the manner already directed for other kinds of lake, and dry it in square bits or lozenges.
 

Take 1 lb. of turmeric-root, in fine powder, 3 pt. of water, and 1 oz. of salt of tartar; put all into a glazed earthen vessel, and boil them together over a clear gentle fire, till the water appears highly impregnated and stains a paper to a beautiful yellow. Filter this liquor, and gradually add to it a strong solution of alum, in water, till the yellow matter is all curdled and precipitated. After this, pour the whole into a filter of paper and the water will run off, and leave the yellow matter behind. Wash it with fresh water till the water comes off insipid, and then is obtained the beautiful yellow called lacque of turmeric.

In this manner make a lake of any of the substances that are of a strong texture, as madder, logwood, etc., but it will not succeed in the more tender species, as the flowers of roses, violets, etc., as it destroys the nice arrangement of parts in those subjects on which the color depends.

To make another Yellow Lake.

Make a lye of potash and lime sufficiently strong; in this boil, gently, fresh broom-flowers till they are white, then take out the flowers, and put the lye to boil in earthen vessels over the fire; add as much alum as the liquor will dissolve, then empty this lye into a vessel of clean water, and it will give a yellow color at the bottom. Settle, and decant off the clear liquor. Wash this powder which is found at the bottom, with more water till all the salts of the lye are washed off; then separate the yellow matter, and dry it in the shade.
 

Gum guttae and terra merita give very beautiful yellows, and readily communicate their color to copal varnish made with turpentine. Aloes give a varied and orange tint.

Chloride of lead tinges vitreous matters of a yellow color. Hence the beautiful glazing given to Queen's ware. It is composed of 80 lbs. of chloride of lead, and 20 lbs. of flints ground together very fine, and mixed with water till the whole becomes as thick as cream. The vessels to be glazed are dipped in the glaze and suffered to dry.
 

The acacia, an Egyptian thorn, is a species of mimosa, from which the Chinese make that yellow which bears washing in their silks and stuffs, and appears with so much elegance in their painting on paper. The flowers are gathered before they are fully opened, and put into an earthen vessel over a gentle heat, being stirred continually until they are nearly dry, and of a yellow color: then to 1/2 lb. of the flowers a sufficient quantity of rain-water is added, to hold the flowers incorporated together. It is then to be boiled until it becomes thick, when it must be strained. To the liquor is added 1/2 oz. of common alum, and 1 oz. of calcined oystershells, reduced to a fine powder.

All these are mixed together into a mass. An addition of a proportion of the ripe seeds to the flowers renders the colors somewhat deeper. For making the deepest yellow add a small quantity of Brazil-wood.
 

Largely used as a substitute for white lead, may be made by burning zinc, or by precipitating from a solution by caustic alkali. It is the oxide of the metal, and is not blackened by sulphuretted hydrogen.
 

Pour some distilled water into a solution of nitrate of bismuth as long as precipitation takes place, filter the solution, and wash the precipitate with distilled water as it lies on the filter. When properly dried, by a gentle heat, this powder is what is generally termed pearl white.
 

Mix bichromate of potash with half its weight of muriate of ammonia; heat the mixture to redness, and wash the mass with plenty of boiling water. Dry the residue thoroughly. It is a sesquioxide of chromium, and is the basis of the green ink used in bank-note printing.

Another. - Mix chrome yellow and Prussian blue.
 

Mix 3 parts of boracic acid and 1 part of bichromate of potassa, heat to about redness. Oxygen gas and water are given off. The resulting salt when thrown into water is decomposed. The precipitate is collected and washed. This is a remarkably fine color, solid and brilliant even by artificial light.
 

Dissolve 2 lbs. of blue vitriol in 6 lbs. of water in a copper vessel, and in another vessel dissolve 2 lbs. of dry white potash, and 11 oz. of white arsenic in 2 lbs. of water. When the solutions are perfect pour the arsenical lye into the other gradually, and about 1 lb. 6 oz. of good green precipitate will be obtained.
 

The acetic copper (verdigris) dissolved in acetic acid, forms an elegant green.
 

This is obtained from the solution of a precipitate of copper in tartar and water, which, by evaporation, yields a transparent cupreous tartar which is similar to the superfine Brunswick green.
 

Dissolve in a small quantity of hot water, 6 parts of sulphate of copper; in another part, boil 6 parts of oxide of arsenic with 8 parts of potash, until it throws out no more carbonic acid; mix by degrees this hot solution with the first, agitating continually until the effervescence has entirely ceased; these then form a precipitate of a dirty greenish yellow, very abundant; add to it about 3 parts of acetic acid, or such a quantity that there may be a slight excess perceptible to the smell after the mixture; by degrees the precipitate diminishes the bulk, and in a few hours there deposes spontaneously at the bottom of the liquor entirely discolored, a powder of a contexture slightly crystalline, and of a very beautiful green; afterwards the floating liquor is separated.
 

Some green colors free from the objections which apply to the arsenical greens, are described by Wiener. The first, called "Elsner Green," is made by adding to a solution of sulphate of copper a docoction of fustic, previously clarified by a solution of gelatine; to this mixture is then added 10 or 11 per cent. of protochloride of tin, and lastly an excess of caustic potash soda. The precipitate is then washed and dried, whereupon it assumes a green color, with a tint of blue.

The "Tin-copper Green" is a stannate of copper, and possesses a color which Gentele states is not inferior to any of the greens free from arsenic. The cheapest way of making this is to heap 59 parts of tin in a Hessian crucible, with 100 parts of nitrate of soda, and dissolve the mass, when cold, in a caustic alkali. When clear, this solution is diluted with water, and a cold solution of sulphate of copper is added. A reddish yellow precipitate falls, which, on being washed and dried, becomes a beautiful green.

Titanium Green was first prepared by Elsner in 1846. It is made in the following way: Iserin (titaniferous iron) is fused in a Hessian crucible with 12 times its weight of sulphate of potash. When cold, the fused mass is treated with hydrochloric acid, heated to 50° C. and filtered hot; the filtrate is then evaporated until a drop placed on a glass plate solidifies. It is then allowed to cool, and when cold a concentrated solution of sal ammoniac is poured over the mass, which is well stirred and then filtered. The titanic acid which remains behind is digested at 50° or 70° with dilute hydrochloric acid, and the acid solution, after the addition of some solution of prussiate of potash, quickly heated to boiling. A green precipitate falls, which must be washed with water acidulated with hydrochloric acid, and then dried under 100° C. Titanium green then forms a beautiful dark green powder.

A Green Color which may be employed in Confectionary.

Infuse for 24 hours 0.32 grammes of saffron in 7 grammes of distilled water; take 0.26 grammes of carmine of indigo and infuse in 15.6 grammes of distilled water. On mixing the two liquids a beautiful green color is obtained, which is harmless. Ten parts will color 1000 parts of sugar. It may be preserved for a long time by evaporating the liquid to dryness, or making it into a syrup.

To mix the Mineral Substances in linseed Oil.

Take 1 lb. of the genuine mineral green, prepared and well powdered, 1 lb. of the precipitate of copper, 1 1/2 lbs. of refiners' blue verditer, 3 lbs. of white lead, dry powdered, 3 oz. of sugar of lead powdered fine. Mix the whole of these ingredients in linseed oil, and grind them in a levigating mill, passing it through until quite fine; it will thereby produce a bright mineral pea-green paint, preserve a blue tint, and keep any length of time in any climate without injury, by putting oil or water over it.

To use this color for house or ship painting, take 1 lb. of the green color paint, with 1 gill of pale boiled oil, mix them well together, and this will produce a strong peagreen paint: the tint may be varied at pleasure by adding a further quantity of white lead ground in linseed oil. This color will stand the weather and resist salt water; it may also be used for flatting rooms, by adding 3 lbs. of white lead ground in half linseed oil and half turpentine, to 1 lb. of the green, then to be mixed up in turpentine spirits, fit for use. It may also be used for painting Venetian window blinds, by adding to 1 lb. of the green paint 10 oz. of white lead, ground in turpentine, then to be mixed up in turpentine varnish for use. In all the aforsaid preparations it will retain a blue tint, which is very desirable. When used for blinds, a small quantity of Dutch pink may be put to the white lead if the color is required of a yellow cast.
 

Mix a little white and yellow together, then add a little more red than yellow. These form an excellent imitation of the complexion.
 

Put into a pan 3 qts. of linseed oil, with an equal quantity of brandy and 4 qts. of the best double-distilled vinegar, 3 doz. of whole new-laid eggs, 4 lbs. of mutton suet, chopped small; cover all with a lead plate and lute it well, lay this pan in the cellar for 3 weeks, then take skilfully the white off, and dry it. The dose of this composition is 6 oz. of white to 1 of bismuth.
 

Take the picture out of the frame, lay a coarse towel on it for 10 or 14 days; keep continually wetting it until it has drawn out all the filthiness from the picture, pass some linseed oil, which has been a long time seasoned in the sun, over it, to purify it, and the picture will become as lively on the surface as new.

Another Method.

Put into 2 qts. of the oldest lye 1/4 lb. of Genoa soap, rasped very fine, with about a pint of spirit of wine, and boil all together; then strain it through a cloth, and let it cool. With a brush dipped in the composition rub the picture all over, and let it dry; repeat this process and let it dry again, then dip a little cotton in oil of nut, and pass it over its surface. When perfectly dry, rub it well over with a warm cloth, and it will appear of a beautiful freshness.

To Restore Discolored White.

In paintings, where the white has become blackened by sulphuretted hydrogen, the application of Thenard's oxygenated water will instantly restore it. Probably a solution of permanganate of potassa would have the same effect. (See CONDY'S SOLUTION).
 

Prof. Pettenkoffer has shown that the change which takes place in old paintings, is the discontinuance of molecular cohesion, which, beginning on the surface in small fissures, penetrates to the very foundation. His process is to expose the picture in a tight box to the vapor of alcohol, ether benzine, turpentine, or other similar solvent. The process has been successfully tried in several instances.

Compound for Receiving the Colors used in Encaustic Painting.

Dissolve 9 oz. of gum arabic in 1 pt. of water, add 14 oz. of finely powdered mastic and 10 oz. of white wax, cut in small pieces, and whilst hot, add by degrees 2 pts. of cold spring-water; then strain the composition.

Another Method.

Mix 24 oz. of mastic with gum-water, leaving out the wax, and when sufficiently beaten and dissolved over the fire, add by degrees 1 1/2 pts. of cold water, and strain.

Or, dissolve 9 oz. of gum arabic in 1 1/2 pts. of water, then add 1 lb. of white wax. Boil them over a slow fire, pour them into a cold vessel, and beat them well together. When this is mixed with the colors, it will require more water than the others. This is used in painting, the colors being mixed with these compositions as with oil, adding water if necessary. When the painting is finished, melt some white wax, and with a hard brush varnish the painting, and, when cold, rub it to make it entirely smooth.
 

Take 1 oz. of white wax and 1 oz. of gum mastic, in drops, made into powder; put the wax into a glazed pan over a slow fire, and when melted add the mastic, then stir the same until they are both incorporated. Next throw the paste into water, and when hard take it out, wipe it dry, and beat it in a mortar; when dry pound it in a linen cloth till it is reduced to a fine powder. Make some strong gum-water, and when painting take a little of the powder, some color, and mix them all with the gum-water. Light colors require but a small quantity of the powder, but more must be put in proportion to the darkness of the colors, and to black there should be almost as much of the powder as of color.

Having mixed the colors, paint with water, as is practised in painting with water colors, a ground on the wood being first painted of some proper color, prepared as described for the picture. When the painting is quite dry, with a hard brush, passing it one way, varnish it with white wax, which is melted over a slow fire till the picture is varnished. Take care the wax does not boil. Afterwards hold the picture before a fire near enough to melt the wax, but not to run, and when the varnish is entirely cold and hard, rub it gently with a linen cloth. Should the varnish blister, warm the picture again very slowly, and the bubbles will subside.

Solvents for India-Rubber and Gutta Percha.

1. Benzine. There are two bodies sold as benzine or benzole: one obtained by distilling coal or coal-tar - the true benzine - used in making coal tar colors; the other, from petroleum, contains but little true benzine. They may be used instead of turpentine in mixing paints and the true benzine for varnishes. Commercial benzine will not generally do for varnishes; that from petroleum is much the cheaper. Either forms an excellent solvent for india-rubber.

2. Bisulphide of Carbon is an excellent rubber solvent; acts in the cold; is made by passing the vapor of sulphur over red-hot charcoal.

3. Chloroform is very good, but costly.

Turpentine acts slowly, and takes long to dry. India rubber should always be cut into fine strings or shreds before being submitted to the action of solvents.

Solvent for Old Paint or Putty.

Caustic soda applied with a broom or brush made of vegetable matter. It is sold in the shops as concentrated lye.
 

Into 3 lbs. of pure water put 1 oz. of sulphate of zinc (white vitriol), and mix the whole with 2 lbs. of oil of pinks, or poppy oil. Expose this mixture, in an earthen vessel capable of standing the fire, to a degree of heat sufficient to maintain it in a slight state of ebullition. When one-half or two-thirds of the water has evaporated, pour the whole into a large glass bottle or jar, and leave it at rest till the oil becomes clear. Decant the clearest part by means of a glass funnel, the beak of which is stopped with a piece of cork. When the separation of the oil from the water is effected, remove the cork stopper, and supply its place with the forefinger, which must be applied in such a manner as to suffer the water to escape, and to retain only the oil.

Poppy-oil, when prepared in this manner, becomes, after some weeks, exceedingly limpid and colorless.
 

Take of nut-oil, or linseed-oil, 8 lbs.; white lead, slightly calcined, yellow acetate of lead (sal saturni), also calcined, sulphate of zinc (white vitriol), each 1 oz.; vitreous oxide of lead (litharge), 12 oz.; a head of garlic, or a small onion.

When the dry substances are pulverized, mix them with the garlic and oil, over a fire capable of maintaining the oil in a slight state of ebullition. Continue it till the oil ceases to throw up scum, till it assumes a reddish color, and till the head of garlic becomes brown; a pellicle will then be soon formed on the oil, which indicates that the operation is completed. Take the vessel from the fire, and the pellicle, being precipitated by rest, will carry with it all the unctuous parts which rendered the oil fat. When the oil becomes clear, separate it from the deposit, and put it into widemouthed bottles, where it will completely clarify itself in time, and improve in quality.

Another Method.

Take of litharge, 1 1/2 oz.; sulphate of zinc, 3/8 of an oz.: linseed or nut-oil, 16 oz. The operation must be conducted as in the preceding case.

The choice of the oil is not a matter of indifference. If it be destined for painting articles exposed to the impression of the external air, or for delicate painting, nut-oil or poppy-oil. Linseed-oil is used for coarse painting, and that sheltered from the effects of the rain and of the sun.

A little negligence in the management of the fire has often an influence on the color of the oil, to which a drying quality is communicated; in this case it is not proper for delicate painting. This inconvenience may be avoided by tying up the drying matters in a small bag; but the dose of the litharge must then be doubled. The bag must be suspended by a piece of packthread fastened to a stick, which is made to rest on the edges of the vessel in such a manner as to keep the bag at the distance of an inch from the bottom of the vessel. A pellicle will be formed as in the first operation, but it will be slower in making its appearance.

Another. - A drying quality may be communicated to oil by treating, in a heat capable of maintaining a slight ebullition, linseed or nut-oil, to each pound of which is added 3 oz. litharge, reduced to fine powder.

The preparation of floor-cloths, and all paintings of large figures or ornaments, in which argillaceous colors, such as yellow and red boles, Dutch pink, etc. are employed, require this kind of preparation, that the dessication may not be too slow; but painting for which metallic oxides are used, such as preparations of lead, copper, etc., require only the doses before indicated, because these oxides contain a great deal of oxygen, and the oil, by their contact, acquires more of a drying quality.

Another. - Take of nut-oil, 2 lbs.; common water, 3 do.; sulphate of zinc, 2 oz.

Mix these matters, and subject them to a slight ebullition, till little water remains. Decant the oil, which will pass over with a small quantity of water, and separate the latter by means of a funnel. The oil remains nebulous for some time; after which it becomes clear, and seems to be very little colored.

Another. - Take of nut-oil, or linseed-oil, 6 lbs.; common water, 4 lbs.; sulphate of zinc, 1 oz.; garlic, 1 head.

Mix these matters in a large iron or copper pan; then place them over the fire, and maintain the mixture in a state of ebullition during the whole day. Boiling water must from time to time be added, to make up for the loss of that by evaporation. The garlic will assume a brown appearance. Take the pan from the fire, and having suffered a deposit to be formed, decant the oil, which will clarify itself in the vessel. By this process the drying oil is rendered somewhat more colored. It is reserved for delicate colors.
 

In order to avoid the use of oxide of lead in making drying oil for zinc paint, oxide of manganese has been proposed as a substitute. The process to be adopted is as follows:

The manganese is broken into pieces about the size of peas, dried, and the powder separated by means of a sieve. The fragments are then to be introduced into a bag made of iron-wire gauze. This is hung in the oil contained in an iron or copper vessel, and the whole heated gently for 24 or 36 hours. The oil must not be allowed to boil, in which case there is great danger of its running over. When the oil has acquired a reddish color, it is to be poured into an appropriate vessel to clear.

For 100 parts of oil 10 of oxide of manganese may be employed, which will serve for several operations when freshly broken and the dust separated. Experience has shown, that when fresh oxide of manganese is used it is better to introduce it into the oil upon the second day. The process likewise occupies a longer time with the fresh oxide. Very great care is requisite in this operation to prevent accident, and one of the principle points to be observed is that the oil is not overheated. If the boiling should render the oil too thick, this may be remedied by an addition of turpentine after it has thoroughly cooled.
 

When linseed-oil is carefully agitated with vinegar of lead (tribasic acetate of lead), and the mixture allowed to clear by settling, a copious white, cloudy precipitate forms, containing oxide of lead, whilst the raw oil is converted into a drying oil of a pale straw color, forming an excellent varnish, which, when applied in thin layers, dries perfectly in 24 hours. It contains from 4 to 5 per cent. of oxide of lead in solution. The following proportions appear to be the most advantageous for its preparation:

In a bottle containing 4 1/2 pts. of rain-water, 18 oz. of neutral acetate of lead are placed, and when the solution is complete, 18 oz. of litharge in a very fine powder are added; the whole is then allowed to stand in a moderately warm place, frequently agitating it to assist the solution of the litharge. This solution may be considered as complete when no more small scales are apparent. The deposit of a shining white color (sexbasic acetate of lead may be separated by filtration. This conversion of the neutral acetate of lead into vinegar of lead, by means of litharge and water, is effected in about a quarter of an hour, if the mixture be heated to ehullition. When heat is not applied, the process will usually take 3 or 4 days. The solution of vinegar of lead, or tribasic acetate of lead, thus formed, is sufficient for the preparation of 22 lbs. of drying oil. For this purpose the solution is diluted with an equal volume of rain-water, and to it is gradually added, with constant agitation, 22 lbs. of oil, with which 18 oz. of litharge have previously been mixed.

When the points of contact between the lead solution and the oil have been frequently renewed by agitation of the mixture 3 or 4 times a day, and the mixture allowed to settle in a warm place, the limpid straw-colored oil rises to the surface, leaving a copious white deposit. The watery solution, rendered clear by filtration, contains intact all the acetate of lead at first employed, and may be used in the next operation, after the addition to it as before, of 18 oz. of litharge.

By filtration through paper or cotton, the oil may be obtained as limpid as water, and by exposure to the light of the sun it may also be bleached.

Should a drying oil be required absolutely free from lead, it may be obtained by the addition of dilute sulphuric acid to the above, when, on being allowed to stand, a deposit of sulphate of lead will take place, and the clear oil may be obtained free from all trace of lead.
 

Take 10 lbs. of drying nut-oil, if the paint is destined for external articles, or 10 lbs. of drying linseedoil if for internal; resin, 3 lbs.; turpentine, 6 oz.

Cause the resin to dissolve the oil by means of a gentle heat. When dissolved and incorporated with the oil, add the turpentine; leave the varnish at rest, by which means it will often deposit portions of resin and other impurities; and then preserve it in wide-mouthed bottles. It must be used fresh; when suffered to grow old it abandons some of its resin. If this resinous oil assumes too much consistence, dilute it with a little essence, if intended for articles sheltered from the sun, or with oil of poppies.
 

Take picked copal, 16 oz.; prepared linseed oil, or oil of poppies, 8 oz.; essence of turpentine, 16 oz.

Liquefy the copal in a matrass over a common fire, and then add the linseed oil, or oil of poppies, in a state of ebullition; when these matters are incorporated, take the matrass from the fire, stir the matter till the greatest heat is subsided, and then add the essence of turpentine warm. Strain the whole, while still warm, through a piece of linen, and put the varnish into a wide-mouthed bottle. Time contributes towards its clarification, and in this manner it acquires a better quality.

Varnish for Watch Cases in Imitation of Tortoiseshell.

Take copal of an amber color, 6 oz.; Venice turpentine, 1 1/2 oz.; prepared linseed-oil, 24 oz.; essence of turpentine, 6 oz.

It is customary to place the turpentine over the copal, reduced to small fragments, in the bottom of an earthen or metal vessel, or in a matrass exposed to such a heat as to liquefy the copal; but it is more advantageous to liquefy the latter alone, to add the oil in a state of ebullition, then the turpentine liquefied, and in the last place the essence. If the varnish is too thick, some essence may be added. The latter liquor is a regulator for the consistence in the hands of an artist.
 

Take copal in powder, 1 oz.; essential oil of lavender, 2 oz.; essence of turpentine, 6 oz.

Put the essential oil of lavender into a matrass of a proper size, placed on a sand-bath heated gently. Add to the oil while very warm, and at several times, the copal powder, and stir the mixture with a stick of white wood rounded at the end. When the copal has entirely disappeared, add at three different times the essence almost in a state of ebullition, and keep continually stirring the mixture. When the solution is completed, the result will be a varnish of a gold-color, exceedingly durable and brilliant.

Another Method.

To obtain this varnish colorless, it will be proper to rectify the essence of the shops, which is often highly colored, and to give it the necessary density by exposure to the sun in bottles closed with cork stoppers, leaving an interval of some inches between the stopper and the surface of the liquid. A few months are thus sufficient to communicate to it the required qualities. Besides, essence of the shops is rarely possessed of that state of consistence without having at the same time a strong amber color.

The varnish resulting from the solution of copal in oil of turpentine, brought to such a state as to produce the maximum of solution, is exceedingly durable and brilliant. It resists the shock of hard bodies much better than the enamel of toys, which often becomes scratched and whitened by the impression of repeated friction; it is susceptible also of a fine polish. It is applied with the greatest success to philosophical instruments, and the paintings with which vessels and other utensils of metal are decorated.
 

This varnish is destined for articles which require durability, pliableness, and transparency.

Take of pulverized copal, 2 oz.; essential oil of lavender, 6 oz.; camphor, 1/8 oz.; essence of turpentine, a sufficient quantity, according to the consistence required to be given to the varnish.

Put into a phial of thin glass, or into a small matrass, the essential oil of lavender and the camphor, and place the mixture on a moderately open fire, to bring the oil and the camphor to a slight state of ebullition; then add the copal powder in small portions, which must be renewed as they disappear in the liquid. Favor the solution, by continually stirring with a stick of white wood; and when the copal is incorporated with the oil, add the essence of turpentine boiling; but care must be taken to pour in, at first, only a small portion.

This varnish is a little colored, and by rest it acquires a transparency which, united to the solidity observed in almost every kind of copal varnish, renders it fit to be applied with great success in many cases.
 

Take of amberry copal, 3 oz.; ether, 2 oz.

Reduce the copal to a very fine powder, and introduce it by small portions into the flask which contains the ether; close the flask with a glass or a cork stopper, and having shaken the mixture for an hour, leave it at rest till the next morning. In shaking the flask, if the sides become covered with small undulations, and if the liquor be not exceedingly clear, the solution is not complete. In this case add a little ether, and leave the mixture at rest. The varnish is of a white lemon-color. The largest quantity of copal united to ether may be a fourth, and the least a fifth. The use of copal varnish made with ether seems, by the expense attending it, to be confined to repairing those accidents which frequently happen to the enamel of toys, as it will supply the place of glass to the colored varnishes employed for mending fractures, or to restoring the smooth surface of paintings which have been cracked and shattered.

The great volatility of ether, and in particular its high price, do not allow the application of this varnish to be recommended, but for the purposes here indicated. It has been applied to wood with complete success, and the glazing it produced unites lustre to solidity. In consequence of the too speedy evaporation of the liquid, it often boils under the brush. Its evaporation, however, may be retarded, by spreading over the wood a light stratum of essential oil of rosemary or lavender, or even of turpentine, which may afterwards be removed by a piece of linen rag; what remains is sufficient to retard the evaporation of the ether.
 

Take of amber or copal of one fusion, 4 oz.; essence of turpentine, drying linseed oil, of each, 10 oz.

Put the whole into a pretty large matrass, and expose it to the heat of a balneum maria, or move it over the surface of an uncovered chafing-dish, but without flame, and at the distance from it of 2 or 3 inches. When the solution is completed, add still a little copal or amber to saturate the liquid, then pour the whole on a filter prepared with cotton, and leave it to clarify by rest. If the varnish is too thick, add a little warm essence to prevent the separation of any of the amber.

This varnish is colored, but far less so than those composed by the usual methods. When spread over white wood, without any preparation, it forms a solid glazing, and communicates a slight tint to the wood.

If it is required to charge this varnish with more copal, or prepared amber, the liquor must be composed of two parts of essence for one of oil.

To Apply Copal Varnish to the Reparation of Opake Enamels.

The properties manifested by these varnishes, and which render them proper for supplying the vitreous and transparent coating of enamel, by a covering equally brilliant, but more solid, and which adheres to vitreous compositions, and to metallic surfaces, admit of their being applied to other purposes besides those here enumerated.

By slight modifications they may be used also for the reparation of opake enamel which has been fractured. These kinds of enamel admit the use of cements colored throughout, or only superficially, by copal varnish charged with coloring parts. On this account they must be attended with less difficulty in the reparation than transparent enamel, because they do not require the same reflection of the light. Compositions of paste, therefore, the different grounds of which may always harmonize with the coloring ground of the pieces to be repaired, and which may be still strengthened by the same tint introduced into the solid varnish, with which the articles are glazed will answer the views of the artist in a wonderful manner.

The base of the cement ought to be pure clay without color, and exceedingly dry. If solidity be required, ceruse is the only substance that can be substituted in its place. Drying oil of pinks will form an excellent excipient, and the consistence of the cement ought to be such that it can be easily extended by a knife or spatula, possessed of a moderate degree of flexibility. This sort of paste soon dries. It has the advantage also of presenting to the colors, applied to it with a brush, a kind of ground which contributes to their solidity. The compound mastic being exceedingly drying, the application of it will be proper in cases where speedy reparation of the damaged articles is required.

In more urgent cases, the paste may be composed with ceruse, and the turpentine copal varnishes, which dry more speedily than oil of pinks; and the colors may then be glazed with the ethereal copal varnish.

The application of the paste will be necessary only in cases when the accident, which has happened to the enamel, leaves too great a vacuity to be filled up by several strata, of colored varnish. But in all cases the varnish ought to be well dried, that it may acquire its full lustre by polishing.
 

White oxide of lead, ceruse, Spanish white, white clay. Such of these substances as are preferred ought to be carefully dried. Ceruse and clay obstinately retain a great deal of humidity which would oppose their adhesion to drying oil or varnish. The cement then crumbles under the fingers, and does not assume a body.

Another. - On 16 oz. of melted copal, pour 4, 6 or 8 oz. of linseed-oil boiled, and quite free from grease. When well mixed by repeated stirrings, and after they are pretty cool, pour in 16 oz. of the essence of Venice turpentine. Pass the varnish through a cloth. Amber varnish is made the same way.
 

Lampblack, made of burnt vine-twigs, or black of peachstones. The lampblack must be carefully washed and afterwards dried. Washing carries off a great many of its impurities.
 

Yellow oxide of lead, of Naples and Montpellier, both reduced to impalpable powder. These yellows are hurt by the contact of iron and steel; in mixing them up, therefore, a horn spatula with a glass mortar and pestle must be employed.

Gum guttae, yellow ochre, or Dutch pink, according to the nature and tone of the color to be imitated.
 

Indigo, prussiate of iron (Prussian blue), blue verditer, and ultramarine. All these substances must be very much divided.
 

Verdigris, crystallized verdigris, compound green (a mixture of yellow and blue). The first two require a mixture of white in proper proportions, from a fourth to two-thirds, according to the tint intended to be given. The white used for this purpose is ceruse, or the white oxide of lead, or Spanish white, which is less solid, or white of Moudon.
 

Red sulphuretted oxide of mercury (cinnabar vermilion), red oxide of lead (minium), different red ochres, or Prussian reds, etc.
 

Cochineal, carmine, and carminated lakes, with ceruse and boiled oil.
 

Dragon's blood.
 

Dragon's blood with a paste composed of flowers of zinc, or, what is still better, a little red vermilion.
 

Cinnabar, mixed with lampblack, washed very dry, or with the black of burnt vine-twigs; and, to render it mellower, a proper mixture of red, blue, and white.

Pearl Gray.

White and black; white and blue; for example, ceruse and lampblack; ceruse and indigo.

Flaxen Gray.

Ceruse, which forms the ground of the paste, mixed with a smell quantity of Cologne earth, as much English red, or carminated lake, which is not so durable, and a particle of Prussian blue.
 

Melt 4 lbs. of common asphalt, and add 2 pts. of boiled linseed-oil, and 1 gall. of oil of turpentine or coaltar naphtha.

India-Rubber Varnish.

Four ounces india-rubber in fine shavings are dissolved in a covered jar by means of a sand-bath, in 2 lbs. of crude benzole, and then mixed with 4 lbs. of hot linseedoil varnish heated, and filtered. (See CEMENTS).
 

To 1 qt. of cold linseed-oil poured off from the lees (produced on the addition of unslaked lime, on which the oil has stood 8 or 10 days at the least, in order to communicate a drying quality, or brown umber burnt and powdered which will have the like effect,) add 1/2 oz. of litharge; boil them for 1/2 hour, then add 1/2 oz. of the copal varnish. While the ingredients are on the fire, in a copper vessel, put in 1 oz. of chios turpentine or common resin, and a few drops of neat's-foot oil and stir the whole with a knife; when cool it is ready for use. The neat's-foot oil prevents the varnish from being sticky or adhesive, and may be put into the linseed-oil at the same time with the lime or burnt umber. Resin or chios turpentine may be added till the varnish has attained the desired thickness.

The longer the raw linseed-oil remains on the unslaked lime or umber, the sooner will the oil dry after it is used; if some months, so much the better. Such varnish will set, that is to say, not run, but keep its place on the silk in four hours; the silk may then be turned and varnished on the other side.
 

Take of pure alcohol, 32 oz.; purified mastic, 6 oz.; gum sandarac, 3 oz.; very clear Venice turpentine, 3 oz., glass, coarsely pounded, 4 oz.

Reduce the mastic and sandarac to fine powder; mix this powder with white glass, from which the finest parts have been separated by means of a hair-sieve; put all the ingredients with alcohol into a short-necked matrass, and adapt to it a stick of white-wood, rounded at the end, and of a length proportioned to the height of the matrass, that it may be put in motion. Expose the matrass in a vessel filled with water, made at first a little warm, and which must afterwards be maintained in a state of ebullition for 1 or 2 hours. The matrass may be made fast to a ring of straw.

When the solution seems to be sufficiently extended, add the turpentine, which must be kept separately in a phial or pot, and which must be melted by immersing it for a moment in a balneum maria. The matrass must be still left in the water for 1/2 hour, at the end of which it is taken off, and the varnish is continually stirred till it is some. what cool. Next day it is to be drawn off and filtered through cotton. By these means it will become exceedingly limpid.

The addition of glass may appear extraordinary; but this substance divides the parts of the mixture which have been made with the dry ingredients; and it retains the same quality when placed over the fire. It therefore obviates with success two inconveniences which are exceedingly troublesome to those who compose varnishes. In the first place, by dividing the matters, it facilitates the action of the alcohol; and in the second, its weight, which surpasses that of resins, prevents these resins from adhering to the bottom of the matrass, and also the coloration acquired by the varnish when a sand-bath is employed, as is commonly the case.

The application of this varnish is suited to articles belonging to the toilet, such as dressing-boxes, cut-paper works, etc. The following possess the same brilliancy and lustre, but they have more solidity, and are exceedingly drying.
 

Take of mastic, cleaned and washed, 12 oz.; pure turpentine, 1 1/2 oz.; camphor, 1/2 oz.; white glass pounded, 5 oz.; essence of turpentine, 36 oz. Make the varnish according to the method indicated for Compound Mastic Varnish. The camphor is employed in pieces, and the turpentine is added when the solution of the resin is completed. But if the varnish is to be applied to old paintings, or paintings which have been already varnished, the turpentine may be suppressed; as this ingredient is here recommended only in cases of a first application to new paintings, and just freed from white-of-egg varnish.

The question by able masters respecting the kind of varnish proper to be employed for paintings, has never yet been determined. Some artists who have paid particular attention to this subject make a mystery of the means they employ to obtain the desired effect. The real end may be accomplished by giving to the varnish destined for painting, pliability and softness, without being too solicitous in regard to what may add to its consistence or its solidity. The latter quality is particularly requisite in varnishes which are to be applied to articles much exposed to friction; such as boxes, furniture, etc.

Shaw's Mastic Varnish for Paintings.

Bruise the mastic with a muller on a painter's stone, which will detect the soft parts, or tears, which are to be taken out, and the remainder put into a clean bottle with good spirits of turpentine (twice distilled if you can get it), and dissolve the gum by shaking it in your hand for 1/2 hour, without heat. When dissolved, strain it through a piece of calico and place it in a bottle well corked, so that the light of the sun can strike it, for 2 or 3 weeks; which will cause a mucilaginous precipitate, leaving the remainder as transparent as water. It may then be carefully decanted into another bottle and put by for use. The proportions of gum and alcohol are: mastic, 6 oz., alcohol, 14 oz. If found on trial to be too thick, thin it with turpentine.
 

Painters who have long intervals between their periods of labor, are accustomed to cover the parts they have painted with a preparation which preserves the freshness of the colors, and which they can remove when they resume their work. This preparation is as follows:

Take of very clear nut-oil, 3 oz.; mastic in tears, pulverized, 1/2 oz.; sal saturni, in powder (acetate of lead), 1/3 oz. Dissolve the mastic in oil over a gentle fire, and pour the mixture into a marble mortar, over the pounded salt of lead, stir it with a wooden pestle, and add water in smell quantities, till the matter assume the appearance and consistence of cream, and refuse to admit more water.
 

Take of gum sandarac, 8 oz.; pounded mastic 2 oz.; clear turpentine, 2 1/2 oz.; pounded glass, 4 oz.; pure alcohol, 32 oz. Mix and dissolve as before.
 

Take of pounded copal, of an amber color, once liquified, 3 oz.; gum sandarac, 6 oz.; mastic, cleaned, 3 oz.; clear turpentine, 3 1/2 oz.; pounded glass, 4 oz.; pure alcohol, 32 oz. Mix these ingredients, and pursue the same method as above.

This varnish is destined for articles subject to friction; such as furniture, chairs, fan-sticks, mouldings, etc., and even metals, to which it may be applied with success. The sandarac gives it great durability.

Camphorated Sandarac Varnish for Cut-Paper Works, Dressing-Boxes, etc.

Take of gum sandarac, 6 oz.; gum elemi, 4 oz.; gum animi, 1 oz.; camphor, 1/2 oz.; pounded glass, 4 oz.; pure alcohol, 32 oz.

Make the varnish according to the directions already given. The soft resins must be pounded with the dry bodies. The camphor is to be added in pieces

Another. - Take of gallipot or white incense, 6 oz.; gum animi, gum elemi, each 2 oz.; pounded glass, 4 oz., alcohol, 32 oz.

Make the varnish with the precautions indicated for the compound mastic varnish.

The two last varnishes are to be used for ceilings and wainscots, colored or not colored. They may even be employed as a covering to parts painted with strong colors.
 

Take gum sandarac, 6 oz.; shell-lac, 2 oz.; colophonium or resin, white glass pounded, clear turpentine, each 4 oz.; pure alcohol, 32 oz.

Dissolve the varnish according to the directions given for compound mastic varnish.

This varnish is sufficiently durable to be applied to articles destined to daily and continual use. Varnishes composed with copal, ought however, in these cases to be preferred.

Another. - There is another composition which without forming part of the compound varnishes is employed with success for giving a polish and lustre to furniture made of wood; wax forms the basis of it.

Many cabinet-makers are contented with waxing common furniture, such as tables, chests of drawers, etc, This covering, by means of repeated friction, soon acquires a polish and transparency which resembles those of varnish. Waxing seems to possess qualities peculiar to itself, but, like varnish, it is attended with inconveniences as well as advantages.

Varnish supplies better the part of glazing; it gives a lustre to the wood which it covers, and heightens the colors of that destined, in particular, for delicate articles. These real and valuable advantages are counterbalanced by its want of consistence; it yields too easily to the shrinking or swelling of the wood, and rises in scales or splits on being exposed to the slightest shock. These accidents can be repaired only by new strata of varnish, which render application to the varnisher necessary, and occasion trouble and expense.

Waxing stands shocks, but it does not possess in the same degree as varnish the property of giving lustre to the bodies on which it is applied and of heightening their tints. The lustre it communicates is dull, but this inconvenience is compensated by the facility with which any accident that may have altered its polish can be repaired by rubbing it with a piece of fine cork. There are some circumstances, therefore, under which the application of wax ought to be preferred to that of varnish. This seems to be the case in particular with tables of walnut-tree wood, exposed to daily use, chairs, mouldings and for all small articles subject to constant employment.

But as it is of importance to make the stratum of wax as thin as possible in order that the veins of the wood may be more apparent, the following process will be acceptable to the reader:

Melt over a moderate fire in a very clean vessel 2 oz. of white or yellow wax, and when liquefied add 4 oz. of good essence of turpentine; stir the whole until it is entirely cool, and the result will be a kind of pomade fit for waxing furniture, and which must be rubbed over them according to the usual method. The essence of turpentine is soon dissipated, but the wax, which by its mixture is reduced to a state of very great division, may be extended with more ease and in a more uniform manner. The essence soon penetrates the pores of the wood, calls forth the color of it, causes the wax to adhere better, and the lustre which thence results is equal to that of varnish without having any of its inconveniences.

Colored Varnish for Violins and other Stringed Instruments, also for Plum-tree, Mahogany and Rose-wood.

Gum sandarac, 4 oz.; seed-lac, 2 oz.; mastic, Benjamin, in tears, each 1 oz.; pounded glass, 4 oz.; Venice turpentine, 2 oz.; pure alcohol, 32 oz.

The gum sandarac and lac render this varnish durable; it may be colored with a little saffron or dragon's blood.
 

The varnish being prepared (shellac), the article to be polished being finished off as smoothly as possible with glass-paper, and your rubber being prepared as directed below, proceed to the operation as follows: The varnish, in a narrow necked bottle, is to be applied to the middle of the flat face of the rubber, by laying the rubber on the mouth of the bottle and shaking up the varnish once, as by this means the rubber will imbibe the proper quantity to varnish a considerable extent of surface. The rubber is then to be enclosed in a soft linen cloth doubled, the rest of the cloth being gathered up at the back of the rubber to form a handle. Moisten the face of the linen with a little raw linseed-oil, applied with the finger to the middle of it. Placing your work opposite the light, pass your rubber quickly and lightly over its surface until the varnish becomes dry or nearly so; charge your rubber as before with varnish (omitting the oil), and repeat the rubbing until three coats are laid on, when a little oil may be applied to the rubber and two coats more given to it. Proceeding in this way until the varnish has acquired some thickness, wet the inside of the linen cloth, before applying the varnish, with alcohol, and rub quickly, lightly and uniformly the whole surface. Lastly, wet the linen cloth with a little oil and alcohol without varnish, and rub as before till dry.

To make the Rubber.

Roll up a strip of thick woolen cloth which has been torn off so as to form a soft, elastic edge. It should form a coil from 1 to 3 inches in diameter, according to the size of the work.
 

Amber, 8 oz.; gum-lac, 2 oz.; drying linseed-oil, 8 oz.; essence of turpentine, 16 oz. Dissolve separately the gum-lac, and then add the amber, prepared and pulverized, with the linseed-oil and essence very warm. When the whole has lost a part of its heat, mix in relative proportions tincture of anatto, of terra merita, gum guttae and dragon's blood. This varnish, when applied to white metals, gives them a gold color. (Adding dragon’s blood is like adding Magenta to Transparent Yellow, in the 1300’s they used Sandarac instead of amber.)

Fat Turpentine, or Golden Varnish, being a Mordant to Gold and Dark Colors.

Boiled linseed oil, 16 oz.; Venice turpentine, 8 oz.; Naples yellow, 5 oz. Heat the oil with the turpentine, and mix the Naples yellow pulverized.

Naples yellow is substituted here for resins, on account of its drying qualities. and in particular of its color, which resembles that of gold; great use is made of the varnish in applying gold leaf.

The yellow, however, may be omitted when this species of varnish is to be solid and colored coverings. In this case an ounce of litharge to each pound of composition may be substituted in its stead, without this mixture doing any injury to the color which is to constitute the ground.
 

Seed-lac, 5 oz.; gum sandarac, 2 oz.; gum elemi, 1 1/2 oz.; Venice turpentine, 2 oz.; pounded glass, 5 oz.; pure alcohol, 24 oz.

Another. - Other turners employ the gum-lac united to a little elemi and turpentine digested some months in pure alcohol exposed to the sun. If this method be followed, it will be proper to substitute for the sandarac the same quantity of gum-lac reduced to powder, and not to add the turpentine to the alcohol, which ought to be exceedingly pure, till towards the end of the infusion.

Solar infusion requires care and attention. Vessels of a sufficient size to allow the spirituous vapors to circulate freely ought to be employed, because it is necessary that the vessels should be closely shut. Without this precaution the spirits would become weakened and abandon the resin which they laid hold of during the first day's exposure. This perfect obituration will not admit of the vessels being too full.

In general the varnishes applied to articles which may be put into the lathe acquire a great deal of brilliancy by polishing: a piece of woollen cloth is sufficient for the operation. If turpentine predominates too much in these compositions, the polish does not retain its lustre, because the heat of the hands is capable of softening the surface of the varnish, and in this state it readily tarnishes.
 

For this varnish a prize of 20 guineas was awarded by the Society of Arts, London. Dissolve 2 1/2 oz. of shellac in a pint of alcohol; boil for a few minutes with 5 oz. of wellburned and recently-heated animal charcoal. A small portion of the solution must then be filtered, and if not colorless more charcoal must be added. When all color is removed, press the liquid through a piece of silk, and afterwards filter through fine blotting paper. This varnish should be used in a room of at least 60° Fahr., and free from dust. It dries in a few minutes, and is not liable afterwards to chill or bloom. It is particularly applicable to drawings and prints which have been sized, and may be advantageously used upon oil paintings, which are thoroughly hard and dry, as it brings out the colors with the purest effect. This quality renders it a valuable varnish for all kinds of leather, as it does not yield to the warmth of the hand and resists damp.
 

Dissolve in an iron kettle 1 part of pearlash in about 8 parts of water; add 1 part of seed or shellac, and heat to boiling. When the lac is dissolved impregnate the whole with chlorine (made by gently heating 1 part black oxide of manganese with 4 of muriatic acid) until the lac is all precipitated. Wash, dry, and dissolve in alcohol.

To Varnish Dressing-Boxes.

The most of spirit of wine varnishes are destined for covering preliminary preparations, which have a certain degree of lustre. They consist of cement, colored or not colored, charged with landscapes and figures cut out in paper, which produces an effect under the transparent varnish. Most of the dressing-boxes, and other small articles of the same kind, are covered with this particular composition, which, in general, consists of three or four coatings of Spanish white pounded in water, and mixed up with parchment glue. The first coating is smoothed with pumicestone, and then polished with a piece of new linen and water. The coating in this state is fit to receive the destined color, after it has been ground with water and mixed with parchment glue diluted with water. The cut figures with which it is to be embellished are then applied, and a coating of gum or fish-glue is spread over them, to prevent the varnish from penetrating to the preparation, and from spoiling the figures. The operation is finished by applying 3 or 4 coatings of varnish, which when dry are polished with tripoli and water, by means of a piece of cloth. A lustre is then given to the surface with starch and a bit of doe-skin, or very soft cloth.
 

Take of gallipot, or white incense, 12 oz.; white glass, pounded, 5 oz.; Venice turpentine, 2 oz.; essence of turpentine, 32 oz. Make the varnish after the white incense has been pounded with the glass.

Some authors recommend mastic or sandarac in the room of gallipot, but the varnish is neither more beautiful nor more durable. When the color is ground with the preceding varnish and mixed up with the latter, which, if too thick, is thinned with a little essence, and which is applied immediately, and without any sizing, to boxes and other articles, the coatings acquire sufficient strength to resist the blows of a mallet. But if the varnish be applied to a sized color it must be covered with a varnish of the first or second genus.

Varnish for Electrical Purposes.

Dissolve the best red sealing-wax in alcohol. Two or three coats will make a complete covering. It may be applied to wood or glass.
 

Take of new gallipot, or white incense, 4 oz.; mastic, 2 oz.; Venice turpentine, 6 oz.; pounded glass, 4 oz.; essence of turpentine, 32 oz. Where the varnish is made with the precautions already indicated, add prepared nut-oil or linseed-oil, 2 oz.

The matters ground with this varnish dry more slowly, they are then mixed up with the following varnish, if it be for common painting, or with particular varnishes destined for colors and for grounds.
 

Take of seed-lac, 6 oz.; amber or copal, ground on porphyry, 2 oz.; dragon's blood, 40 grs.; extract of red sandal-wood, obtained by water, 30 grs.; oriental saffron, 36 grs.; pounded glass, 4 oz.; very pure alcohol, 40 oz.

To apply this varnish to articles or ornaments of brass, expose them to a gentle heat, and dip them into varnish. Two or three coatings may be applied in this manner, if necessary. The varnish is durable and has a beautiful color. Articles varnished in this manner may be cleaned with water and a bit of dry rag.
 

This lacquer or varnish is destined to change or to modify the color of those bodies to which it is applied.

Take of gum guttae (gamboge), 3/4 oz.; gum sandarac, gum elemi, each 2 oz.; dragon's blood, of the best quality, 1 oz.; seed-lac, 1 oz.; terra merita, 3/4 oz.; oriental saffron, 2 grs.; pounded glass, 3 oz.; pure alcohol, 20 oz.

The tincture of saffron and of terra merita is first obtained by infusing them in alcohol for 24 hours, or exposing them to the heat of the sun in summer. The tincture must be strained through a piece of clean linen cloth, and ought to be strongly squeezed. This tincture is poured over the dragon's blood, the gum elemi, the seed-lac, and the gum guttae, all pounded and mixed with the glass. The varnish is then made according to the directions before given.

It may be applied with great advantage to philosophical instruments. The use of it might be extended also to various cast or moulded articles with which furniture is ornamented.

If the dragon's blood be of the first quality it may give too high a color; in this case the dose may be lessened at pleasure, as well as that of the other coloring matters.
 

Take of seed-lac, 6 oz.; amber, gum guttae, each 2 oz.; extract of red sandal-wood in water, 24 grs.; dragon's blood, 60 grs.; oriental saffron, 36 grs.; pounded glass, 4 oz.; pure alcohol, 36 oz. Grind the amber, the seed-lac, gum guttae, and dragon's blood on a piece of porphyry; then mix them with the pounded glass, and add the alcohol, after forming with it an infusion of the saffron and an extract of the sandal-wood. The varnish must then be completed as before. The metal articles destined to be covered by this varnish are heated and those which will admit of it are immersed in packets. The tint of the varnish may be varied by modifying the doses of the coloring substances.
 

Take of seed-lac, 4 oz.; sandarac, or mastic, 4 oz.; dragon's blood, 1/2 oz.; terra merita, gum guttae, each 30 grs.; pounded glass, 5 oz.; clear turpentine, 8 oz.; essence of turpentine, 32 oz. Extract by infusion the tincture of the coloring substances, and then add the resinous bodies according to the directions for compound mastic varnish.

Lacquer or varnishes of this kind are called changing, because, when applied to metals, such as copper, brass, or hammered tin, or to wooden boxes and other furniture, they communicate to them a more agreeable color. Besides, by their contact with the common metals, they acquire a lustre which approaches that of the precious metals, and to which, in consequence of peculiar intrinsic qualities or certain laws of convention, a much greater value is attached. It is by means of these changing varnishes that artists are able to communicate to their leaves of silver and copper those shining colors observed in foils. This process of industry becomes a source of prosperity to the manufacturers of buttons and works formed with foil, which in the hands of the jeweller contributes with so much success to produce that reflection of the rays of light which doubles the lustre and sparkling quality of precious stones.

It is to varnish of this kind that we are indebted for the manufactory of gilt leather, which, taking refuge in England, has given place to that of papier-mache, which is employed for the decoration of palaces, theatres, etc.

In the last place, it is by the effect of a foreign tint, obtained from the coloring part of saffron, that the scales of silver disseminated in confection d'hyacinthe reflect a beautiful gold color.

The colors transmitted by different coloring substances, require tones suited to the objects for which they are destined. The artist has it in his own power to vary them at pleasure, by the addition of anatto to the mixture of dragon's blood, saffron, etc., or some changes in the doses of the mode intended to be made in colors. It is here impossible to give limited formula.

To make Lacquers of Various Tints.

There is one simple method by which artists may be enabled to obtain all the different tints they require. Infuse separately 4 oz. of gum guttae in 32 oz. of essence of turpentine, and 4 oz. of dragon's blood, and 1 oz. of annatto also in separate doses of essence. These infusions may be easily made in the sun. After 15 days exposure pour a certain quantity of these liquors into a flask, and by varying the doses different shades of color will be obtained.

These infusions may be employed also for changing alcoholic varnishes, but in this case the use of saffron, as well as that of red sandal-wood which does not succeed with essence, will soon give the tone necessary for imitating with other tinctures the color of gold.
 

Take of mastic, 1 oz.; gum sandarach, 1 oz.; gum guttae, 1/2 oz.; turpentine, 1/4 oz.; essence of turpentine, 6 oz.

Some artists, who make use of mordants, substitute for the turpentine 1 oz. of the essence of lavender, which renders this composition still less drying.

In general, the composition of mordants admits of modifications, according to the kind of work for which they are destined. The application of them, however, is confined chiefly to gold. When it is required to fill up a design with gold-leaf on any ground whatever, the composition, which is to serve as the means of union between the metal and the ground, ought to be neither too thick nor too fluid, because both these circumstances are equally injurious to delicacy in the strokes; it will be requisite also that the composition should not dry till the artist has completed his design
 

Some prepare their mordants with Jew's pitch and drying oil diluted with essence of turpentine. They employ it for gilding pale gold, or for bronzing.

Other artists imitate the Chinese, and mix with their mordants colors proper for assisting the tone which they are desirous of giving to the gold, such as yellow, red, etc.

Others employ merely fat varnish, to which they add a little red oxide of lead (minium).

Others make use of thick glue, in which they dissolve a little honey. This is what they call batture. When they are desirous of heightening the color of the gold, they employ this glue, to which the gold-leaf adheres exceedingly well.

Another. - The qualities of the following are fit for every kind of application, and particularly to metals: Expose boiled oil to a strong heat in a pan; when a black smoke is disengaged from it, set it on fire, and extinguish it a few moments after by putting on the cover of the pan. Then pour the matter still warm into a heated bottle, and add to it a little essence of turpentine. This mordant dries very speedily; it has body and adheres to, and strongly retains, gold-leaf, when applied to wood, metals, and other substances.
 

Take of Canada balsam, 1 oz.; spirit of turpentine, 2 oz.; mix them together. Before this composition is applied, the drawing or print should be sized with a solution of isinglass in water, and when dry, apply the varnish with a camel's-hair brush.

A Varnish to Color Baskets.

Take either red, black, or white sealing-wax, whichever color you wish to make; to every 2 oz. of sealingwax, add 1 oz. of spirit of wine; pound the wax fine, then sift it through a fine lawn sieve, till you have made it extremely fine; put it into a large phial with the spirit of wine, shake it, let it stand near the fire 48 hours, shaking it often; then, with a little, brush the baskets all over with it; let them dry, and do them over a second time.

To Prepare Anti-attrition.

According to the specification of the patent, this mixture consists of 1 cwt. of plumbago, to 4 cwt. of hog's lard, or other grease, the two to be well incorporated. The application is to prevent the affects of friction in all descriptions of engines or machines, and a sufficient quantity must be rubbed over the surface of the axle, spindle, or other part where the bearing is.

Liard,

A French lubricating compound, is thus made: Into 50 parts of the finest rape-oil put 1 part of India-rubber, cut into strips, and apply a gentle heat until nearly dissolved.

Varnish for Pales and Coarse Wood-work.

Take any quantity of tar, and grind it with as much Spanish-brown as it will bear, without rendering it too thick to be used as a paint or varnish, and then spread it on the poles, or other wood, as soon as convenient, for it quickly hardens by keeping.

This mixture must be laid on the wood to be varnished by a hard brush, or house-painter's tool; and the work should then be kept as free from dust and insects as possible, till the varnish is thoroughly dry. It will, if laid on smooth wood, have a very good gloss, and is an excellent preservative of it against moisture; on which account, as well as its being cheaper, it is far preferable to painting, not only for pales, but for weather-boarding, and all other kinds of woodwork for grosser purposes. Where the glossy brown color is not liked, the work may be made of a grayishbrown, by mixing a small proportion of white lead, or whiting and ivory black, with the Spanish-brown. Boiled coal-tar is extensively used for the same purpose.

A Black Varnish for Old Straw or Chip Hats.

Take of best black sealing-wax, 1/2 oz.; rectified spirit of wine, 2 oz.; powder the sealing-wax, and put it with the spirit of wine into a 4 oz. phial; digest them in a sand-heat, or near a fire, till the wax is dissolved; lay it on warm with a fine soft hair-brush, before a fire or in the sun. It gives a good stiffness to old straw hats, and a beautiful gloss, equal to new, and resists wet.
 

Take of good yellow soap, cut into slices, 2 1/2 lbs.; boiling water, 1 1/2 galls. Dissolve, and grind the solution while hot with 1 1/4 cwt. of good oil-paint. Used to paint on canvas.
 

This quality is given to cloth by simply passing it through a hot solution of weak glue and alum. To apply it to the cloth, make up a weak solution of glue, and while it is hot add a piece of alum (about 1 oz. to 2 qts.), and then brush it over the surface of the cloth while it is hot, and it is afterwards dried. Cloth in pieces may be run through this solution, and then run out of it and dried. By adding a few pieces of soap to the glue, the cloth will feel much softer. Goods in pieces may be run through a tubfull of weak glue, soap, and alum, and squeezed between rollers. This would be a cheap and expeditious mode of preparing them. Woollen goods are prepared by brushing them with the above mixture first in the inside, then with the grain or nap of the cloth; after which it is dried. It is the best to dry this first in the air, and then in a stove-room at a low heat; but allow the cloth to remain for a considerable time, to expel the moisture completely. This kind of cloth, while it is sufficiently water-proof to keep out the moisture and rain, being quite impervious to water, is pervious to the air.

To Thicken Linen Cloth for Screens and Bed-testers.

Grind whiting with zinc (white), and to prevent its cracking add a little honey to it; then take a soft brush and lay it upon the cloth, and so do 2 or 3 times, suffering it the meanwhile to dry between layings on; and for the last laying smooth it over with Spanish white ground with linseedoil, the oil being first heated and mixed with a small quantity of the litharge of gold, the better to endure the weather; and so it will be lasting.

Common Wax, or Varnished Cloth.

The manufacture of this kind of cloth is very simple. The cloth and linseed-oil are the principal articles required for the establishment. Common canvas, of an open and coarse texture, is extended on large frames placed under sheds, the sides of which are open, so as to afford a free passage to the external air. The manner in which the cloth is fastened to these frames is as follows: it is fixed to each side of the frame by hooks which catch the edge of the cloth, and by pieces of strong packthread passing through holes at the other extremity of the hooks, which are tied around movable pegs in the lower edge of the frame. The mechanism by which the strings of a violin are stretched or unstretched, will give some idea of the arrangement of the pegs employed for extending the cloth in this apparatus. By these means the cloth can be easily stretched or relaxed, when the oily varnish has exercised an action on its texture in the course of the operation. The whole being thus arranged, a liquid paste made with drying-oil, which may be varied at pleasure, is applied to the cloth.
 

Mix Spanish white, or tobacco-pipe clay, or any other argillaceous matter with water, and leave it at rest some hours, which will be sufficient to separate the argillaceous parts, and to produce a sediment. Stir the sediment with a broom, to complete the division of the earth; and after it has rested some seconds, decant the turbid water into an earthen or wooden vessel. By this process the earth will be separated from the sand and other foreign bodies, which are precipitated and which must be thrown away. If the earth has been washed by the same process on a large scale, it is divided by kneading it. The supernatant water is thrown aside and the sediment placed in sieves, on pieces of cloth, where it is suffered to drain; it is then mixed up with oil rendered drying by a large dose of litharge, that is about a fourth of the weight of the oil. The consistence of thin paste being given to the mixture, it is spread over the cloth by means of an iron spatula, the length of which is equal to that of the breadth of the cloth. This spatula performs the part of a knife, and pushes forward the excess of matter above the quantity sufficient to cover the cloth. When the first stratum is dry, a second is applied. The inequalities produced by the coarseness of the cloth, or by an unequal extension of the paste are smoothed down with pumice-stone. The pumice-stone is reduced to powder and rubbed over the cloth with a piece of soft serge or cork dipped in water. The cloth must then be well washed in water to clean it; and after it is dried, a varnish of gum-lac dissolved in linseedoil boiled with turpentine, is to be applied to it.

This preparation produces yellowish varnished cloth. When wanted black, mix lampblack with the Spanish white or tobacco-pipe clay, which forms the basis of the liquid paste. Various shades of gray may be obtained, according to the quantity of lampblack which is added. Umber, Cologne-earth, and different ochry argillaceous earths, may be used to vary the tints, without causing any addition to the expense.
 

Varnished silk, for making umbrellas, capots, coverings for hats, etc., is prepared in the same manner as the varnished and polished cloths already described, but with some variation in the liquid paste or varnish.

If the surface of the silk be pretty large, it is made fast to a wooden frame furnished with hooks and movable pegs, such as that used in the manufacture of common varnished cloths. A soft paste, composed of linseed-oil boiled with a fourth part of litharge; tobacco-pipe clay dried and sifted through a silk sieve, 16 parts; litharge, ground on porphyry with water, dried and sifted in the same manner, 3 parts, and lampblack, 1 part. This paste is then spread in a uniform manner over the surface of the silk by means of a long knife, having a handle at each extremity. In summer, 24 hours are sufficient for its desiccation. When dry, the knots produced by the inequalities of the silk are smoothed with pumicestone. This operation is performed with water, and, when finished, the surface of the silk is washed. It is then suffered to dry, and fat copal varnish is applied.

If it be intended to polish this varnish, apply a second stratum, after which polish it with a ball of cloth and very fine tripoli. The varnished silk thus made is very black, exceedingly pliable, and has a fine polish. It may be rumpled a thousand ways without retaining any fold, or even the mark of one. It is light, and therefore proper for coverings to hats, and for making cloaks and caps so useful to travellers in wet weather.

Another Method.

A kind of varnished silk, which has only a yellowish color, and which suffers the texture of the stuff to appear, is prepared with a mixture of 3 parts boiled oil of pinks, or linseed-oil, and 1 part of fat copal varnish, which is extended with a coarse brush or knife. Two strata are sufficient when oil has been freed from its greasy particles over a slow fire, or when boiled with a fourth part of its weight of litharge.

The inequalities are removed by pumice-stone and water, after which the copal varnish is applied. This simple operation gives to white silk a yellow color. which arises from the boiled oil and the varnish

This varnished silk possesses all those qualities ascribed to certain preparations of silk which are recommended to be worn as jackets by persons subject to rheumatism.
 

1. Boots and shoes may be rendered impervious to water by the following composition: Take 3 oz. of spermaceti and melt it in a pipkin, or other earthen vessel, over a slow fire; add thereto 6 drs. of India-rubber, cut into slices, and these will presently dissolve. Then add, seriatim, of tallow, 8 oz.; hog's lard, 2 oz.; amber varnish 4 oz. Mix, and it will be fit for use immediately. The boots or other material to be treated are to receive 2 or 3 coats with a common blacking-brush, and a fine polish is the result.

2. Half-pound of shoemaker's dubbing; 1/2 pt. of linseed-oil; 3 pt. of solution of India-rubber. Dissolve with a gentle heat (it is very inflammable), and rub on the boots. This will last for several months.

India-rubber Varnish.

Digest India-rubber, cut into small pieces, in benzine for several days, frequently shaking the bottle containing the materials. A jelly will be formed, which will separate from the benzine; this dissolved in the fixed and volatile oils, dries fast, does not crack or shine, unless mixed with some resinous substance.

On Chloroformic Solution of Gutta-percha.

Gutta-percha, in small slices, 1 1/2 oz.; chloroform, 12 fluidounces. To 8 fluidounces of the chloroform contained in a bottle, add the gutta-percha, and shake occasionally till dissolved, then add the carbonate of lead, previously mixed smoothly with the remainder of the chloroform, and, having shaken the whole thoroughly together several times at intervals of 1/2 hour, set the mixture aside, and let it stand for 10 days, or until the insoluble matter has subsided, and the solution has become limpid, and either colorless or of a slight straw-color. Lastly, decant, and keep the solution in a glass-stopped bottle.
 

Boiled oil, 1 gall.; umber, 8 oz.; asphaltum, 3 oz. oil of turpentine, as much as will reduce it to the thinness required.

To Preserve Tiles.

After the adoption of glazing, varnishing, etc., to increase the hardness of tiles, tarring has been found completely to stop their pores, and to render them impervious to water. This process is practicable, and not expensive. Lime and tar, whale-oil or dregs of oil, are equally adapted to the purpose, and still cheaper. Tarring is particularly efficacious when tiles are cracked by the frost. It is calculated that the expense of coal-tar for a roof of a middling extent, and supposing such a roof to require one hundredweight, would not exceed 15 dollars.

To Bronze Plaster Figures.

For the ground, after it has been sized and rubbed down, take Prussian blue, verditer and spruce ochre; grind them separately in water, turpentine, or oil, according to the work, and mix them in such proportions as will produce the color desired; then grind Dutch metal in a part of this composition, laying it with judgment on the prominent parts of the figure, which produces a grand effect.
 

Take 2 oz. of tripoli powdered, put it in an earthen pot with water to cover it, then take a piece of white flannel, lay it over a piece of cork or rubber, and proceed to polish the varnish, always wetting it with the tripoli and water. It will be known when the process is finished by wiping a part of the work with a sponge, and observing whether there is a fair even gloss. When this is the case, take a bit of mutton suet and fine flour and clean the work.

To Polish Wood.

Take a piece of pumice-stone and water, and pass regularly over the work until the rising of the grain is cut down; then take powdered tripoli and boiled linseed-oil, and polish the work to a bright surface.

To Polish Brass Ornaments inlaid in Wood.

File the brass very clean with a smooth file then take some tripoli powdered very fine, and mix it with the linseed oil. Dip in this a rubber of felt, with which polish the work until the desired effect is obtained.

If the work is ebony, or black rosewood, take some elder coal powdered very fine, and apply it dry after you have done with the tripoli, and it will produce a superior polish.

The French mode of ornamenting with brass differs widely from ours, theirs being chiefly water-gilt (or-moulu), excepting the flutes of columns, etc. which are polished very high with rotten-stone, and finished with elder coal.
 

Dissolve 2 parts of crystallized chloride of iron, 2 parts of solid chloride of antimony, and 1 part of gallic acid in 4 or 5 parts of water. With this moisten a piece of sponge or cloth and apply to the object, a gun-barrel for instance. Let it dry in the air, and repeat the operation several times, then wash with water; dry, and rub with boiled linseed-oil. Objects browned in this way have a very agreeable dead gray appearance, and the shade deepens according to the number of times the operation is repeated.
 

Take of ivory black and treacle, each 12 oz.; spermaceti oil, 4 oz.; white wine vinegar, 4 pts. Mix.

To make Liquid Blacking.

Take of vinegar, No. 18 (the common), 1 qt.; ivoryblack and treacle, each 6 oz.; vitriolic acid and spermaceti (or common oil), each 1 1/2 oz.

Mix the acid and oil first, afterwards add the other ingredients; if, when it is used, it does not dry quickly enough on the leather, add a little more of the vitriol, a little at a time, till it dries quickly enough. When there is too much of the vitriolic acid, which is various in its strength, the mixture will give it a brown color.

Vinegar is sold by numbers, viz., No. 18 (the weakest), 19, 20, 21, 22. The celebrated blacking is made with No. 18. When this mixture is properly finished, the ivory-black will be about one-third the contents of the bottle.

To make Bailey's Composition for Blacking-cakes.

Take gum tragacanth, 1 oz.; neat's-foot oil, superfine ivory-black, deep blue, prepared from iron and copper, each 2 oz.; brown sugar candy, river-water, each 4 oz. Having mixed well these ingredients, evaporate the water, and form your cakes.

To make Blacking Balls for Shoes.

Take mutton suet, 4 oz.; bees-wax, 1 oz.; sweet oil, 1 oz.; sugar candy and gum Arabic, 1 dr. each, in fine powder; melt these well together over a gentle fire, and add thereto about a spoonful of turpentine, and lampblack sufficient to give it a good black color. While hot enough to run, make it into a ball by pouring the liquor into a tin mould; or let it stand till almost cold; or it may be moulded by the hand.

To make Liquid Japan Blacking.

Take 3 oz. of ivory-black, 2 oz. of coarse sugar, 1 oz. of sulphuric acid, 1 oz. of muriatic acid, 1 tablespoonful of sweet oil and lemon acid, and 1 pt. of vinegar. First mix the ivory-black and sweet oil together, then the lemon and sugar, with a little vinegar to qualify the blacking, then add the sulphuric and muriatic acids, and mix them all well together.

Observation. - The sugar, oil, and vinegar prevent the acids from injuring the leather, and add to the lustre of the blacking.

A Cheap Method.

Ivory-black, 2 oz.; brown sugar, 1 1/2 oz.; and sweet oil, 1/2 tablespoonful. Mix them well, and then gradually add 1/2 pt. of small beer.

Another Method.

A quarter lb. of ivory-black, 1/4 lb. of moist sugar, a tablespoonful of flour, a piece of tallow about the size of a walnut, and a small piece of gum Arabic. Make a paste of the flour, and while hot put in the tallow then the sugar, and afterwards mix the whole well together in a quart of water.

India Rubber Blacking (Patent.)

Ivory-black, 60 lbs,; treacle, 45 lbs.; vinegar (No. 24) 20 galls.; powdered gum, 1 lb.; India-rubber oil, 9 lbs. (The latter is made by dissolving by heat 18 oz. of India rubber in 9 lbs. of rape-oil.) Grind the whole smooth in a paint-mill, then add by small quantities at a time 12 lbs. of oil of vitriol, stirring it strongly for 1/2 an hour a day for a fortnight.

To render Leather Water-proof.

This is done by rubbing or brushing into the leather a mixture of drying oils, and any of the oxides of lead, copper, or iron; or by substituting any of the gummy resins in the room of the metallic oxides.
 

Take of Canada balsam, 1 oz.; spirit of turpentine, 2 oz. Mix them together. Before this composition is applied, the drawing or print should be sized with a solution of isinglass in water; and when dry apply the varnish with a camel's-hair brush
 

Scrape 4 oz. of bees'-wax into a basin, and add as much oil of turpentine as will moisten it through. Now powder a 1/4 oz. of resin, and add as much Indian red as will bring it to a deep mahogany color. When the composition is properly stirred up, it will prove an excellent cement or paste for blemishes in mahogany and other furniture.

Another method.

Scrape 4 oz. of beeswax as before. To a pint of oil of turpentine, in a glazed pipkin, add an ounce of alkanet-root. Cover it close and put it over a slow fire, attending it carefully that it may not boil over, or catch fire. When the liquid is of a deep red, add as much of it to the wax as will moisten it through, also a quarter of an ounce of powdered resin. Cover the whole close, and let it stand 6 hours, when it will be fit for use.
 

Take linseed-oil, put it into a glazed pipkin with as much alkanet-root as it will cover. Let it boil gently, and it will become of a strong red color; when cool it will be fit for use.

To make Wash for Preserving Drawings made with a Black Lead Pencil.

A thin wash of isinglass will fix either black lead, or hard black chalk, so as to prevent their rubbing out; or the same effect may be produced by the simple application of skimmed milk, as has been proved by frequent trials. The best way of using the latter is to lay the drawing flat upon the surface of the milk; and then taking it up by one corner till it drains and dries. The milk must be perfectly free from cream, or it will grease the paper.

To make Varnish for Wood, which Resists the Action of Boiling Water.

Take 1 1/2 lbs. of linseed-oil, and boil it in a red copper vessel, not tinned, holding suspended over it, in a small linen bag, 5 oz. of litharge and 3 oz. of pulverized minium; taking care that the bag does not touch the bottom of the vessel. Continue the ebullition until the oil acquires a deep brown color, then take away the bag and substitute another in its place, containing a clove of garlic: continue the ebullition and renew the clove of garlic 7 or 8 times, or rather put them all in at once.

Then throw into the vessel 1 lb. of yellow amber, after having melted it in the following manner: Add to the pound of amber, well pulverized, 2 oz. of linseed oil, and place the whole on a strong fire. When the fusion is complete, pour it boiling into the prepared linseed-oil, and continue to leave it boiling for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring the whole up well. It is then left to settle; the composition is decanted and preserved, when it becomes cold, in well-corked bottles.

After polishing the wood on which this varnish is to be applied, you give to the wood the color required; for instance, for walnut-wood, a slight coat of a mixture of soot with the essence of turpentine. When this color is perfectly dry, give it a coat of varnish with a fine sponge. In order to spread it very equally, repeat these coats four times, taking care always to let the preceding coat be dried.

To Restore the Blackness of old Leather Chairs, etc.

Many families, especially in the country, possess chairs, settees, etc. covered with black leather. These, impaired by long use, may be restored nearly to their original good color and gloss by the following easy and approved process: Take yolks of 2 newly-laid eggs and the white of one. Let these be well beaten up, and then shaken in a glass vessel or jug, to become like thick oil; dissolve in about a tablespoonful or less of geneva, an ordinary tea-lump of loaf-sugar; make this thick with ivory black, well worked up with a bit of stick; mix with the egg for use. Let this be laid on as blacking ordinarily is for shoes; after a very few minutes, polish with a soft, very clean brush, till completely dry and shining, then let it remain a day to harden.

The same process answers admirably for ladies' or gentlemen's dress-shoes, but with the following addition for protecting the stockings from oil. Let the white or glair of eggs be shaken in a large glass phial until it becomes a perfect oil, brush over the inner edges of the shoes with it, and when completely dry, it will prevent any soiling from the leather. This requires to be repeated.
 

The process for making ivory transparent and flexible is simply immersion in liquid phosphoric acid, and the change which it undergoes is owing to a partial neutralization of the basic phosphate of lime, of which it principally consists. The ivory is cut in pieces not thicker than the twentieth part of an inch, and placed in phosphoric acid of a specific gravity of 1.131, until it has become transparent, when it is taken from the bath, washed in water, and dried with a clean linen cloth. It becomes dry in the air without the application of heat, and softens again under warm water.

Bleaching of Ivory.

Ivory knife-handles which have become quite yellow from use, being left for from 2 to 4 hours in a watery solution of sulphurous acid, become quite white again. The acid in the gaseous form makes the ivory crack.

To Varnish Drawings and Card Work.

Boil some clear parchment cuttings in water in a glazed pipkin, till they produce a very clear size. Strain it and keep it for use.

Give the work 2 coats of the size, passing the brush quickly over the work, not to disturb the colors.
 

Mix 1 gall. of oil of turpentine and 5 lbs. of powdered resin: put it in a tin can, on a stove, and let it boil for 1/2 an hour. When cool it is fit for use.
 

There are at present five principal varieties of papier-mache known in the trade, viz.: 1. Sheets of paper pasted together upon models. 2. Thick sheets or boards produced by pressing ordinary paper pulp between dies. 3. Fibrous slab, which is made of the coarse varieties of fibre only, mixed with some earthy matter, and certain chemical agents introduced for the purpose of rendering the mass incombustible. A cementing size is added, and the whole well kneaded together with the aid of steam. The kneaded mass is passed repeatedly through iron rollers, which squeeze it out to a perfectly uniform thickness. It is then dried at a proper temperature. 4. Carton pierre, which is made of pulp or paper mixed with whiting and glue, pressed into plaster piece-moulds, backed with paper, and, when sufficiently set, hardened by drying in a hot room. 5. Martin's Ceramic Papiermache, a new composition, patented in 1858, which consists of paper pulp, resin, glue, drying oil, and sugar of lead, mixed in certain fixed proportions and kneaded together. This composition is extremely plastic, and may be worked, pressed, or moulded into any required form. It may be preserved in this plastic condition for several months by keeping the air away, and occasionally kneading the mass.

The first-mentioned variety of papier-mache alone engages our attention here. A special kind of paper, of a porous texture, is manufactured for this purpose. An iron mould, of somewhat smaller size than the object required, is greased with Russian tallow. A sheet of the paper is laid on to the greased surface of the mould, and covered over with a coat of paste made of the best biscuit flour and glue, which is spread evenly all over the sheet with the hands; another sheet is then laid on, and rubbed down evenly, so that the two sheets are closely pasted together at all points. After this the mould is taken to the drying chamber, where it is exposed to a temperature of about 120°. When quite dry, which it takes several hours to accomplish, it is carried back to the pasting-room, and another sheet is laid on, with another coat of paste, after which it is returned to the drying chamber; and the same operation is repeated over and over again, until a sufficient thickness is attained, which, for superior articles such as are manufactured at these works, requires from 30 to 40 sheets of paper, and of course as many coats of paste between. The shell is then removed from the mould, and planed to shape with a carpenter's plane, after which it is dipped in linseed-oil and spirits of tar to harden it; this changes the color from gray to a dingy yellowish-brown tint. The article is then stoved, and 7 or 8 coats of varnish are laid on (with a stoving after each), which are cleared off each time, any equalities of surface being finally removed with pumice-stone. The number of drying processes the articles have to go through consume so much time that it takes 3 or 4 weeks to fit them for ornamentation, which is applied in bronze-powder, gold, or color, and, for many articles, also in mother-of-pearl. The ornamentation of these articles is sometimes effected in the highest style of the painter's art.

The gold-leaf is laid on with a solution of isinglass in water, the design then pencilled on with asphaltum, the superfluous gold removed with a dossil of cotton dipped in water, which leaves intact the parts touched with asphaltum, and the latter finally removed with essence of turpentine.

After the application of every coat of color or varnish, the object so colored or varnished is dried in an oven or chamber, called a stove, and heated by flues to as high a temperature as can safely be employed without injuring the articles, or causing the varnish to blister.

For black grounds, drop ivory-black mixed with darkcolored anime varnish is used; for colored grounds, the ordinary painters' colors, ground with linseed-oil or turpentine, and mixed with anime varnish.

The colors are protected against atmospheric influences, and made to shine with greater brilliance, by 2 or 3 coats of copal or anime varnish. Superior articles receive as many as 6 or 6 coats of varnish, and are finally polished.

The ornamentation of all such articles as come under the head of toilet wares is effected by the ordinary mode of painting with the camel's-hair pencil, or some fitting substitute; where imitation of woods or marble is intended, the ordinary grainers' tools are used. Many patterns are produced upon the various articles by "transfer printing." Designs in mother-of-pearl are laid on with black varnish; the article is then varnished all over, dried, then rubbed down over the design with pumice-stone; another coat of varnish is then laid on, dried, and the part covering the design again rubbed off with pumice stone; and thus several coats are laid on, until all the surface is level with that of the design. Ornamental lines writing, etc., are laid with color. The inlaying with mother-of-pearl is a laborious business, owing to the small size of the pieces at the artist's disposal, and the necessity of attending to a proper distribution and fitting of lights and shades.
 

M. Boettger describes a process for covering zinc with a chemical adherent, velvet-black varnish. Dissolve 2 parts by weight of nitrate of copper and 3 parts of crystallized chloride in 64 parts of distilled water; add 8 parts of hydrochloric acid of 110 density. Into this liquid plunge the zinc, previously scoured with fine sand, then wash the metal with water, and dry it rapidly.
 

Moderately-heated benzine dissolves half its weight of wax, and if this solution be carefully applied to the tool with a brush, the evaporation leaves a very adhesive and permanent coating of wax, which will preserve the metal even from the action of acid vapors.
 

Shields made in Silhet, in Bengal, are noted throughout India, for the lustre and durability of the black varnish with which they are covered. Silhet shields constitute, therefore, no inconsiderable article of traffic, being in request among natives who carry arms, and retain the ancient predilection for the scimitar and buckler. The varnish is composed of the expressed juice of the markingnut, Semecarpus anacardium, and that of another kindred fruit, Holigarna longifolia.

The shell of the Semecarpus anacardium contains between its integuments numerous cells, filled with a black, acrid, resinous juice, which likewise is found, though less abundantly, in the wood of the tree. It is commonly employed as an indelible ink, to mark all sorts of cotton cloth. The color is fixed with quicklime. The cortical part of the fruit of Holigarna longifolia likewise contains between its laminae numerous cells, filled with a black, thick, acrid fluid. The natives of Malabar extract by incision, with which they varnish targets.

To prepare the varnish according to the method practiced in Silhet, the nuts of the Semecarpus anacardium, and the berries of the Holigarna longifolia, having been steeped for a month in clear water, are cut transversely, and pressed in a mill. The expressed juice of each is kept for several months, taking off the scum from time to time. Afterwards the liquor is decanted, and two parts of the one are added to one part of the other, to be used as varnish. Other proportions of ingredients are sometimes employed, but in all the resinous juice of the Semecarpus predominates. The varnish is laid on like paint, and when dry is polished by rubbing it with an agate or smooth pebble. This varnish also prevents destruction of wood. etc. by the white ant.
 

Fix the leaf on the subject, similar to gold leaf, by the interposition of proper glutinous matters; spread the varnish upon the piece. When the first coat is dry wash the piece again and again with the varnish till the color appears sufficiently deep. What is called gilt-leather, and many picture-frames, have no other than this gilding; washing them with a little rectified spirit of wine affords a proof of this, the spirit dissolving the varnish, and leaving the silver leaf of its own whiteness. For plain frames thick tin foil may be used instead of silver. The tin-leaf, fixed on the piece with glue, is to be burnished, then polished with emery and a fine linen cloth, and afterwards with putty applied in the same manner; being then lacquered over with varnish 5 or 6 times, it looks very nearly like burnished gold. The same varnish, made with a less proportion of coloring materials, is applied also on works of brass, both for heightening the color of the metal to a resemblance with that of gold, and for preserving it from being tarnished by the air.

To Recover Varnish.

Clear off the filth with a lye made of potash, and the ashes of the lees of wine; then take 48 oz. of potash and 16 of the above mentioned ashes, and put them into 6 qts. of water, and this completes the lye.

To Polish Varnish.

This is effected with pumice-stone and tripoli earth. The pumice-stone must be reduced to an impalpable powder, and put upon a piece of serge moistened with water: with this rub lightly and equally the varnish substance. The tripoli must also be reduced to a very fine powder, and put upon a clean woollen cloth, moistened with olive-oil, with which the polishing is to be performed. The varnish is then to be wiped off with soft linen, and when quite dry cleaned with starch or Spanish white, and rubbed with the palm of the hand.

Process for giving various Objects a Pearly Lustre.

To produce the iridescence of mother-of-pearl on stone, glass, metal, resin, paper, silk, leather etc., Reinsch adopts the following process: 2 parts of solution of copal, 2 parts of that of sandarac, and 4 parts of solution of Damara resin (equal parts of resin and absolute alcohol) are mixed with half their volume of oil of bergamot or rosemary. This mixture is to be evaporated to the thickness of castor-oil. If this varnish be then drawn, by means of a feather or brush, over the surface of some water, it will form a beautiful iridescent pellicle. This film is now to be applied to the objects which are to be rendered iridescent. The vessel in which the water is contained, on which the pellicle has been produced, must therefore be as large as or larger than these objects. The water should have about 6 per cent. of pure solution of lime added to it; its temperature should be kept at about 72°. The objects are dried in the air.
 

The following paint has been found successful. Flour of sulphur, 3088 grs.; common linseed-oil, 2084 grs.; refined oil of manganese, 463 grs.
 

Take 50 parts of rosin, 40 of finely powdered chalk, 300 parts or less of fine, white, sharp sand, 4 parts of linseed-oil, 1 part of native red oxide of copper, and 1 part of sulphuric acid. First heat the rosin, chalk, sand and oil, in an iron boiler; then add the oxide, and, with care, the acid. Stir the composition carefully, and apply while hot. If too thick, add more oil. This coating, when cold and dry, forms a varnish hard as stone.
 

To make window glazing putty just mix linseed oil with some hydrated lime, it takes a few times to get the mix right, I have used raw linseed oil with no problems. I cut glass that I buy from recycling, it's easy to cut second hand glass the glaziers say.
 

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

Ordinary black writing-ink contains a mixture of the tannates and gallates of the proto and sesquioxide of iron. These are insoluble in water and are suspended by means of gum. Creosote or essential oils are added to prevent moulding.

Many receipts are given for inks; those found below are reliable. As a general rule, the use of vinegar, logwood, and salts of copper is not to be recommended. Inks so prepared are richer at first, but will fade and act on pens.

Most ink is pale when first written with, but becomes dark; this is owing to oxidation. Such ink lasts better than that which is very black.

When ink fades, it is from a decomposition of the organic matter; it may be restored by brushing over with infusion of galls or solution of ferrocynnide of potassium. The durability of any ink is impaired by the use of steel pens.

Writing Fluids.

Ink which is blue when first used (Stark's, Stephens's, Arnold's) contains sulphate of indigo, or soluble Prussian blue. It is an ink which is a true solution, and not merely a suspended precipitate. The same is true of Runge's Chrome Ink.

Marking Ink, containing nitrate of silver, are not indelible they may be removed by cyanide of potassium.

Carbon inks, such as coal-tar diluted with naphtha, are indelible.

Aniline black is nearly indelible; it is turned yellowish, but not removed, by chlorine.

To make common Black Ink.

Pour 1 gall. of boiling soft water on 7 lb. of powdered galls, previously put into a proper vessel. Stop the mouth of the vessel, and set it in the sun in summer, or in winter where it may be warmed by any fire, and let it stand 2 or 3 days. Then add 1/2 lb. of green vitriol powdered, and having stirred the mixture well together with a wooden spatula, let it stand again for 2 or 3 days, repeating the stirring, when add further to it 5 oz. of gum Arabic dissolved in a quart of boiling water; and, lastly, 2 oz. of alum, after which let the ink be strained through a coarse linen cloth for use.

Another. - A good and durable black ink may be made by the following directions: To 2 pts. of water add 3 oz. of the dark-colored, rough-skinned Aleppo galls in gross powder, and of rasped log-wood, green vitriol, and gum arabic, each, 1 oz.

This mixture is to be put in a convenient vessel, and well shaken four or five times a day, for ten or twelve days, at the end of which time it will be fit for use, though it will improve by remaining longer on the ingredients.

Stark's Ink (Writing Fluid).

Twelve oz. nut-galls, 8 oz. each, sulphate of indigo and copperas, a few cloves, 4 or 6 oz. of gum Arabic for a gallon of ink. The addition of the sulphate of indigo renders the ink more permanent and less liable to mould. It is blue when first written with, but soon becomes an intense black.

Chrome Ink (Runge's Ink).

This ink is of an excellent blue-black, does not fade, and, as it contains no gum, flows freely from the pen. It does not affect steel pens. Take 1 oz. extract of logwood, pour over it 2 qts. of boiling water, and, when the extract is dissolved, add 1 dr. of yellow chromate of potassa. This ink can be made for twenty-five gents a gallon. If put into an old inkstand, it must be thoroughly cleansed, as ordinary ink decomposes chrome ink.

Non-corrosive Writing Fluid.

Dissolve sulphate of indigo (chemic or Saxony blue) in twelve times its weight of water, add carbonate of soda as long as any precipitate falls, dissolve this in 160 parts of boiling water, let it settle and use the clear portion. It dries nearly black, flows very freely, and will not corrode pens or paper.

Alizarine Ink, Leonhardi.

Digest 24 parts Allepo galls with 3 parts Dutch madder and 120 parts warm water. Filter. Mix 1.2 parts solution of indigo, 5.2 parts sulphate of iron, and 2 parts crude acetate of iron solution. This ink contains no gum, cannot get mouldy; the tannate of iron is prevented from separating by the sulphate of indigo. Alizarine ink may be evaporated to dryness and formed into cakes. One part with 6 parts hot water will then form an excellent writing fluid.

Indestructible Ink for Resisting the Action of Corrosive Substances.

On many occasions it is of importance to employ an ink indestructible by any process, and will not equally destroy the material on which it is applied. For black ink, 25 grs. of copal in powder, are to be dissolved in 200 grs. of oil of lavender, by the assistance of a gentle heat, and are then to be mixed with 2 1/2 grs. of lampblack and 1/2 gr. of indigo; for red ink use 120 grs. of oil of lavender, 17 grs. of Copal, and 60 grains of vermilion. A little oil of lavender or of turpentine may be added if the ink be found too thick. A mixture of genuine asphaltum dissolved in oil of turpentine or benzine, amber varnish and lampblack, would be still superior.

This ink is particularly useful in labelling phials, etc. containing chemical or corrosive substances.

Ink Powder.

Take 4 oz. powdered galls; dried sulphate of iron, 1 oz.; powdered gum, 1 oz.; white sugar, oz.; to make a quart of ink with water or beer.
 

Jules Guillier, who received five years' exclusive privilege in Paris for making marking inks, gives the following formulae. But one preparation is required, and the inventor states that they will not wash out or fade.

No 1. Nitrate of silver, 11 parts; distilled water, 85 parts; powdered gum Arabic, 20 parts; carbonate of soda, 22 parts; solution of ammonia, 30 parts. Dissolve the carbonate of soda, and afterwards the gum (by trituration in a mortar) in the water, dissolve the nitrate of silver in the ammonia and add to the carbonate of soda solution. Heat gently to the boiling point; the ink at first turbid, becomes clear and very dark.

No. 2. Nitrate of silver, 5 parts; distilled water, 12 parts; powdered gum Arabic, 5 parts; carbonate of soda, 7 parts; solution of ammonia, 10 parts. Heat as before, and heat until it has a very dark color. This ink is very black and is suitable for marking by stamps.

A Purple-red Ink for Marking Linen.

The place where the linen is to be marked is first wetted with a solution consisting of 3 drs. of carbonate of soda, and 3 drs. of gum Arabic, dissolved in 1 1/2 oz. of water, then dried and smoothed. The place is now to be written on with a solution composed of 1 dr. of chloride of platina dissolved in 2 oz. of distilled water, then allowed to dry. When quite dry, the writing is to be painted over with a goose's feather, moistened with a liquid consisting of one dr. of protochloride of tin dissolved in 2 oz. of distilled water.

Blue and Indelible Black Ink.

Take of iodide of potassium, 1 oz.; iodine, 6 drs.; water, 4 oz.; dissolve. Make a solution of 2 oz. of ferrocyanide of potassium in water. Add the iodine solution to the second. A blue precipitate will fall, which, after filtering, may be dissolved in water forming a blue ink. This blue, added to common ink, renders it indelible.

Carmine Ink

Dissolve 10 grs. of the best carmine in the least quantify possible of solution of ammonia. Let it stand for 24 hours, and add 2 1/2 fl. oz. of distilled water.

To take out Spots of Ink.

As soon as the accident happens, wet the place with juice of sorrel or lemon, or with vinegar, and the best hard white soap, or use a weak solution of oxalic acid.

To take out Marking Ink.

Ordinary marking-ink is removed by wetting with a solution of cyanide of potassium and afterwards washing with water. The cyanide must be carefully handled, as it is a violent poison.

To make New Writing look Old.

Take 1 dr. of saffron, and infuse it into 1/2 pt. of ink, and warm it over a gentle fire, and it will cause whatever is written with it to turn yellow, and appear as if of many years' standing.

To Write on Greasy Paper or Parchment.

Put to a bullock's gall 1 handful of salt, and 1/4 pt. of vinegar; stir it until it is mixed well; when the paper or parchment is greasy, put 1 drop of the gall into the ink, and the difficulty will be instantly obviated.

To Restore Decayed Writings.

1. Cover the letters with solution of ferrocyanide of potassium, with the addition of a diluted mineral acid; upon the application of which, the letters change very speedily to a deep blue color, of great beauty and intensity. To prevent the spreading of the color, which, by blotting the parchment, detracts greatly from the legibility, the ferrocyanide should be put on first, and the diluted acid added upon it. The method found to answer best has been to spread the ferrocyanide thin with a feather or a bit of stick cut to a blunt point. Though the ferrocyanide should occasion no sensible change of color, yet the moment the acid comes upon it, every trace of a letter turns at omce to a fine blue, which soon acquires its full intensity, and is beyond comparison stronger than the color of the original trace. If, then, the corner of a bit of blotting-paper be carefully and dexterously applied near the letters, so as to imbibe the superfluous liquor, the staining of the parchment may be in a great measure avoided; for it is this superfluous liquor which, absorbing part of the coloring matters from the letters, becomes a dye to whatever it touches. Care must be taken not to bring the blotting-paper in contact with the letters, because the coloring matter is soft whilst wet, and may easily be rubbed off. The acid chiefly employed is the muriatic; but both the sulphuric and nitric succeed very well. They should be so far diluted as not to be liable to corrode the parchment, after which the degree of strength does not seem to be a matter of much nicety.

2. Morid's Process. - The paper or parchment written on is first left for some time in contact with distilled water. It is then placed for 5 seconds in a solution of oxalic acid (1 of acid to 100 of water); next, after washing it, it is put in a vessel containing a solution of gallic acid (10 grs. of acid to 300 of distilled water); and finally washed again and dried. The process should be carried forward with care and promptness, that any accidental discoloration of the paper may be avoided.

To take Impressions from Recent Manuscripts.

This is done by means of fusible metal. In order to show the application of it, paste a piece of paper on the bottom of a China saucer, and allow it to dry; then write upon it with a common writing ink, and sprinkle some finely powdered gum Arabic over the writing, which produces a slight relief. When it is well dried, and the adhering powder brushed off, the fusible metal is poured into the saucer, and is cooled rapidly, to prevent crystallization. The metal then takes a cast of the writing, and, when it is immersed in slightly warm water to remove adhering gum, impressions may be taken from it as from a copper-plate.

Another Method.

Put a little sugar into a common writing ink and let the writing be executed with this upon common paper, sized as usual. When a copy is required, let unsized paper be taken and lightly moistened with a sponge. Then apply the wet paper to the writing, and passing lightly a flat-iron of a moderate heat, such as is used by laundresses, over the unsized paper, the copy will be immediately produced. This method requires no machine or preparation, and may be employed in any situation.

To Produce a Fac-simile of any Writing.

The pen should be made of glass enamel; the point being small and finely polished; so that the part above the point may be large enough to hold as much ink as, or more than a common writing pen.

A mixture of equal parts of Frankfort black, and fresh butter is now to be smeared over sheets of paper, and rubbed off after a certain time. The paper, thus smeared, is to be pressed for some hours, taking care, to have sheets of blotting paper between each of the sheets of black paper. When fit for use, writing-paper is put between sheets of blackened paper, and the upper sheet is to be written on, with common writing-ink, by the glass or enamel pen. By this method, not only the copy is obtained on which the pen writes, but also two or more, made by means of the blackened paper.

Substitute for Copying Machines.

In the common ink used, dissolve lump sugar (1 dr. to 1 oz. of ink). Moisten the copying paper, and then put it in soft cap-paper to absorb the superfluous moisture. Put the moistened paper on the writing, place both between some soft paper, and either put the whole in the folds of a carpet, or roll upon a ruler 3 or 4 times.

To Copy Writings.

Take a piece of unsized paper exactly of the size of the paper to be copied; moisten it with water, or with the following liquid: Take of distilled vingar, 2 lbs.; dissolve it in 1 oz. of boracic acid; then take 4 oz. of oyster-shells calcined to whiteness, and carefully freed from their brown crust; put them into the vinegar, shake the mixture frequently for 24 hours, then let it stand till it deposits its sediment; filter the clear part through unsized paper into a glass vessel; then add 2 oz. of the best Aleppo galls bruised, and place the liquor in a warm place; shake it frequently for 24 hours, then filter the liquor again through unsized paper, and add to it after filtration, 1 qt., ale measure, of pure water. It must then stand 24 hours, and be filtered again, if it shows a disposition to deposit any sediment, which it generally does. When paper has been wet with this liquid, put it between 2 thick unsized papers to absorb the superfluous moisture; then lay it over the writing to be copied, and put a piece of clean writing-paper above it. Put the whole on the board of a rolling-press, and press them through the rolls, as is done in printing copperplates, and a copy of the writing will appear on both sides of the thin moistened paper, on one side in a reversed order and direction, but on the other side in the natural order and direction of the lines.
 

Ink for the rolling-press is made of linseed-oil, burnt just as for common printing-ink, and is then mixed with Frankfort black, finely ground. There are no certain proportions, every workman adding oil or black to suit. Good ink depends most on the purity of the oil, and on its being thoroughly burned. Test it occasionally by cooling a drop on the inside of an oyster-shell; feel it between the thumb and finger, and if it draws out into threads, it is burnt enough. Weak oil well charged with black is called stiff ink. Oil fully burned and charged with as much black as it will take in, is termed strong ink. The character of the engraving to be printed determines which is suitable. It is cleaned out with spirits of turpentine.

Another Method.

Instead of Frankfort, or other kinds of black commonly used, the following composition may be substituted, and will form a much deeper and more beautiful black than can be obtained by any other method. Take of the deepest Prussian blue, 5 parts, and of the deepest colored lake and brown pink, each 1 part. Grind them well with oil of turpentine, and afterwards with the strong and weak oils in the manner and proportion above directed. The colors need not be bright for this purpose, but they should be the deepest of the kind, and perfectly transparent in oil, as the whole effect depends on that quality.
 

Ten or 12 galls. of nut or linseed-oil are set over the fire in a large iron pot, and brought to boil. It is then stirred with an iron ladle; and whilst boiling, the inflammable vapor arising from it either takes fire of itself or is kindled, and is suffered to burn in this way for about 1/2 hour; the pot being partially covered so as to regulate the body of the flame, and consequently the heat communicated to the oil. It is frequently stirred during this time that the whole may be heated equally; otherwise a part would be charred, and the rest left imperfect. The flame is then extinguished by entirely covering the pot. The oil, by this process, has much of its unctuous quality destroyed; and when cold is of the consistence of soft turpentine; it is then called varnish. After this, it is made into ink by mixture with the requisite quantity of lampblack, of which about 2 1/2 oz. are sufficient for 16 oz. of the prepared oil. The oil loses by the boiling about 1/8 of its weight, and emits very offensive fumes. Several other additions are made to the oil during the boiling, such as crusts of bread, onions, and sometimes turpentine. These are kept secret by the preparers. The intention of them is more effectually to destroy part of the unctuous quality of oil, to give it more body, to enable it to adhere better to the wetted paper, and to spread on the types neatly and uniformly.

Besides these additions, others are made by the printers, of which the most important is a little fine indigo in powder, to improve the beauty of the color.

Another Method.

One pound of lampblack ground very fine or run through a lawn sieve; 2 oz. of Prussian blue ground very fine; 4 oz. of linseed oil, well boiled and skimmed; 4 oz. of spirit of turpentine, very clear; 4 oz. of soft varnish, or neat's-foot oil. To be well boiled and skimmed; and while boiling the top burned off by several times applying lighted paper. Let these be well mixed; then put the whole in a jug, place that in a pan, and boil them very carefully 1 hour.

A Fine Black Printing ink.

Less turpentine and oil, without Prussian blue, for common ink.

Best Printing-Ink.

In a secured iron pot (fire outside when possible), boil 12 galls. of nut or linseed-oil; stir with iron ladle, long handle; while boiling put an iron cover partly over; set the vapor on fire by lighted paper often applied; keep stirring well, and on the fire 1 hour at least (or till the oily particles are burnt); then add 1 lb. of onions cut in pieces, and a few crusts of bread, to get out the residue of oil; also varnish, 16 oz.; fine lampblack, 3 oz., ground indigo, 1/2 oz. Boil well 1 hour.

Good Common Printing Ink.

Take 16 oz. of varnish, 4 oz. of linseed-oil well boiled, 4 oz. of clear oil of turpentine, 16 oz. of fine lampblack, 2 oz. of Prussian blue, fine, 1 oz. of indigo, fine. Boil 1 hour.

Printers' Red Ink.

Soft varnish and vermilion with white of eggs not very thick. Common varnish, red lead and orange. Colcothar is indelible.

Blue.

Prussian blue and a little ivory-black with varnish and eggs very thick. Common indigo and varnish; then wash off with boiling lees.

Green.

Sesquioxide of chromium (chrome green). This is the ink used in printing Greenbacks. It is indestructible, and cannot be photographed.

Perpetual Ink for Inscriptions on Tombstones, Marbles, etc.

This ink is formed by mixing about 3 parts of pitch with 1 part of lampblack, and making them incorporate by melting the pitch. With this composition, used in a melted state, the letters are filled, and will, without extraordinary violence, endure as long as the stone itself.

Ink for Writing on Zinc Labels.

Horticultural ink. - Dissolve 100 grs. of chloride of platinum in a pint of water. A little mucilage and lampblack may be added.

Another. - Mix thoroughly 2 parts (by weight) verdigris, 2 of sal ammoniac, 1 of lampblack, and 30 of water. Always shake well before using, and write with a quill pen. Writings made on zinc with this ink will keep many years.

Indian-ink.

Let ivory or lampblack be mixed with a small portion of Prussian blue or indigo, for a blue-black, and let the same blacks be united with raw or burnt umber, bistre, vandyke or any other brown, instead of the blue, for a brownblack. These should be mixed together in a weak gumwater (perhaps matt-work would answer the purpose better), first levigating them very fine, in common water, on a marble slab. When dried to the consistence of a paste, let the glutinous matter be well mixed with them; that will be found sufficiently strong, which binds the composition so as to prevent rubbing off by the touch. Indian-ink drawings should be handled as lightly as possible. Too much gum in the composition will create an offensive gloss.

Another Method.

Isinglass, 6 oz.; and 12 oz. of soft water; make into size; add 1 oz. of refined liquorice, ground up with 1 oz. of genuine ivory-black, and stir the whole well. Evaporate the water in balneum maria, and form the sticks or cakes.

A Substitute for Indian-ink.

Boil parchment slips or cuttings of glove-leather in water till it forms a size, which, when cool, becomes of the consistence of jelly; then, having blackened an earthen plate, by holding it over the flame of a candle, mix up, with a camel-hair pencil, the fine lampblack thus obtained with some of the above size, while the plate is still warm. This black requires no grinding, and produces an ink of the same color, which works as freely with the pencil, and is as perfectly transparent as the best Indian-ink.
 

Sympathetic inks are such as do not appear after they are written with, but which may be made to appear at pleasure by certain means to be used for that purpose. A variety of substances have been used as sympathetic inks, among which are the following:

Chloride of Gold and Tin.

Write with a solution of gold in aqua regia, and let the paper dry gently in the shade. Nothing will appear, but draw a sponge over it, wetted with a solution of tin in aqua regia, and the writing will immediately appear, of a purple color.

Starch and Iodide.

Write with weak boiled starch, and when the writing is required to appear, brush over with a weak solution of iodine; the letters will appear blue.

Chloride of Cobalt,

When pure, is invisible in dilute solution, but gives a blue when exposed to a gentle heat; if it contains (as it usually does) some nickel, the color will be green. A little common salt should be added to the solution, so that it will remain more on the paper. It can then be brought out and suffered to fade for many successive times.

Other Sympathetic Inks.

Write on paper with a solution of nitrate of bismuth, and smear the writing over by means of a feather with some infusion of galls. The letters, which were before invisible, will now appear of a brown color. If the previous use of nitrate of bismuth be concealed from the spectators, great surprise will be excited by the appearance of writing, merely by the dash of a feather. The same phenomenon will take place when infusion of galls is written with, and the salt of bismuth applied afterwards.

Another. - Write on a sheet of paper any sentence with a transparent infusion of nut-galls, and dip the paper in a transparent solution of the sulphate of iron. The writing, which was before invisible, will now, on a slight exposure to the air, turns quite black. A neater way of performing this experiment will be by smearing the written parts over with a feather dipped in the solution of the metallic salt; it may also be reversed, by writing with the salt and smearing with the infusion.

Another. - If a letter be written with a solution of sulphate of iron, the inscription will be invisible, but if it afterwards be rubbed over by a feather dipped in a solution of prussiate of potassa, it will appear of a beautiful blue color.

Another. - Write a letter with a solution of nitrate of bismuth, The letters will be invisible. If a feather be now dipped in a solution of the prussiate of potass, and rubbed over the paper, the writing will appear of a beautiful yellow color, occasioned by a formation of prussiate of bismuth.

Another. - Write with a solution of sugar of lead or tartar emetic; moisten the writing (or drawing) and expose to a current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The lead will turn black, and the antimony orange brown.
 

These are drawn partly in Indian-ink and partly in sympathetic inks, which are only visible when gently heated. The picture represents ordinarily a winter scene, but when heated the sky becomes blue, the leaves green, and flowers and fruit are seen. The materials are as follows: Green, chloride of nickel; blue, pure chloride or acetate of cobalt; yellow, chloride of copper; brown, bromide of copper. If the picture is too highly heated it will not again fade.

COLORED INKS.

Gold Ink.

Mosaic gold, 2 parts, gum Arabic, 1 part, are rubbed up with water until reduced to a proper condition.

Silver Ink.

Triturate in a mortar equal parts of silver foil and sulphate of potassa, until reduced to a fine powder; then wash out the salt, and mix the residue with a mucilage of equal parts of gum Arabic and water.

Brown Ink.

Digest powdered catechu, 4 parts, with water 60 parts, for some hours; filter, and add sufficient of a solution of bichromate of potassa, 1 part in 16 of water.

Yellow Ink.

Macerate gamboge, 1 part (or 1 1/2); alum, 1/2 part; gum Arabic, 1 part, in acetic acid, 1 part; and water, 24 parts.

Blue Ink.

Triturate best Prussian blue, 6 parts, with a solution of 1 part of oxalic acid in 6 of water, and towards the end of 1/4 of an hour or so add gradually gum Arabic, 18 parts, and water, 280. Pour off clear.

Red Inks.

1. Pernambuco-wood, 4 parts; alum and cream of tartar, each 1 part, with 30 of water; boil down to 16 parts, let stand, pour off, filter, and dissolve in the liquid gum Arabic, 1 1/2 parts; white sugar, 1 part.

2. Digest powdered cochineal, 8 parts, and carbonate of potash, 16 parts, in 144 of water, for 24 hours; then boil up with powdered alum, 4 parts, and add 24 of cream of tarter, with 3 parts of tartaric acid, and, when effervescence has ceased, another part of the acid, or enough to produce the color; let cool, filter, and boil the residue on the filter with 12 parts of water; filter again, mix the liquids and dissolve in them 24 parts of gum Arabic, and lastly 1/3 part of oil of cloves. No iron vessels must be used in this process.

3. Digest powdered cochineal, 16 parts; oxalic acid, 2 parts; dilute acetic acid, 80 parts; distilled water, 40 parts, for 36 hours; then add powdered alum, 1 part; gum Arabic, 1 to 10; shake up, let stand for 12 hours, and strain.

4. Dissolve 1 part of carmine in 8 to 10 parts of aqua ammonia, and add mucilage of gum Arabic sufficient to reduce it properly.

Violet Ink.

Eight parts of logwood and 64 parts of water; boil down to one-half, then strain and add 1 part of chloride of tin.

Green Inks.

1. Digest 1 part of gamboge with from 7 to 10 parts of the blue ink.

2. To powdered bichromate of potassa, 8 parts, contained in a porcelain dish, add oil of vitriol, 8 parts, previously diluted with 64 of water; then heat, and, while evaporating, add gradually 24 parts of alcohol, and reduce to 56 parts, which filter, and in the clear liquor dissolve 8 parts of gum Arabic.

Crimson Ink.

A beautiful crimson ink is made by mixing red ink No. 1 with the violet ink; about equal parts will answer.

The parts given are those of weight, not measure. The mucilage of gum Arabic prevents the fine particles of color falling to the bottom in the form of a sediment. Sugar gives to inks a glossy appearance and very little of it should be used, as it is liable to make the ink sticky.