Paper and Printing Recipes / A Handy Volume of Practical Recipes, Concerning the Every-Day Business of Stationers, Printers, Binders, and the Kindred Trades

by John Sawtelle Ford

To Make a Carmine.

Take 9 ozs. carbonate of soda and dissolve in 27 quarts of rain-water, to which add 8 ozs. of citric acid. When boiling, add 1½ lbs. of best cochineal, ground fine, and boil for one and a quarter hours. Filter and set the liquor aside until cool. Then boil the clear liquor for ten minutes with 9½ ozs. of alum. Draw off, and allow the mixture to settle for two or three days. Again draw off the liquor, and wash the sediment with clear, cold, soft water, and then dry the sediment.