This is well adapted for attaching different objects, and especially for fixing shells to pasteboard, etc.
GUM PASTE.
| White Sugar Candy, | 2 | ounces. |
| Common Gum-Arabic, | 4 | ounces. |
Let these be melted in a pot of hot water, and then strained through a linen or horse-hair sieve. When properly dissolved, add to it two tablespoonfuls of starch, or hair-powder, and mix the whole well together. This paste may be used for many purposes, and it never spoils. It may be dried, and by pouring a little warm water on it, it will soon be ready for use. If it is wished to be all melted, and hurriedly, the pot containing it should be placed in warm water, or sand.
FLOUR PASTE.
Make flour paste in the ordinary way, and add to it a small portion of the solution of corrosive sublimate, or powdered corrosive sublimate. This will prevent the attack of mites, to which paste is very liable when dried. This paste may be dried into a cake, and moistened when required.
SOLUTION OF GUM-ARABIC.
The solution of gum-arabic is made by simply adding water to it. When used as a varnish, or for attaching objects, it is extremely apt to get too brittle, in very warm weather, and to crack, or split off in scales; to prevent this, a quarter of an ounce of white or brown sugar-candy must be added to two ounces of gum-arabic,
PAPER PASTE, GUMMED.
Take a coffee-pot, filled with water, and add to it a quantity of paper, which has been slightly sized, like that used for printing engravings. Let it boil three hours, and, when the water has evaporated, boil it again for a similar length of time. Take out the paper, and squeeze it well in a colander, and then pound it in a mortar, until it is reduced to a very fine paste. It must then be dried. When it is required for use, add to it some of the solution of gum-arabic, and keep it in a pot for use.