2. Seed-lac, 3 oz.; turmeric, 1 oz.; dragon’s blood, 1⁄4 oz.; rectified spirit, 1 pint; digest for a week, frequently shaking, then decant the clear portion. Deep gold coloured.
3. Spanish annotta, 3 lbs.; dragon’s blood, 1 lb.; gum sandarach, 31⁄4 lbs.; rectified spirit, 2 galls.; turpentine varnish, 1 quart; as before. Red coloured.
4. Gamboge, 1 oz.; Cape aloes, 3 oz.; pale shell-lac, 1 lb.; rectified spirit, 2 galls.; as before. Pale brass coloured.
5. Seed-lac, dragon’s blood, annotta, and gamboge, of each 1⁄4 lb.; gum sandarach, 2 oz.; saffron, 1 oz.; rectified spirit, 1 gall. Resembles the last.
Obs. Lacquers are used upon polished metals and wood, to impart to them the appearance of gold. Articles in brass, tin plate, and pewter, or which are covered with tinfoil, are more especially so treated. As lacquers are required of different depths and shades of colour, it is best to keep a concentrated solution of each of the colouring ingredients ready, so that it may be added, at any time, to produce any desired tint.
Varnish, Mahogany. Prep. From gum animé (‘sorts’), 8 lbs.; clarified oil, 3 galls.; litharge and powdered dried sugar of lead, of each 1⁄4 lb.; proceed as for body varnish, and thin with oil of turpentine, 5 galls., or q. s.
Varnish, Mastic. Syn. Picture varnish, Turpentine v., Tingry’s essence v. Prep. 1. Take of pale and picked gum mastic, 5 lbs.; glass (pounded as small as barley, and well Washed and dried), 3 lbs.; finest newly rectified oil of turpentine (lukewarm), 2 galls.; put them into a clean 4-gall. tin bottle or can, bung down securely, and keep rolling it backwards and forwards pretty smartly on a counter, or any other solid place, for at least 4 hours, when, if the gum is all dissolved, the varnish may be decanted, strained through muslin into another bottle, and allowed to settle; if the solution is still incomplete, the agitation must be continued for some time longer, or the gentle warmth applied as well. Very fine.
2. (Second quality.) From mastic, 4 lbs.; oil of turpentine, 2 galls.; dissolve with heat.
Obs. Mastic varnish is much used for pictures, &c.; when good, it is tough, hard, brilliant, and colourless. It greatly improves by age, and, when possible, should never be used before it has been made at least a twelve-month. Should it get ‘chilled,’ 1 lb. of well-washed siliceous sand should be made moderately hot and added to each gallon, which must then be well agitated for 5 minutes, and afterwards allowed to settle.
Varnish, Oak. Syn. Wainscot varnish, Common turpentine v. Prep. 1. Clear pale resin, 31⁄2 lbs.; oil of turpentine, 1 gall.; dissolve.