Blue.—Steeping in a strong solution of sulphate of copper will impart a light blue. If dark blue is wanted, the article must be boiled in a solution of sulphate of indigo in which a little salt of tartar has been dissolved.
Green.—This is got either by boiling for a time in a solution of verdigris in vinegar, or an article already stained blue by the process above mentioned may be steeped in nitro-muriate of tin.
Yellow.—Immerse for a day or two in a solution of chromate of potash, then for a few minutes in boiling-hot solution of sugar-of-lead. Or you may reverse this order and steep first in the sugar-of-lead solution, then in that of chromate of potash.
Now to return for a moment to our horns. After you have nicely polished them you will naturally want to set them up. To do this you must get a piece of thick softish wood, and shape therefrom something in the semblance of a piece of the animal’s skull and forehead that the horns originally belonged to, leaving at each upper side a piece of wood, rounded, some inches long. To these elongated corners you fix the horns. The next thing will be to cover the wooden skull with something resembling the skin of the animal. Real skin, well preserved, will of course suit best, and it is to be brought round and tacked on the nether side. But black or brown astrakan cloth will generally do very well.
Your work is now finished, and you may hang the horns in your hall if you have one; if not, they will look well above the mantelpiece.
Very nice powder-horns may be made in the same way. Lads who wear the kilt, or Highland dress, sling these in a chain over the chest and shoulders, and handsome ornaments they make.
Bones of any kind are polished by paring, scraping, and rubbing in precisely the same way that horns are; and so is ivory, though it is much more difficult to work owing to its hardness. It is also very expensive.
Tortoiseshell requires great care in polishing, because it is thinner than horn, and you are apt to cut through it. Scrape it carefully first with a knife, then with glass, then with very fine glasspaper and water, or bath-brick and oil; next with rottenstone and oil. But the rottenstone must be specially prepared for the purpose. It should be pounded in a mortar—what a handy thing a mortar is for purposes innumerable! and it is not at all an expensive article—pounded well, and afterwards run through fine muslin. It is used mixed with oil.
The final polish for tortoiseshell is obtained by rubbing hard and well with jewellers’ rouge (a preparation of calcined oxide of iron). This is used upon a piece of prepared washleather.