Inasmuch as cupro-ammonium not only stains the skin but irritates it, do not let it touch the skin. There is no danger in the matter, only inconvenience. You do not want the ladies of your family petulantly complaining about those boys having been ‘dabbling with their filthy chemicals.’ Should your fingers get stained, a little vinegar will get out the stain, but not without a certain smarting that may as well be avoided.
The chief tool you will have to employ will be a finger of the right hand. Some operators may prefer the forefinger to others; the second will come most natural. But whichever finger you determine to employ, case it in india-rubber. This is easily done, and as follows: Having procured a sheet of raw or unvulcanised india-rubber, cut a piece off, hold out your finger, and get some friend, after warming the rubber, to stretch it over the finger so:—
squeezing the rubber where it comes round the finger above into a flattened crest. The two surfaces will stick together quite as much as is desirable. Now let the operator, with a pair of sharp scissors, and at one sweep, cut away the crest close up to the finger. You will then have an india-rubber finger-stall.
If you choose to be a little more extravagant, you may provide yourself with an india-rubber glove. Gloves of this material are common enough now, being used for a variety of purposes, more especially by photographers for protecting their hands against the corrosive and poisonous agents employed in the practice of photography. If, however, you do use gloves, see that they are thin, fitting well to the fingers. If thick they will interfere with the delicacy of touch necessary to your working. For my part, I do not recommend gloves, looking upon a finger-stall of india-rubber as superior.
The next tool that you must get is a pair of forceps, such as watchmakers use. It is a very inexpensive instrument, costing only a few pence, and in shape it is like this:—
The next tool—and the last I shall have to indicate—is a pair of sharp and delicately made scissors. Do not calculate on family resources, taking the first pair of scissors that may come to hand: get a pair of your own. See that they are first-rate when you are about it, and you cannot buy scissors of this sort at random at any hardware shop. Go to a surgical instrument shop, where you will be able to get what you want.
And now I leave your cupro-ammonium to brew, and you to get together the few tools indicated. When you are quite ready, we will proceed to see what to do with it.
The first exercise I shall put to you is the manufacture of an artificial wooden bottle. There will be no particular use in the thing when made, but it will be a curiosity, and the making of it is the very best exercise that suggests itself to me after many years’ experience.