Take care to keep the back of the papers damp during this operation, and when it is finished wash them over with the sponge and water. It is well to interpose a piece of damp paper between the roller and the design, as this prevents the varnish adhering to it. The work now requires to be left for four-and-twenty hours, so that the varnish may become dry and hard; it is then ready for the next operation—rubbing off the paper. This is done by wetting and rubbing in a circular direction, with a sponge or the hand.
After this the work again must be allowed to dry; after which rub it with the hand so as to remove all loose particles, and give it a coating of the clearing liquid, which should be laid on with a flat brush. After again remaining for a day to harden, the washable varnish is applied, and the work is completed.
If these directions are carefully followed, a perfect transparency will be produced, which it will require an experienced eye to detect from real stained glass.
Transparencies in thin silk or muslin can be made by tightly stretching the material on to a frame. The designs are then subjected to two coatings of the clearing liquid applied on the wrong side, and when dry, one of the transfer varnish to the colored side. This is then well pressed down by the roller. When quite dry, if the picture appear at all cloudy, it will be necessary to apply the clearing liquid again, then varnish, and the transparency is finished. Be careful, however, not to remove the work from the frame until perfectly dry. This work is especially adapted for hall windows, by the side of the front door, or in the door.
We have seen beautiful specimens of this work done by a twelve-year-old miss.
24.—PAINTING ON GLASS.
Some of the works which profess to teach the art of painting on glass, contain directions for staining large windows in churches and halls; others merely give the process of producing the more common paintings, such as are carried about the streets for sale. These seem to have been much in vogue about a century since, as all the “Young Artists’ Assistants” of that day contain the mode of painting them. They direct us to fix a mezzotinto print upon the back of a sheet of glass, and to remove the paper by wetting and rubbing, leaving the impression of the print, which is afterwards to be painted in broadwashes, the ink of the print giving the shadows. The picture being then turned over, the glazed side becomes the front, and the colors first laid on, are, of course, nearest the eye. This mode of painting resembles the style of Grecian painting, that being painted from the back, and the shading is the ink of the engraving.
The methods by which glass is stained are scientific; they require some knowledge of chemistry, and such apparatus as must preclude the practice of this branch of art as an amusement. It may be interesting, however, to know something of the process. The glass being at first colorless, a drawing is made upon it, and the painting is laid on with mineral substances, the vehicle being a volatile oil, which soon evaporates. The sheets of glass are then exposed to a powerful heat, until they are so far melted that they receive the colors into their own substances. Enamel painting is done on the same principle. This is a time of great anxiety to the artist, as with all possible care valuable paintings, both in glass and enamel, are frequently spoiled in the proving, or vitrification. The art seems to have been lost during several centuries; but it has of late been successfully revived; and large windows have been executed for churches and Gothic halls, which almost vie with the fine old specimens in the cathedrals in point of color, while they far excel them in other respects.