An old method of effectually closing bottles of wine was as follows:—The edge of the opening on the top was ground down on a stone, and a small disc of glass was exactly fitted to it. Heat was then applied till both were in partial fusion and the cover was welded to the bottle. A little powdered glass would aid the fusion, or it could be effected with silicate without heating. The process is the same as using glass stoppers, rather sunk in, and sealing up with silicate.
A broken champagne bottle is not easily mended, but I have seen one curiously utilised. The bottom only had been broken, and it was cut off round and evenly with a file. Within it there hung from the cork by a cord a very large nail or small bolt of iron. Thus prepared, it made a capital and appropriate dinner-bell. Here in Italy I have often seen bells made of crockery or terra-cotta; their tone is better than would be supposed.
WOOD-SHAVINGS
IN MENDING AND MAKING MANY OBJECTS
“In human industry, there is on an average a loss of fifty per cent. in labour or material.”—Observations on Art, by Charles G. Leland.
There is no country in the world in which the art of mending is so much required as in the United States of North America. The reason for this is the extraordinary and sudden changes in temperature, causing the expansion and contraction of cells and fibre, especially in wood, which results in cracks. Thus seasoned furniture and carvings, which have remained unchanged for centuries, it may be for a thousand years, in any part of Europe, shrink and split very often within a month after being placed in a drawing or dining room in Boston or Philadelphia, as I know by sad experience. Thus I have known a very beautiful Italian mandoline, three hundred years old, richly inlaid with ivory, to so shrink and warp in America that a professional mender declared that nothing could be done with it. The sounding-board had curled up like a scroll and split, and the mosaic or inlaying had fallen out in bits.
Patterns cut from Wood-Shavings.
In such a case, carefully detach the warped piece or pieces, and dampen the concave side carefully with a sponge till it resumes its flatness or usual form. When this is attained, take very thin shavings of a firm wood, as thin as they can be shaved, and glue them transversely, or grain across grain, to the under or plain side of the board. This will probably prevent all warping in future, especially if the best mastic and fish-glue is employed. It may here be noted that where the shavings cannot be obtained, thin parchment or even note-paper may be used, and that good, strong varnish, or not too thin, may be used for a binder. There are many cases in which parchment or paper are preferable to wood in repairing, as being less liable to warp or crack.
Wood-shavings, which are as yet but little utilised in art, have, however, before them “a great future.” Combined with glue, or other binders, they can be made, even under the hand-roller, into boards, which have the advantage that they can be moulded, curved, or turned to suit many emergencies which would require a great deal of saw or carving work.
It is not unusual to employ veneers, or very thin sheets of wood, as a guard across the grain where shrinking is to be apprehended, as in tablets for painting on or panels, and it is a great pity that this very cheap precaution is so little used. But there are very few cases in which shavings are not as applicable, and they have the great advantage of being obtainable wherever there is a plane and wood.