A Manual of Mending and Repairing; With Diagrams

by Charles Godfrey Leland

Having a surface, either panel or Bristol board, which latter had better be pasted to a panel or good thick solid cardboard, begin by taking a little gum or glue in tolerably fluid solution on the point of a brush, and incorporating with it the paper pulp or cloth-dust to a very soft paste, with which paint what is to be in relief. The same effect is produced in oil by using a heavier, thicker kind of paint. That is all the difference, one being as legitimate as the other. By intermixing chalk or sand or clay, and by using glass-paper where the crayon, &c., refuse to take easily, the relief adapts itself to every substance. In this, as in every process known, the artist must at first experiment a little, according to his materials.

Solid sheets of fine hard paper, with strong paste between, when passed between rollers form a kind of papier-mâché which, is as hard as wood, fire-proof, and, what is most singular, more durable than iron. Wheels for railway carriages are often made of it, and they never warp under the action of heat or cold, neither do they crack nor bend. You can make this cardboard for yourself of very good quality by this process:—Take a sheet of writing-paper—the better the quality the better the result will be—cover it with good flour-paste in which there is a little alum and glue and a few drops of oil of cloves, which latter will prevent paste from turning or souring. Then lay on this another sheet, apply another coat of paste, and when it is a little dry or past the softer stage, yet while still capable of adhesion, lay the sheets on a hard, smooth slab or table, and pass a roller over them, at first gently, but eventually frequently, and with force. Add as many sheets as necessary for the thickness required. It will be understood that if the surface on which this sheet is formed were an intaglio-cut die or mould, the cardboard when taken up would present a bas-relief of it as hard as any wood, and the whole would form a panel which could be used for the side of a box or to be set in a cabinet. If made of good paper and firmly rolled, this panel will be in every respect equal to wood for all decorative purposes.

As anybody who can carve wood at all can cut moulds, and as a wooden mould, if kept well oiled (or otherwise secured from yielding to moisture), will serve for papier-mâché and leather or wood-paste casting, it is remarkable that such work is so very little practised by the students of the minor arts. That such panels can be very easily and rapidly made I know by experience; that the materials for the work are cheap speaks for itself; and, finally, that beautiful panels for cabinets and doors, whether made of carved wood, stamped leather, or papier-mâché bring a very good price will also be most apparent to anybody who will go to a fashionable cabinetmaker and order them. Thus we will say that a small plain cabinet costs £5. Put into it six panels, really costing about 6d. each to mould, and the price will be £10. Such pressed panels are admirably adapted for binding books, as, when properly made and dried, they cannot warp or bend. If covered with relief they may be made very beautiful. Simply blackened or browned, then rubbed with oil, varnished with Soehnée, No. 3, and rubbed by hand, they are as beautiful as polished wood or leather.

Papier-mâché, pulp, or paper powder can be combined with caoutchouc or indiarubber, which latter can be itself dissolved in benzine, camphine, sulphuric ether, and other solvent mediums, so as to form a paste which becomes like indiarubber when dry or as it hardens. Mixed with sulphur this forms vulcanite. Or it may be combined with white colouring matter of almost any kind. This can be applied to mending the broken noses of dolls, or any other wounds which these pretty semblances of humanity often receive, their beauty being unfortunately generally more shortlived than that of their prototypes. The final finish of such reparation is a coat of paint. In many cases this is better when rubbed on with the finger than when directly painted. The reader who shall have studied this work will find no difficulty in restoring any toy.

I may, however, here remark that “no solution of india rubber can be well moulded without intimate intermixture of sulphur, aided by heat and pressure. This is a difficult process, and the amateur would do well, therefore, to purchase rubber composition, which he may do at any large shop in which rubber goods are made as a specialty” (Work, May 21, 1892).

It is easy to make any article of papier-mâché if the mere beginning of a form has once been shaped; because, after that is set, all that we have to do is to gradually paste one piece of paper on, here and there, till it is finished. This beginning is very easy if we have an object on which to begin. Thus take a vase or cup. Oil this, and then lay on and all around it soft, damp paper. Newspaper will do—a soft, white printing paper. Then, with a broad brush, lay on paste, and apply a second coat of paper. Press it meanwhile as hard as you can. Continue this till the papier-mâché is thick enough. When dry, take a penknife and cut a line through from top to bottom. Scale it off, and reunite the edges with strong glue; then paste over the line of junction a strip of paper. Then you will have a cup.

If it be rough, cut it smooth and use glass-paper. When finished it may be painted or covered with wet leather, which can be worked into relief. Or it may be made to look like ivory by the process elsewhere described. Paper may in this process be combined with soft leather rags; as, for instance, pieces of old gloves out of which the thread has been taken, old chamois, bookbinders’ clippings, or the like. This forms effectively leather.

Carton-pierre, or stone-paper, is a very useful composition, which is very fully described by George Parland in Work, July 2, 1893. It consists of paper scraps, in the proportion of an ordinary washing boiler or copper one-half full of boiling water and about one-half paper waste. Add two pounds of best flour-paste; also, in a separate vessel, a quart of water, into which sprinkle a handful of fine plaster of Paris. Let it stand ten minutes before mixing it. “When the paper in the copper has become a fine pulp add the flour-paste, keeping the whole well stirred. Fifteen minutes after add the plaster, and a few minutes later rake out the fire from under the boiler. Have ready three pails of fine ground whiting; pour in one pail of whiting and stir up well, adding more whiting till the stick used to stir will stand of itself in the mixture. Let it cool, and it will be ready for use.

“Some firms,” writes Mr. Parland, “add powdered alum in the boiling process, others add one pint of boiled linseed-oil; but if made according to the previous directions, an excellent carton-pierre will result, which gives very fine impressions from moulds. If it be cast in a plaster mould, the latter should have two or three coats of shellac varnish, and then be well oiled.... In using the carton, sprinkle some fine plaster of Paris on a bench, and taking a lump of the newly made carton, mix it well with dry plaster, adding more plaster, as bakers would add flour to their dough. Having worked it well in this way until it will not stick to the fingers, with clean hands roll pieces very smooth in the palms, or on a smooth level board, and press each roll into the cavities and hollows of the mould, often wetting the edges of the carton in the mould before adding a fresh piece to it. The casts must not be more than from an eighth to a quarter of an inch in thickness, except at the outside edges of the mould.... The casts must stand about twenty-four hours, and then be baked in not more than 100° heat.”