Having mixed the colours, and tried them by dropping a little of each on the solution in the trough, proceed to fill as many of the little pots with colour as there are pegs on the frame, and arrange them about three inches apart, so that the pegs in the frames may drop into the centre of each pot, and, when lifted out, (which will require to be done with great caution,) will convey one large drop of colour on each peg, with which the surface of the size is to be gently and evenly touched, taking care not to put them in too deep, but at the same time being quite sure they all do touch the size. The tins or pots of colour must be arranged as in the following diagram, about three inches apart:—
| G | Y | G | Y | G | Y | G |
| Y | B | Y | B | Y | B | Y |
| G | Y | G | Y | G | Y | G |
| Y | B | Y | B | Y | B | Y |
| G | Y | G | Y | G | Y | G |
G standing for green, Y for yellow, and B for blue. Then fill the same number of tins or pots with white, which must be composed of pipe-clay ground and prepared as the other colours, and arrange them in precisely the same manner, using the second or duplicate frame of pegs to these.
Having arranged all these, commence operations by first skimming the size, (which must consist of gum-tragacanth alone,) and then well cover the whole surface with red, which must be thrown on plentifully with a brush. Then carefully lift the first frame standing in the pots of the three colours, giving it a slight rotary motion, so as to stir the colours, which soon settle, being careful not to upset them. Let one drop from each peg touch the surface of the red upon the size, then quickly take the one with the white and drop that just in the centre of the spots already placed on the trough; next take a rounded piece of tapering wood, (a brush handle is as good a thing as any,) and pass it up and down through the colours as they are now disposed in the trough, from front to back, at regular distances, till the whole extent of the trough has been gone over; then pass the comb through it from left to right, and lay on the paper.
As soon as you have hung it up, pour over it, from a jug with a spout, about a pint of clear water, to wash off the loose colour and gum and make it look clean and bright, after which, when dry, it will require sizing before it can be burnished.
When curls are required, it will be necessary to have a third frame, with as many pegs as you may require curls upon the sheet of paper.
No. 29.—antique dutch.
Is done in a different manner to any of the processes hitherto described. The colours used for this kind of work must be of first-rate quality, and must be ground with spirits of wine or extra strong gin, and mixed up with the same and a little gall, just sufficient to make them float and spread to the extent required. Instead of brushes, have a tapering piece of wood, about the thickness of a little finger, in each pot of colour, (small pots will do, capable of holding about a tea-cup full.) The colours required are red, orange, blue, and green. The red must be the best scarlet lake; the orange, orange lead; the blue, ultramarine and indigo; and the green, indigo and Dutch pink. These must be ground and mixed, as before directed, to the consistence of cream. The lake should be ground one day and the other colours a few days before using, and kept moist. The gum will require to be used thicker for this work than for any other. Having every thing in readiness, take a pot of colour in the left hand, and with the right proceed to lay on the colour with a piece of wood or with a quill, in sloping stripes, like those made by a school-boy in learning to write. Commence with the red and make two strokes almost together, leaving a small open space, and then making two more, and so on, until the required extent has been gone over. Next take the orange, and make one stripe between the two stripes of red; then proceed to fill up the wider space with a stripe of green and a stripe of blue. Perhaps the following may more clearly illustrate the order in which the colours should be arranged on the trough:—
G B R O R G B R O R G B R O R G B
As in the former instance, the initial letters signify the colours. Draw the comb through and the pattern is complete.