Procure 1 lb. or more of white starch powder, dry it well in an open dish before the fire, put it on one side to cool, when quite cool, put a layer of half an inch at the bottom of a small box, observing that the box also is dry; gather the leaves, if possible, on a fine summer day, and lay as many leaves gently on the starch powder at the bottom of the box as can be done without interfering with each other, then sprinkle starch powder over them, and shake it down so that the powder settles all round above and below the leaves until they are completely covered, and about half an inch of the starch powder above them, then put another layer of leaves, and proceed with the starch powder as before until the box is filled, then press the top part, quite full of starch powder, fastening the lid of the box firmly down until the leaves are required. Ferns and flat leaves can be preserved by placing them between sheets of blotting paper under a weight.

TO GILD LEATHER WORK.

The materials necessary for gilding of this kind are—

They cost only a few shillings, and with care last a very long time.

Size the wood work twice over with parchment size, cut all the leaves, and make the flowers in the usual manner; size them all over twice with parchment size; nail them down to the frame, and glue them when tacks would look unsightly: needle points are very useful in this work to secure it firmly, and cut them short off when the glued parts are dry—all the flowers and leaves being attached, go over the entire work again with parchment size very thinly; the parchment size must be used warm; when the size is dry, mix well in a cup or any clean earthen vessel about an ounce of oil gold size, and with equal parts of fat oil and drying oil thin the gold size to the consistence of cream; take a hog’s-hair tool, and with it brush equally and very thinly all over every part that can be seen with this prepared gold size, set it on one side for an hour or two or more, until it has become almost dry, and just sticks to your fingers when touched: it must now be gilded all over, and to do this, take a book of gold, handling it quietly, and mind there is no draft, as a current of air would blow all the gold away: turn out of the book two or three leaves of gold upon the cushion, and blow gently upon the centre of each leaf, to make them lay flat on the cushion; with the gilder’s knife cut the gold leaves into the sizes required to cover the work, and with the tip of the gilder’s knife take up the gold from the cushion and lay it all over the frame till it is covered, pressing the gold down with a large camel hair tool or a piece of cotton wool, taking care not to rub it backward or forward, but to put it very straight down on to the work; should there be any holes left, cut small pieces of gold leaf and lay over them, pressing the gold down, proceeding in the above manner till the frame is covered all over with gold; it must then be left to dry an hour or two, and when dry brush all the loose gold off with a large camel hair or badger’s hair tool, and the gilding is completed. Leather work gilded by the above process will bear washing, and is the most durable kind of gilding known.

TO BURNISH GOLD.

Acorns and any wooden part attached to leather work can be burnished, which adds much to the variety of the work, and is done in the following manner:—that part of the work intended to be burnished must be prepared exactly as above, except that instead of using the prepared oil gold size take the white of an egg and give the work a coat of it, let it dry, then give it another coat, and when nearly dry see that it lays on evenly; apply the gold leaf all over; leave it an hour or two to become hard; then burnish it by rubbing it all over with a burnishing stone or any very hard and perfectly smooth substance. This burnish gilding is far more brilliant than the oil gold, but will not wash, and is not so durable.