OILS.
Fat oil is for general use in painting. Clove oil is used in its place when two or more tints are to be blended together, as in painting a face, etc. Capavia oil is always mixed with the colors for grounding.
TURPENTINE
is in constant demand in china painting. It is used with all the different oils, paints, bronzes, and gilt, and should be poured in a small cup or any little vessel, and kept convenient while painting.
TAR PASTE
comes in bottles, and is used to take the color off of tinted backgrounds, in order to leave a clean surface of the china in which to paint the design in different colors. The paste should be rubbed down smooth on the tile with the palette-knife; if it is too hard, a little tar oil may be added. A small brush is best to use for the paste in covering the design you wish to wash out; but be very careful to keep within the outlines, for this mixture will take off the color wherever it touches. When the tint is light the paste may be wiped off in a few moments; but when it is dark, the paste must be allowed to remain on for perhaps hours before the paint will be sufficiently softened to remove.
Use small balls of raw cotton-batting in wiping off the paste, and take a fresh piece for every stroke. If any of the tar paste is left on the tile after using, scrape it off with your palette-knife, and return it to the bottle.
MAT GOLD
is for gilding, and can be either burnished or highly polished. It comes on a little square of glass inclosed in a box. This gold can also be used as solid ornamentation or for delicate tracery, and is sometimes used over colors, greens excepted, but is then never so bright as when on the plain white china.
The gold is prepared for painting on a tile kept expressly for the purpose, and which must not be used for any other paint. Place some of the gold on the palette with your palette-knife, and mix a little turpentine with it by dipping your palette-knife in the turpentine and rubbing down the gold with the turpentine on the knife. If more is needed, again dip your knife in the liquid, and do so as often as it is necessary; but you must use the utmost care not to have the gold too thin; gild with it as stiff as it can be smoothly applied.