Paper Dough: Crumple newspaper very soft, tear to bits, dampen, pound, and knead well, then wet with strong glue size and knead to a dough. For wall breaks, rat holes, filling yawning cracks, or rounding corners, mix in plaster of Paris at the moment of application and pound in place before the plaster sets. Mix only what can be used at once.
White Cement: Mix sifted whiting to a soft dough with white of egg, for filling small holes in white walls or cracks in ceilings. Press in with a blunt knife and smooth the surface with the blade dipped in cold water.
Sand and Plaster: Sift together fine sand and plaster, wet with hot water, and use to fill bigger breaks in a wall. Wet only a little at a time and work quickly. Lay a board over the mortar as soon as in place, and beat with a hammer to smooth.
Putty: Sift two pounds of whiting into a bowl, make a hole in the middle, and wet with raw linseed oil, soft or stiff according to your requirements. Knead the same as dough. To keep, pack down in glass and pour a little oil over the top. Should be always on hand, as it is about the most useful of the renovators.
Cement for Glass: Cover isinglass with gin in a glass jar, set in sunshine until dissolved, then filter. It should be as clear as water. For mending colored glass rub down a trifle of oil color in a spoonful of the cement.
Sugar Cement: Cook to candy height the purest loaf sugar. Apply hot to heated edges.
Lime Water: Pour a gallon of boiling water upon a lump of quicklime the size of two fists. Stir hard, let settle, pour off the clear water, bottle, and keep corked tight.
Javelle Water: A bleach so effectual it must not touch colors. Dissolve half a pound of washing-soda in a pint of boiling water, and add it to a quart of boiling water in which a quarter pound of chloride of lime has been dissolved. Stir, let settle, pour off clear, bottle, cork, and keep dark.
Chloride-of-lime Water: Pour a gallon of boiling water upon a pound of dry chloride. Stir well, let settle, pour off clear, bottle, and keep well corked, dark, and cool. Dissolve in wood or earthenware—metal corrodes.
Oxalic Acid: Put four ounces of crystals with half a pint cold water into a quart bottle, shake hard and often till the crystals dissolve. This makes a saturated solution. If ragged crystals remain, add a gill more cold water. Keep plainly labeled “Poison.” Take care not to let it touch a scratch or fresh cut on the hands, also to keep it away from children.