All leaves that are small, of uneven shape, and serrated at the edges, are well adapted for this work. As they are collected, they should be placed between sheets of paper, but not close together, then pressed by placing a board on the top, with a weight upon it, to express any moisture that may be therein, and to render them quite flat. In the autumn, the sweet-scented geranium-leaves, the maple, thorn, chrysanthemum, wild parsley, fern, and a multitude of others, may be found, including the smaller sycamore and small vine-leaves; but they must all have turned of a golden hue, or reddish-tinted yellow. Prepare the article to be ornamented, thus:—First rub the surface smoothly down with sand-paper; then coat it over with black paint, which can be procured, ready-mixed, at any oil-shop; when dry, rub it down smoothly with pumice-stone, and give two more coats. When these are dry, arrange the leaves on the surface in a careless manner, but not in groups, unless preferred. Butterflies drawn, and colored yellow with gamboge, or cut out of prints, and then colored, may be stuck at different spaces with advantage; but there should be no other color than the brown and different tints of yellow in the leaves. Gum the wrong side of the leaf, and press it on in its appointed place with a hard tuft of wadding, fastened tightly up in a piece of silk. Continue this with the whole of the leaves; and when they are all gummed on, dissolve some gelatine or isinglass in warm water, and while rather warm, brush it well over every portion of the work, using the brush entirely one way, not forward and back. When dry, give the work three coats of the best copal varnish, letting the article remain a day or two between each coat. This process, though elaborate in detail, is easily and even quickly done, and will well repay any trouble that may be taken, as, with a renewed coat of varnish every five or six years, it will remain, as long as the wood will hold together, as bright in appearance as when first finished.
668. Sealing Wax Varnish.—For fancy work, this has, of late years, been much used, and if well applied, and the wax good, will be a very good imitation of India Japan. The method of making the varnish or japan is very easy, being simply reducing the wax to a coarse powder, and pouring the best spirits of wine on it in a bottle, and letting it gradually dissolve without heat, shaking the bottle occasionally till it is all dissolved. A two-ounce stick of the best wax will be enough for a quarter of a pint of spirits. Recollect that much depends on the goodness of the sealing-wax; and that you may vary the color of the varnish by using different colored wax. As this varnish dries very quickly, it should not be made until it is wanted for use.
669. Method of preparing the Composition used for Colored Drawings and Prints, so as to make them resemble Paint in Oil.—Take of Canada Balsam, one ounce; spirit of turpentine, two ounces; mix them together. Before this composition is applied, the drawing or print should be sized with a solution of isinglass in water, and when dry, apply the varnish with a camel-hair brush.
670. Oil and Water Gilding.—In oil gilding, the frame is first covered with a composition of whiting and parchment size, then with a coating of "oil gold size," (a kind of varnish,) upon which when nearly dry, gold leaf is applied.
671. In Water Gilding, a size mixed with water is used. Parts of the frame are burnished, other parts left dead. This is the most beautiful and expensive style of gilding, but it does not bear washing as oil gilding does.
["The Carver and Gilder," published by Knight, furnishes much useful information on this subject.]