A Select Collection of Valuable and Curious Arts and Interesting Experiments, / Which are Well Explained and Warranted Genuine and may be Performed Easily, Safely, and at Little Expense.

by Unknown

30. To restore old writing that is nearly defaced.—Boil one ounce of powdered nut-galls, for an hour or more in a pint of white wine; filter the liquor, and when cold, wet the paper with it, or pass it on the lines with a camel hair pencil, and the writing will be much revived.

31. To paint a picture that will appear and disappear occasionally.—To half an ounce of nitric acid, add one drachm of cobalt, one drachm of muriate of soda, and two ounces of water; set it in a sand bath or on warm ashes, where it must remain five or six hours. Then filter the solution, (which is nitro-muriate of cobalt,) and with it draw the trees, and shrubbery of a designed picture. Then with a solution of oxide of cobalt in acetic acid, draw some distant mountains, fences, &c. and with muriate of copper, (the compound solution described at 28,) draw some flowers, buildings, &c. These will all be invisible when dry; but warm the paper and the picture will appear in green, blue and yellow. It will disappear again when the paper becomes cold.

32. Landscape painting on walls of rooms.—Dissolve half a pound of glue in a gallon of water, and with this sizing, mix whatever colours may be required for the work. Strike a line round the room, nearly breast high; this is called the horizon line: paint the walls from the top to within six inches of the horizon line, with sky blue, (composed of refined whiting and indigo, or slip blue,) and at the same time, paint the space from the horizon line to the blue, with horizon red, (whiting, coloured a little with orange lead and yellow ochre,) and while the two colours are wet, incorporate them partially, with a brush. Rising clouds may be represented by striking the horizon red colour upon the blue, before it is dry, with a large brush. Change some sky blue about two shades with slip blue and paint your design for rivers, lakes or the ocean. Change some sky blue one shade with forest green, (slip blue and chrome yellow,) and paint the most distant mountains and highlands; shade them while wet, with blue, and heighten them with white, observing always to heighten the side that is towards the principal light of the room. The upper surface of the ocean must be painted as high as the horizon line, and the distant highlands must rise from ten to twenty inches above it.—Paint the highlands, islands, &c. of the second distance, which should appear from four to six miles distant, with mountain green, (two parts sky blue with one of forest green,) heighten them, while wet, with sulphur yellow, (three parts whiting with one of chrome yellow,) and shade with blue-black, (slip blue and lamp black equal.) Paint the lands of the first distance, such as should appear within a mile or two, with forest green; heighten with chrome yellow and shade with black; occasionally incorporating red ochre, french green or whiting. The nearest part, or fore ground, however, should be painted very bold with yellow ochre, stone brown, (red and yellow ochres and lamp black equal,) and black. Paint the shores and rocks of the first distance with stone brown; heighten with horizon red, shade with black. For those of the second distance, each colour must be mixed with sky blue.—The wood lands, hedges and trees of the second distance are formed by striking a small flat stiff brush end-wise, (which operation is called bushing, and is applied to the heightening and shading all trees and shrubbery of any distance,) with mountain green, deepened a little with slip blue; with which also the ground work for trees of the first distance is painted; and with this colour the water may be shaded a little under the capes and islands, thus representing the reflection of the land in the water. Trees of the first distance are heightened with sulphur yellow or french green; and shaded with blue-black. Every object must be painted larger or smaller, according to the distance at which it is represented; thus the proper height of trees in the second distance, is from one to two inches, and other objects in proportion. Those in the first distance from six to ten inches generally; but those in the fore ground, which are nearest, are frequently painted as large as the walls will admit. The colours also for distant objects, houses, ships, &c., must be varied, being mixed with more or less sky blue, according to the distance of the object. By these means the view will apparently recede from the eye, and will have a very striking effect.

33. To paint in figures for carpets or borders.—Take a sheet of pasteboard or strong paper, and paint thereon with a pencil, any flower or figure that would be elegant for a border or carpet figure; then with small gouges and chisels, or a sharp pen knife, cut out the figure completely, that it be represented by apertures cut through the paper. Lay this pattern on the ground intended to receive the figure, whether a floor or painted cloth, and with a stiff smooth brush, paint with a quick vibrative motion over the whole figure.—Then take up the paper and you will have an entire figure on the ground. Note.—If a floor is to be thus painted, in imitation of a carpet, the pattern must be perfectly square, and the figure so designed, that when several of them come together, they may completely match each other; and when different colours are used in the same figure, they must be kept a little separate from each other, and wrought with different brushes.

34. To paint in imitation of mahogany and maple.—First give the work one or two coats of straw coloured paint, composed of white lead and yellow ochre, ground in linseed oil, to which may be added a little fine litharge, that the paint may the sooner dry; when this is dry, rub it smooth with sand-paper. Then if mahogany is to be imitated, stain the work over with boiled linseed oil, coloured a little with venetian red and burnt terra-de-sienna, equal quantities. This should be applied with a short stiff brush, and spread very thin that it may not run, or drip off. Then with terra-de-sienna, ground very thick in oil, form the dark shades of the graining according to your design, with a small flat brush. For this purpose a common sash-brush may be made flat, by having a small piece of wire, or wood, bound on each side near the handle. Some of the darker shades may be drawn with burnt umber and black, ground together, which may be applied with a camel hair pencil. If any part is to be made very light, the staining may be wiped off carefully with a ball of cotton. Light stripes, or lines may be produced by drawing a piece of cork or soft wood over the work, thus taking off or removing the dark colours, that the original ground may appear.—To imitate maple, the work must be stained with yellow ochre, and burnt umber, ground together in boiled oil. Instead of burnt umber, terra-de-sienna (unburnt) is sometimes used, but as different kinds, or parcels of it, vary in colour, from yellow to brown, it may not be depended on uniformly. The birds' eyes and curls are formed by removing the staining from the ground with a piece of stiff leather, the edges of which are cut in notches so that the several points will touch the work at the same time.