Rub some bi-chromate of potassa fine, pour over it about twice its bulk of sulphuric acid, and mix this with an equal quantity of water. The dirtiest brass is cleaned in a trice. Wash right off in plenty of water, wipe it and rub perfectly dry, and polish with powdered rotten stone.
TO COUNTERFEIT TORTOISE SHELL VERY FINELY.
In order to do this well, your foundation or ground-work must be perfectly smooth and white, or nearly so, you then gild it with silver leaf with slow size, so as to have it perfectly smooth with no ragged edges, cleaning the loose leaf off. Then grind cologne earth very fine, and mix it with gum water, common size; and with this, you having added more gum water than it was ground with, spot or cloud the ground-work, having a fine shell to imitate; and when this is done, you will perceive several reds, lighter and darker, appear on the edges of the black, and many times lie in streaks on the transparent part of the shell. To imitate this finely, grind dragon’s blood with gum water, and with a fine pencil draw those warm reds, flushing it in about the dark places more thickly, but fainter and fainter and thinner, with less color towards the lighter parts, so sweetening it that it may in a manner lose the red, being sunk in the silver or more transparent parts. When it is dry, give it a coat of varnish, let it stand for a few days, then rub it down with pumice stone and water. Then grind gamboge very fine, and mix with varnish, giving of this as many coats as will cause the silver to have a golden color, then finish with a clean coat of varnish.
PRICE LIST.
The prices of labor, and cost of material vary so much in different localities that it seems impossible to make a reliable price list for general work. The position, condition, and shape of different jobs all go towards making a general price list, an unreliable guide; also the quality of work demanded may make 50 per cent. difference in price. I have half a dozen printed price lists before me, and they generally agree to about the following prices for painting and glazing, to-wit:
| Per Yard. | |
| 1 coat on new work | 8 to 10 cents |
| 1 coat on old work | 10 to 18 cents |
| 2 coats on new work | 18 to 20 cents |
| 2 coats on old work | 20 to 25 cents |
| 3 coats on new work | 25 to 28 cents |
| Brick walls, 2 coats | 20 to 30 cents |
| Penciling | 10 to 15 cents |
PRIMING AND GLAZING SASH.
| Per Light. | |
| 10 × 14 and under | 5 to 6 cents |
| 12 × 16 | 7 to 9 cents |
| 14 × 24 | 10 to 12 cents |
| 18 × 24 | 15 to 18 cents |
| 24 × 30 | 20 to 25 cents |
| 30 × 40 | 35 to 50 cents |
For old work where the old putty is in the sash, multiply the above figures by 3 or 4. When called out to the house to set a light or two charge for time and material. Most work of this kind is done at least 30 per cent. below the above prices.
I quote below a price list for sign painters, from a very complete report on painters’ prices and measurements, generally, by one of the ablest of local associations of master painters and decorators: