Part 21 (1/2)

Melt together, moderately, ten ounces of Bayberry tallow, five ounces of bees' wax, one ounce of mutton tallow. When melted, add lamp or ivory black to give it a good black color. Stir the whole well together, and add, when taken from the fire, half a gla.s.s of rum.

396. _Liquid Blacking._

Mix a quarter of a pound of ivory black, six gills of vinegar, a table-spoonful of sweet oil, two large spoonsful of mola.s.ses. Stir the whole well together, and it will then be fit for use.

397. _Cement for the Mouths of Corked Bottles._

Melt together a quarter of a pound of sealing-wax, the same quant.i.ty of rosin, a couple of ounces of bees' wax. When it froths, stir it with a tallow candle. As soon as it melts, dip the mouths of the corked bottles into it. This is an excellent thing to exclude the air from such things as are injured by being exposed to it.

398. _Cement for broken China, Gla.s.s, and Earthenware._

Rub the edge of the china or gla.s.s with the beaten white of an egg. Tie very finely powdered quick lime in a muslin bag, and sift it thick over the edges of the dishes that have been previously rubbed with the egg.

Match and bind the pieces together, and let it remain bound several weeks. This is good cement for every kind of crockery but thick heavy gla.s.s and coa.r.s.e earthenware; the former cannot be cemented with any thing; for the latter, white paint will answer. Paint and match the broken edges, bind them tight together, and let them remain until the paint becomes dry and hard. Milk is a good cement for crockery--the pieces should be matched, and bound together tight, then put in cold milk, and the milk set where it will boil for half an hour; then take it from the fire, and let the crockery remain till the milk is cold. Let the crockery remain bound for several weeks. The Chinese method of mending broken china, is to grind flint gla.s.s, on a painter's stone, till it is reduced to an impalpable powder: then beat it with the white of an egg, to a froth, and lay it on the edge of the broken pieces, match and bind them together firmly, and let them remain several weeks.

It is said that no art will then be able to break it in the same place.

399. _j.a.panese Cement, or Rice Glue._

Mix rice flour with cold water, to a smooth paste, and boil it gently.

It answers all the purposes of wheat flour paste, while it is far superior in point of transparency and smoothness. This composition, made with so small a proportion of water as to have it of the consistence of plastic clay, may be used to form models, busts, ba.s.so-relievos, and similar articles. When made of it, they are susceptible of a very high polish. Poland starch is a nice cement for pasting layers of paper together, or any fancy articles.

400. _Cement for Alabaster._

Take of white bees' wax one pound, of rosin a pound, and three quarters of alabaster. Melt the wax and rosin, then strew the alabaster over it lightly, (which should be previously reduced to a fine powder.) Stir the whole well together, then knead the ma.s.s in water, in order to incorporate the alabaster thoroughly with the rosin and wax. The alabaster, when mended, should be perfectly dry, and heated. The cement, when applied, should also be heated. Join the broken pieces, bind them, and let them remain a week. This composition, when properly managed, forms an extremely strong cement.

401. _To clean Alabaster, or any other kinds of Marble._

Pound pumice stone to a fine powder, and mix it with verjuice. Let it remain several hours, then dip in a perfectly clean sponge, and rub the marble with it till clean. Rinse it off with clear fresh water, and rub it dry with a clean linen cloth.

402. _Cement for Iron-ware._

Beat the whites of eggs to a froth, then stir into them enough quicklime to make a consistent paste, then add iron file dust, to make a thick paste. The quicklime should be reduced to a fine powder before mixing it with the eggs. Fill the cracks in iron-ware with this cement, and let them remain several weeks before using them.

403. _To loosen the Stopples of Decanters and Smelling Bottles that are wedged in tight._

Dip the end of a feather in oil, and rub it round the stopple, close to the mouth of the bottle; then put the bottle about a couple of feet from the fire, having the mouth towards it. The heat will cause the oil to run down between the stopple and mouth of the bottle. When warm, strike the bottle gently on both sides, with any light wooden instrument that you may happen to have. If the stopple cannot be taken out with the hand at the end of this process, repeat it, and you will finally succeed by persevering in it, however firmly it may be wedged in.

404. _Lip Salve._

Dissolve a small lump of white sugar in a table-spoonful of rosewater, (common water will do, but is not as good.) Mix it with a couple of large spoonsful of sweet oil, a piece of spermaceti, of the size of half a b.u.t.ternut. Simmer the whole well together eight or ten minutes, then turn it into a small box.