Postage stamp mucilage can be made by dissolving an ounce of dextrine in five ounces of hot water, and adding one ounce of acetic acid and one ounce of alcohol. The dextrine should be dissolved in water in a glue pot, or some similar vessel, which will prevent burning. The quantities in this recipe may be varied by taking any required weights in the proportions mentioned. Dr. Phin says that dextrine mixed with water makes a good label mucilage if a drop or two of glycerine be added to it. Too much glycerine will prevent the mucilage drying; with too little it will be likely to crack.
To keep mucilage fresh, and prevent the formation of mould, drop into the bottle a few crystals of thymol, which is a strong and harmless antiseptic.
Mucilage in a convenient solid form, and which will readily dissolve in water, for fastening paper, prints, etc., may be made as follows:—Boil one pound of the best white glue, and strain very clear; boil also four ounces of isinglass, and mix the two together; place them in a water bath—a glue pot will do—with one-half pound of white sugar, and evaporate till the liquid is quite thick, when it is to be poured into molds, dried, and cut into pieces of convenient size.
Persons are often at a loss for a very strong mucilage having sufficient power of tenacity to fasten sheets of pasteboard together. The following cement is recommended by a scientific authority. It has the additional advantage of being waterproof. Melt together equal parts of pitch and gutta-percha. To nine parts of this add three parts of boiled oil, and one-fifth part of litharge. Continue the heat with stirring until a thorough union of the ingredients is effected. Apply the mixture hot or somewhat cooled, and thinned with a small quantity of benzole or turpentine oil.
The aniline colors, which possess great tinctorial powers, can be conveniently used in the preparation of a portable ink. Saturate white tissue paper with an aniline violet, or with aniline black, by dipping the sheets into a saturated alcoholic solution of these colors; then dry and pack them in suitable parcels, and you will have a portable ink, either violet or black.
Draughtsmen are aware that lines drawn on paper with good India ink well prepared cannot be washed out by mere sponging or washing. Now, however, it is proposed to take advantage of the fact that glue or gelatine, when mixed with bichromate of potassa, and exposed to the light, becomes insoluble, and thus renders India ink, which always contains a little gelatine, indelible. Reisenbichler, the discoverer, calls this kind of ink “Harttusche,” or “hard India ink.” It is made by adding to the common India ink of commerce about one per cent, in a very fine powder, of bichromate of potash. This must be mixed with the ink in a dry state; otherwise, it is said, the ink could not be easily ground in water. Those who cannot provide themselves with ink prepared as above in a cake,can use a dilute solution of bichromate of potash in rubbing up the ink. It answers the same purpose, though the ink should be used thick, so that the yellow salt will not spread.
Dissolve in a pint and a half of writing ink (violet or any other color) an ounce of lump sugar or sugar candy. A copying ink, so slow drying that writing in it can be copied by the use of no greater pressure than the hand can produce when passed over a sheet of paper, maybemade by boiling away nearly half of some ordinary writing fluid and then adding as much glycerine.
Let a little starch lie in vinegar over night. Pour in boiling water, stirring briskly till it thickens. It will keep better if a few drops of carbolic acid are added. A very little corrosive sublimate will keep out insects. A little glue dissolved in the vinegar will make it stronger. It leaves the pasted scrap-page flexible, adheres firmly, dries quickly, and does not give a varnishy look to even the thinnest print paper.
A paste that will not spoil is made by dissolving a piece of alum the size of a walnutin one pint of water. Add to this two tablespoonfuls flour made smooth with a little cold water, and a few drops of oil of cloves, putting the whole to a boil. Put up in a glass canning-jar.
Electric paper may be made thus:—Tissue paper or filtering paper is soaked in a mixture consisting of equal quantities of saltpetre and sulphuric acid. It is afterwards exposed to dry, when a pyroxyline (a substance resembling gun-cotton) forms. This is in the highest degree electrical.
To make silver solder melt together 34 parts, by weight, silver coin, and five parts copper; after cooling a little, drop into the mixture 4 parts zinc, then heat again.
The following alloy, it is said, will attach itself firmly to glass, porcelain or metal.—Twenty to thirty parts of finely pulverulent copper, prepared by precipitation or reduction with the battery, are made into a paste with oil of vitriol. To this seventy parts of mercury are added, and well triturated. The acid is then washed out with boiling water and the compound allowed to cool. In ten or twelve hours it becomes sufficientlyhard to receive a brilliant polish, and to scratch the surface of tin or gold. When heated it is plastic, but does not contract on cooling.
The metal plate, of copper or zinc, is coated with a very thin layer of bitumen of Judæa, and when this coat has become perfectly dry, a film of bichromatized albumen is flowed over the plate. It is next exposed in the camera, and afterwards washed with water, in order to dissolve all the albumen which has not been rendered insoluble by the luminous action; it is then treated with spirit of turpentine, which dissolves all those parts of the layer of bitumen that have become exposed. The plate can now be attacked directly by water acidulated with from four to six per cent of nitric acid. The great advantage of this method consists in the high sensitiveness of the bichromatized albumen, at the same time preserving the solid reserve produced by the bitumen of Judæa on a metallic surface.
When a pen has become so corroded as to be useless, it can be made good as new by holding it in the flame of a gas jet forhalf a minute; then drop in cold water, take out, wipe clean, and it will be ready for use again.
For the brilliant enamel now often generally applied to fine cards and other purposes, the following formula is given:—For white and for all pale and delicate shades, take twenty-four parts, by weight, of paraffine; add thereto 100 parts of pure kaolin (China clay), very dry and reduced to a fine powder. Before mixing with the kaolin, the paraffine must be heated to fusing point. Let the mixture cool, and it will form a homogeneous mass, which is to be reduced to powder, and worked into paste in a paint-mill, with warm water. This is the enamel ready for application. It can be tinted according to fancy.
To produce electrotypes or stereotypes of letters, signatures, ordinary written matter, drawings or sketches, coat a smooth surface of glass or metal with a smooth, thin layer of gelatine, and let it dry. Then write or draw upon it with an ink containing chrome alum, allow it to dry exposed to light, and immerse the plate in water. Those parts of the surface which have not been written upon will swell up and form arelief plate, while those parts which have been written upon with the chrome ink have become insoluble in water, after exposure to light. The relief may be transferred to plaster of Paris, and from this may be made a plate in type metal.
Take shellac varnish, one-half gallon; lampblack, five ounces; powdered iron ore or emery in fine powder, three ounces. If too thick, thin down with alcohol. Give the wood three coats of the composition, allowing each to dry before putting on the next. The first coat may be of shellac and lampblack alone.
Potato is used to clean steel pens, and generally act as a pen-wiper. It removes all ink crust, and gives a peculiarly smooth flow to the ink. Pass new pens two or three times through a gas flame, and then the ink will flow freely.
It is important that strangers should get a good impression with a tasty window, or a polite reception when entering the store. Remember that first impressions go a great way, and when once formed, good or bad, are very hard to get rid of. Make it aspecial point to clean the window once a week, put in different stock every time, and do not be afraid to display goods because the dust will spoil them. If the article in question is delicate and easily ruined, leave it in the window only a few days; display samples of the latest goods, and, if necessary, buy some article that is showy, and which you think will attract people, especially for the window, even though the amount expended is “sunk.” It will certainly pay in the end. If your stock of a certain article or class of goods is large, devote the whole window to it for a week.
It is impossible to give rules for the arrangement, which, of course, depends on the goods to be shown and the taste of the person dressing the window. Stamped papers and visiting cards can be shown effectively in the following manner:—Have a number of wooden blocks made the size of a quarter of a ream of paper and a package of visiting cards; wrap these neatly with a sample sheet of paper or cards on the outside, tied with ribbon. Another way to show printed visiting cards is to make a small pyramid of them by taking three small square boxes of different sizes, which, when placed one on top of the other, will form a small pyramid. Cover these entirely with samples of visiting cards, and place in the center of the window.
Photo-lithographic transfer paper and ink are prepared in the following manner:—The paper is treated with a solution of a hundred parts of gelatine and one part of chrome alum in 2,400 parts of water. After drying, it is treated with the white of egg. It is made sensitive with a bath consisting of one part of chrome alum, 14 parts of water and 4 parts of alcohol. The latter ingredient prevents the white of egg from dissolving. On the dark places the white of egg, together with the ink with which the exposed paper has been coated, separates in water. The transfer ink consists of 20 parts of printing ink, 50 parts of wax, 40 parts of tallow, 35 parts of colophony, 210 parts of oil of turpentine, 30 parts of Berlin blue. It is found that a varnish formed of Canadian balsam, dissolved in turpentine, supplies a most valuable means of making paper transparent. The mode by which this is most satisfactorily accomplished is by applying a thin coating of this varnish to the paper, so as to permeate it thoroughly, after which it is to be coated on both sides with a much thicker mixture. The paper is kept warm by performing the operation before a hot fire, and a third and even a fourth coating may be applied until the texture of the paper is seen to merge intohomogeneoustranslucency. Paperprepared according to this process is said to come nearer than any other to the highest standard of perfection in transparent paper. Care must be used in making, as the materials are highly inflammable.
“Line” engraving is of the highest order. All engravings are done in “line”—simply straight lines. Next comes “line” and “stiple.” “Stiple” means dots—small dots like this:—....—.... These small dots are used to lighten up the high parts of the face or drapery. It is very hard to engrave a face in lines, simply, and only master engravers have ever undertaken it. The masters understand and practice both in “line” and “stiple.” Claude Mellan engraved, in 1700, a full head of Christ, with one unbroken line. This line commenced at the apex of the nose, and wound out and out like a watch spring. Mezzotint engravings are produced thus:—The steel or copper is made rough like fine sand paper. To produce soft effects, this rough surface is scraped off. If you want a high place or “high light” in your engraving, scrape the surface smooth, then the ink will not touch it. If you want faint color, scrape off a little. Such engravings look like lithographs. Etching is adapted to homely and familiar-sketches. Etching is done thus:—Thecopper or steel plate is heated and covered with black varnish. The engraver scratches off this varnish with sharp needles, working on the surface as he would on paper with a pencil. Nitric acid is then passed over the plate, and it eats away at the steel and copper wherever the needle has scraped off the varnish. When the varnish is removed with spirits of turpentine, the engraving is seen in sunken lines on the plate.
The pencil drawings of mechanical draughtsmen and engineers may be rendered ineffaceable by the following process:—Slightly warm a sheet of ordinary drawing paper, then place it carefully on the surface of a solution of white resin in alcohol, leaving it there long enough to become thoroughly moistened. Afterward dry it in a current of warm air. Paper prepared in this way has a very smooth surface. In order to fix the drawing, the paper is to be warmed for a few moments. This process may prove useful for the preservation of plans or designs when the want of time or any other cause will not allow the draughtsman reproducing them in ink. A simpler method than the above, however, is to brush over the back of the paper containing the charcoal or pencil sketch with a weak solution of white shellac in alcohol.
Wood type should always be kept in a cool and dry place—not, as is often the case, a few feet from a large stove, or directly over the lye and wash tub. The drawer or shelves—drawers or cases are preferable to shelves—where they are kept, should not, as very often happens, be made of unseasoned wood, for this reason: type wood is usually perfectly seasoned, and when allowed to remain for any length of time on a damp surface, the moisture is absorbed, the bottom expands, and a warped type, ready to be broken at the first impression, is the result.
Wood type should only be washed with oil. A moistened cloth is sufficient, is more economical, and is certainly much cleaner than using their weight in oil. All wood type have a smooth and polished face, and if properly cleaned when put away will last for years. In fact, proper use only improves the working qualities. Wood type forms should not be left standing near hot stoves, or left locked up over night on a damp press or stone to warp, swell, and perhaps ruin a costly chase.
Take an organic salt of copper—for instance, a tartrate. Dissolve 126 grammes sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) in twolitres of water; also 227 grammes tartrate of potash and 286 grammes crystallized carbonate of soda in 2 litres of water. On mixing the two solutions, a light bluish-green precipitate of tartrate of copper is formed. It is thrown on a linen filter and afterwards dissolved in half a litre of caustic soda solution of 16° B. when it is ready for use.
The coating obtained from this solution is very pliable, smooth and coherent, with a fine surface; acquires any desired thickness if left long enough in the bath.
Other metals can also be employed for plating, in the form of tartrates. Instead of tartrates, phosphates, oxalates, citrates, acetates and borates of metals can be used; so that it seemspossibleto entirely dispense with the use of cyanide baths.
To transfer engravings to mother-of-pearl, coat the shell with thin white copal varnish. As soon as the varnish becomes sticky, place the engraving face down on it, and press it well into the varnish. After the varnish becomes thoroughly dry, moisten the back of the engraving and remove the paper very carefully by rubbing. When the paper is all removed and the surface becomes dry, varnish lightly with copal.
For every six pounds of lead add one pound of antimony. The antimony should be broken into very small pieces, and thrown on the top of the lead when it is at red heat. It is a white metal, and so brittle that it may be reduced to powder; it melts when heated to redness; at a higher heat it evaporates.
The cheapest and most simple mode of making a stereotype metal is to melt old type, and to every fourteen pounds add about six pounds of grocer’s tea-chest lead. To prevent any smoke arising from the melting of tea-chest lead it is necessary to melt it over an ordinary fire-place, for the purpose of cleansing it, which can be done by throwing in a small piece of tallow about the size of a nut, and stir it briskly with the ladle, when the impurities will rise to the surface, and can be skimmed off.
In the mixing of lead and type-metal see that there are no pieces of zinc among it, the least portion of which will spoil the whole of the other metal that is mixed with it. Zinc is of a bluish white color; its hue is intermediate between that of lead and tin. It takes about eighty degrees more heat than lead to bring it into fusion; therefore, should any metal float on the top of the lead, do not try to mix it, but immediately take it off with the ladle.
To fix pencil marks so they will not rub, take well skimmed milk and dilute with an equal bulk of water. Wash the pencil marks (whether writing or drawing) with this liquid, using a soft camel-hair brush, and avoid all rubbing. Place upon a flat board to dry.
A bright and lasting red edge may be obtained by the following process:—Take the best vermillion and add a pinch of carmine; mix this with glaire, slightly diluted. Take the book and bend over the edge so as to allow the color to slightly permeate it; then apply the color with a bit of fine Turkey sponge, bend over the edge in the opposite direction, and color again. When the three edges have been done in this manner, allow them to dry. Next screw the book tightly up in the cutting press, and after wiping the edge with a waxed rag, burnish well with a flat agate burnisher.
The lustre of morocco leather is restored by varnishing with white of egg.
The following process will restore the original whiteness of copper-plate, wood-engraving or printed matter:—Place a piece of phosphorus in a large glass vessel; pour in water of 30° centigrade (that is 86° Fahrenheit) temperature until the phosphorus is half covered. Cork up, but not tightly, the glass vessel, and lay it in a moderately warm place for fourteen hours. Damp the paper that is to be bleached, with distilled water; fasten it to a piece of platinum wire and hang it up inside the glass vessel. The faded paper after a short time will regain its original white color. It should then be taken out and washed in water; next drawn through a weak solution of soda, and finally dipped in pure water and laid on a glass table, and thus made dry and smooth.
For electrotyping on China and similar non-conducting materials:—Sulphur is dissolved in oil of spike lavender to a syrupy consistence; then chloride of gold or chloride of platinum is dissolved in ether, and the two solutions mixed under a gentle heat. The compound is next evaporated until the thickness of ordinary paint, in which condition it is applied with a brush to such portions of the china, glass or otherfabric as it is desired to cover, according to the design or pattern, with the electrometallic deposit. The objects are baked in the usual way before they are immersed in the bath.
The great difficulty to be overcome in painting on ebonized wood, is the non-absorbent character of the surface, which will not allow the paint to sink in. Washing the panel over with onion juice enables the paint to adhere more easily. The paint, whether oil or water color, must be laid on thickly. In order that the painting, whether of flowers or figures, shall prove a decoration, the black space between the painted figures must be graceful in shape. Water color paintings on such panels require to be varnished. Oil color does not need the varnish.
Letters written on vellum or paper are gilded in three ways. In the first a little size is mixed with the ink, and the letters are written as usual; when they are dry a slight degree of stickiness is produced by breathing on them, upon which the gold leaf is immediately applied, and by a little pressure may be made to adhere with sufficient firmness. In the second method somewhite lead or chalk is ground up with strong size, and the letters are made with this by means of a brush; when the mixture is almost dry, the gold leaf may be laid on and afterward burnished. The best method is to mix up some gold powder with size, and make the letters of this by means of a brush.
The edges of the leaves of books are gilded while in the binders’ press, by first applying a composition formed of four parts of Armenian bole and one of sugar candy, ground together to a proper consistence; it is laid on by a brush with white of egg; this coating, when nearly dry, is smoothed by the burnisher; it is then slightly moistened with clear water, the gold leaf applied, and afterwards burnished.
In order to impress the gilt figures on the leather covers of books, the leather is first dusted over with very fine powdered resin or mastic; then the iron tool by which the figure is made is moderately heated and pressed down upon a piece of leaf gold which slightly adheres to it, being then immediately applied to the surface of the leather with a certain force; the tool at the same time makes an impression, and melts the mastic which lies between the heated iron and the leather; in consequence of this, the gold with which the face of the tool is covered is made to adhere to theleather, so that on removing the tool a gilded impression of it remains behind.
The principal colors of gold for grinding are red, green, yellow. These should be kept in different amalgams. The part which is to remain of the first color is to be stopped off with a composition of chalk and glue; the variety required is produced by gilding the unstopped parts with the proper amalgam, according to the usual mode of gilding. Sometimes the amalgam is applied to the surface to be gilt, without any quicking, by spreading it with aquafortis; but this depends on the same principle as a previous quicking.
To write on metals, take half a pound of nitric acid and one ounce muriatic acid. Mix and shake well together, and then it is ready for use. Cover the plate you wish to mark with melted beeswax; when cold, write your inscription plainly in the wax clear to the metal with a sharp instrument. Then apply the mixed acids with a feather, carefully filling each letter. Let it remain from one to ten hours, according to the appearance desired, throw on water, which stops the process, and remove the wax.
To transfer a photographic print to glass for painting or for other purposes, separate the paper print from the background by steaming it; dry thoroughly, and having given the warmed glass an even coating of clean balsam or negative varnish, place the face of the print on the surface thus prepared, smooth it out and let it stand in a cool place until the varnish has hardened. Then apply water, and with a soft piece of gum-rubber rub off the paper so as to leave the photographic image on the varnished glass.
In stereotyping woodcuts, care should be taken that they are thoroughly dry before being sent to the foundry, as the intense heat to which they are subjected frequently causes them to warp and split, especially if pierced.
Bookbinders use gold leaf in two ways—to gild on the edge, and to place gold letters on the binding. To gild on the edge, the edge is smoothly cut, put in a strong press, scraped so as to make it solid, and the well-beaten white of an egg, or albumen, put on thinly; the gold leaf is then put on before the albumen is dry; it ispressed down with cotton, and when dry polished with an agate polisher. To put on the lettering, the place where the letters are to appear is coated with albumen, and after it is dry, the type to be used is heated to about the boiling point of water, the gold leaf is put on, either on the book or on the type, and then placed on the spot where the lettering is desired, when the gold leaf will adhere by the heat of the type, while the excess of gold leaf loosely around is rubbed off with a tuft of cotton.
To gild in oil, the wood, after being properly smoothed, is covered with a coat of gold size, made of drying linseed oil mixed with yellow ochre. When this has become so dry as to adhere to the fingers without soiling them, the gold leaf is laid on with great care and dexterity, and pressed down with cotton wool. Places that have been missed are covered with small pieces of gold leaf, and when the whole is dry the ragged bits are rubbed off with cotton. This is by far the easiest mode of gilding. Any other metallic leaves may be applied in a similar manner. Pale leaf gold has a greenish-yellow color, and is an alloy of gold with silver. Dutch gold leaf is only copper colored with the fumes of zinc. Being much cheaper thangold leaf, it is very useful when large quantities of gilding are required in places where it can be defended from the weather, as it changes color if exposed to moisture; and it should be covered with varnish. Silver leaf is prepared like gold leaf, but when applied should be kept well covered with varnish, as otherwise it will tarnish. A transparent yellow varnish will give it the appearance of gold.
In order to make good work in oil gilding there are several indispensableconditionswhich must be observed. First, a smooth ground. Second, gold size free from grit or skins. Third, in putting oil gold size on the work it must be dross black, ground in turpentine, and mixed with boiled linseed oil and a small piece of dryers; well sand-paper again, when this coat is dry. And now for the finishing coat of color, which should be flat,i. e., mixed with turpentine and a few drops of japanner’s gold-size, but no oil. The dross black should be first ground in turpentine and the gold-size added after. When this has dried, varnish with hard drying oak varnish, leave for a day or two, and then rub down with pumice-stone powder, sifted through muslin; use a piece of cloth or felt wrapped on a small block of wood, and first wet the surface to be rubbed withwater; dry with a wash-leather, and re-varnish. The ornaments are usually done with stencil patterns, and the lines are done with straight edges and lining fitches. Stencil patterns can be cut out of card paper. Before using, give a coat or two of patent knotting. For gilding panels, give a coat of buff first, then a coat of gold-size, in oil. When this has dried just sticky, press the gold leaf upon it with a ball of wadding, and leave for five or six hours, then rub over with a piece of soft wadding, and wash well with a sponge and cold water. The gold will not need any preparation before painting on, but if varnished afterward use pale varnish. Screens should be painted in colors to match the rooms they are intended to be used in. Birds, flowers and animals are the subjects generally introduced for this purpose. Birds should be painted toward the top of the screen, animals, flowers, etc., in the centre or at the bottom.
Gloss printing is done in two ways; one by using the gloss inks specially prepared for the purpose, the other by printing the gloss preparation on over the finished job, or over that portion of it required to be glossed. To the inexperienced this is a difficult operation, attended by many failures. It is accomplished as follows:—Prepare a tint block the exact size and shape to cover the printing to be glossed. The block should be of boxwood or hard metal—soft metal will not do. Fix it on the press and make it ready as for ordinary work, with a good, even impression. Wash up the ink table, the rollers and the block itself thoroughly, removing the least trace of ink. Replace the rollers and distributors. Now, with a clean palette knife putalittle of the gloss preparation on the ink cylinder or table, let it distribute for about a minute, and then pull an impression; if it comes up perfectly clean, the work may proceed, but if there are any signs of dirt, it is best to wash up again at once. While working the gloss, keep the machine in motion, and should the gloss become too sticky (which it is apt to do) sprinkle a very little turpentine on the rollers. It is best to have a separate hand to put on the gloss, so as not to delay the feeder, and the sheets should be taken away at once and laid out singly to dry. The two most important points are to have the machine clean and keep it in motion. After printing, wash up the gloss quickly with benzine.
To bleach sheepskin parchment white, expose the pieces to strong sunlight under glass, in a moist atmosphere.
For a black color for printing, 25 parts paraffine oil and 45 parts resin are mixed, either by melting at 80°C., or by mechanical means at the ordinary temperature. To this mass 15 parts of black are added. For printing machines, the mixture is composed of 40 parts of resin only, instead of 45. Resin can, in some cases, be replaced by dammar. Other colors are mixed by substituting the equivalent of the color to the black. When cheapness has to be considered, paraffine oil can be substituted by resinous oil, and resin by Burgundy resin, etc.
Parchment can be dyed green, blue or red. To dye it blue, use the following process:—Dissolve verdigris in vinegar; heat the solution, and apply it by means of a brush on the parchment, till it takes a nice green color. The blue color is then obtained by applying on the parchment thus prepared a solution of carbonate of potash. Use two ounces for one gallon of water. Another method is to cover it by means of a brush with aquafortis, in which copper dust has been dissolved. The potash solution is then applied as before, till the required shade is obtained. Another method is by using the following solution:—Indigo, 5 ozs.; white wood, 10 ozs.; alum, 1 oz.; water, 50 ozs. Red:—The parchment is dyed red by applying with a brush a cold logwood solution, and then using a 3 per cent potash solution.
To make paper fire and water-proof, mix two-thirds ordinary paper-pulp with one-third asbestos. Steep in a solution of common salt and alum, and after being made into paper coat with an alcoholic solution of shellac. By plunging a sheet of paper into an ammoniacal solution of copper for an instant, then passing it between the cylinders and drying it, it is rendered entirely impermeable to water, and may even be boiled without disintegrating. Two, three, or any number of sheets rolled together become permanently adherent, and form a material having the strength of wood. By the interposition of cloth or any kind of fiber between the layers, the strength is greatly increased.
A blotting paper that will not only dry the blot, but bleach the remainder of it can be made by passing ordinary blotting paper or card through a concentrated solution of oxalic acid. Care must be taken that no crystals appear, which would injure the porosity of the paper.
To make impermeable paper, prepare the two following baths: (1) alum, 25 ozs.; white soap, 12½ ozs.; water, 100 ozs. (2) gum arabic, 6 ozs.; Colle de Flandre, 18 ozs.; water, 100 ozs. Place the sheet of paper in the first bath to be well impregnated. In this bath the paper is left only for a short time. It is then dried and dipped in the second bath, the same precautions being used as for the first bath. When dry, the paper is hot-pressed in order to render it uniform.
To mount chromos for framing, first soak for fifteen minutes in a shallow dish, or lay between two newspapers that have been thoroughly saturated with water; then paste to the panel of the wood or canvas which has been prepared to receive them. Care must be taken that there are no lumps in the paste.
A varnish formed of Canada balsam, dissolved in turpentine, supplies a most valuable means of making paper transparent. The mode by which this is most satisfactorily accomplished is by applying a prettythin coating of this varnish to the paper, so as to permeate it thoroughly, after which it is to be coated on both sides with a much thicker sample. The paper is kept warm by performing the operation before a hot fire, and a third, or even a fourth, coating may be applied, until the texture of the paper is seen to merge into a homogeneous translucency. Paper prepared according to this process is said to come nearer than any other to the highest standard of perfection in transparent paper. Care must be used in making, as the materials are highly inflammable.
To make carbon paper:—Take of clear lard, five oz.; beeswax, one oz.; Canada balsam, one-tenth oz.; lampblack, q. s. Melt by aid of heat, and mix. Apply with a flannel dauber, removing as much as possible with clean woolen rags.
To make paper which shall be luminous in the dark, it is sufficient to mingle with the pulp the following ingredients in their proportions:—Water, ten parts; pulp, forty parts; phosphorescent powder, ten parts; gelatine, one part; bichromate of potash, one part. The paper will also be waterproof.
The following are the sizes and weights of drawing papers:
Dissolve gum lac in four parts by volume of pure alcohol, and then add bronze or other metal powder in the proportion of one part to every three of the solution. A smooth paper must be chosen, and the mixture applied with a fine brush. The coating is not dull, and may be highly burnished.
Another process consists in first applying a coat of copal or other varnish, and when this has become of a tacky dryness, dusting bronze powder over it. After remaining a few hours, this bronzed surfaceshould be burnished with an agate or steel burnisher.
Drawing paper of any thickness may be made perfectly transparent by damping it with benzine. India ink and water colors can be used on this paper. The paper resumes its opacity as the benzine evaporates, so that any place that has not been duly traced requires to be redamped with the benzine for that purpose. A sponge should be used for the application.
The following is arecipefor making paper water-proof:—Add a little acetic acid to a weak solution of carpenters’ glue. Dissolve also a small quantity of bichromate of potash in distilled water, and mix both solutions together. The sheets of paper are drawn separately through the solution, and hung up to dry.
To size poor drawing paper, take one oz. of white glue, one oz. of white soap, and one-half oz. of alum. Soak the glue and soap in water until they appear like jelly, then simmer in one quart of water until the whole is melted. Add the alum, simmer again and filter. To be applied hot.
The following process of preparing paper will prevent alterations in writing:—Add to the sizing 5 per cent of cyanide of potassium and sulphide of antimony, and run the sized paper through a thin solution of sulphate of manganese or copper. Any writing on this paper with ink made from nutgalls and sulphate of iron, can neither be removed with acids nor erased mechanically. Any acid will change immediately the writing from black to blue or red. Any alkali will change the paper to brown. Any erasure will remove the layer of color, and the white ground of the paper will be exposed, since the color of the paper is only fixed to the outside of the paper without penetrating it.
It is well known that paper, when gummed, often cockles. To remedy this a little glycerine or sugar should be added to the gum.
The paper on which the copy is to appear is first dipped in a bath consisting of thirty parts of white soap, thirty parts of alum, forty parts of English glue, ten parts of albumen, two parts of glacial acetic acid, ten parts of alcohol of 60°,and 500 parts of water. It is afterwards put into a second bath, which contains fifty parts of burnt umber ground in alcohol, twenty parts of lampblack, ten parts of English glue, and ten parts of bichromate of potash in 500 parts of water. They are now sensitive to light, and must, therefore, be preserved in the dark. In preparing paper to make the positive print, another bath is made just like the first one, except that lampblack is substituted for the burnt umber. To obtain colored positives the black is replaced by some red, blue, or other pigment.
In making the copy, the drawing to be copied is put in a photographic printing frame, and the negative paper laid on it, and then exposed in the usual manner. In clear weather an illumination of two minutes will suffice. After the exposure the negative is put in water to develop it, and the drawing will appear in white on a dark ground; in other words, it is a negative or reversed picture. The paper is then dried and a positive made from it by placing it on the glass of a printing frame, and laying the positive paper upon it, and exposing as before. After placing the frame in the sun for two minutes, the positive is taken out and put in water. The black dissolves off without the necessity of moving back and forth.
Forms sent down to machine ought not to be wet too much with lye or with water, otherwise it becomes necessary to dry them before working, which takes time and often much trouble. The wet works up little by little to the face of the letter, and then the form becomes unworkable. It has often to be taken off the coffin, the feet of the types have to be thoroughly dried, then some sheets of unsized paper have to be placed under the form; it has also to be unlocked, shaken, locked up again, the sheets removed with the moisture they have imbibed, and then it is to be hoped the form will be workable. If not there is nothing to be done but to lift it and dry it by heat.
Lye is generally used for washing forms which do not contain wood blocks; turpentine where wood-cuts or wood-letters are to be found in them. The bristles of the lye-brush should be longer than those of the turpentine-brush, and, in order to preserve it, each brush should be properly washed with water after using, and shaken and stood up to dry. If this is not done the brush will last but a short time.
There is no good in taking up with the brush a large quantity of lye or turps, and to shed it at once. Yet this is too commonly done, regardless of waste. In order to wash a form well the brush should bepassed lightly over all the pages, in order to wet them uniformly. Then they should be rubbed round and round, and finally lengthwise and crosswise. Leaning on the brush not only wears away the bristles, but sometimes injures the face of the type, too. It is a bad practice.
After washing, before printing, a sponge with pure water should be passed lightly over the form, and then the form should be dried with a cloth. Care should be taken not to use a woolen cloth, which is liable to leave little pieces on the face of the types, and to see that there are no hard substances in it. After printing it is always best to wash with turpentine. Lye induces oxidation of the types, while turps leave an oily film on them, which preserves them from the action of the atmosphere.
A practical pressman says that a sheet of paper wet with glycerine and used as a tympan-sheet will prevent off-setting. This will be found better than using oiled sheets.
To prevent the lumpy particles of mucilage on gummed envelopes from “battering” the type, use a heavy piece of blotting paper as a tympan, and when beaten down, touch the injured part with a drop of water, which will bring up the impression again.
To prevent set-off on writing papers printed on one side, do not lay the sheets straight as they leave the press or machine; this will enable the air to get between them, and wonderfully expedite the drying of the ink. Do not allow the heap to become too heavy.
A quick dryer:—Japanese gold size, 2 parts; copal varnish, 1 part; elber powder (radix carlinæ, carline thistle), 2 parts. Incorporate well together with a small spatula, and use in quantities to suit the consistency of the ink employed and the rapidity with which it is desired to dry. The usual proportion is a small teaspoonful of the dryer to about one ounce of average good ink.
To prevent warping in blocks and wood-letter used in large bills, a French printer advises that they should be placed in a zinc basin, provided with an air-tight lid; they should then be thoroughly saturated with paraffine oil, and left thus for about four days, when they should be wiped with a clean dry rag. Prepared in this way whennew, wood-letter resists the effects of lye, petroleum, turpentine, and atmospheric changes.
It is a good plan, when rollers are to be kept out of use for any particular time, to put them away with the ink on them. It protects their surface from the hardening effects of the atmosphere, and causes them to retain those properties which give them the much desired “tackiness.” But about half an hour before using them, remove the ink and see that they are really in condition again.
The following preservative of rollers when not in use is often applied:—Corrosive sublimate, 1 drachm; fine table salt, 2 ozs.; put together in ½ gallon of soft water. It is allowed to stand 24 hours, and is to be well shaken before using. Sponge the rollers with the mixture after washing.
Sperm and lard oils are the best for lubricating roller molds. If they are properly used, no trouble will be experienced in drawing the rollers.
In hot, sultry weather rollers will not need sponging, as some of the materials used in their manufacture, having an affinity for moisture, will absorb enough humidity from the atmosphere to keep the surface soft. Indeed, too much moisture is absorbed in close and sultry weather. Cover the rollers while not in use with tallow (in damp weather); this will prevent the absorbtion of moisture and keep the roller dry. When starting up put a little tallow on the distributor. This will prevent the rollers from sticking, and keep them cool.
The safest thing for the pressman is to have on hand, as a reserve, a set of old, hard rollers.
Remember, it is not dry, hot weather that causes trouble so much as it is hot moist weather. When the weather is dry, soft rollers can be used, but when dampness comes on, take out the soft and put in the old hard rollers that have become rejuvenated by the absorption of moisture.
Nothing destroys the surface of a roller so much as green mould. It takes all the life out of them. Green mould results from a damp place and a careless pressman, and is always a disgrace to all concerned.
When rollers have been lying for weeks with a coating of ink dried on to the surface—a circumstance that often occurs, more especially when colored inks have been used—get an ordinary red paving brick (an old one with the edges worn away will be the best), place the roller on a board, then dip the brick in a trough of cold water, and work it gently to and fro on the surface from end to end, taking care to apply plenty of water, dipping the brick in repeatedly; and in a short time the ink will disappear. Nor is this all; for if a little care and patience is exercised, it will put a new face to the roller, making it almost equal to new; the coating of ink having, by keeping the air from the surface, tended to preserve the roller from perishing. Sponge off clean.
Best white glue, one pound; concentrated glycerine, one pound. Soak the glue over night in just enough cold soft water to cover it. Put the softened glue in a fine cloth bag, gently press out excess of water, and melt the glue by heating it over a salt water bath. Then gradually stir in the glycerine and continue the heating, with occasional stirring, for several hours, or until as much of the water is expelled as possible.Cast in oiled brass molds, and give the composition plenty of time to cool and harden properly before removing from the mold and inking. See that the ink is well spread before bringing the roller in contact with type.
The temperature of the press or machine room ought to be as near as possible the same as that at which the ink is manufactured—viz., 16° of Reamur (68° Fahrenheit). If the temperature of the room, and consequently, of the iron receptacles the ink is kept in, be considerably less, the varnish of the ink will stiffen, the paper will adhere to the type and peel off, or, if this does not occur, there will at least be too little varnish in the ink remaining on the type, and too much carbon, which, of course, will not sufficiently adhere to the paper, and may be wiped off even when the paint is perfectly dry. But if the temperature of the work-room be too high, the varnish becomes too thin, the ink loses its power of covering well all parts of the types, which then look as if they had been printed with lamp-oil. Colors of different hues require generally a somewhat higher temperature than black, say 70° to 75° Fahrenheit, but any printer who wants to see a clear and sharp impression of his typeson the paper should not neglect to look sometimes to the thermometer, too low or too high a temperature being much oftener the cause of unsatisfactory printing than the ink we use.
The press or machine man must be guided by the condition of the face of the roller, and the eyes and fingers will be the best guides. Where machine rollers are required for a weekly newspaper, they should be washed ready for the first set of forms, and when the number is long, a second set should be got ready and inked to work the second side, as the paper throws off a quantity of cotton waste, and powder, and neutralizes the tack so necessary to the face of a good roller and a clear impression. Should a roller require cleaning for a hurried work, the old ink may be removed with turpentine, but must be done quickly, and immediately distributed on the ink table, or the face will harden.
A small quantity of perfectly dry acetate of lead or borate of manganese in impalpable powder will hasten the drying of the ink. It is essential that it be thoroughly incorporated with the ink by trituration in a mortar.
To bendarule, get it thoroughly hot and let it cool slowly; this will take the spring out, and it will stay in the shape it is bent to.
Use a soft sponge moderately moistened with spirits of wine; allow to dry by evaporation. Do not use a cloth, and avoid friction. Another way is to use a very soft shaving brush, and to gently rub backward and forward a lather of curd soap. Rinse with water at about blood heat. This applied morning after morning to old and dirt-covered oil paintings will greatly restore them. In adopting this plan with regard to gilt frames around water colors or prints, be sure that not enough moisture is used to run off the frame, or the paper will be stained. The cleaning applies to gold frames only. Dutch metal will bear no cleaning, but a new material, not absolutely gold, but very like it, will stand any amount of soap and water.
As presses and machinery have their bright work covered with a compound to keep it from rusting while shipping, parties who receive the machinery will find benzine or kerosene oil the best articles to clean off the compound with.
To make secret or invisible writing, procure some very thin starch, with which write with a quill pen (which should be a soft one) anything that fancy may dictate. Suffer it to dry perfectly; examine the paper upon which you have written, and not one letter can be distinguished by the naked eye. Procure a little iodine, which is an elementary body, dissolve it in water, and with a camel’s hair pencil, a quill, or any other convenient article, dipped in the solution, slightly rub the paper on the side which has been written upon; the writing will instantly appear as distinctly visible as if written with the finest ink ever invented.
Red printing ink may be made in this way:—Boil linseed oil until smoke is given off. Set the oil then on fire, and allow it to burn until it can be drawn out into strings half an inch long. Add one pound of resin for each quart of oil, and one-half pound of dry, brown soap cut into slices. The soap must be put in cautiously, as the water in the soap causes a violent commotion. Lastly, the oil is ground with a sufficient pigment on a stone by means of a muller. Vermilion, red lead, carmine, Indian red, Venetian red, and the lakes are all suitable for printing inks.
To prevent electrotype blocks from warping, shrinking or swelling, place them in a shallow pan or dish, cover with kerosene oil and let them soak as long as possible, say three or four days. Then wipe dry and place in the form. After the first two or three washings they may swell a little; if so, have them carefully dressed down, and after that you will have little or no trouble with them, and can leave them in the form just as you would were they solid.
To make a good, permanent black printing ink, take
Grind on a stone until extreme fineness has been obtained. This ink will work clear and sharp, and can easily be removed from the type.
Following are formulas for making sealing wax:—Fine red sealing wax—Pale shellac, 4 oz.; Venice turpentine, 10 drachms; English vermilion, 2 oz. Ordinary redsealing wax—Shellac, 2 oz.; resin, 4 oz.; Venice turpentine, 12 drachms; chrome red, 12 drachms. Cheap red bottle wax—Resin, 10 oz.; turpentine, 1 oz.; beeswax, 1½ oz.; tallow, 1 oz.; red lead or red ochre, 3 oz. The manipulation is about the same for the three kinds. First, the resins are melted with as low a heat as will suffice, then the turpentine, previously warmed, is to be added, and lastly the coloring material. The first quality is only used in sticks, and the third, when melted, for dipping bottles in. The second can be employed for either purpose. When the wax is used for dipping it should be kept at a temperature just sufficient to render it liquid, as too much heat causes it to foam and to rapidly become brittle. Even with this precaution, it is necessary to add a little turpentine, from time to time, to replace the essential oil lost by evaporation.
Five hundred parts of potato starch are mixed with 1,500 parts of cold distilled water and eight parts of pure oxalic acid. This mixture is placed in a suitable vessel on a water-bath, and heated until a small sample tested with iodine solution does not produce the reaction of starch. When this is found to be the case the vessel isimmediately removed from the water-bath, and the liquid neutralized with pure carbonate of lime. After having been left standing for two days, the liquor is filtered, and the clear filtrate evaporated upon a water-bath until the mass has become quite a paste, which is removed by a spatula, and having been made into thin cakes is placed upon paper and further dried in a warm situation; 220 parts of pure dextrine are thus obtained. When needed for making mucilage, the solution has only to be evaporated to the proper thickness.
The different colors, and the inks which may be made from them, are as follows:
For Red.—Orange lead, vermilion, burnt sienna, Venetian red, Indian red, lake vermilion, orange mineral, rose pink and red lead.
Yellow.—Yellow ochre, gamboge, and chromate of lead.
Blue.—Cobalt, Prussian blue, indigo, Antwerp blue, Chinese blue, French ultramarine, and German ultramarine.
Green.—Verdigris, green verditer, and mixtures of blue and yellow.
Purple.—A mixture of those used for red and blue.
Deep Brown.—Burnt umber, with a little scarlet lake.
Pale Brown.—Burnt sienna; a rich shade is obtained by using a little scarlet lake.
Lilac.—Cobalt blue, with a little carmine added.
Pale Lilac.—Carmine, with a little cobalt blue.
Amber.—Pale chrome, with a little carmine.
Pink.—Carmine or crimson lake.
Shades and Tints.—A bright red is best got from pale vermilion, with a little carmine added; dark vermilion, when mixed with the varnish, produces a dull color. Orange lead and vermilion ground together also produce a very bright tint, and one that is more permanent than an entire vermilion color. The pigments are dear; when a cheap job is in hand, orange mineral, rose pink and red lead may be used.
Yellow.—Of the materials named, the chromate of lead makes the brightest color. If a dull yellow be wanted, yellow ochre may be used; it grinds easily and is very cheap.
Blue.—Indigo is excessively dark, and requires a good deal of trouble to lighten it. It makes a fine, showy color where brightness is not required. Prussian blue is useful, but it must be thoroughly ground. It dries very quickly, hence the roller must be frequently cleaned. Antwerp blue is very light and easily worked. Chineseblue is also available. As already said, the shade may be varied with flake white. There is this objection to Prussian, Antwerp, and Chinese blues, that they are hard to grind, and likely to turn greenish with varnish when used thin. A bright blue is also to be got from cobalt, or French or German ultramarine. This is cheap, easily ground, and works freely. Lime blue may also be used.
Green.—Any of the yellows and blues may be mixed. Gamboge, a transparent color, is very useful in mixture with Prussian blue; or chromate of lead and Prussian blue may be used. The varnish, having a yellow tinge, has an effect upon the mixture, and should be taken into account. With a slight quantity of Antwerp blue, varnish in itself will produce a decidedly greenish tint. Verdigris and green verditer also give greens. If Chinese blue be added to pale chrome, it gives a good green, and any shade can be obtained by increasing or diminishing either color. Emerald green is got by mixing pale chrome with a little Chinese blue, and then adding the emerald until the tint is satisfactory.