Stone.—(n) To remove grease from stone steps or passages, pour strong soda and water boiling hot over the spot, lay on a little fullers’ earth made into a thin paste with boiling water, let remain all night, and if the grease be not removed, repeat the process. Grease may sometimes be taken out by rubbing the spot with a hard stone—not hearth-stone—using sand and very hot water, with soap and soda.
Plaster.—(o) By means of Dutch rush or shave-grass (Equisetum hyemale), or exceedingly fine sandpaper, the plaster must be rubbed over in an equal manner, and in every part. The rubbing, being done in a skilful manner, opens the pores of the plaster; thenbrush it over with the thick oil used for moulding, which will give it a very pleasing yellow tint, and at the same time great solidity. If, however, a white colour is preferred, soak the cast, after the first operation has been performed, in a stearine bath. If placed in a bath of hot stearine, and allowed to remain 4 hours, it will acquire almost the solidity and the polish of marble.
Alabaster.—(p) Make a paste with quicklime and water; spread this well over the discoloured article, and leave on for about 24 hours; then remove with soap and water, applying some friction on parts which are worse than others. (q) If not too much discoloured, clean with a strong lye of soap and water. (r) The superficial dirt and grease having been removed, wash with diluted muriatic acid.
Metal Goods.—Brass.—(a) Wash with rock alum, boiled in a strong lye in the proportion of 1 oz. to a pint; polish with dry tripoli. (b) The government method prescribed for cleaning brass, and in use at all the United States arsenals, is claimed to be the best in the world. The plan is to make a mixture of 1 part common nitric acid and ½ part sulphuric acid, in a stone jar, having also ready a pail of fresh water and a box of sawdust. The articles to be treated are dipped into the acid, then removed into the water, and finally rubbed with sawdust. This immediately changes them to a brilliant colour. If the brass has become greasy, it is first dipped in a strong solution of potash and soda in warm water; this cuts the grease, so that the acid has free power to act. (c) Rub the surface of the metal with rottenstone and sweet oil, then rub off with a piece of cotton flannel, and polish with soft leather. (d) A solution of oxalic acid rubbed over tarnished brass soon removes the tarnish, rendering the metal bright. The acid must be washed off with water, and the brass rubbed with whiting and soft leather. (e) A mixture of muriatic acid and alum dissolved in water imparts a golden colour to brass articles that are steeped in it for a few seconds. (f) First boil your articles in a pan with ordinary washing soda, to remove the old lacquer; then let them stand for a short time in dead aquafortis; then run them through bright dipping ditto. Swill all acid off in clean water, and brighten the relieved parts with a steel burnisher; replace in clean water, and dry out in beech sawdust. Next place your work on stove till heated, so that you can with difficulty bear your hand on articles, and apply pale lacquer with brush: the work will burn if heated too much or too rapidly. (g) Put a coat of nitric acid over the part you want cleaned, with a piece of rag; as soon as it turns a light yellow, rub it dry, and the brass will present a very clean appearance; if not, repeat. (h) Oxalic acid and whiting mixed and applied wet, with brush, and brushed again when dry with soft plate-brush to polish with dry whiting. (i) The general idea is to use strong oil of vitriol or a strong solution of oxalic acid. Now, these two substances are very corrosive, and, although they undoubtedly clean the brasswork most effectually, they do mischief in literally eating it away, so that delicate engraving and fine edges soon disappear. In cases of brass name-plates, these acids gradually insinuate themselves underneath the black filling of the letters, generating gas, and forcing it up bit by bit. The best thing to use is lemon pulp: the waste lemon from grog or lemonade does excellently. It should be tied up in a piece of rag, plum-pudding fashion, and when it becomes dry it should be dipped in water. After the brasswork has been rubbed with the lemon it should be well washed with water, and then finished off with rottenstone and oil. One word about brass plates. There is no greater eyesore to those who worship neatness than to see a rim of worn-away paint round the brass plate on the hall door of an otherwise well-appointed house. Such a defect may be easily avoided by cutting out a piece of thick cardboard to the shape of the plate, and covering over with it the paint surrounding the metal during the process of cleaning. Another fatal mistake is to suppose that the black letters require cleaning; they do not, and any efforts in this direction only result in their being gradually worn away. (j) Embossed Surfaces.—Make a mixture of 1 part nitric acid, 2 water, and 6 hydrochloric acid. Boil the articles to be cleaned in a strong soda-lye, and then leave them in the abovesolution, until they become covered with a black layer. Remove from the mixed acids, rinse in plenty of water, and use a fine scratch-brush to remove the black mud. When clean, rinse in hot water, and dry in hot sawdust. Articles thus treated acquire a brilliant lustre. To give a very rich orange-yellow tone to the brass, the nitric acid may be replaced by an equivalent weight of powdered alum. (k) Brass Instruments.—If the instruments are very much oxidised or covered with green rust, first wash them with strong soda and water. If not so very bad, this first process may be dispensed with. Then apply a mixture of 1 part common sulphuric acid and 12 of water, mixed in an earthen vessel, and afterwards polish with oil and rottenstone, well scouring with oil and rottenstone, and using a piece of soft leather and a little dry rottenstone to give a brilliant polish. In future cleaning, oil and rottenstone will be found sufficient. (l) Take a strip of coarse linen, saturate with oil and powdered rottenstone, put round the tubing of instrument, and work backwards and forwards; polish with dry rottenstone. Do not use acid of any kind, as it is injurious to the joints. To hold the instrument, get a piece of wood turned to insert in the bells; fix in a bench vice. The piece of wood will also serve for taking out any dents you may get in the bells. (m) Oil and rottenstone for this purpose are, though very efficacious, objectionable on account of dirt, on account of the oil finding its way to the pistons, and because the instrument cleaned in this manner so soon tarnishes. Dissolve some common soda in warm water, shred into it some scraps of yellow soap, and boil it till the soap is all melted. Then take it from the fire, and when it is cool add a little turpentine, and sufficient rottenstone to make a stiff paste. Keep it in a tin box covered from the air, and if it gets hard, moisten a small quantity with water for use.
Scale-pans.—(n) Pour sufficient ammonia in the pan to cover the bottom, and rub briskly till dry with a handful of dry pine sawdust. For very dirty pans, take about 1 dr. potash bichromate, powder it in a mortar, mix it with 2 or 3 times its bulk of concentrated sulphuric acid, and add twice as much water. With this rub the pans (having a care for the fingers), rinse well, and finish with rottenstone.
Brass or Copper.—(o) Mix together 1 oz. oxalic acid, 6 oz. rottenstone, and ½ oz. gum arabic; all these are to be finely powdered. Then add 1 oz. sweet-oil and sufficient water to form the mixture into a paste. Apply a small portion to the article to be cleaned, and rub dry with a flannel or washleather.
Bronze.—(a) For cleaning bronze statues, when blackened by smoke and soot, wash with plenty of clean water, accompanied with mechanical friction. Even this simple treatment is undesirable; because the friction, however slight, accompanying the washing, destroys, or tends to destroy, the sharpness of the outlines; and the sulphurous and sulphuric acids of the prevailing smoke rapidly corrode the surface of any bronze statue which is constantly being washed. For these reasons, the Nelson monument at Liverpool, was left untouched when it was re-erected, after the building of the new Exchange surrounding it. It has been a matter of much debate whether the soot-blackened surface of a bronze statue is not more pleasing to the eye, than the metallic lustre of a new, or newly-cleaned statue. (b) Weber finds that a dilute solution of caustic alkalies removes overlying dirt, and allows the green patina to become visible. Where the metal was not originally oxidised, the alkali simply cleanses it, and does not promote any formation of green rust. (c) By dipping fustian in soluble glass, and washing it with soap directly afterwards, we get a fabric largely impregnated with silica, which will be found very well adapted for cleaning bronzes, &c. Samples of the material were in the Vienna Exhibition, and attracted some notice. (d) The method of restoring a bronze tea-urn turned black in parts will depend, to a great extent, on the metal and the colour. Clean the surface, first of all, with whiting and water, or crocus powder, until it is polished; then cover with a paste of graphite and crocus, mixed in the proportions that will produce the desired colour. Heat the paste over a small charcoal fire. If the bronzing has been produced by a corrosive process, try painting asolution of potassium sulphide over the cleaned metal. There are many recipes for bronzing, and it is impossible to say which is suitable. The bronzed surface may be polished; but it cannot be bright unless the surface of the metal itself is polished, and then covered with transparent lacquer to preserve the brightness.
Coins.—Coins can be quickly cleansed by immersion in strong nitric acid, and immediate washing in water. If very dirty, or corroded with verdigris, it is better to give them a rubbing with ½ oz. pure potash bichromate, 1 oz. sulphuric acid, 1 oz. nitric acid; rub over, wash with water, wipe dry, and polish with rottenstone or chalk. (Lyle.)
Copper Electros.—Copper electros should be well cleaned after working, as the ink between the fine lines in time generates acids, which destroy the electro. For this purpose turpentine and the brush are employed; others also recommend the electros to be afterwards well rubbed with an oil as free from acid as possible. Should the ink be so dried up as to resist it, creosote should be applied, and the electros treated with the brush.
Copper Vessels.—Use soft-soap and rottenstone, made into a stiff paste with water, and dissolved by gently simmering in a water-bath. Rub on with a woollen rag, and polish with dry whiting and rottenstone. Finish with a leather and dry whiting. See alsoBrass.
Gas Chandeliers.—Very few chandeliers are gilt; they are burnished and lacquered with yellow lacquer. Proceed as follows, whether gilt or lacquered: Take the chandelier to pieces, and boil in strong soda lye for a few minutes; brush over with a soft brush, pass through a strong solution of potassium cyanide (deadly poison), wash through a tubful of boiling water, dry in clean sawdust, wipe up bright with a washleather, and relacquer.
Gilt Mountings.—Gilt mountings, unless carefully cleaned, soon lose their lustre. They should not be rubbed; if slightly tarnished, wipe them off with a piece of Canton flannel, or what is better, remove them if possible, and wash in a solution of ½ oz. borax dissolved in 1 lb. water, and dry them with a soft linen rag; their lustre may be improved by heating them a little, and rubbing with a piece of Canton flannel.
Gold.—(a) To remove the brown tarnish from coloured gold, take a piece of tissue-paper damped in liq. ammoniæ, gently rub the gold till the tarnish disappears, then wash off carefully with soft brush, soap, and water, dry in sawdust or before the fire; if this is not sufficient, entrust the article to a jeweller. (b) Mix a little rouge and spirits of wine together, and apply to the jewellery with a rather stiff brush, and turn the brush round and round—not to brush as if to polish, but rather tickle it and pat it with the hair of the brush; but be sure to keep the brush wet with the mixture. After you have got the tarnish off, wash it out with soap and boiling water, and dry in box-dust. Take care of any stones with foil behind. (c) Rub with a piece of tissue-paper, screwed up and wet with the tongue. This will often do it; if not, re-colour it. (d) A weak solution of potassium cyanide will clean gold braid. Use with small sponge, and wash off with clean water. Strength, say 10 or 15 gr. to the oz. of water. Care should be taken that the solution does not get into any cuts or wounds, as it is very poisonous. The strength of the solution would greatly depend on the condition of the lace. It can be made stronger if necessary. (e) A solution of 20 dr. lime chloride, 20 dr. soda bicarbonate, and 5 dr. common salt, in 5¼ pints distilled water, is prepared and kept in well-closed bottles. The article to be cleaned is allowed to remain a short time in this solution (which is to be heated only in the case of very obstinate dirt), then taken out, washed with spirit, and dried in sawdust. (Chem. Cent. Blatt.)
Iron and steel.—(a) Take a spongy piece of fig-tree wood and well saturate it with a mixture of sweet-oil and finely powdered emery, and with this well rub all the rusty parts. This will not only clean the article, but will at the same time polish it, and so render the use of whiting unnecessary. (b) Bright iron or steel goods (as polishedgrates and fire-irons) may be preserved from rust in the following manner. Having first been thoroughly cleaned, they should be dusted over with powdered quicklime, and thus left until wanted for use. Coils of piano-wire are covered in this manner, and will keep free from rust for many years. (c) Dissolve ½ oz. camphor in 1 lb. hogs’ lard, and take off the scum; then mix with the lard as much black-lead as will give the mixture an iron colour. Rub the articles all over with this mixture, and let them lie for 24 hours; then dry with a linen cloth, and they will keep clean for months. (d) Table knives which are not in constant use should be put in a case containing a depth of about 8 in. quicklime. They are to be plunged into this to the top of the blades, but the lime must not touch the handles. (e) Steel bits that are tarnished, but not rusty, can be cleaned with rottenstone, common hard soap, and a woollen cloth. (f) Removing paint from iron.—After a number of experiments, it has been found that a paint-softener made of 1 lb. lime to 4 lb. potash and 6 qt. water works better than any other proportions.
Plate Powders.—(a) Equal parts precipitated iron subcarbonate, and prepared chalk. (b) An impalpable rouge may be prepared by calcining iron oxalate. (c) Take quicksilver with chalk, ½ oz., and prepared chalk 2 oz., mix them. When used, add a small quantity of spirits of wine, and rub with chamois leather. (d) Put iron sulphate into a large tobacco pipe, and place it in a fire for ¼ hour, mix with a small quantity of powdered chalk. This powder should be used dry. (e) The following makes a liquid polish for silver plate—3 to 4 dr. potassium cyanide, 8 to 10 gr. silver nitrate, and 4 oz. water; apply with a soft brush, wash the object thoroughly with water, dry with a soft linen cloth, and polish with a chamois skin. (f) Take 2 oz. hartshorn powder and boil it in 1 pint water; soak small squares of damask cloth in the liquid, hang them up to dry, and they will be ready for use, and better than any powders. (g) Add by degrees 8 oz. prepared chalk in fine powder to a mixture of 2 oz. spirits of turpentine, 1 oz. alcohol, ½ oz. spirits of camphor, and 2 dr. aqua ammonia; apply with a sponge, and allow it to dry before polishing. (h) Mix together 1 oz. fine chalk, 2 oz. cream of tartar, 1 oz. rottenstone, 1 oz. red-lead, and ¾ oz. alum; pulverise thoroughly in a mortar. Wet the mixture, rub it on the silver, and, when dry, rub off with a dry flannel, or clean with a small brush. (i) An excellent preparation for polishing plate may be made in the following manner:—Mix together 4 oz. spirits of turpentine, 2 oz. spirits of wine, 1 oz. spirits of camphor, and ½ oz. spirits of ammonia. To this add 1 lb. whiting, finely powdered, and stir till the whole is of the consistency of thick cream. Use this preparation with a clean sponge, cover the silver with it, so as to give it a coat like whitewash. Set the silver aside till the paste has dried into a powder; then brush off, and polish with a chamois leather. A cheaper kind may be made by merely mixing spirits of wine and whiting together.
Silver and Plated Goods.—(a) East Indian jewellers never touch silver ware with any abrasive substance, but use, instead of polishing paste, &c., slices of lemons; the goods to be cleaned are well rubbed with these, and then left in a pan for a few hours, covered with slices. For delicate jewellery, a large lime is cut in half, the article inserted, the two halves applied together and tied up for some hours; the article is then washed in several waters, placed in a pan of nearly boiling soapsuds, stirred about, rinsed, and dried on a metal plate, the smooth parts being gently rubbed with wash-leather, if required. (b) Potassium cyanide solution (rather weak) dissolves off the dirty surface gradually, but great care is required. (c) Green tamarind pods (potash oxalic) are greater detergents for gold and silver than lemons, and are often employed for the purpose of removing stains, firemarks, &c. (Boston Journal of Chemistry.) (d) Eisner states that a polish equal to that obtained by the use of the finest plate powder, can be produced by simply cleaning the silver in water in which potatoes have been boiled. (e) Dead or engraved silver goods should never be cleaned with plate powder, but be washed out with a soft brush and some strong alkali, and well rinsed afterwards. When the dead or frosted parts are quite dry, the polished parts are carefully cleanedwith powder. (f) The following directions are given by a silversmith in Christiania:—Silver filagree work is best cleaned by the application of spirit of ammonia by means of a soft brush, and afterwards thoroughly washing in soft-soap and warm water, and rinsing in clean warm water, and quick drying by linen rags, blotting-paper, or some similar clean absorbent. Should this method, after several repetitions, cease to have the required effect, the article will have to be sent to a silversmith to be heated and boiled in acid. The best mode of preservation is to wrap the article in tissue paper before placing it in the case. (g) The simplest and cleanest substance for cleaning silver articles is, according to Professor Davenport, soda hyposulphite. It acts quickly, and is inexpensive. A rag or a brush, moistened with a saturated solution of the salt, cleanses even strongly oxidised silver surfaces in a few seconds, without the application of any polishing powder. (h) Mix 8 oz. prepared chalk, 2 oz. turpentine, 1 oz. alcohol, 4 dr. spirits of camphor, and 2 dr. liquor of ammonia. Apply this mixture to the article with a sponge, and allow to dry before polishing. (i) Dissolve 12 oz. potassium cyanide in 1 qt. water; dip in this solution, and brush it with a stiff brush until clean; then wash and dry. (j) A paste composed of washed whiting, precipitated magnesia carbonate, and precipitated iron peroxide. (k) Gin. (l) Apply whiting mixed with sweet oil on a shammy. (m) Take 2 qt. water, ½ oz. hartshorn, and 1 oz. whiting, and boil the whole together. While boiling, put as many of the silver or plated articles into the vessel as it will conveniently hold, and let remain for 5 minutes; withdraw, and leave to dry. Polish with clean linen or woollen rags, which, after being soaked in the above-named liquor, have been well wrung. Finally rub with a clean soft leather. (n) The ink eraser sold by stationers has the property of cleaning and brightening silver and gold mountings, such as meerschaum pipe fittings, pencil-cases, watch-cases, &c. (o) Cut some flakes of white curd soap, and put them into a saucepan of water to simmer; sew the ornaments up in a muslin bag, and place in the liquid for about 10 minutes whilst on the fire.
Tarnished Silver Lace.—(p) Sponge over with a weak solution of potassium cyanide. (q) Dab over with a cream of heavy magnesia and water, allowing this to dry, and then brushing it off with a soft-haired brush.
Zinc Vessels.—Zinc articles, if small, can be cleaned by being pickled in spirits of salt (hydrochloric acid) with water added, till the articles are nicely cleaned, in about 3 minutes, without being too strongly attacked, then washed and dried. Large articles like refrigerators are cleaned by being rubbed with a swab, dipped in raw spirits, then washed with water, and finished with whiting.
Paint.—(a) Paint should be more often swept than scrubbed, for too frequent scrubbing causes it to decay. Use as little soap as possible, and wash it off with plenty of clean water to prevent discoloration. To clean paint that has not been varnished, put upon a plate some of the best whiting; have ready some clean warm water, and a piece of flannel, which dip into the water and squeeze nearly dry; then take as much whiting as will adhere to it, apply it to the paint, when a little rubbing will instantly remove any dirt or grease; wash well off with water, and rub dry with a soft cloth. Paint thus cleaned looks equal to new, and, without doing the least injury to the most delicate colour, it will preserve the paint much longer than if cleaned with soap, and it does not require more than half the time usually occupied in cleaning.
(b) When painted work is badly discoloured, put 1 tablespoonful ammonia water into 1 qt. moderately hot water, and with the aid of flannel, wipe off the surface. Rubbing is not necessary.
(c) Take 1 oz. pulverised borax, 1 lb. shavings of best brown soap, and 3 qt. water. Put the soap and borax into the water, allow it to simmer until all the soap has been dissolved, stir it frequently, but do not allow it to boil. Apply it to the paint on a piece of old flannel, and rinse with clean water.
(d) Dissolve ½ oz. glue, and a bit of soft-soap the size of a walnut, in about 3 pintswarm water, and with a well-worn whitewash brush well scrub the work, but not sufficient to get off the paint; rinse with plenty of cold clean water, using a washleather; let it dry itself. Work done in this manner will often look equal to new.
(e) First take off all the dust with a soft brush and pair of bellows. Scour with a mixture of soft-soap and fullers’ earth, and use lukewarm water. If there are any spots which are extra dirty, first remove these by rubbing with a sponge dipped in soap and water. Commence the scouring at the top of the door or wainscot, and proceed downwards; dry with a soft linen cloth. When cleaning paint, it is always better to employ two persons, one to scour and the other to rub dry.
Paint-brushes.—(a) To soften brushes that have become hard, soak them 24 hours in raw linseed oil, and rinse them out in hot turpentine, repeating the process till clean. (b) Wash in hot soda and water and soft-soap.
Paper and Books.—(a) The amateur book-cleaner had better begin to practise on some worthless volume, until he acquires the necessary skill. All traces of lime, &c., used in the cleaning process must be removed from the book, else in time it may be completely destroyed. The first thing to be done in a book that wants washing, is to cut the stitches and separate the work into sheets. Then a glance may be taken for the separation of those leaves or sheets which are dirty from those which have stains of ink or oil. The dirty leaves are now placed in a bath composed of ¼ lb. lime chloride and the same quantity of soda to about 1 qt. water. These are left to soak until the paper has regained its proper tint. The pages are now lifted out tenderly into a second bath of cold, and if possible running, water, where they are left at least 6 hours. This removes all traces of lime. The paper, when thoroughly dried by exposure, must be dipped into a third bath of size and water, and again laid out to dry. This restores the consistency of the paper. Pressure between printers’ glazed boards will then restore smoothness to the leaves. The toning of the washed leaves in accordance with the rest of the book is a delicate process, which requires some experience. Some shag tobacco steeped in hot water will usually give the necessary colouring-matter, and a bath in this liquid the necessary tone.
The process described above may do for water-stains; but if the pages are dirted by grease, oil, coffee, candle-droppings, or ink, different treatment will be required. Dilute muriatic acid with 5 times its bulk of water, and let the oil-stained pages lie in the liquid for 4 minutes—not longer. Then remove, and wash, as before, in cold water. If the grease is a spot in the middle of a page, place between 2 sheets of blotting-paper, or cover with powdered French chalk (the blotting-paper is preferable), and pass a hot iron over the place. This will melt the grease, which is immediately soaked up by the chalk or paper.
For dirty finger-marks, the following is recommended: Cover the mark with a piece of clean yellow soap for 2 or 3 hours, then wash with a sponge and hot water, and dip the page in weak acid and water. Give another bath of hot water, and then thoroughly cleanse with cold water. To remove ink-stains, dip the page in a strong solution of oxalic acid, then in a solution of 1 part muriatic acid and 6 water, after which bathe in cold water, and allow to dry slowly. Vellum covers which need cleaning may be made almost equal to new by washing with a weak solution of potash binoxalate, or, if not much soiled, warm soap and water. Grease may be removed from the covers of bound books by scraping a little pipe-clay, French chalk, or magnesia over the place, and then ironing with an iron not too hot, else it will discolour the leather. (Publishers’ Circular.)
(b) Press powdered fullers’ earth lightly upon the greasy spot, and allow it to soak out the grease.
(c) Hannett says the spots may be removed by washing the part with ether, chloroform, or benzine, and placing between white blotting-paper, then passing a hot iron over.
(d) A more expeditious, and thought by some, the best way, is to scrape fine pipe-clay, magnesia, or French chalk on both sides of the stain, and apply a hot iron above, taking great care that it is not too hot.
(e) After gently warming the paper, take out all the grease you can with blotting-paper, and a hot iron, then dip a brush into essential oil of turpentine, heated almost to ebullition, and draw it gently over both sides of the paper, which must be kept warm. Repeat the operation until all is removed, or as often as the thickness of the paper may render necessary. When all the grease is removed, to restore the paper to its former whiteness, dip another brush in ether, chloroform, or benzine, and apply over the stain, especially the edges of it. This will not affect printers’ or common writing ink.
(f) Lay on a coat of indiarubber solution over the spot, and leave it to dry. Afterwards remove with a piece of ordinary indiarubber. Any operation with ether, chloroform, or benzine, should never be conducted by candle-light, as their vapour is apt to kindle even at several feet from the liquid. (d) will remove grease from coloured calf, even if the spot be on the under side of the leather; it may thus be clearly drawn right through.
(g) Apply a solution of pearlash (in the proportion of 1 oz. pearlash to 1 pint water) to oil-stained drawing-paper.
Parchment and Vellum.—(a) Immerse in a solution of acetic acid, and gently rub the stained parts while wet on a flat board with lump pumice, then bleach with lime chloride. This process was recommended in theEnglish Mechanic. It is not very successful, but it makes it white enough for bookbinding. It has, however, the objectionable qualities of not making the parchment flexible, and when dried it is as hard as a board, and it has no gloss like the virgin parchment. On no account must the parchment be washed in very hot water, or held before a fire, as it will shrivel up in a most provoking manner.
(b) Benzine applied with a sponge. It will remove almost every stain, and does not destroy the texture in the least.
Pictures, Prints, and Frames.—Pictures.—(a) Remove the works from their frames, and first of all examine the surface of each separately and with care. Then, if there are no cobweb cracks, no cockled-up edges of bits of paint likely to peel off, and no unburst bubbles of colour, take an old soft cloth, and some white of egg, and wash the surface, a square inch at a time, with a spiral motion of the hand, not pressing too heavily. If there is much dirt, make a basin of bread, treacle, and new milk with a trifle of turpentine in it, and wash with soft flannel and sponge; after, use white of egg. If mildew from damp walls has attacked the canvas, and even the surface, let a committee of artists be called; there are so many varieties of this form of injury, it is well to understand the particular case. If coal gas, foul air, or other pollution is suspected of having injured the varnish, an artist chemist, learned in varnishes of the different schools, must prescribe; but if the surface is injured, or the colour scales off, no amateur can repair the crack; and in every case, before returning the well-cleaned and well-rubbed surfaces to their frames, let good plate glass be securely fastened over each to prevent future injury.
(b) Pictures may be cleaned by rubbing the thumb over the painting moistened with saliva, or by a raw potato cut in half and rubbed evenly over the picture.
(c) Dissolve a little common soda in urine, then add a grated potato and a little salt; well rub this over the paintings till clean. Wash off in spring water, and dry with a clean cloth.
(d) First rub the picture well with good whisky, which will make the varnish come off in froth, then wash well with cold water, and when dry varnish again; this will restore the picture to its original colour unless very old. Keep the picture covered from dust till the varnish is dry.
(e) The painting is first removed from the frame, and the dust and smoke brushed off with a pencil or feather. After this it is washed with a sponge dipped in well water. It is next covered with a thick layer of soap; shaving soap is the best for the purpose,because it remains moist and does not dry on. After the soap has been on 8 or 10 minutes it is all washed off with a strong brush or pencil, adding a little water if necessary. The soap that still adheres is rinsed off sufficiently with water, and the picture left to dry. When completely dry, it is further cleansed with nitro-benzol—also known as nitro-benzine, artificial oil of bitter almonds, or essence of mirbane. It is a yellowish oily, poisonous liquid, with a powerful smell of bitter almonds. It is formed when coal-tar benzol is mixed with fuming or concentrated nitric acid under suitable precautions. The nitro-benzol is poured into a dish, and a clean linen rag is dipped in it, and passed over the painting. This quickly removes all the adherent dirt. This linen rag must be frequently exchanged for a clean one. When the rag remains clean after going over it repeatedly, the cleansing is finished. If the colours look dull after going over it the last time and letting it dry, it is given a thin coat of the finest olive oil, and after a while must be varnished with a good, quickly-drying varnish. (Von Bibra.)
(f) The picture had better first be sponged with cold water and allowed to dry, then apply solution of hydrogen peroxide with a clean sponge in successive lines, not going over the same surface twice; again allow to dry. If the solution is sufficiently strong, the painting is now tolerably clean; if not, a second or third application is necessary. Peroxide of hydrogen, hydroxyl, or hydrogen di-oxide (H2O2), owing to the readiness to part with half its combining weight of oxygen, is a powerful bleaching agent; but the way in which it serves to clean oil paintings is accounted for thus:—Sulphuretted hydrogen, which is present in the atmosphere, especially in the neighbourhood of towns, attacks the lead in the paint and forms lead sulphide, which is readily soluble in peroxide of hydrogen, water and lead sulphate being the result; thus
PbS + 4H2O2= PbSO4+ 4H2O(J. T. C. Williams.)
Prints.—(a) Presuming these to be mounted, proceed in the following manner. Cut a stale loaf in half, with a perfectly clean knife; pare the crust away from the edges. Place them on a flat table, and rubbing the surface with the fresh-cut bread, in circular sweeps, lightly but firmly performed, will remove all superficial markings. Soak the prints for a short time in a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid, say 1 part acid to 100 of water, and then remove them into a vessel containing a sufficient quantity of clear chloride of lime water to cover them. Leave them here until bleached to the desired point. Remove, rinse well by allowing to stand an hour in a pan in which a constant stream of water is allowed to flow, and finally dry off by spreading on clean cloths. Perhaps may require ironing between two sheets of clean paper.
(b) Put on a smooth board, cover it thinly with common salt finely pounded; squeeze lemon juice upon the salt so as to dissolve a considerable proportion of it; elevate one end of the board, so that it may form an angle of about 45° or 50° with the horizon. Pour on boiling water from a tea-kettle until the salt and lemon-juice be all washed off; the engraving will then be perfectly clean, and free from stains. It must be dried on the board, or on some smooth surface, gradually. If dried by the fire or the sun it will be tinged with a yellow colour.
(c) Hydrochloric acid, oxalic acid, or eau de Javelle may be employed, weakened by water. After the leaves (if it be a book) have by this means been whitened, they must be bathed again in a solution of soda sulphate, which will remove all the chlorine, and leave the pages white and clean. They will, however, have lost all firmness of texture, owing to the removal of the size from the paper. It will, therefore, be advisable to give a bath of gelatine and alum made with boiling water, to which may be added a little tobacco, or any other simple substance to restore the tint of the now too white paper.
(d) Immerse each mildewed sheet separately in a solution made in the proportions of ½ lb. lime chloride to 1 pint water. Let it stand, with frequent stirring, for 24 hours, and then strain through muslin, and finally add 1 qt. water. Mildew and other stains will be found to disappear very quickly, and the sheets must then be passed separatelythrough clear water, or the lime chloride, if left in the paper, will cause it to rot. Old prints, engravings, and every description of printed matter may be successfully treated in the same manner.
(e) “I have in my time cleaned many hundreds. The plan which I adopt is as follows:—I place them, one or two at a time, in a shallow dish, and pour water over them until they are completely soaked or saturated with it. I then carefully pour off the water, and pour on to the prints a solution of lime chloride (1 part liquor calcis chloratæ, to 39 of water). As a general rule, the stains disappear as if by magic, but occasionally they are obstinate. When that is the case, I pour on the spot pure liquor calcis chloratæ, and if that does not succeed, I add a little dilute nitro-muriatic acid. I have never had a print which has not succumbed to this treatment—in fact, as a rule they become too white. As soon as they are clean they must be carefully washed with successive portions of water until the whole of the chlorine is got rid of. They should then be placed in a very weak solution of isinglass or glue, and many collectors colour this solution with coffee-grounds, &c., to give a yellow tint to the print. They should be dried between folds of blotting-paper, either in a press or under a heavy book, and finally ironed with an ordinary flat-iron to restore the gloss; placing clean paper between the iron and the print. Grease stains are much more difficult. I find benzine best. Small grease spots may be removed by powdered French chalk being placed over them, a piece of clean blotting-paper over the chalk, and a hot iron over that.” (F. Andrews.)
(f) Mildew often arises from the paste used to attach the print. Take a solution of alum of medium strength and brush on back and face of the engraving 2 or 3 coats, then make the frame air-tight by pasting a strip of paper all round the inside of glass, leaving about ½ in. overlapping (taking care not to paste the paper on the glass, so as to be seen from the front), then place your glass in frame, take the overlapping piece and paste to side of rebate; place your picture in position, spring backboard in, and then place a sheet of strong paper (brown) on the table, damp it, and paste round back of frame, lay it on to the paper, leave to dry, cut level. If this does not answer there will be no help for it, but dust off as the mould accumulates. Do not brush on surface with the alum if the engraving is coloured, but several coats on the back.
(g) A plan recommended by Wm. Brooks is to get a dish or china tray a little larger than the engraving to be operated upon; if, smaller, there is a great risk of tearing and damaging the engraving. The bleaching agent used is Holmes’ ozone bleach. The strength preferred is 1 part bleach to 10 of water, well shaken up before pouring into the dish. A much stronger solution can be used (say 1 in 5), but the weaker it is the easier is its removal from the paper afterwards. The engraving is immersed in the solution face upwards, avoiding bubbles. The only caution to be observed is that the sodden engraving is somewhat rotten, and needs careful handling. If the engraving be only slightly stained, ½ hour will suffice to clean it, but if quite brown it may require 4 hours. After all the stains are removed, and the paper has regained its whiteness, pour the solution back into the bottle, as it can be re-used till it becomes discoloured; fill up the dish with water, changing frequently for about 3 hours, or place it in running water. When the engraving is sufficiently washed, it can be taken out, blotted off, and hung up to dry. When quite dry, it may be ironed on the back with a warm flat-iron, which must not be too hot. (Brit. Jl. Photog.)
(h) If the engravings are very dirty, take 2 parts salt and 1 soda, and pound them together until very fine. Lay the engraving on a board, and fasten it with drawing-pins, and then spread the mixture dry equally over the surface to be cleaned. Moisten the whole with warm water and a little lemon-juice, and, after it has remained about a minute, or even less, tilt the board up on its end, and pour over it a kettleful of boiling water, being careful to remove all the mixture, and avoid rubbing. If the engraving is not very dirty, the less soda used the better, as it has a tendency to give a yellow hue.
(i) Does not injure the quality or texture of the engraving. Immerse the print in alye made by adding to the strongest muriatic acid its own weight of water; to 3 parts of this mixture add 1 of red oxide of lead or black oxide of manganese. If the print is very dirty, it may remain in the liquid 24 hours without harm. Indian ink stains should be first assisted out with hot water, and pencil marks with rubber or breadcrumbs. If there be old paste on the back, it must be removed with warm water. The saline crystals left after immersion are removed by several rinsings in warm water.
(j) To remove surface dirt from engravings and mezzotints, the most effectual plan is to use common bookbinders’ paste, applied with a paste brush, both to front and back of the print; the paste will take up the whole of the dirt, which will come away with the paste when it is removed with water. A bath of plain water completes the operation, from which the print will emerge as fresh as when first issued. Many a guinea has been earned by this simple but efficacious plan.
Frames.—(a) Fly-marks can be cleaned off with soap and water used sparingly on end of finger covered by piece of rag. When all cleared off, rinse with cold water, and dry with chamois leather; next buy 1 lb. (1d.) of common size, and 2 penny paint pans. Boil a little of the size in one of the pans with as much water as will just cover it. When boiled, strain through muslin into clean pan, and apply thinly to frames with camel-hair brush (called technically a “dabber,” and costing 6d.to 1s.each). Take care you do not give the frames too much water and “elbow grease.” On no account use gold size, as it is used only in regilding, and if put on over the gold would make it dull and sticky.
(b) Dissolve a very small quantity of salts of tartar in a wine bottle of water, and with a piece of cotton wool soaked in the liquid dab the frames very gently (no rubbing on any account, or you will take off the gilt), then stand up the frames so that water will drain away from them conveniently, and syringe them with clean water. Care must be taken that the solution is not too strong.
(c) If new gold frames are varnished with the best copal varnish, it improves their appearance considerably, and fly-marks can then be washed off carefully with a sponge. The frames also last many times longer. It also improves old frames to varnish them with it.
(d) Gilt frames may be cleaned by simply washing them with a small sponge, moistened with hot spirits of wine or oil of turpentine, the sponge only to be sufficiently wet to take off the dirt and fly-marks. They should not afterwards be wiped, but left to dry of themselves.
(e) Old ale is a good thing to wash any gilding with, as it acts at once upon the fly-dirt. Apply it with a soft rag; but for the ins and outs of carved work, a brush is necessary; wipe it nearly dry, and do not apply any water. Thus will you leave a thin coat of the glutinous isinglass of the finings on the face of the work, which will prevent the following flies’ fæces from fastening to the frame, as they otherwise would do.
(f) ThePapier Zeitungrecommends the following method of renovating gilt frames. It consists in applying with a camel-hair pencil a gum solution to which has been added gold bronze having the colour of the frame. Before mixing with the gum water the bronze must be washed with water until it runs off perfectly clear. If one application does not suffice, it may be repeated until the spot entirely disappears, but of course one coat must be dry before the next is applied. Spots treated in this way look very well at first, but it will not last, for it is not able to resist the moisture in the air unless it is specially prepared. For this purpose an ordinary bristle brush is rubbed with a piece of yellow wax until it is somewhat sticky, then it is passed very lightly over the spot several times as when dusting it. This gives it a very thin coat of wax that hardens in 2 or 3 days; in the meantime it must be protected against dust.
Sponge.—(a) First clean, wash, and squeeze out the sponges; then dip them into a 2 per cent. solution of potassium permanganate. Here they become quite brown (from separated manganic oxide); after 10 minutes, take out, wash in water, again wellpress, and dip into a 2 per cent. solution of oxalic acid [some prefer diluted sulphuric (1:20) or diluted hydrochloric acid (1:15)], in which they become perfectly white. Success mainly depends on the soaking in the permanganate solution; if they are macerated too short a time they do not become thoroughly white; if too long, they are apt to become rotten. (Siemens.)
(b) First clean the sponges by immersing in dilute hydrochloric acid. Then soak in a bleaching liquid, composed of 1 part sodium hyposulphite, 12 water, and 2 hydrochloric acid. After some time, remove and well wash. To the last wash-water a little glycerine is added in order to preserve the sponges soft. The liquid is best pressed out by passing the sponges through a clothes-wringer.
(c) Toilet sponges which have been in use, often become peculiarly slimy, fatty, and almost useless, owing to some action of the soap. Mere washing in distilled water does not remove the difficulty. It may be overcome by using fused calcium chloride. The sponge is pressed as much as possible, placed on a plate, the powdered calcium chloride is sprinkled upon it, and allowed to deliquesce upon the sponge. After about ½ hour, the sponge may be washed in water and dried, when it will become white. (Valta.)
(d) Soak the sponges, previously deprived of sand and dirt by beating and washing, in a 1 per cent. solution of potassium permanganate. Remove them, wash thoroughly with water, and press out the water. Next put them into a solution of ½ lb. sodium hyposulphite in 1 gal. water, to which 1 oz. oxalic acid has been added, and leave in the solution for 15 minutes. Finally, take out, and wash thoroughly. By this treatment the sponges are rendered perfectly white. Many sponges contain a more or less dark-coloured brownish core. If treated only with permanganate and acid, the core is either not bleached at all, or, if it has been somewhat bleached, the tint is apt to grow again darker. (Borham.)
(e) Soak for 10 minutes in a 2 per cent. solution of potash permanganate; then in a 2 per cent. solution of oxalic acid with the addition of a little sulphuric acid for about ½ hour; finally treat with a 2 per cent. solution of potash carbonate for ½ hour, wash, and dry. The solution of potash carbonate produces the yellow colour often particularly wanted. (Chem. and Drug.)
(f) A sponge employed in photographic manipulations for a few months loses all its valuable qualities, becoming black, hard, and greasy, and contaminating anything which it touches. To clean it, a solution of potash permanganate in water is prepared of such a strength that it appears of a wine colour, and into this the unserviceable sponge is immersed, and allowed to remain for some time. When taken out and squeezed, it is next put into a diluted muriatic acid of ordinary commercial quality, being immersed and kept saturated therein for some time as before. The most appropriate strength of this acid solution is about 10 parts water to 1 of acid. The sponge is taken out after sufficient treatment, squeezed well to free it from the acid, and then washed well in good spring water. When taken out, it will be found to be quite clean, to have again assumed its light colour, and to be free from all foreign matter. Sponges treated in this way become like new sponges, and can be used without any fear of their contaminating, even if employed for the filtration of neutral liquids. The main thing to be attended to in this plan of purifying sponge is to see that it is thoroughly saturated both by the permanganate and the acid solutions, which should be allowed ample time to soak through the mass; care must also be observed to wash the sponges thoroughly with plenty of water at the end of the operation. (Dr. J. Stinde.)
(g) When sponges get greasy, let them dry, and then work them with a small quantity of turpentine, and after a few minutes wash them with warm soap-and-water with a little bit of soda. This will get them quite clean with very little trouble. (E. T. Scott.)
(h) Put a handful of salt on the sponge, and rinse the salt well through the sponge.Let the sponge dry in a thorough draught of air. The latter precaution alone will keep sponges free from sliminess, unless they become saturated with soap.
(i) I tried the effect of sulphuric acid as follows:—In a large basin mixed about 1 pint water and 2 tablespoonfuls sulphuric acid (common oil of vitriol), then steeped the sponge about 2 hours, wrung it out several times in the acid, and finally well washed out the acid in clean water; it was then just like new, having regained its former size, colour, and elasticity, with not the slightest trace of its former sliminess. It was a large bath sponge, and in an extremely bad condition. (J. W. Jackson.)
(j) Dissolve some citric acid in water in a hand-basin, and wash the sponge in it as in (i).
Stuffed Specimens.—(a) Give a good brushing with a stiff clothes-brush. After this warm a quantity of new bran in a pan, taking care it does not burn, to prevent which quickly stir it. When warm, rub it well into the fur with your hand. Repeat this a few times, then rid the fur of the bran, and give it another sharp brushing until free from dust. (b) Sponge with white soap and warm water, rubbing well into and about the roots of the hair, but avoid using an excess of water to soak into the stuffing, or the specimen will, in all probability, never thoroughly dry, and moths and rot will be the result. Dry in a current of air as free from dust as possible; brush the fur occasionally as it dries (a coarse comb at first will, perhaps, separate the hairs better). Before putting it into its case, wash freely with benzoline, rubbing with the fur; you may never dread moths, and your specimen will always be clean if your case is properly made and closed up air-tight by means of paper pasted over every joint and crack.
Teapot.—(a) Fill with boiling water and add some strong washing soda; let it remain for a day or two. (b) Weak solution of spirits of salt (hydrochloric acid).
Textile Goods.—The arrangement of a laundry is dealt with in another section. The present section is concerned with the ordinary household washing, drying, ironing, and starching operations.
The first step is to sort the dirty linen the day before washing actually takes place. White goods should be separated from coloured, and linen from woollen. Repairs may often be considerably reduced by doing them while the articles are soiled and before the ordeal of the washtub has converted thin places into holes and small holes into large ones.
Much labour is saved by putting the articles in soak overnight, which dislodges the dirt and avoids the hard rubbing otherwise necessary. A good soak mixture is an inch cut off a bar of soap to every 4 gal. of water used, and a dessert spoonful of washing powder, allowing both soap and powder to dissolve before introducing the clothes. For body linen the water should be hot, for bed linen it may be cold. Curtains, blinds, fringes, and other articles which harbour dust and smoke should be soaked in plain cold water. Another excellent soak mixture is made as follows:—Dissolve 2 lb. soap in 5½ gal. nearly boiling water; add 3 tablespoonfuls ammonia and 1 of spirits of turpentine; soak the clothes in this mixture for 3 hours before washing.
On washing day the first care is to get a copper full of boiling water. Meantime the articles in soak can be prepared. Always commence operations with the most delicate goods.
Thus laces and fine muslins are dealt with first. If to be boiled they must be tied up in a clean coarse muslin bag, but usually they will hardly require this treatment, but simple washing will suffice. In this case pass them into a hot soak mixture as already described and work them with the hands without rubbing, till clean. Then rinse, first in warm water, then in cold; fold; roll up in a clean towel, and put aside ready for starching.
Go over the body linen in soak and pay special attention to stains and extra dirty spots. Wring the articles as free as possible from the dirty water, beginning always with the finest, and put into another tub containing a warm soak; here wash again, and then pass through a tub of clean cold water to remove adhering suds. Next fill the copperwith clean cold water and add the same quantities of soap and washing powder as before; wring the goods out of the cold washwater, put them into the copper, bring to boiling, and let boil for 10-15 minutes. Pass successive lots into the copper in the same way, replenishing the water, soap, and washing powder as needed. Each lot as taken from the boiler should be rinsed first through hot and then through cold water, well wrung, dipped, an article at a time, in water containing some blue, wrung out, shaken, folded, and put on one side. The bluewater will need additions of blue occasionally.
When all the body linen has gone through the copper, the table and bed linen may follow in the same way; but after the second rinsing on leaving the copper these articles can at once be hung out to dry. The kitchen linen will come last and be washed in the suds of the previous batches.
Drying should always be at least partially effected in the sun if possible. When available, nothing is better than exposing linen on a clean lawn. Failing this it must be hung on wires or ropes provided for the purpose. Galvanised wire lasts longer and is cleaner than rope. Both require rubbing clean with a damp cloth before use. After sunning, the drying must always be completed before a good fire, especially in the case of body linen. Table and bed linen should be taken in while still damp, and folded and mangled before drying by the fire. Body linen is not mangled, but ironed or starched.
Ironing may be done without starching, or with. Calicoes are generally ironed on the right side, as they thus keep clean for a longer time. In ironing a frock, first do the waist, then the sleeves, then the skirt. Keep the skirt rolled while ironing the other parts, and set a chair to hold the sleeves while ironing the skirt, unless a skirt-board be used. Silk should be ironed on the wrong side, when quite damp, with an iron which is not very hot, as light colours are apt to change and fade. In ironing velvet, turn up the face of the iron, and after damping the wrong side of the velvet, draw it over the face of the iron, holding it straight; always iron lace and needlework on the wrong side, and put them away as soon as they are dry.
Starching is applied chiefly to shirts, cuffs, and collars, and in a rougher way to print dresses and white petticoats. A good cold-water starch is prepared as follows. Mix in a basin 3 tablespoonfuls of laundry starch and sufficient cold water to make a paste; then add 1 teaspoonful of white soap shredded and dissolved in warm water and 1 teaspoonful powdered borax, mixed in ½ teacupful of boiling water; stir well together till it froths. To starch collars, &c., wring them from bluewater a few at a time, well rub them in the starch, and wring hard, stirring up the starch for each fresh lot; rub them a few at a time, fold, and pass through a close mangle or wring hard in a towel. Iron immediately.
Boiled starch for shirts, &c., is made in the following manner. (a) Into awarmbasin put 4 tablespoonfuls of starch; rub down with warm water to a thickish paste; add 1 in. cut off the end of a bedroom composite candle, a piece of spermaceti as large as a pea, and 4 drops turpentine. Slowly pour in boiling water, with vigorous stirring till the starch turns transparent without losing its thickness. Take the shirts in a damp state, and first dip the fronts and collars, squeezing them tightly, and then the cuffs; be expeditious, as the starch should be used quite hot. Rub moderately, hang up to dry; when quite dry, damp with cold water, fold with the two sides of the front in contact, and roll up for a day before ironing, wrapping in a damp cloth if the weather is dry.
(b) A liquid starch gloss which is well recommended consists of 5 oz. glycerine and 2 oz. each spermaceti, gum senegal (cheap gum arabic) and borax in 49 oz. water, mixed and boiled together; 2 or 3 teaspoonfuls of this are added to ¼ lb. boiled starch.
Ironing starched goods requires more care. For cold-starched cuffs and collars it is well to have a table with a thick flannel and a clean cotton or linen cloth tightly stretched upon it. Lay the collar evenly on the table, and run a moderately hot iron lightly along the wrong side first; turn it, and do the same on the right side. Repeat this once or twice rather quickly until it begins to feel a little dry. Then press heavilyand evenly on the right side, pulling out button-holes, and ironing them straight. A fine polish is put on by using the edge of the iron, and rubbing with it from the top of the collar to the band, leaning heavily. Curl the collar, and put aside to harden. Cuffs are ironed in the same way; if reversible, with a band in the middle, the band is ironed thoroughly and finished first.
Hot-starched cuffs and collars are ironed in the same way but with a hotter iron.
When ironing a shirt, lay the back of the sleeve smoothly on the table; iron each side smoothly. Iron the wrist-band smoothly, wrong side first, and then right side. Next iron the shoulder-strap, then the neck-band or collar, doing the latter extremely carefully, and polishing it nicely. Now double the back of the shirt, and iron it on both sides. Spread the shirt out, and iron all the front except the breast. Lay a board covered with flannel under the breast, and iron very nicely, polishing highly at the last. Hang up to dry well, fold neatly, and put away.
The following curious recipe is recommended for restoring linen which has been scorched at the fire in drying. “It is almost needless to premise that if the tissue of linen is so much burnt that no strength is left, it is useless to apply the following composition; for nothing could prevent a hole from being formed, although the composition by no means tends to injure the fabric. But if the scorching is not quite through, and the threads not actually consumed, then the application of this composition, followed by 2 or 3 good washings, will restore the linen to its original colour; the marks of the scorching will be imperceptible, and the place will seem as white and perfect as any other part of the linen. Mix well together 2 oz. fullers’ earth reduced to powder; 1 oz. hen’s dung; ½ oz. cake soap, scraped; and the juice of 2 large onions, obtained by the onions being cut up, beaten in a mortar, and pressed. Boil this mass in ½ pint strong vinegar, stirring it from time to time, until it forms a thick liquid compound. Spread this composition thickly over the entire surface of the scorched part, and let it remain on 24 hours. If the scorching was light, this will prove sufficient, with the assistance of two subsequent washings, to take out the stain. If, however, the scorching was strong, a second coating of the composition should be put on after removing the first; and this should also remain on for 24 hours. If, after the linen has been washed twice or thrice, the stain has not wholly disappeared, the composition may be used again, in proportion to the intensity of the discoloration remaining, when a complete cure will seldom fail to be effected. It has scarcely ever happened that a third application was found necessary. The remainder of the composition should be kept for use in a gallipot tied over with bladder.”
Having dealt with the general operations, it will be well to add a few notes on special processes for certain classes of goods.
Bed Ticks.—Apply starch by rubbing it in thick with a wet cloth, then put the tick in the sun. When dry, rub it with the hands. If necessary, repeat the process, and the soiled part will be as clean as new.
Black Goods.—After washing, rinse in water containing salt, to fix the colour.
Chintzes.—As coloured dresses, adding a little ammonia to the water.
Coloured Dresses.—As flannels, omitting the washing powder. Wash quickly inwarmwater, wring hard, wash again, rinse in cold water and hang to dry.
Crape Scarfs.—If the fabric be good, these can be washed as frequently as may be required, and no diminution of their beauty will be discoverable, even when the various shades of green have been employed among other colours in the patterns. In cleaning them, make a strong lather of boiling water, suffer it to cool; when cold, or nearly so, wash the scarf quickly and thoroughly, dip it immediately in cold hard water in which a little salt has been thrown (to preserve the colours); rinse, squeeze, and hang it out to dry in the open air; pin it at its extreme edge to the line, so that it may not in any part be folded together. The more rapidly it dries the clearer it will be.
Flannels.—The great difficulty in washing flannels, blankets, and all woollen goodswithout causing excessive shrinkage is due to the nature of the fibres, which, under the conditions of rubbing and heat, become matted together in a kind of felt, reducing the dimensions of the article and adding to its thickness. The following recipes for washing such goods, are all destined to prevent this felting process.
(a) The water should be only warm, not boiling, and soda silicate or caustic ammonia is preferable to soap as a detergent. Flannels well soaped and shrunk when first fulled always remain softer and shrink less ultimately than those not so treated. The felting power of wool varies considerably, and it should be selected accordingly for fabrics intended to be frequently washed. Flannels should not be rubbed or beaten in washing, merely rinsed, and soiled spots soaped and brushed with a soft brush. It is important not to press the material until thoroughly dry.
(b) Buy the flannel in the piece, put it into a tub, and cover it with boiling water, turning it about with a stick to allow the air to escape from between the folds. Leave it in the water until the next day, when take out and hang on a line to drain and dry. It must not be wrung or pressed, but allowed to get rid of the water in its own way. When made up into trousers or jackets, it will never shrink any more; but in the case of shirts, there may be a slight shrinking in the course of time, though not to nearly the usual extent. Flannel should be washed in lukewarm water, and without soda, when, if it has been properly shrunk before being made up, it will last very well.
(c) The great principle is, not to have the water any hotter than alady’shand can comfortably bear. Cut up, overnight, some pieces of yellow or mottled soap, into a large saucepan of cold water; next morning allow this to heat gradually, until all melted. Have two tubs of the hot water ready, into which pour some of the melted soap, and whisk it with the hand to make a thoroughly good lather. The first tub must be more than double the strength of the second, which latter should have plenty of blue in. In the first tub wash the white flannels, without rubbinganysoap on, excepting on stains of perspiration, &c. Directly after they have been done through the first tub, do them in the same way through the second, shake well, and hang out immediately. Coloured flannels can follow in the same way. Stockings should always have a third wash. The small pieces of soap left in the bedroom soap-dishes come in nicely for melting down.
(d) Flannel should be soaked in cold hard water before making, and hung up to drain and dry without any squeezing or handling in the water. After this it will not shrink in washing. Fill a tub with spring water, place the flannel in it, and take out as soon as it sinks to the bottom. It does not lose the appearance of new flannel when dry.
(e) To prevent shrinking in washing, soak the flannel for a night in cold water when dirty, and the next morning wash with curd soap in very lukewarm water. Do not wring, but press the water out and hang to dry.
(f) White Flannel. Use pipeclay, which should be mixed to proper consistency in a pipkin; stand on the fire till warm, stir with wax candle for 5 minutes, add a modicum of soap and a dash of Prussian blue, and stand by to cool, and always use cold, laid on with a sponge, and dry in shady breeze. For grease spots, lay over them pure clay, size the thickness of a crown piece, then place in the sun, and the clay will absorb all the grease without fail. When trousers are dry, rub them to loosen the clay, which brush off, and you will have cleaner looking trousers than by washing, and they will be fit to wear two or three times without pipeclaying. The same for flannel jackets.
(g) In order to keep flannel from shrinking and felting as much as possible, dissolve 1 oz. potash in a bucketful of rain-water, and steep the fabric in it for 12 hours. Next heat the water with the cloth in it, wash it out without rubbing, simply drawing it through several times. Then place the flannel in another bath consisting of 1 spoonful wheat flour to 1 pint water, and wash in like manner. Then rinse in lukewarm rain-water. Flannel washed in this manner becomes very clean, and will scarcely shrink or felt.
(h) It must strictly be observed that the heat does not rise beyond 100° F., and the fabric to be washed must be immersed in a bath of boiled soap, to which 1¼ dr. sal ammoniac per pint of fluid have been added; ¼ hour’s immersion in a well-covered vessel will have dissolved the fat and dirt sufficiently, and a beating or rubbing will no longer be necessary in order to wash the fabric clean. Very dirty spots are rubbed in with soap, and brushed with a soft brush. If one washing is not to satisfaction, repeat the process in a weaker soap bath, observing the same cautionary rules, and conclude with rinsing in cold water. It is also important not to smooth the fabric in a half-moist condition; because in this case, the condition of felting is complied with in this operation; while smoothing of the sharply dried substance is performed without being accompanied by the evil effects of shrinkage. The addition of sal ammoniac is to be left out with sensitive colours.
(i) Scotch methods for Shawls.—Scrape or cut up 1 lb. soap, and boil in a small quantity of water. When sufficiently cool, beat to a jelly with the hand, at the same time mixing with it 3 tablespoonfuls spirits of turpentine, and 1 of spirits of hartshorn. Wash the shawl thoroughly in this, then well rinse in cold water, and, when all the soap is out, in salt and water. This last need only be done when the shawl contains delicate colours. Then fold the shawl between two sheets, being careful not to let two folds of the shawl come together. Mangle, and afterwards iron with a very cool iron.
(j) To wash red or scarlet flannel when soiled, mix a handful of flour in a quart of cold water, and boil 10 minutes. Add this to some warm suds, and wash the flannel gently, rinsing rather than rubbing; rinse in 3 or 4 warm waters, and the brightest scarlet will never lose its colour. Soft soap or olive soap should be used for woollen goods in preference to bar soap.
(k) After rinsing, a wringing machine dries them better than any other method. The drying must be donerapidly, and the articles should be shaken and pulled during the drying.
Lace.—(a) Washing Black Lace.—Mix bullocks’ gall with sufficient hot water to make it as warm as you can bear your hand in, and pass the lace through it. It must be squeezed, not rubbed; and it will be well to perfume the gall with a little musk. Rinse through 2 cold waters, tinging the last with a little blue. After drying, put it into some stiffening made by pouring boiling water on a very small piece of glue; squeeze out, stretch, and clap it. Afterwards, pin out on a linen cloth to dry, laying it very straight and even, and taking care to open and pin the edge very nicely. When dry, iron on the wrong side, having laid a linen cloth over the ironing blanket.
(b) Cleaning White Lace.—Boil gently for 15 minutes in a solution of white soap; put it into a basin holding warm water and soap, and keep gently squeezing it (do not rub it) till it is clean, and then rinse it from the soap. Then take a vessel of cold water, into which put a drop or two of liquid blue; rinse in it. Have ready some very clear gum arabic water, or some thin rice-water. Pass through it. Then stretch out even, and pin to dry on a linen cloth, making the edge as straight as possible; open out all the scallops, and fasten each with a pin. When dry, lay a piece of thin muslin smoothly over it, and iron on the wrong side.
(c) Ditto.—Cover an ordinary wine bottle with fine flannel, stitching it firmly round the bottle. Tack one end of the lace to the flannel, then roll it very smoothly round the bottle, and tack down the other end, then cover with a piece of very fine flannel or muslin. Now rub it gently with a strong soap liquor, and, if the lace is very much discoloured or dirty, fill the bottle with hot water, and place it in a kettle or saucepan of suds and boil it for a few minutes, then place the bottle under a tap of running water to rinse out the soap. Make some strong starch, and melt in it a piece of white wax and a little loaf sugar. Plunge the bottle 2 or 3 times into this and squeeze out the superfluous starch with the hands; then dip the bottle in cold water, remove the outer covering from the lace, fill the bottle with hot water, and stand it in the sun to drythe lace. When nearly dry take it very carefully off the bottle, and pick it out with the fingers. Then lay it in a cool place to dry thoroughly.
(d) Ditto.—Take a black bottle covered with clean linen or muslin, and wind the blond round it (securing the ends with a needle and thread), not leaving the edge outward, but covering it as you proceed. Set the bottle upright in a strong cold lather of white soap and very clear soft water, and place it in the sun, having gently with your hand rubbed the suds up and down on the lace. Keep it in the sun every day for a week, changing the lather daily, and always rubbing it slightly when you renew the suds. At the end of the week, take the blond off the bottle, and (without rinsing) pin it backward and forward on a large pillow covered with a clean tight case. Every scallop must have a separate pin; or more, if the scallops are not very small. The plain edge must be pinned down also, so as to make it straight and even. The pins should be of the smallest size. When quite dry, take it off, but do not starch, iron, or press it. Lay it in long loose folds, and put it away in a pasteboard box.
(e) Thread Lace.—As in (d).
(f) Ditto.—When it has been tacked to the bottle, take some of the best sweet oil and saturate the lace thoroughly. Have ready in a wash-kettle, a strong cold lather of clear water and white Castile soap. Fill the bottle with cold water, to prevent its bursting, cork it well and stand it upright in the suds, with a string round the neck secured to the ears or handle of the kettle, to prevent its shifting about and breaking while over the fire. Let it boil in the suds for an hour or more, till the lace is clean and white all through. Drain off the suds and dry it on the bottle in the sun. When dry, remove the lace from the bottle and roll it round a white ribbon-block; or lay it in long folds, place it within a sheet of smooth white paper, and press it in a large book for a few days.
(g) Starching Lace.—Use a very thin boiled starch or the liquor in which rice has been boiled. Dip the lace in the starch, and squeeze out. Clap between the folds of a towel to partially dry it. Lay wrong side up on the table, slightly picked out, and place a piece of muslin over. Rub a cool iron over several times, till a little dry. Take up, and with the fingers pick it out to show the pattern and the edge. Iron again. Pick out once more, carefully draw to each side, and give a final ironing. The iron must be very cool, or the lace will be stiff; moving it about in the hands, and drawing it out tends to make it flexible.
Loose Colours.—As black.
Silk Goods.—(a) Silk scarfs and stockings are best washed in tepid water, with white soap dissolved in it, then rinsed quite free from soap, wrung dry in a towel, and ironed dry on the wrong side with a muslin cloth between the iron and the silk.
(b) Heat some rain or soft water, and while on the fire cut into it slices of good yellow soap, to make a lather; put the stockings in while the lather is warm, but not scalding, and wash in two such waters (a wineglassful of gin in the first water is an improvement); rinse well in lukewarm water, having ready a second rinsing water, in which is mixed a little blue (not the common kind, but such as is used for muslins and laces), or rose pink, which can be procured at a chemist’s, and is used in the same way as the blue, by tying it up in a piece of flannel and squeezing it into the water. After rinsing, put the stockings between towels and let them get almost dry; place on a small sheet, lay out quite flat, as they are when first purchased, tack to the sheet with a needle and thread, turn the sheet over them, and mangle. If it is not convenient to mangle them, the next best plan is to put 4 or 6 stockings one upon the other between muslin, lay them on a stone doorstep, and beat them with the rolling pin. They must not be mangled or beaten in towels, as the pattern of the towels would be impressed on them. If the stockings have lace fronts they will more particularly require the tacking mentioned above to make them look nice. No soda or washing powder of any kind must be put to them. They must be done quickly.