To Clean Oil Paintings

Clean the picture well with a sponge, dipped in warm beer; after it has become perfectly dry, wash it with a solution of the finest gum-dragon, dissolved in pure water. Never use blue starch, which tarnishes and eats out the colouring; nor white of eggs, which casts a thick varnish over pictures, and only mends bad ones by concealing the faults of the colouring.

Gold Varnish For Leather

Take of turmeric root and gamboge, of each one scruple and a half; of oil of turpentine, two pints; seed-lac and gum juniper, four ounces of each; dragon's blood, half an ounce; Venice turpentine, two ounces; and clean sand, four ounces. Well mix and pour off the clear solution.

To Gild Leather For Bordering Doors, Folding Screens, Etc

Damp a clear brown sheep-skin with a sponge and water, and strain it tight, with tacks, on a board sufficiently large; when dry, size it with clear double-size; then beat the whites of eggs, with a whisk, to a foam, and let them stand to settle; then take books of leaf silver, a sufficient quantity, and blow out the leaves of silver on a gilder's cushion; pass over the leather carefully with the egg size, and with a tip brush lay on the silver, closing any blister with a bit of wool; when dry, varnish them over with yellow lacker till they are of a fine gold colour. Your skin being thus gilt, you may then cut it into strips as you please, and join with paste to any length.

To Make Paste For Laying The Cloth, Or Leather On Table-Tops, Desks, Etc

Take one pound of the best wheaten flour, one large spoonful of powdered alum, and two spoonfuls of finely-powdered rosin, well mix them in a pan, then add cold water by degrees, carefully stirring it till \i is of the consistence of thin cream, put it into a saucepan over a clear fire, keeping it constantly stirred from the bottom that it may not burn or get lumpy; as soon as it simmers it is done enough; empty it out into a pan, and cover it over till cold to prevent a skin forming at the top, which will make it lumpy.

To Paint Sail Cloth

So as to render it Pliant, Durable, and Waterproof. Grind ninety-six pounds of English ochre with boiled oil, and add to it sixteen pounds of black paint. Dissolve one pound of yellow soap in one pail of water on the fire, and mix it, while hot, with the paint. Lay this composition, without wetting it, upon the canvas, as stiff as can conveniently be done with the brush, so as to form a smooth surface; the next day, or the day after, lay on a second coat of ochre and black, with a very little, if any, soap; allow this coat a day to dry, and then finish the canvas with black paint.