435. To Clean Paint

435.    To Clean Paint. There is a very simple method to clean paint that has become dirty, and if our housewives should adopt it, it would save them a great deal of trouble. Provide a plate with some of the best whiting to be had, and 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 painted surface, when a little rubbing will instantly remove any dirt or grease. After which wash the part well with clean water, rubbing it dry with a soft chamois. Paint thus cleaned looks as well as when first laid on, without any injury to the most delicate colors. It is far better than using soap, and does not require more than half the time and labor.

Another simple method is as follows: - put a table-spoonful of aqua ammonia in a quart of moderately hot water, dip in a flannel cloth, and with this merely wipe over the wood-work; no scrubbing will be necessary.

436. To Clean Varnished Paint

436.    To Clean Varnished Paint. Boil a pound of bran in 1 gallon of water an hour, and wash the paint with the bran water.

437. To Clean Soiled Ribbons and Silks

437.    To Clean Soiled Ribbons and Silks. A mixture of alcohol and highly rectified benzine is excellent for cleaning ribbons and silks. It is applied with a clean sponge. Persons who apply these liquids and mixtures to cleaning silks, etc., must be careful to do so in an apartment where there is neither fire nor lamp burning, under the penalty of an explosion. (See No. 346 (Cautions about Benzine).)

438. To Remove Stains from Kid Gloves

438.    To Remove Stains from Kid Gloves. Stains may be removed, even from the most delicately colored gloves, by suspending them for a day in an atmosphere of ammonia. Provide a tall glass cylinder, in the bottom of which place strong aqua ammonia. Be careful to remove from the sides of the jar any ammonia that may have been spattered upon them. Suspend the gloves to the stopper in the jar. They must not come in contact with the liquid.

439. To Clean Kid Gloves

439.    To Clean Kid Gloves. Dr. Rei-mann gives the following directions, in the Scientific American, for cleaning kid gloves:—

A bottle 2 feet high, and 1 to 11/2 feet wide, the stopper of which is also made of glass, is filled with 2 pounds of benzine. Then the gloves which are to be washed are put also into the bottle. On this account the neck of the bottle must be very wide, perhaps from 1/2 to 3/4 foot in diameter. Such bottles are easily obtained, being much used in pharmacy. As many gloves may be introduced into the bottle as the liquid will cover. The bottle is then closed, well shaken, and allowed to stand some minutes. The shaking is repeated, the bottle opened, and the gloves taken out with a pair of iron forceps.

To prevent the possibility of there being any smell, it is a good plan to open the bottle under a good chimney, which thus carries off all the vapor that escapes.

The gloves, when brought by the forceps to the mouth of the bottle, are taken out, one after the other, by the hand, and wrung out, care being taken that the superfluous liquid runs back again into the bottle. It is highly advisable to perform this operation under a chimney, or the workman will soon suffer from the injurious influence of the volatile hydrocarbon.

Under the chimney is placed a cord stretched between two pins, and the gloves are hung upon this by means of small S-shaped hooks. After hanging a short time they will be dry.

The benzine contained in the bottle dissolves all the grease which adheres to the gloves, and the dirt which had been combined with the grease is consequently removed at the same time. The benzine remaining in the bottle assumes a dirty gray color during the process of washing.

"When the benzine has become too dirty, it is put into a distilling apparatus, and distilled over. In this way the benzine is restored to its original purity and whiteness, so that it can be used again in further operations. (For directions how to accomplish this, see next receipt.)

The gloves, when taken out of the bottle, are often not quite clean, in which case it is necessary to rub them with a rag, moistened with benzine, in all places where they are still dirty.

Thus the last traces of dirt are removed, and the gloves become perfectly clean. In this state they may be hung on a cord under the chimney.

The gloves soon become dry, but a part of the benzine still remains behind, which is less volatile, and which, when the glove is in contact with the warm hand, causes a strong odor of benzine to be evolved.

To remove this also, the gloves are placed on a common plate, which is put upon an iron pot containing boiling water. The first plate is covered with a second, and the gloves between the two plates are heated at the boiling temperature of water, until the last traces of the unvolatilized benzine have escaped.

The gloves are now removed from the plate, and put upon a wooden glove-stretcher, or shape. In this way they are made to resume their original form, and are now ready for use.

The whole operation must be so conducted that no smell of benzine is perceptible. The smell of benzine is always a sign of carelessness on the part of the workman, who can readily conduct all the benzine vapors up the chimney. (See No. 346 (Cautions about Benzine).)