to use them The first is Vermilion usually sold at 4 d. the Ounce Carramine being the finest and most excellent Red is sometimes vended for 3 l. the Ounce For Blews the best fine Smalt is to be bought for 4 or 5 s. the pound Blew Bice useful only in making green colours may be gotten for 4 d. or 6 d. an Ounce Ultramarine the richest blew in the world bears several prices the deepest and best will cost 6 or 7 Guinea's but then it must be extraordinary fine other sorts are exposed for 3 or 4 l. the Ounce which is very good too and fit for this use some again for 20 s. the same quantity and may serve for Painting but t is too coarse for glazing Yellow and pale Masticott which is finest free from greet with the brightest colour is the best If it prove coarse grind or wash it a little on a clean stone t is sold for 2 d. the Ounce Red Orpiment you must mix with drying Oyl this too is afforded for 2 d. the Ounce These are the Colours useful in Painting with which you may exactly imitate and hit any colour whatsoever by different ways and methods of mixture Their price also I have given you if you buy them in small parcels but if you furnish your self with greater quantities at one time you 'l find the purchase more cheap and easie Observe that six of these are transparent or glazing colours viz. Brown Pink fine Lake Carramine fine Smalt Ultramarine and Distilled Verdegreas To wash or make any of the Powders very fine You must have four or five large Wine-glasses by you and two or three quarts of clear water Fill one of your glasses with it put in half an Ounce or as much of your colour as you intend to wash stir it well about with your knife permit it to stand no longer than while you could count or tell forty for in this short space of time all the coarse will sink and settle to the bottom the finer remains floating in the water which convey and pour off into another glass leaving the coarse part behind Let the vessel with the fine colour and water stand till next day by which time that also will settle to the bottom of the water This being poured off take out the colour place it on a clean smooth Chalk-stone to soak and drink up the water and when t is dry paper it up for your business Of OYLS It remains that to this account of Colours we subjoyn that of Oyls which must be serviceable to us in the Art of Painting The first of these is Linseed Oyl sold at 8 d. the quart Nut-Oyl to be purchased at 16 or 18 d. the like quantity Oyl of Turpentine is afforded for less than 8 d. the pound Drying-Oyl will stand you in 2 d. an Ounce at the Colour-shops and Fine-varnish 3 d. which in my opinion is too dear and therefore if you 'l give your self the trouble I 'le be at the pains to instruct you how to make either sort To make the best Drying-Oyl Mix a little Letharge of Gold with Linseed-Oyl for a quarter of an hour boil it if you 'd have it stronger continue boiling it but not too much neither lest it prove over-thick and unserviceable Another more ordinary Bruise Umber and Red-lead to powder mix 'em with Linseed-oyl and for boiling follow the directions foregoing When this Oyl has stood a day or two and you find a skin over it know then for certain t is at your service To make Varnishes for these Prints or Pictures in oyl Put an Ounce of Venice-Turpentine into an earthen pot place it over a fire and when dissolved and melted thin add to it two ounces of oyl of Turpentine as soon as they boil take off the pot and when the varnish is cool keep it in a glass-bottle This and all other varnishes ought to be stopt close and secured from the approaches and damage of the Air. With this you may varnish your Prints on glass or others to render them transparent this is what the Shops sell for fine varnish should your varnish be too thick relieve it by an addition of Oyl of Turpentine Another more excellent Varnish either for Pictures in oyl or making Prints transparent Inclose six ounces of the clearest white well-pickt Mastick finely powdered in a bottle with sixteen ounces of oyl of Turpentine stop and shake them well together till they are incorporated Then hang the bottle in a vessel of water but not so deep as to touch the botom boil the water for half an hour in which space you must take it out three or four times to shake it if you 'd have it stronger boil it a quarter of an hour more I could give you a greater-number of Recipe's but 't will be too irksome tedious and unnecessary seeing these will preserve your pictures and are as good in their kind as any Varnishes whatsoever CHAP. XXIV To lay Prints on Glass HAving at large treated of the Colours Oyls and other materials required in this work I proceed to instruct you how the Prints themselves must be laid on Glass First therefore let your Prints be steeped in warm water flat-ways for four or five hours or more if the paper be thick provide then a thin pliable knife with it spread Venice-Turpentine thin and even over the glass and with your finger dab and touch it all over that the Turpentine may appear rough Next take the Print out of the water lay it on a clean Napkin very evenly and with another press every part of it lightly to suck and drink up the water of it afterwards lay the print on the glass by degrees beginning at one end stroaking outwards that part which is fastning to the glass that between it and the Print no wind or water may lurk and hide it self which you must be careful of and never fail to stroke out Then wet the backside of the print and with a bit of spunge or your finger rub it over lightly and the paper will role off by degrees but be careful and avoid rubbing holes especially in the lights which are most tender and when you have peeled it so long that the Print appears transparent on the backside let it dry for two hours next varnish it over with Mastick or Turpentine-varnish four or five times or so often till you may clearly see through it After a nights time for drying you may work on it To lay Prints either graved or Mezzo-tinto's in such manner that you may role off all the paper and leave the shadow behind Soak the Print in water dry it with a cloath spread on the glass oyl of Mastick and some Turpentine and lay on the print upon it exactly as before When t is almost dry brush off the paper with a brush and you 'l find none but the inky shadowed part remain then do this as the former with Mastick-varnish which preserve dry and free
and whilst it is wet mix brown Pink and Lake thin with varnish and lay all your faintest clouds or spots which you may soften very sweetly seeing your varnish is moist After three hours standing or longer if the colours are drie with a large soft Tool pass it lightly over and again wetting it lay in your clouds more warm and dark with Umber and Collins-earth before t is drie always observing the life and sweetning your work which is blending and mixing two colours after they are laid so that you cannot perceive where either of them begin or end but insensibly join with each other If the clouds are not dark enough repeat the varnishing and clouding once more where t is required When t is well dried glaze it two or three times with brown Pink yet a little tincture of Verdegreas in it will not be amis if you had rather you may varnish it with Lacc-varnish and finish it as you did the former Whiten and prepare your wood in all respects as you do for white Japan and after you have done it over with flake white or white-lead if you design a white with some veins use some Vine-black which is made of the cuttings of Vines burnt and grinded mix two or three degrees of it with white-lead and a very weak size being warmed until you have produced the intended colour for the clouds and veins of the Marble Being thus far advanc't call for a large clean brush wet your piece over with water and before t is dry with a great Camels-hair-pencil dipt in the palest thin mixture flush or lay the faintest large clouds and veins of your Marble which being laid on whilst the work is wet will lie so soft and sweet that the original will not exceed it Then if your work be not too drie take a smaller pencil and with a colour one degree darker than the first touch all the lesser veins and variety of the Marble If your work drie too fast wet it again with the brush and water and lay not on your colours when the water is running off lest they bear it company Lastly take a small-pointed feather and with the deepest colour touch and break all your suddain or smaller veins irregular wild and confused as you have them in the natural Marble After days drying cold-clear it that is do it over with Isinglass or Parchment-size and then varnish polish and clear it up exactly in all things according to the directions for white Japan to which places and others above mentioned we refer you By mixing other colours this way any sort of Marble is subject to your imitation and if neatly done well polisht and varnisht will not only exceed any Marbling in oyl but will in beauty and gloss equal the real stone CHAP. XXVII Of Dying or Staining Wood Ivory c. To Dye Wood a beautiful Red. VVoods that are very white take this dye the best of any set a kettle of water boiling with a handful of Allom cast your wood into it permitting it to boil a little that done take your wood but and put into the said water two handfuls of Brasil wood then return your wood into the vessel again to boil for a quarter of an hour and t is concluded When dry you may rush and polish it or varnish it with the tops of Seed-lacc-varnish and polish it by which management you will find the wood covered with a rich and beautiful colour To stain a fine Yellow Take Burr or knotty Ash or any other wood that is white curled and knotty smooth and rush it very well and having warmed it with a brush dipt in Aqua fortis wash over the wood and hold it to the fire as you do Japan-work until it leaves smoaking when dry rush it again for the Aqua fortis will make it very rough If to these you add a polish and varnish it with Seed-lacc and then again polish it you 'l find no outlandish wood surpass it for the curled and knotty parts admit of so much variety being in some places hard in others soft and open-grained to which Aqua fortis gives a deeper colour than to the harder and more resisting parts In short you 'l perceive a pleasing variety interwoven beyond what you could imagine or expect If you put filings or bits of metals as brass copper and iron into the Aqua fortis each metal will produce a different tincture the best French Pistols are stockt generally with this sort of wood and stained after this manner To Dye or Stain Woods of any colour for Inlaid or Flower'd work done by the Cabinet-makers Use the moistest horse-dung you can get that has been made the night before through a sieve or cloath squeez out what moisture you judge sufficient for the purpose convey it into several small vessels fit for the design in each of these dissolve of Roach-allom and Gum Arabick the bigness of a nutmeg and with them mix reds blews greens of what colours best please you suffering them to stand two or three days yet not without often stirring them Then take your woods of which I think Pear-tree is the best if t be white cut them as thick as an half-crown which is in all reason thick enough for any Fineered or Inlaid work and of what bredth you please making your liquors or colours boiling hot put the wood into it for as long time as will sufficiently colour them yet some must be taken out sooner than the rest by which means you 'l have different shades of the same colour for the longer they lie in the higher and deeper will be the colours and such variety you may well imagin contributes much to the beauty and neatness of the work and agrees with the nature of your parti-coloured flowers To Dye or Stain Wood Black Take Log-wood and boil it in water or vinegar and whilst very hot brush or stain over your wood with it two or three times then take the Galls and Copperas well beaten and boil them well in water with which wash or stain four work so often till it be a black to your mind the oftner it is layed the better will your black be if your work be small enough you may steep it in your liquors instead of washing it The best Black Dye for Ivory Horn Bone c. Put pieces of Brass into Aqua fortis letting it stand till t is turned green with which wash your Ivory being polished once or twice Next boil Logwood in water into which put your Ivory whilst t is warm and in a little time it gives a fine black which you must now rush and polish again and t will have as good a gloss and black as any Japan or Ebony If you desire any foldage flowers or the like fancies should remain white and of the same colour with the Ivory draw them neatly on the Ivory with Turpentine-varnish before you stain it for those places which you touch with the varnish are so secured by it that the Dye cannot approach or discolour them After t is dyed if you can hatch and shadow those fancies with a Graver and fill the lines by rubbing and clearing up the whole with Lamblack and Oyl it may add much to its ornament and perfection To Stain a Green colour on Wood Ivory Horn or Bones First prepare either of them in Allom-water by boiling them well in it as you were just now instructed Afterwards grind of Spanish-green or thick common Verdegreas a reasonable quantity with half as much Sal-Armoniack then put them into the strongest wine-vinegar together with the wood keeping it hot over the fire till t is green enough if the wood is too large then wash it over scalding hot as in the other instances To Dye Ivory c Red. Put quick-lime into rain-rain-water for a night strain the clear through a cloath and to every pint of water add half an ounce of the scrapings of Brasil-wood having first boil'd it in Allom-water then boil it in this till t is red enough to please you Thus Courteous Reader are we at lenghth arriv'd at our desired Port. Our Performances have been no way inferiour to our Promises What we ingaged for in the beginning we have punctually accomplisht and nothing certainly remains but that you convert our Precepts to Practice for that will be the ready way to examin and try whether they are false or insufficient We have all along been directed by an unerring Guide Experience and do therefore advise you upon the least miscarriage to make a diligent review and doubt not but second thoughts will convince you of too slight an observance We desire you 'd be as exact and regular in your performances as we have been in ours for by these means Satisfaction will attend both Parties all our designs must succeed to our wish and our Labours shall be crowned with success and reputation FINIS The Lidd of a Powder Box The Lidd oF a Patch Box The side of a Patch Box The side of a Powder Box The Fellow to it The Fellow to it Other patterns for Powder Boxes Other Patterns for Patch Boxes The Sides The Sides The Fellow The Fellow Other patterns for Powder Boxes Other Patterns for Patch Boxes For the side of Patch Boxes Another Sort of work for the Sides of Powder Boxes The fellow to it The follow to it Cloth Brvshes Combe Brushes A Pincushing Trvnks for Pendents Necklace Rings Jewells The topp of a 12 Inch Frame for a Loâ—king Glass for Jappan Worke The Bottom of the Said frame The Side of the fram on the Right hand The side of the frame on the Left hand The topp of a halfe Rovnd Frame for Japan worke called a 10 Inch Dresing frame for a Looking Glas The Bottom of the Said Frame The side of the frame to the Right hand The side of the Frame to the Left hand For a Standish for Pen Inke paper 〈◊〉 allso may sarve for a Comb Box The Movlding The Fore Side of the Standish For the topp or Lid. of a Gombe Box The Movlding The fore side of the Combe Box Seuerall Figures to be plased as Occasion serveth in Japan Worke A Pagod Worshipp in the Indies Another For Drawers for Cabbinets to be Placed according to yoâ—… fancy Of Drawers som are Deepe som more narrow of the same Cabbinett An Embassy
be had at 3 d. the pound Isinglass The best Isinglass is that which is clearest and whitest freest from yellowness It is if good worth 3 or 4 d. the ounce you may have it cheaper by the pound The same may be observed by other things for the greater quantity you buy at a time the cheaper will your purchase be Gambogium The best is that of the brightest yellow and freest from dross Some of it is dirty thick and full of dross there is difference in the price according to the goodness the best is worth 6 d. the ounce To choose Benjamin or Benzoine The best is that of a bright reddish colour very like to clarified Rosine but never so fine freest from dross or filth T is as in goodness 4 d 6 d or 8 d the ounce Dragons Blood The best is the brightest red and freest from dross You may buy it in drops as the Drugsters call it which is the best They are made up in a kind of leaf or husk it is commonly 8 d. sometimes 12 d. the ounce according to the goodness I have here given you an account of those things and Gums you will have occasion for in Japanning and Varnishing and are all to be bought at the Drugsters at or neer the prizes I have specified and may serve to inform you in some measure of the Gums their excellencies and value but time and practice will make greater discoveries Indeed grains of Allowance must be made for their different prizes for their rise and fall depends upon the plenty or scarcity of them and varies according to the goodness of the commodity It is not necessary to furnish your self with all or any part of these but as you have occasion to make use of them for of some an ounce will serve you a great while of others a pound will be used at one time of which you will know more as I shall have occasion to treat of them in their order I shall now proceed to Metals which I will also give you some account of and first Of Brass-dust which is commonly amongst the Artists called Gold-dust This cannot be made in England fit for use though it hath often been attempted but comes from beyond Sea as the rest of the Metals do that are good Germany is the place where the best of all sorts is made The best Brass-dust is that which is finest and of the brightest and most gold-like colour which you may best discern by taking a little on your finger and squeezing it along your finger with your thumb and if it be good it will look with a bright and rich lustre if bad it will appear of a dull clayish colour and will never work lively and bright Several sorts of this Metal are imported here from foreign parts which differ vastly as to the coarsness and fineness and the different ways of working them As for instance the coarser sort will work well with Gold-size which will not with gum-Gum-water other differences will arise also which are subject to the discoveries of practice and experience From this difference of Metals proceeds that of the prizes for some are worth 12 or 14 s. the ounce whilst that others amount to not above 4 or 5 s. for the same quantity But these are two extremes the first very good and the other altogether as vile and bad for there is a middle sort between both which is generally afforded by those that buy of the Merchant for 8 or 9 s. the ounce which will work well To choose Silver-dust Some have attempted to make Silver here in England but none I ever saw comparable to that beyond Sea for that enjoys a lively bright lustre like polished or new-coined silver which you may find by squeezing it between your finger and thumb whereas that which we make here is dull dead and heavy and indeed is a fitter representation of a Colour than a Metal and by comparison you may find how the dimness of the counterfeit is obscured by the dazling lustre of the true It s price is answerable to its goodness and excellency for its lowest rate is no less than 16 s. the ounce But I would not have the price fright any one so far as to prefer cheaper before it for t is neither so useful nor pleasant in the work and the best will go farther than this proportionable to its price T is customary in Japan to use several sorts of Metals that are corrupted and adulterate and they are layed too in garments flowers houses and the like which makes the work look more beautiful and surprizing these likewise are vended and sold for the aforesaid use and are commonly called First Green-gold Is a certain corrupted mettle casting a kind of a dead greenish colour and is commonly sold at 6 s. the ounce Is another kind of corrupted metal which bears some resemblance to drossy dirty Gold it may be purchased at 6 s. the ounce Powder-Tinn Is Tinn grinded to dust of a dull dark though silverish colour made use of in Rocks c. It s price the same with the former Of Coppers There are three sorts Natural Artificial and Adulterate The Natural is ground without mixture well cleansed and is of the true genuine colour of Copper and is sold at 6 or 7 s. the ounce The Artificial accordingly exceeds the Natural it is more deep and red but very clear and its bright glittering colour shews how far it is possible for Art to exceed Nature T is very rarely procured or sold under 10 s. the ounce The Adulterate Copper is of a thick heavy metallick colour and is commonly used to work other metals on as if that be layed for a Ground you hatch or highten with bright gold or other light metal and sold at 6 s. the ounce There is also used in Japan-work metals commonly called Speckles of divers sorts as Gold Silver Copper and many other colours some finer than other and worked according to the fancy of the Artist either on Mouldings the out or in-side of Boxes Drawers c. Of these those that are used in the Indian work are the Gold Silver and Copper though as aforesaid every one may take their own fancy or humor in the use of them They are made here in England very well and are sold each of them much at a price 5 or 6 shillings the ounce according as they are in fineness So that what I said concerning the rates of Gums will hold good here also That a glut or scarcity of these enhances or abates the price but generally these are exposed to sale at the rates I have affixed to each of them These are sold by great quantities by several Merchants in London and in lesser by as many I shall only mention two viz. a Gold-beater at the hand and hammer in Long-acre and another of the same trade over against Mercers-Chappel in Cheap-side Having given you an account of Gums and Metals I shall briefly
use not only in the foregoing white-varnish but several other things hereafter to be mentioned To make Blew-Japan This task calls for several ingredients and those too diversly prepared before they can be admitted to the composition In the front white-lead appears which must be ground with gum-Gum-water very finely on a Marble-stone The next in rank is some of the best and finest Smalt to be met with in the Colour-shops which you must mix with Isinglass-size adding of your white-lead so grinded a quantity proportionable to the Blew you intermix with 'em or as you would have it be in strength of body All these well stirred and temper'd together being arrived to the consistence and thickness of common Paint wash over your work with it and when perfectly dry do the like three or four times until you observe your Blew lies with a good fair body if it should so fall out that the Blew should be too pale and weak put more Smalt and no white-lead into your size Having rush't it very smooth strike it over again with this stronger Blew soon after yet not till it is very dry with a clean pencil give it at two several times as many washings with the clearest Isinglass-size alone and lay it aside for two days carefully covered to preserve it from dust The same diligence forget not in making White-Japan which does as absolutely require a covering until either of them is secured by a proper mantle of their own varnish which is sufficient to guard 'em against all injuries of dust or dirt But to proceed When you have warmed it by the fire imploy again your cleanest pencil dipt in a small portion of white-varnish anointing your work seven or eight times desist then for one day or two after which wash it again as often as before Lay it aside for the same space of time which being expired repeat your washes the third and last time as often as formerly So many operations certainly deserve some leisure minuts and a week at least must be pass'd over before you dare presume to polish it When that is done with Lamblack and oyl clear it up and lend it a glissening smooth and pleasant countenance Observe that your Blews being more deep and dark thin or pale depends wholly upon thâ— different quantities of white-lead that are mixt with the Smalt after the first washes for as a small proportion of Lead introduces the first so a greater plenty occasions the latter Let this serve for a general caution in laying either Blews White or any other colours with Isinglass-size Let it not be too strong but rather on the contrary very weak but just sufficient to bind your colours or make them stick on your work for if it be otherwife it will be apt to crack and flie off But last of all when you lay or wash with clear Isinglass to keep you varnish from soaking into or tarnishing your colours then let it be of a strong and full body To make gum-Gum-water Hardly any can be ignorant of the making of this t is very common and easie and the composition consists of two bodies only In three quarters of a pint of fair water dissolve one ounce of the whitest Gum-Arabick carefully and cleanly picked If you keep stirring and shaking it the sooner 't will be dissolved which done strain it through a fine Holland-rag into a bottle and if you want it use it To make Red-Japan This beautiful colour is made several ways and we want not drugs and mixtures to vary the different Reds and humour all fancies whatsoever I shall confine their variety to three heads 1. The common usual Red 2. the deep dark and lastly the light pale Red. Of these in their order In contriving the first Vermilion deservedly claims the chief place T is mixt with common size by some by others with the thickest of Seed-Lacc The last I judge most fit and useful for this reason because it will not then break off in polishing as that mixt with size frequently does neither is it more chargeable seeing it helps better to bear the body of varnish that shall be spread over it Your mixture should keep a medium between thick and thin t is difficult and almost impossible to assign exact Rules for mingling your Colours in general we tell you between both extremes small practice and experience will master this seeming difficulty Your work being ready and warm produce your Vermilion well mixt with the varnish and salute it four times with it then allow it time to dry and if your Reds be full and in a good body to your liking rush it very smooth so done wash it eight times with the ordinary Seed-Lac-varnish and grant it a repose for twelve hours then rush it again though slightly to make it look smooth And lastly for a fine outward covering bestow eight or ten washes of your best Seed-Lacc-varnish upon it and having laid it by for five or six days bring it forth to polish and clear it up with Oyl and Lamblack The next in succession to be discours'd on is the dark deep Red. When you have laid on your common Red as before directed take Dragons-blood reduce it to a very small dust or powder and as your judgment and fancy are inclined mix it a little at a time with your varnish and indeed you will find that a very small portion will extreamly heighten your colour as also that every wash will render it deeper but when you find it has acquired a colour almost as deep as you design forbear for you must remember you have more varnish of Seed-Lacc to lay on which will add and supply what is wanting Consider therefore how many washes are still to be laid and according to that use your Sanguis Draconis or Dragons-blood This performance differs no way from the former but must be managed by those rules given for polishing and clearing the other Red the Sanguis only excepted But in the third place to oblige any person that is an admirer of a pale Red we assign these instructions Take white-lead finely ground with your Muller on the Marble-stone you must grind it dry mix it with your vermilion till it becomes paler than you would have it for the varnish will heighten it stir therefore vermilion white-lead and varnish together very briskly which done give your work four washes and then follow closely the prescriptions laid down for the first Red varnish You must in the foregoing mixture consult with your self how many times you are to varnish after the Red is laid for if many consider how they will increase and heighten the colour which for that reason must be paler and have a more large portion of white-lead allotted it By these means we have opened a spatious field we have discovered the very nature of the thing our Art has been freely displayed and we have been neither penurious or niggardly in our communications What admirable Products may we expect when
a lively and unlimited fancie is exercised in an Art that is equally boundless and unconfined To lay or make Chesnut-colour-Japan This colour is now very much used and of great esteem especially for Coaches I have also made other things as Tables Stands and Looking-glass-frames I must of necessity declare that it sets off Gold and Metals well and because variety in every thing that is new is acceptable but chiefly to the ingenious Gentry for whom these pages are intended I could not in silence pass this colour over The things that make up this colour are Indian Red or else Brown red Oaker which will serve as well of either what quantity you imagin will serve your turn and with a Muller or Marble-stone grind it mixed with ordinary size as fine as butter From thence translate it to a pottinger then take a little white-lead and laboriously grind it after the former manner and with the same size In the third place have Lamblack ready by you mix this and the white-lead with the Indian Red or Oaker in the pottinger stirring and incorporating them together If the colour produced by these three be too bright darken it with Lamblack if too dark and sad assist it with white-lead this do until you have mastered the colour you wish for One thing here commands your memory and observation The same colour exactly which you make when t is thus mixt and wet will also arise when t is varnished although when t is laid and dry t will look otherwise Now when the colours are thus managed in the pottinger set it over a gentle fire put to it so much common size as will give it a fit temper to work neither too thick or too thin Being thus qualified for business call for a fine proportionable Hogs-hair brush with it wash over smoothly your piece let it dry and repeat until your colour lie full and fair Again give it a drying time and rush it smooth but by no means close to the wood unless you intend to begin your work anew and varnish it a second time After a days rest adorn it with three or four washes of the fine Seed-Lacc-varnish when that is also dried on varnish it up to a body fit to receive a polish with your white varnish To conclude its due and necessary time being spent polish and clear it up with Lamblack and Oyl To make an Olive-colour This performance is every way answerable to the former only instead of those put English Pinck grind it with common size and when it has attained the consistence of butter convey it to a pottinger and there Lamblack and White-lead mixt with it produce the Olive-colour if too light Lamblack will prevent it if too dark the other But farther if you think it looks too green take raw Umber grinded very fine with size add of that enough to take away that greeness And nothing then remains but a due heed and observance of the foregoing rules for Chesnut But before we leave this Section remember That all colours laid in size will not endure so violent a polish as those in varnish but are more subject to be rubb'd off By these methods you may make any colour you can fancie with this admonition That all colours which are light and apt to tarnish and loose their glossy beauty with Seed-Lacc must be humour'd and varnished with White-varnish the Seed-Lacc being prejudicial CHAP. VI. To work Metals or Colours with Gum-water WHensoever you design to work Japan in Gum-water you are advised to mix all your Metals and Colours and every thing you make use of with this Gum-water But because there is no general Rule without exception therefore we understand all colours except those which before we called Transparent ones for they require a different and distinct way of operation as the beginning of this Treatise has directed When you design a mixture forget not to stir the ingredients very well together with the water in a Muscle-shell which I conceive is more proper for this undertaking and for that reason desired you to furnish your self with a great number of them Be cautious I beseech you that you make not the mixture of your metals or colours with the gum-gum-water either too thick or thin but endeavour to keep the golden mean between both that it may run fine and smoothly from your pencil Beside be not prodigal lavish and profuse of your metals but make a quantity requisite for your present business only and provide not for time to come for from a mixture of this nature made in too large a proportion several inconveniences arise As first in some short time the metals standing useless wax dry so that they must be wetted for a second emploiment with the said gum-water which by repetition corrupts both the metal and the colour by receiving too much of gum in them and although this might be likwise prevented by adding fair water instead of that mixt with gum yet in spite of all care and diligence and beyond expectation too another trouble and fault accompanies it and that is the dust will gather to them and render 'em unfit and unserviceable Again for your colours especially your Shells must be often shifted and changed otherwise the gum and colours will be both knobby and drie in that unseemly posture sticking to your shells I believe it will be your own negligence and the fault will lie at your door if after every minute caution and remark whereby you may not fail of success if they are observed you should through inadvertency miscarry But to proceed Your metals or colours thus prepared well mixed and ready for the business stir them with the pencil about the shell and draw it often on the side of the shell that it may not be overloaded with the metal when you design to draw small stroaks on the other side not too drie because you must be careful in making all your stroaks full and fair by no means thin and craggy carry your hand even and steddy and finish your line before you draw off your hand otherwise you may incur making the stroak uneven and bigger in one place than another But when you attempt great broad things as Leaves or large work then charge your pencil very full with this proviso only that it does not drop Here is one observation to be made for gum-Gum-water which in Gold-size is useless and unnecessary and indeed very advantagious for learners and the unskilful especially and by them in a particular manner to be remarkt and observed But first t is useful for all for that place you intend to make your draught in must be rubbed with a Tripolee-cloth the reason is this your black when cleared up will be so glossy and as it were greasie that your metal or colour will not lie on it unless it be primed with the Tripolee in that manner So when you find any such greasiness on your work rub it with your Tripolee-cloth and
only stick but render your work thicker of Speckles in those places more beautiful and oblige it with a kind of shadow and reflection This work admits of no idle hours no interludes and vacations for as soon as one part is compleated the other desires to undergo the skill and contrivance of the Artist When this Rock is drie the next must succeed in operation and by this way of working the one when and not before the other is perfectly drie you may like the Giants of old fighting against Jupiter cast mountain upon mountain lay one rock upon or beside another of different colours and as many shapes until the whole enterprise of Rock-work is completed But observe that in sweeping your Speckles into the edges of each Rock you intermix not one portion of scattered parts into a Rock of a different colour let them therefore enjoy their proper strewings When you thus lay your Rocks on your work being cold it will certainly for the present look dull and heavy nay to that degree that you might very well suggest to your self nothing less than the damage and ruine of the whole undertaking But though no signs of life beauty or shadow do appear let not this startle or discourage you for when you have secured it as we directed before this fright vanishes the dangerous Mormo or Bugbear disappears its expected qualities suddenly arise and by the assistance of your Securing-varnish it is decked with gay and beautiful apparrel CHAP. XI To make raised work in imitation of Japan and of the Paste TO attempt the composition of this Paste you must provide a strong gum-arabick-Gum-Arabick-water charged with a double quantity of Gum to that we before taught you Have in readiness an ounce of Whiting and a quarter of an ounce of the finest and best Bole-Armoniack break them on your Grinding-stone with the Gum-water until they are made as fine as butter but so thin that when moved into a Gallipot it may but just drop from the stick with which you work and stir it If its condition be too thick gum-water will relieve it if too thin you must give it an addition of Whiting and Bole-Armoniack as much as will make it capable of working well and regularly The stick that I spake of before should resemble that of a Pencil-stick but it must have a more sharp and taper end This dipt into your paste drop on the Rock Tree Flower or House which you purpose to raise and by repetition proceeding until t is raised as high and even as you think convenient Prevent all bladdering in the paste which scurvie fault proceeds from a careless and insufficient grinding and stirring of the Whiting and Bole should you with these blemishes endeavour to raise your work when dried will be full of holes and thereby destroy the beautie of it The only way to prevent it in some measure when so dried is with a wet fine cloth wrapt about the finger to rub it over again and again until the holes and cracks are quite choak't and stopt up and after its time of drying is expired with a rush and all imaginable industry and care smooth it These assistances I have laid down only in case of necessity by way of corrections for accidental miscarriages for your work will look abundantly neater if these Errata are prevented by a Paste in the beginning well grinded and tempered before t is dropped on your work You are desired farther to observe that in the Japan raised-work for Garments Rocks c. one part is elevated and higher than the other as in flowers those that are first and nearest to the eye are highest some leaves too that lie first are higher than those that lie behind 'em So in the pleats and foldings of garments those which seem to lie underneath are always at the greater distance I will instance in but one more and that is of Rocks where in position the first must always surmount and swell beyond that which skulks behind and is more remote The rule holds good in all things of a like nature and if you endeavour to counterfeit the Indians who take these measures t is reasonable and necessary to follow their prescriptions I shall assign two ways for its accomplishment which if truly and carefully copied out will come very near the Japan original First after your design is rais'd to a due height whether Figure or Flower and well dried with a little Gum-water Vermilion and a Pencil trace out the lines for the face hands or foldage of the garments for the leaves of your plants and seeds of flowers or any thing intended in its proper shape made at first before the raised work was laid and according to which your Paste was in such manner directed and confined by those lines that were drawn as its boundaries for unless such stroaks were made t is impossible to laye the paste in its proper figure This done three or four small instruments must be procured one of them a bended Graver which the Engravers make use of the rest small pieces of Steel in shape like a Chissel of the Carpenters fastened in a wooden handle the breadth of the largest not exceeding a quarter of an inch of the others sizeably less With these your raised work must be cut scraped and carved leaving one part higher than the other keeping due regard to the proportion of the thing you design But here I must forewarn you of the difficulty of the enterprise no heavy rustick hand must be emploied in this tender diligent work for if in haste or unadvisedly you attempt it believe me your raised work will break off in several places to the disgrace of the Artist and deformity of the piece Let therefore your tools have an exquisitely sharp and smooth edge whereby they may cut clean and fine without roughness And now t is time to smooth and sleek it with a brush that has been often used before in order in the last place to cloath it with any metal you shall judge most proper as shall hereafter be shewed at large The other way which we promised for raised work is this Strike or trace out your design as well the inside as the outward that is the shape of your face neck hands legs the chief stroaks of the foldings of the under and upper garments so of flowers or the like Then take your Paste somewhat thinner than you commonly use it and with it raise the lower garments or parts which require the least raising Grant it time to drie throughly and then with a very small pencil dipt into the thickest of your Seed-Lacc varnish just the edges of your raised work for this intent that when you advance the higher part it may hinder the wet incorporating with the drie which must be avoided for should it do so the work will never shew well This must be performed as often as you elevate one part above another and still as your work is exalted your
warmth you gave it makes the quicksilver also more ready to spread After these two or three visits made to the fire give it the thorough-heat at first mentioned then take it from the fire and with a scrub-brush that has never been toucht with quicksilver clean it as you did in the beginning Now if you perceive any spot of quicksilver untoucht you must lay your gold upon it again when t is cleaned with the scratch-brush you may after this manner heighten its colour if you think convenient Take of Salt Argal and Brimstone an equal quantity mix them with as much fair water as will cover the thing when put into it boil them over the fire and having tied your guilded work to a string put it into the boiling liquor for a little space looking on it every minute and when it has acquired a colour that pleases you dip it in cold water and the whole is finished But still if you would have the work more rich and lasting you may again quicken it with quicksilver and aqua fortis and guild it over again after the former method and repeat it so often if you please till your gold lies as thick as your nail upon the metal Another way to guild Silver Brass or Princes-metal First brush over your silver with Aqua fortis then quicken your work with Mercury as before taught Let your gold be beaten thin and put into a Crucible with just so much quicksilver as will cover it and let it stand till it begin to blubber then strain it through a piece of leather as before and the quicksilver will go through and leave your gold but discoloured as hath been said then lay it on with an iron-tool and in every thing do as you were taught in the other guilding Another way to heal or heighten the Colour of your Gold Take Sal Armoniack Salt-petre Sandiver Verdigreece white and green Vitriol grind them with white-wine vinegar which lay all over your work then lay it on a fire and give it a small heat that may make it smoak and then take it off and quench it in urine To take off Gold from any guilt Plate without the damage of one or loss of the other Put as much Sal Armoniack finely beaten into Aqua fortis as will make it thick like a Paste spread your Plate all over with it put it into the fire give it a thorough heat neal it or make it red hot then quench it in fair water and with a scrub-brush scratch and scrub the Plate very well which will fetch off all the gold into the water After a little time standing quietly pour off your water and the gold will he to your satisfaction found at the bottom if all the gold be not come off do the same again As for cleansing this plate or any other which we call Boiling of silver first make your plate red hot let it stand till t is cold then mix Argal and Salt with water when it boils put in your plate keeping it there for a quarter of an hour take it out and when washed and rinsed in fair water you 'l perceive by its beauty that t is sufficiently changed To Silver-over Brass or Copper as the Clockmakers do their Dial-plates Having Leaf or burnt-silver in readiness put it into as much Aqua fortis as will cover it after an hours standing pour off the Aqua fortis as clean as may be from the silver wash the silver three or four times with water let it dry and then mix it with one part of fine Argal to three of silver with a little fair water When you make use of it rub it on the work with a cork until t is all silvered and lie as fair as you could wish Next dry it well with a linnen cloth and having made it warm wash it over three or four times with the best white varnish spoken of in this book and it will not fail to secure it from Tarnishing and other injuries To guild Iron Brass or Steel with Leaf-gold or Silver If you are to guild Brass or old Iron you must cleanse it very well with a Scratch-brush before you hatch or guild on it but for new Iron or Steel after you have filed it very smooth take a hatching-knife which is only a knife with a short blade and long handle and hatch your work all over neatly then give it an heat whilst it looks blew on a charcoal fire from whence take it and lay on your gold or silver and with a sanguine-stone burnish it down a little then give it the same heat and burnish it all over Thus may you repeat three Or four of half a dozen or a dozen times if you please still observing to give it the same heat before and after you lay on your gold or silver and burnish it This leaf-gold and silver is much thicker than the other and four times as dear To refine Silver Take Silver be it never so coarse and melt it in a melting-pot then cast it into water to make it hollow after t is cold take it out and dry it mixing one ounce of Salt-petre to a penni-weight of Antimony so proportionably greater quantities if you have occasion These with your Silver confine again to a melting-pot covering that with another very closely luting them together with loam made of clay and horse-dung The two pots being thus cemented put 'em into the fire and give them a very strong heat after which remove them to a cooling place Break the pot when cold and you 'l perceive the silver fine at the bottom but the scorio and dross on the upper part like a cinder Copper may be separated from Gold after the same manner To separate Gold and Silver when incorporated with Aqua fortis Take as much Aqua fortis duplex as will something more than cover your metal in a strong vial or parting-glass Put it on sand over a gentle fire at first with the glass open and unstopt for if t is closed t will break in pieces as may also a fierce fire at the beginning by degrees therefore increase its heat till you make the Aqua fortis simper and boil continue so doing till your metal be dissolved This done pour the Aqua fortis gently into water the silver will invisibly go along with it but the gold remain at the bottom of the glass which gold when well washed with water you may melt down or preserve for guilding metals by mixing it with quicksilver and straining the latter through leather as you were instructed by Leaf and Ducket-gold Now to reduce the silver into its former body which appears to be a water and so would remain many years unless you take this method for its alteration pour the said water wherein your silver is floating like undiscernable Atoms into a copper vessel if in any other put in copper-plates and immediately all the silver will repair to the copper like an army to
slight polish will remedy with clearing it up afterward Now the causes of this disappointment are two either first your varnish is not reasonably well dried or it has not a sufficient body of varnish both these occasion it to mist and as it were to purl T is no hard task to distinguish them if the former is in fault it will appear dull but of a full body and smooth if the latter the work will look hungry and so bare that you may almost if not quite see the very grain of the wood through your varnish This last fault is mended by five or six washes more of your fine Seed-Lacc the other is assisted by frequent polishings with discretion One Memorandum I had almost passed over in silence which I presume I have not any where mentioned You must look upon it as a necessary remark and by no means to be omitted and this it is To be industriously careful in laying on your colours and varnish never to strike your pencil twice over the same place for it will make your varnish or colours lie rough and ugly but let every stroak anoint a place not washt before carrying a steady quick and even hand beginning at the middle of the table and so conveying your brush to either end until the whole surface has been passed over Perhaps I have here spoken the same thing over and over again in justification whereof I alledge what Seneca did to those who objected that he was guilty of tautologie and repetition I only says he inculcate often the same precepts to those who commit and react the same vices This is my case if you charge me with that fault my plea is his I often admonish you and insert many cautions which refer to the same error and apply 'em to those who are subject to frequent miscarriages To make Lamp-black Being furnished with a Lamp that has three or four Spouts for as many lights and cotton-week which you may have at the Tallow-chandlers twisted up so big that it will but just go into the nose of your Spouts for the greater light they make the large quantity of black is afforded Procure a quart of oyl by the Oyl shops rated at 6 d. and so much will make black enough to use about a large Cabinet Get a thing to receive your black in such in shape and substance as you may often see is planted over a candle to keep the flame and smoak from the roof or ceiling of a room Having placed your weecks in their proper apartment and put in the oyl fire or light 'em and fix your receiver over them so close that the flame may almost touch them After it has continued so the space of half an hour take off your receiver and with a feather strike and sweep off all the black on it Snuff your weecks and put it on again but forget not to supply your Lamp with oyl as often as occasion shall require and when you imagine more black is stuck to the receiver do as before directed and thus continue and persevere until you have obtained black enough or that all your oyl is burnt up and exhausted This is that which is properly called Lamp-black and is of excellent use for black varnish White Varnishing or Japan You cannot be over-nice and curious in making white Japan nothing must be used that will either soil or pollute it in laying on the colour or in varnishing Your first necessary therefore is Isinglass-size to make which the next Section shall instruct you scrape into it as much whiting as will make it of a reasonable thickness and consistence or so long till by a stroak with your pencil dipt into it it will whiten the body which your brush has passed over your own discretion is the best guide Suffer it not to be in extreams either too thick or too thin but with your brush made of the softest Hogs-hair mix and incorporate very well the whiting with your size This being prepared whiten your work once over with it and having stood till t is throughly dry do it all over again and when dry repeat it a third time after which let it stand twelve hours but be sure to cover and defend it from dust before t is varnish't Take then some rushes rush it as smooth and as close to the wood as you can conveniently This done procure some white flake with which the Colour-shops can furnish you mix it too with your size only that it may lie with a full fair body on your piece With this three several times whiten your work giving it sufficient time to dry between each of them then rush it extraordinarily smooth but be not now so bold as you were before adventure not to come near the wood but by all means keep your distance These two sorts of white being used we charge you with a third and that is white Starch boiled in fair water until it come to be somewhat thick and with it almost blood-warm wash over the whole twice never forgetting that it should dry between every turn After 24 hours rest take the finest of your white-varnish and with a pencil first washed in spirit to clean it from dust anoint or varnish your work six or seven times and after a day or two do the like again These two fits of varnishing if done with a fine careful hand will give it a better gloss than if it were polish't if not so accurately performed t is requisite to polish it and in order thereunto you must bestow five or six washes of varnishing more than to the former so that if t is done so well that it stands not in need of a polish two turns of varnishing will suffice but if it must be polish't three are absolutely required besides a weeks rest before you begin polishing Care and neatness should attend this operation from one end to the other for in polishing your Linnen and Tripolee must be both of the finest your hand light and gentle your cloth neither too wet or too dry and when you clear it up and give it the finishing concluding stroak fine flower and oyl must be admitted to the performance but Lamp-black utterly laid aside and excluded To make Isinglass-Size Take an ounce of Isinglass divided or broke into small pieces let it stand in a clean Pipkin accompanied with a pint and a half of fair water for twelve hours together Place the vessel on a gentle fire suffer it to boil mighty leisurely and continue smiling and simpering till it is wholly consumed and dissolved in the water After the water it self is wasted and boiled away to a pint or less remove it and let it stand in a convenient place to cool This when cold will turn to a Jelly which we call Isinglass-size You are advised to make no more than what will serve your present occasions for two or three days will totally deprive it of its strength and virtue T is of great