permit it to dry after which you will perceive the draught of your pencil to be smooth and neat and to your liking and satisfaction Now that which I before spake of in behalf of beginners is this It may very reasonably be supposed that a practitioner in his first attempts may not frame his piece even and regular or his lines at a due distance now upon these or any other accounts if he is displeased at his own handy-work he may with this useful Tripolee-cloth wipe out all or any part which he thinks unworthy to stand and on the same spot erect a new draught by these means he may mend add blot out and alter until the whole fabrick be of one entire make good and answerable to each part of the undertaking I cannot better in words express my self or with my Pen deliver more full or plain rules for mixing your colours and metals neither can I with my tongue more steadily guide your hand and pencil I am apt to flatter my self so far as to believe what I have communicated may abundantly suffice and shall therefore add nothing more with relation to laying metals or colours and the manner or method of working them in Gum-water That part of our Profession which we call Setting off or which is the same thing in other words Seeding of Flowers Veining of Leaves Drawing of Faces and making Garments desires not our present consideration but shall be handled in the following pages CHAP. VII To make Gold-size THis is the other fâ—mous composition which is in great esteem and use for laying metals and colours and ought in due manner to be made known but we shall first give you the method of mixing those things which are concerned in its production Their names and quantities are of Gum animae one ounce Gum Espaltum one ounce Lethergi of Gold half an ounce Red-lead brown Umber of each the like portion To these shut altogether in a new earthen pipkin large enough to hold one third more than you put in pour of Linseed oyl a quarter of a pint of drying oyl half a pint with which you may be furnished at the colour-shops Place this earthen vessel thus loaded over a gentle fire that does not flame in the least keeping it continually so warm that it may but just bubble up or almost boil should it rise over your chimny and materials would be in danger if you perceive it swelling and endeavouring to pass its bounds remove it from that hot place to a more cool and gentle When first it begins to simper and boil a little with a stick keep moving and stirring it until the whole mass of Gums be incorporated and melted not that you must desist or forbear stirring until it become as thick and ropy as Treacle for then it is sufficiently boiled This done convey the pipkin to a cool place and there let it rest till the extremity of heat is over After which time strain it through a coarse linnen cloth into another earthen pot there to cool and lie ready for use This is the manner of its composition I shall now insert the ways of working it When your business shall call for this Size bring forth what quantity you require for the present and put it into a muscle-shell with as much oyl of Turpentine as will dissolve the size and make it as thin as the bottom of your Seed-Lacc Hold it over a candle and when melted strain it through a Linnen rag into another shell To both these add vermilion enough to make it of a darkish red but if this make it too thick for drawing afford it as much oyl of Turpentine as will make it thin enough for that purpose The main and indeed only design of this Size is for laying on of Metals which after this manner must be performed When you have wrought your work and that which you intend to decipher on it draw this Size all over that part and that part only which you resolve shall be guilded or adorned with gold passing over those places where you think to lay your other metal or colours as Copper Silver or the like Your Size being thus wrought for the Gold let it stand till t is so dry that when you put your finger upon any of it it may be glutinous and clammy and stick a little but not so moist that the least spot or speck should come off with your fingers not unlike to thick glue when t is half dry When you find it agrees with the characters we have given you conclude that to be the critical minute the very nick of time wherein you must apply your Gold then take a piece of soft washt leather or the like this being wrapt about your forefinger dip it into your gold-dust and rub where the gold-size is laid for it will stick on the size and no where else If any dust of Gold lies scattered about your work with a fine varnishing-brush that hath not been used brush or wipe it all into your gold-paper This being thus finished take your pencil in hand again draw that part which you design for Copper with Gold-size also and when dry cover it with Copper after the same method that you received for Gold A third time weild your instrument the pencil and lay Size for Silver and operate as aforesaid so likewise for all dead metals wheresoever you design them Only take this remark along with you That you lay your metals successively one after another suffering each to dry and be covered before you begin a distinct one as for instance Your Gold-size must be dry and guilded before you proceed farther and so of the rest After all these lay your colours with gum-water if you are pleased to insert any reserving the Rocks for the last labour which how to perform in the succeeding discourse shall be demonstrated It may often so fall out that you 'l mix more Gold-size than at one time may be consumed or you may be called off from your business for a day or more Now to preserve it entire and moist enough and in condition fit to work against next time observe that after it has stood five or six hours a film or skin will arise and overspread the surface of it then put it in water and let it remain there with the pencils covered too until your next operation shall desire their assistance before which you must stir it well together and employ it as you think fit If it should chance to grow thick the old remedy Venice Turpentine will relieve it But farther if by frequent mixture with Turpentine often putting into water or long standing it becomes skinny thick and knobby and by consequence unserviceable the best use you can possibly put it to is to cast it away I shall conclude this Chapter with my requests to you so to order and compose your Size that being of a good mediocrity neither too thick or thin it may run smooth and
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
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
run over the Colours which formerly our ignorant English and French Practitioners used to mix with their Japan-work but improperly for the true natural Japan-work so called from the Island of that name did so far surpass all the painting of Bantam and the neighbouring places in goodness of black and stateliness of draught that no fidling pretender could match or imitate it and the ignorant undertaker not being able to make his work look well and lively inserts several colours as a file to set it off when unfortunate man instead of art fancy and skill he exposes a piece gay queint gawdy finical and mean the genuine product of ignorance and presumption and an ornament of Bartholmew or Alehouse rather than a Palace or Exchange The mistake of Bantam-work for Japan arose from hence all work of this kind was by a general name called Indian by use they so far confounded all together that none but the skilful could rightly distinguish This must be alledged for the Bantam-work that t is very pretty and some are more fond of it and prefer it to the other nay the work is equally difficult with Japan But if I must give you my opinâ—â—n my skill and fancy induce me to believe that Japan is more rich grave and Majestick and for that reason ought to be more highly esteemed But fancy like Proteus putting on a thousand shapes cannot ought not be confined and those who are inclined to admire colours may find safe and exact rules set down by way of information And first some colours we call transparent such as are those we lay upon Silver Gold or some light colour and then they appear in their proper colours very beautiful and lively Of these for your use is first Distilled Verdigreece for a green fine Lake for a red fine Smalt for a blew To render these useful you must observe the following method having provided a Porphyr or Marble stone with a Muller take what quantity of Verdigreece or Smalt you please and with Nut-oyl so much as will just moisten it fit to work grind it upon your stone till it be as fine or finer than butter then put them in shells mixing them with Turpentine-oyl till they be thin enough for your use lay these upon silver gold or any other light colour and they will be transparent and alter their lightness or darkness according to the lightness or darkness of the metals or colours you lay under them The same may you do with Lake for a red only instead of Nut-oyl use Drying oyl to grind it in Other colours are used which have a body and are layed on the black of your table or box where you have designed any thing as Flowers Birds c. These are Vermilion for a red White-lead for a white some use Flake-white for a white which is a purer white and much better but for ordinary work the other will do if you make a blew to lay upon your work you must take Smalt and mixing it with Gum arabick-Arabick-water put in what quantity of white-lead you please to make it deeper or lighter as your fancy shall direct but you must put in white-lead because your blew will not otherwise have a body so must you do with all colours that have not a body of themselves Some use Rozett fine Lake and Sea-green for a Purple and other sorts of Reds and Greens and indeed ways of working are very numerous which being now out of fashion I should to no purpose both trouble you and tire my self by increasing the number those which I have mentioned are abundantly sufficient for any that design to have something beside gawdy colours in their work T will be convenient here to insert a caution concerning these Colours that they are all to be layed with Gum-water except the transparent ones above-mentioned and whosoever hath a mind to work either in Gum-water or Gold-size shall hereafter receive sufficient Instructions for both According to my promise I have in full treated of Gums Metals and Colours I shall now in full proceed to discover the methods that are used to make Varnishes CHAP. II. How to make VARNISHES To make Seed-Lacc-Varnish TAke one gallon of good Spirit and put it in as wide-mouthed a bottle as you can procure for when you shall afterwards strain your varnish the Gums in a narrow-mouthed bottle may stick together and clog the mouth so that it will be no easie task to separate or get them out To your spirits add one pound and a half of the best Seed-lacc let it stand the space of 24 hours or longer for the Gum will be the better dissolved observe to shake it very well and often to keep the Gums from clogging or caking together When it hath stood its time take another bottle of the same bigness or as many quart-ones as will contain your varnish and your strainer of flannel made as aforesaid in this book fasten it to a tenter-hook against a wall or some other place convenient for straining it in such a posture that the end of your strainer may almost touch the bottom of your Tin-tunnel which is supposed to be fixed in the mouth of your empty bottle on purpose to receive your strained varnish Then shake your varnish well together and pour or decant into your strainer as much as conveniently it will hold only be sure to leave room for your hand with which you must squeez out the varnish and when the bag by so doing is almost drawn dry repeat it till your strainer being almost full of the dregs of the Gums shall the moisture being all pressed out require to be discharged of them which faeces or dregs are of no use unless it be to burn or fire your chimny This operation must be continued till all your varnish is after this manner strained which done commit it to your bottles close stopt and let it remain undisturbed for two or three days then into another clean empty bottle pour off very gently the top of your varnish so long as you perceive it to run very clear and no longer for as soon as you observe it to come thick and muddy you must by all means desist and again give it time to rest and settle which 't will do in a day or two after which time you may attempt to draw off more of your fine varnish and having so done you may lay it up till your art and work shall call for its assistance T is certain that upon any emergency or urgent occasion you may make varnish in less time than 24 hours and use it immediately but the other I recommend as the best and more commendable way besides the varnish which you have from the top of the bottles first pour'd off is of extraordinary use to adorn your work and render it glossy and beautiful Some Artists through hast or inadvertency scruple not to strain their varnish by fire or candle-light but certainly day-light is much more proper
too much which will fret and wear off the varnish that cannot easily be repair'd If when you have labour'd for some time you use the rag often wetted without Tripolee you will obtain the better gloss Then wipe of your Tripolee with a spunge full of water the water with a dry rag grease it with Lamblack and Oyl all over wipe off that with a cloth and clear it up with another as I have most fully shewed in the last Chapter to which I refer you If after all this pains your work look dull and your varnish misty which polishing before t is dry and damp weather will effect give it a slight polish clear it up and that will restore its pristine beauty If you have been too niggardly of your varnish and there is not enough to bear and endure a polish use again your finest Seed-Lacc and afford it four or five washes more after two days quietness polish and clear it up Should any one desire to keep the true natural and genuine colour of the wood I council him to employ the white-varnish formerly mentioned as every where answerable to his purpose for this being of a reddish tawny colour and so often washed with it must necessarily heighten and increase the natural one of the Olive To varnish Walnut-wood To avoid a tedious and troublesom repetition or tautology I shall refer you to the last Chapter and desire you to observe the same method exactly for varnishing Walnut that I gave you for Olive And farther take notice that those Rules will hold good also for all sorts of wood that are of a close smooth grain such are Yew Box the Lime-tree and Pear-tree c. Thus much may suffice for varnishing woods without colour we pass over from hence to treat of the adorning woods with colour and of each in its order CHAP. V. Of varnishing WOODS with Colour Of Black Varnishing or Japan BLack varnishing is done in imitation of Japan-work and because the making this very good is a great ornament to the whole undertaking I shall give you the best account I can possibly for the making it Having provided wood close-grained and well wrought off rush it smooth and keep it warm by a fire or in some hot place but be always cautious that whilst you varnish you suffer not the piece to take the eye of the fire that is come so near it as to burn scorch or blister your work which is an unpardonable fault and remedied no other way when committed but by scraping off the varnish as I hinted in the Chapter of Rules and Directions Those that make it their trade generally work in a Stove which is beyond all dispute the best and safest way and I would advise those who intend to make it their imployment to use no other because it gives an even and moderate heat to all parts of the room but those who for pleasure fancy and diversion only practise for them I say a great fire a close warm chamber may perform it as well In the next place pour some of the thickest Seed-Lacc-varnish into a Gallipot adding to it as much Lamblack as will at the first wash blacken and discolour the work the Colour-shops furnish you with it for 2 d 4 d or 6 d the barrel whose price is equal to its bigness With this varnish and black mixt together varnish over your thing three times permitting it to dry throughly between every turn After this take more of the Lac-varnish and mix with it Lampblack to the same degree of thickness with the former This is the only black for this business I prefer it before Ivory tho some differ with me on this point this is a fine soft and a very deep black and agrees best with the varnish how you shall make it I will in the next Section direct you With this black composition wash it over three times between each of them rushing it smooth and suffering it cleaverly to dry Then with a quarter of a pint of the thickest Seed-Lacc mix of Venice Turpentine the bigness of a walnut and shake them together until it is dissolved and observe this proportion in less or greater quantities Now put in Lamp-black enough to colour it and no more and with this wash it six times letting it stand 12 hours between the three first and the three last washings Having thus cloathed the piece with ordinary varnish as with a common under-garment we now intend to put on its gayest apparrel and cover it all over with the top and finest of the Seed-Lac-varnish which must also be just coloured and tinged with the Lamp-black twelve times must it be varnished with this standing as many hours between the six first and the six last washings with this never to be forgotten caution That they stand till they are dried between every distinct varnishing After all this give it rest for five or six days before you attempt to polish it that time being expired take water and Tripolee and polish it according to the directions I have assigned and taught you in the Chapter for Olive-wood but however take along with you this further remark That you allow three times distinct from each other for polishing for the first labour at it till t is almost smooth and let it stand still two days the next time polish till it is very near enough and sufficient lay it aside then for five or six days after which lastly polish off and clear it up as you were before instructed Following this course I have I will assure you made as good as glossy and beautiful a Black as ever was wrought by an English hand and to all appearance it was no way inferior to the Indian I promised to detect and lay open the whole Art and do resolve by no means to fall short of my engagement I intend therefore to pleasure you with another way to make good Black and having variety you may take your choice and try either as your fancy or Genius is inclined I must confess I have made excellent good black this way too and such as in all respects would match and parallel the foregoing Lay your blacks as before and take of the best Seed-Lac-varnish and the White-varnish I mean the first White that I taught you to make in this Book an equal quantity and vouchsafe to give it a tincture only of your Lamp or Ivory-black wash your work with it six or eight times let it stand the space of a day or two and dry between every turn then repeat it four or five times more keeping it but just warm and having rested a day or so anoint it as often with the fine Seed-Lac-varnish only To conclude in a weeks time after all this has been done it will be dry enough to polish and not before which you may then do and clear it up You will observe that your glossy persormances after some little time may happen to wax dull misty and heavy which a
drie the latter which is so drie and stout that it will not receive it must be confined to a damp cellar for a night and then without question t will willingly accept of the golden Bribe Of laying on the Gold and the Tools required for the business You are desired in the first place to furnish your self with a Cushion made of Leather stufft very even with Tow and strained on a board 10 inches one way and 14 the other On this you are to cut the gold and silver with a thin broad sharp and smooth-edged knife To these three or four Pencils of finer hair than ordinary some are of Swans-quills and sold singly for 6 d. the Artists use also the end of a Squirrels tail spread abroad and fastened to a flat pencil-stick which is broad at one end and split just like an house-painter's Graining-tool but less it serves for taking up and laying on whole Leaves at a time and is by them called a Pallet Cotton is also requisite and some use nothing else The Guilders commonly border their Cushion at one end and four or five inches down each side with a strip of parchment two inches high intending by this fence and bulwark to preserve their Gold from the assaults of Wind and Air which if moved never so gently carries away this light body which willingly complies with its uncertain motions Experienced Artists frequently shake a whole book of Gold into this end of their Cushion at one time and with their knife single out the Leaves carefully and either spread them whole on their work or divide and cut 'em as the bigness of the place requires but I would not advise young beginners to presume so far as to operate this way but venture upon a leaf or two at once cutting it as above directed Next handle your Pencil or Cotton breathing on it with which touch and take up the gold lay it on the place you designed it for pressing it close with the said Pencil or Cotton Thus proceed until the whole be finished and overlaid then cut some leaves into small pieces which may cover several parts of the Frame that have escaped guilding Having laid it aside for a day call for a large fine hogs-hair-brush with this jobb and beat over the work gently that the gold may be pressed close and compelled to retire into all the uneven hollow parts of the Carving Afterwards brush all the Leaf-gold into a sheet of paper for sale Lastly with fine soft Shammy leather as it were polish and pass it over These Rules being strictly observed your undertaking will be artificially concluded 't will appear with a dazling and unusual lustre and its beauty will be so durable so well fortified against the injuries of wind and weather that the attempts of many Ages will not be able to deface it To Lacker in Oyl such things as are to be exposed to the Weather In this I request you to observe the very method prescribed before for guilding with this difference That your Primer be more white than the last which is effected by mixing a little White-lead that has been grinded a long time amongst the former Gold-size farther considering that your Silver-size ought not to be so drie as that of Gold when the leaves are to be laid on These two remarks being rightly observed go on with your design in every particular as aforesaid and you cannot possibly miscarry To prepare and guild Carved Frames in Oyl that are not to be exposed abroad Provide a pipkin in it warm some Size pretty hot bruise with your hand and put in as much Whiting as will only make it of the same white colour Size over your Frame once with it then add more Whiting until t is of a reasonable consistence and thickness With this lay it over three or four times as you find it deserves granting it time to drie sufficiently between every turn Now take a fine Fish-skin or Dutch-rushes and smooth your Frame with 'em when so done you may with a rag or finger dipt in water smooth or which is the same thing in other words water-plain it to your mind let it drie After this with a small quantity of strong Size Cold-clear it which is a term and name Artists make use of in this case to express themselves by but is no more then if I had said in short Size it over when this is dried Lacker over your piece by a gentle heat two several times To conclude lay on your Gold-size and perform every thing required in the foregoing instructions CHAP. XIX To overlay Wood with burnisht Gold and Silver IN order to this work Parchment-size must be provided which is made thus Take two pounds of the cuttings or shavings of clean Parchment the Scriveners vend it for 3 d. the pound wash and put it into a gallon of fair water boil it to a Jelly then strain and suffer it to cool and you will find it a strong Size This may be used in white Japan also instead of Ifing-glass-size When you intend to imploy any part of it about the business in hand put a proportionable quantity into ah earthen pipkin make it very hot remove it then from the fire and scrape into it as much Whiting as may only colour it mingle and incorporate them well together with a clean Brush With this whiten your Frame jobbing and striking your Brush against it that the Whiting may enter into every private corner and hollowness of its carved work give it rest and leisure to dry Melt Size again and put in as much Whiting now as will render it in some degree thick with it whiten over your Frame seven or eight times or as you think best striking your pencil as aforesaid never forgetting this caution to grant a through-drying time between every turn by the fire or Sun but after the last before t is quite dry dip a clean brush in water wet and smooth it over gently and rush it smooth when dry if you find it necessary In the next place with an instrument called a Gouge no broader than a straw open the veins of the Carved work which your Whiting has choakt and stopt up Lastly procure a fine rag wetted with which and your finger gently with care smooth and water-plain it all over and when t is dry t is in a capacity to receive your gold-size of which in the following Paragraph Of Gold and Silver-size for Burnishing Gold-size is the chief ingredient that is concerned in this sort of guilding and t is a difficult task to find the true quantity of each distinct thing that is required to make up the composition and the reason of it is this because you are compelled to vary and alter the proportions as each season changes its qualities of moisture and dryth for the Summer demands a stronger Size than the Winter The most experienced are uncertain when they make the Size whether 't will answer their intentions and
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-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-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