VII. A red varnish.

Valuable Secrets concerning Arts and Trades:
or Approved Directions, from the best Artists, for the Various Methods...
Printed by Thomas Hubbard,
Norwich, 1795Chap. III. Secrets for the composition of Varnishes, &c.

VII. A red varnish.

1. Take three ounces of gum-lac; half an ounce of sandarak; as much of mastich in drop, and a pint of true French spirit of wine. Put all in a matrass, which you must take care to lute well with potter's clay, and stop with paper. Have a large iron kettle, two part which shall be filled, with sand. Place the kettle over the coals, and lay the matrass on the sand. Get the composition to boil in that situation for three hours. Strain it through a sheercloth; bottle and stop it well, and keep it for use.

2. To make this varnish red, you put one ounce of vermilion to six of the said varnish. But to dilute the vermilion, you must begin by pouring, first, some oil of aspic over it, and then the six ounces of varnish, which will take near a quarter of an hour to mix well together.

3. Observe that the wood, on which you want to lay it, has been first well polished. Rub it again, besides, with a pounce stone and vinegar, that all the pores may be well filled, and should appear no more. Then lay, with a brush, first a coat of simple varnish, without vermilion. Let this dry for three hours. Put on next your second coat, of that which is prepared with the vermilion; then a third and a fourth, according as you want it of a more, or less, deep red, and allowing a three hours time between each coat of varnish, to let them dry.

4. If the last coat of varnish, after being dry, become rough, rub it with shavegrass dipped in oil of olive. After which rub it again with a cloth, till it become bright. Over this, when done; lay another coat of pure varnish, like the first. And this coat, as well as all the, others, must be left to dry, at lead three hours.

5. As for the black and venturine, you must first lay a coat of varnish on the wood; then, while fresh, sieve the venturine over it, and let all dry for three hours. When dry, you lay one, two, three, or more, coats, of varnish, according to your judgement or liking, and allowing always three hours to dry between each coat. Then polish, and give the final coat after.