X. A varnish for floors.XI. A varnish, from Flanders.XII. A varnish to lay on canvas sashes.XIII. A varnish of shell-lac, for miniatures and other pictures.XIV. Another varnish for pictures.XV. Another sort.

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.

X. A varnish for floors.

Put a little petroly or rock-oil with varnish and turpentine, and stir well. Lay it on your floors with an room, after having mixed in it the colour you want them to be.


XI. A varnish, from Flanders.

Take æthereal all of turpentine, and Venice turpentine, equal parts. Mix their, over a moderate fire, and use this boiling.


XII. A varnish to lay on canvas sashes.

Take fine and clear turpentine, four ounces; oil of nuts, two. Melt all together over a fire; and when it begins to boil, scum it, and use it hot with a brush.


XIII. A varnish of shell-lac, for miniatures and other pictures.

1. Take spirit of wine, one pound; picked shell-lac, five ounces; sandarak, two and a half; white karabe and mastich, equal parts, two drachms of each.

2. First boil and skim the shell-lac and sandarak together, to have them the whiter. Then add the mastich and karabe to that, and put all in a matrass over a land fire, to digest and concoct: together by a gentle heat.


XIV. Another varnish for pictures.

Take four ounces of gum arabic, the cleared and whitest you can find. Put it to infuse in a pound of water, over ember ashes, for one night. Strain it in the morning through a cloth, after having added to it the bulk of a nut of Narbonne-honey, and half that quantity of sugar candy. It is not to be used with a brush.


XV. Another sort.

Take aquavitæ, sugar-candy, and whites of eggs, a reasonable quantity of each. Beat all well together to a froth. Underneath is a liquor: that is your varnish, you may lay it, with a soft brush, on any sort of picture.