The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)Mr. Poynter has read to the Institute of British Architects, a paper "On Ornamental Leather Hangings." He stated that this material was used in a similar way by the Egyptians 900 years B.C.; but he principally confined his remarks to the use made of it since the 16th century, — as, during that and the following century, it was extensively used by the richer classes — its manufacture being principally at Venice and in Flanders. From the latter country it was introduced into France; but it is doubtful if it was ever manufactured in England. Leather hangings never entirely superseded tapestry or wood panelling. The best leather was made from goats’ or calves’ skin, ingeniously connected together; and the surface was silvered over previously to being painted. The effect of gold was produced by a varnish of yellow colour laid on the silver. The embossing was done by the pressure from dies; the minute ornaments being produced by tools — the method corresponding to that adopted by bookbinders of the present day. Among the various specimens of this rich style of decoration exhibited, and belonging to Mr. Pratt, of Bond-street, was a large and valuable hanging of the 17th century, representing the meeting of Antony and Cleopatra, richly painted and elaborately finished in all the details of the dresses and other portions of the figures, which are the size of life. Mr. Poynter alluded to fine examples to be seen at Chatsworth, and other mansions in England; and particularly described a series of leather panels at Rouen, which are perfect.
Mechanical an Useful arts. Curiosities of Glass Manufacture.
The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)This is the title of a paper read by Mr. Apsley Pellatt at the Royal Institution, supplementarily to a communication made in 1847, and reported in the Year-book of Facts, 1848, p. 88. Mr. Pellatt explained the various processes by diagrams, models, and working instruments. Of these processes we can give but a brief outline. It was noticed that in ancient, as in modern glass, sand was the base and alkali the solvent, and the injury occasioned to the glass by an excess of the latter ingredient was pointed out. That opacity of glass, called devitrification, was explained as consisting in the formation of a multitude of minute crystals in close contact with each other on the surface of the glass. The process of annealing was then described; and it was shown that a glass tube forty inches in length contracts, if annealed, a quarter of an inch, while an unannealed tube of the same length contracts but one-eighth of an inch. The most interesting part of Mr. Pellatt's discourse referred to the mode of making Vitro di Trino, and of impressing heraldic devices, &c. on glass. In the ease of Vitro di Trino, the gathered glass, after being expanded into a bulb or cylinder of the required size, has rods of other glass or enamel, attached to it in a vertical position, at equal distances all round, and then, the bottom being held, the top part is more or less turned, so as to give an equally inclined twist to the vessel and the rods. A similar but larger vessel is made, but which is also turned inside out, and then the former is put into the lathe; and, being expanded by blowing, the two come together and adhere by the rods and their intersections, but inclose small portions of air, which, being regular in size, form, and disposition, give the character of the glass. When heraldic devices, &c. are to be impressed, a mould of the design is made in a fit earthy material (beine puzzolana or one of the volcanic deposits), and this is placed within, and forms part of the larger iron mould in which the decanter is blown: when the large mould is removed, the earthen portion still adheres to the glass, and continues in its place until the bottle is finished. After the annealing, the mould is moistened with water, and immediately separates, and the impression is found really perfect.
At the close of Mr. Pellatt's communication, Mr. Faraday called the attention of the members to two circumstances of philosophical interest which had happened during the momentary apprehension of fire from a heated furnace being, on a previous evening, placed so near a timber beam as to char it. 1. At three different times the water poured on the cinders of the temporary furnace, when, on the fire being drawn, they fell on the hearth, became decomposed by the ignited carbon, and the hydrogen, driven by the sudden expansion of steam, &c., having penetrated the hot and porous hearth-stone, found its way to the heated beams and space which were immediately beneath. 2. This gas, though not in the state of flame as it passed through the hearth-stone and pugging, was, after being mixed with the air below, sufficiently hot to enter into combustion, producing three gushes of flame downwards from beneath the hearth: and it was experimentally shown that a temperature so low as barely to scorch paper, and in which the hand may be held for some seconds without inconve-nience, is yet able to ignite a jet of coal or hydrogen gas in air.
— Athenæum, No. 1061.
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)This is the title of a paper read by Mr. Apsley Pellatt at the Royal Institution, supplementarily to a communication made in 1847, and reported in the Year-book of Facts, 1848, p. 88. Mr. Pellatt explained the various processes by diagrams, models, and working instruments. Of these processes we can give but a brief outline. It was noticed that in ancient, as in modern glass, sand was the base and alkali the solvent, and the injury occasioned to the glass by an excess of the latter ingredient was pointed out. That opacity of glass, called devitrification, was explained as consisting in the formation of a multitude of minute crystals in close contact with each other on the surface of the glass. The process of annealing was then described; and it was shown that a glass tube forty inches in length contracts, if annealed, a quarter of an inch, while an unannealed tube of the same length contracts but one-eighth of an inch. The most interesting part of Mr. Pellatt's discourse referred to the mode of making Vitro di Trino, and of impressing heraldic devices, &c. on glass. In the ease of Vitro di Trino, the gathered glass, after being expanded into a bulb or cylinder of the required size, has rods of other glass or enamel, attached to it in a vertical position, at equal distances all round, and then, the bottom being held, the top part is more or less turned, so as to give an equally inclined twist to the vessel and the rods. A similar but larger vessel is made, but which is also turned inside out, and then the former is put into the lathe; and, being expanded by blowing, the two come together and adhere by the rods and their intersections, but inclose small portions of air, which, being regular in size, form, and disposition, give the character of the glass. When heraldic devices, &c. are to be impressed, a mould of the design is made in a fit earthy material (beine puzzolana or one of the volcanic deposits), and this is placed within, and forms part of the larger iron mould in which the decanter is blown: when the large mould is removed, the earthen portion still adheres to the glass, and continues in its place until the bottle is finished. After the annealing, the mould is moistened with water, and immediately separates, and the impression is found really perfect.
At the close of Mr. Pellatt's communication, Mr. Faraday called the attention of the members to two circumstances of philosophical interest which had happened during the momentary apprehension of fire from a heated furnace being, on a previous evening, placed so near a timber beam as to char it. 1. At three different times the water poured on the cinders of the temporary furnace, when, on the fire being drawn, they fell on the hearth, became decomposed by the ignited carbon, and the hydrogen, driven by the sudden expansion of steam, &c., having penetrated the hot and porous hearth-stone, found its way to the heated beams and space which were immediately beneath. 2. This gas, though not in the state of flame as it passed through the hearth-stone and pugging, was, after being mixed with the air below, sufficiently hot to enter into combustion, producing three gushes of flame downwards from beneath the hearth: and it was experimentally shown that a temperature so low as barely to scorch paper, and in which the hand may be held for some seconds without inconve-nience, is yet able to ignite a jet of coal or hydrogen gas in air.
— Athenæum, No. 1061.
13.4.20
Mechanical an Useful arts. Ancient and Modern Enamel.
The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)Mr. Digby Wyatt has read to the Society of Arts, a paper "On the Art of Enamel, Ancient and Modern." After a description of the composition of pure Enamel and of the nature of the pigments usually employed to colour it, Mr. Wyatt proceeded to enumerate the six leading varieties which had been adopted at various periods in the history of the art to unite the vitreous paste with its metallic base, endeavouring as far as possible to describe each genus in the language of some contemporary authority. The first, or Byzantine process — which obtained throughout the Eastern Empire from probably the time of Justinian down to about the year 1300 — was illustrated from the particulars furnished by Theophilus, the celebrated artist-monk of the eleventh or twelfth century; and its chief peculiarity appeared to have been the formation of casements, or cavities, for the reception of the enamel by means of the gold filigree. The second, or early Limoges style — which was so much practised in that city from probably the eleventh century until the frightful siege and massacre by the Black Prince — was described from a comparison of the notices of Mr. Albert Way with those of MM. Petit, Dussieux, Pottier, and the Abbi Texier; and would seem to have substituted for the filigree compartments of the Byzantine mode excisions formed in the thick copperplate by the graver. The third, or early Italian mode — practised for probably some fifty years before the days of Ugolino Veri, the artist who executed the celebrated shrine in Orvieto Cathedral, in the year 1338, and carried by subsequent goldsmiths and enamellers down to the end of the sixteenth century — was detailed from descriptions given by Vasari and Benevenuto Cellini about the middle of that century. It appears to have held a midway position between the ancient "champ levé" or incised, and the painted enamels afterwards produced; consisting in engraving silver after the manner of medallic relief, and then floating over it with variously coloured transparent pastes. Benevenuto was said to have, if not invented, at least been the first to describe the improvement that took place about the beginning of the sixteenth century in the art, which constituted what Mr. Wyatt called jewellers' enamel. It consisted in using as a vehicle with the glass-powder employed to cover small gold or silver objects in the round "or in the highest relief," water in which pips of pears had been steeped. This held the paste in its place until vitrification took place, and was yet so delicate a cement as in no degree to interfere with the perfect purity of the enamel. The fifth, or "late Limoges" variety was described as having sprung at once, fully armed from the brain of that Jupiter of enamellers, Leonard Limousin, under the auspices of Francis the First; and differed from its predecessors chiefly in entirely covering the surface of the metal with an opaque paste, and then painting on that with transparent colours, regaining the effect of a translucent ground by applying silver leaf in particular situations, fastening it with a glass of colourless enamel, and then tinting over it. These peculiarities, as well as the "peinture grialtre" and touching with gold, were illus-trated from the manuscripts published by M. Maurice Ardent, of Limoges. This style appears to have dwindled into nonentity under the hands of the Nonailhers, a family who lived (they can scarcely be said to have flourished) during the latter part of the seventeenth century.
In connexion with the detail of the sixth and last process, the miniature style, honourable allusion was made to the labours of Sir Theodore de Meyerne and his connexion with Petitot, the principal and best known of this school of art. The improvements effected in this style would seem to have been a great enrichment of the palette by the addition of new pigments, the power of multiplying the number of firings, and graduating the succession of tints, their hardness and fusibility by the addition of fluxes, &c. Unhappily, the mystery which many selfish artists have thrown over their modes of procedure renders them exceedingly difficult to analyze or describe. Mr. Wyatt then gave a rapid sketch of the history of the art, and concluded by expressing an earnest hope that we may ere long adopt and fully carry out the whole practice of the Middle Ages.
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)Mr. Digby Wyatt has read to the Society of Arts, a paper "On the Art of Enamel, Ancient and Modern." After a description of the composition of pure Enamel and of the nature of the pigments usually employed to colour it, Mr. Wyatt proceeded to enumerate the six leading varieties which had been adopted at various periods in the history of the art to unite the vitreous paste with its metallic base, endeavouring as far as possible to describe each genus in the language of some contemporary authority. The first, or Byzantine process — which obtained throughout the Eastern Empire from probably the time of Justinian down to about the year 1300 — was illustrated from the particulars furnished by Theophilus, the celebrated artist-monk of the eleventh or twelfth century; and its chief peculiarity appeared to have been the formation of casements, or cavities, for the reception of the enamel by means of the gold filigree. The second, or early Limoges style — which was so much practised in that city from probably the eleventh century until the frightful siege and massacre by the Black Prince — was described from a comparison of the notices of Mr. Albert Way with those of MM. Petit, Dussieux, Pottier, and the Abbi Texier; and would seem to have substituted for the filigree compartments of the Byzantine mode excisions formed in the thick copperplate by the graver. The third, or early Italian mode — practised for probably some fifty years before the days of Ugolino Veri, the artist who executed the celebrated shrine in Orvieto Cathedral, in the year 1338, and carried by subsequent goldsmiths and enamellers down to the end of the sixteenth century — was detailed from descriptions given by Vasari and Benevenuto Cellini about the middle of that century. It appears to have held a midway position between the ancient "champ levé" or incised, and the painted enamels afterwards produced; consisting in engraving silver after the manner of medallic relief, and then floating over it with variously coloured transparent pastes. Benevenuto was said to have, if not invented, at least been the first to describe the improvement that took place about the beginning of the sixteenth century in the art, which constituted what Mr. Wyatt called jewellers' enamel. It consisted in using as a vehicle with the glass-powder employed to cover small gold or silver objects in the round "or in the highest relief," water in which pips of pears had been steeped. This held the paste in its place until vitrification took place, and was yet so delicate a cement as in no degree to interfere with the perfect purity of the enamel. The fifth, or "late Limoges" variety was described as having sprung at once, fully armed from the brain of that Jupiter of enamellers, Leonard Limousin, under the auspices of Francis the First; and differed from its predecessors chiefly in entirely covering the surface of the metal with an opaque paste, and then painting on that with transparent colours, regaining the effect of a translucent ground by applying silver leaf in particular situations, fastening it with a glass of colourless enamel, and then tinting over it. These peculiarities, as well as the "peinture grialtre" and touching with gold, were illus-trated from the manuscripts published by M. Maurice Ardent, of Limoges. This style appears to have dwindled into nonentity under the hands of the Nonailhers, a family who lived (they can scarcely be said to have flourished) during the latter part of the seventeenth century.
In connexion with the detail of the sixth and last process, the miniature style, honourable allusion was made to the labours of Sir Theodore de Meyerne and his connexion with Petitot, the principal and best known of this school of art. The improvements effected in this style would seem to have been a great enrichment of the palette by the addition of new pigments, the power of multiplying the number of firings, and graduating the succession of tints, their hardness and fusibility by the addition of fluxes, &c. Unhappily, the mystery which many selfish artists have thrown over their modes of procedure renders them exceedingly difficult to analyze or describe. Mr. Wyatt then gave a rapid sketch of the history of the art, and concluded by expressing an earnest hope that we may ere long adopt and fully carry out the whole practice of the Middle Ages.
12.4.20
Mechanical an Useful arts. House-Painting.
The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)M. Leclaire, house-painter, of Edinburgh, calls attention to a substitution which he daily makes of the white of zinc, and colours with a zinc base, for white lead and colours with a base of copper and lead, in the arts and for ordinary purposes.
In his practice, M. Leclaire employs the white of zinc, which appears to possess all the qualities of white lead, without any of its inconveniences. Thus, if we must give credit to his statements, and the results are of sufficient standing to render it easy to verify them, zinc-white is much whiter than white lead; ground and used with oil, it reflects the light, instead of absorbing it; it furnishes finer and more transparent tones, it covers better, and with equal weights, a larger space; it remains unchanged by sulphurous fumes, which immediately blacken objects painted with lead; finally, the manufacture and use of zinc-white has no injurious effect upon the health. But all this is not sufficient for the complete solution of the problem. In fact, although zinc-white was known in science, it has never been collected hitherto but as a produce of the laboratory. It was ne-cessary to obtain it in quantities, and at an accessible price. Then, once obtained and mixed with oil, it was necessary, in order to apply it readily to painting, that it should be made to dry easily. Now, the only drying substances we knew had a leaden base, and thus communicated all the defects of lead to the zinc-white. M. Leclaire has obtained a drying substance with a manganese base, which has the property of drying zinc-white more readily than litharge could do.
This was not all. White tones form, so to speak, a kind of exception in painting. Some of the colours most in use are extracted from lead and copper, and owe to these metals the defect of being alterable by sulphurous gases: mingled with zinc-white, they deprived it of the advantage of being unalterable. It was necessary, therefore, to render the process complete, and its application common, to substitute colours which undergo no change for all these alterable colours. "After many years of research," says M. Leclaire, "I have succeeded in producing, if I way use such an expression, the commencement of a reformation in painting, by completing the scale of unalterable colours, — by the substitution of inoffensive and unalterable colours for all such as had lead or copper for their base; so that I can now affirm, 1st, That the health of a great number of men may be saved without any detriment to the profession; 2dly, That the interior and exterior of houses may be painted without the least risk of the colours changing or blackening by sulphurous emanations; 3dly, That pictures will be no longer liable to change their appearance and harmony with the lapse of time, as has happened with so many pictures of the old masters."
M. Leclaire constantly employs about two hundred workmen in Paris. From the time that he substituted zinc-white for white-lead, not only has he never had a case of lead-colic, but he affirms that no indisposition has at any time appeared among his workmen which can be attributed to their profession. The work has been entrusted to the examination of a commission.
— From L’Institut, No. 734; Jameson's Journal, No. 88.
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)M. Leclaire, house-painter, of Edinburgh, calls attention to a substitution which he daily makes of the white of zinc, and colours with a zinc base, for white lead and colours with a base of copper and lead, in the arts and for ordinary purposes.
In his practice, M. Leclaire employs the white of zinc, which appears to possess all the qualities of white lead, without any of its inconveniences. Thus, if we must give credit to his statements, and the results are of sufficient standing to render it easy to verify them, zinc-white is much whiter than white lead; ground and used with oil, it reflects the light, instead of absorbing it; it furnishes finer and more transparent tones, it covers better, and with equal weights, a larger space; it remains unchanged by sulphurous fumes, which immediately blacken objects painted with lead; finally, the manufacture and use of zinc-white has no injurious effect upon the health. But all this is not sufficient for the complete solution of the problem. In fact, although zinc-white was known in science, it has never been collected hitherto but as a produce of the laboratory. It was ne-cessary to obtain it in quantities, and at an accessible price. Then, once obtained and mixed with oil, it was necessary, in order to apply it readily to painting, that it should be made to dry easily. Now, the only drying substances we knew had a leaden base, and thus communicated all the defects of lead to the zinc-white. M. Leclaire has obtained a drying substance with a manganese base, which has the property of drying zinc-white more readily than litharge could do.
This was not all. White tones form, so to speak, a kind of exception in painting. Some of the colours most in use are extracted from lead and copper, and owe to these metals the defect of being alterable by sulphurous gases: mingled with zinc-white, they deprived it of the advantage of being unalterable. It was necessary, therefore, to render the process complete, and its application common, to substitute colours which undergo no change for all these alterable colours. "After many years of research," says M. Leclaire, "I have succeeded in producing, if I way use such an expression, the commencement of a reformation in painting, by completing the scale of unalterable colours, — by the substitution of inoffensive and unalterable colours for all such as had lead or copper for their base; so that I can now affirm, 1st, That the health of a great number of men may be saved without any detriment to the profession; 2dly, That the interior and exterior of houses may be painted without the least risk of the colours changing or blackening by sulphurous emanations; 3dly, That pictures will be no longer liable to change their appearance and harmony with the lapse of time, as has happened with so many pictures of the old masters."
M. Leclaire constantly employs about two hundred workmen in Paris. From the time that he substituted zinc-white for white-lead, not only has he never had a case of lead-colic, but he affirms that no indisposition has at any time appeared among his workmen which can be attributed to their profession. The work has been entrusted to the examination of a commission.
— From L’Institut, No. 734; Jameson's Journal, No. 88.
Mechanical an Useful arts. New White Paint.
The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)Mr. Forrest, the discoverer of this novelty, has announced to the Liverpool Polytechnic Society, his intention to present the secret to the public, intimating, at the same time, that it consisted of white oxide of antimony (argentine flowers, as it used to be called by the old chemists), and that it had many advantages as an excellent body paint, superior to white lead, and much cheaper, inasmuch as antimony might be obtained in abundance for about £12. a ton, while lead costs £24. 10s. He also pointed out its greater permanency of colour, and its capability of being spread over a much larger surface, than an equal weight of white lead. Indeed, it is not only lighter, but may be made more subtle. It is rather singular that the old chemists called antimony their lead, maintaining that, in some of its properties, it bore a near affinity to lead.
- Abridged from the Builder.
The discovery has since been claimed by a Mr. Waldon, who states that he, some years since, furnished specimens of this new pigment, "oxide of antimony, superior to while lead, and much cheaper," to Mr. Barry, for trial at the new palace at Westminster. A finer or more brilliant whiteness is the result; another excellence is its succadaneous remedy for "painters' colic."
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)Mr. Forrest, the discoverer of this novelty, has announced to the Liverpool Polytechnic Society, his intention to present the secret to the public, intimating, at the same time, that it consisted of white oxide of antimony (argentine flowers, as it used to be called by the old chemists), and that it had many advantages as an excellent body paint, superior to white lead, and much cheaper, inasmuch as antimony might be obtained in abundance for about £12. a ton, while lead costs £24. 10s. He also pointed out its greater permanency of colour, and its capability of being spread over a much larger surface, than an equal weight of white lead. Indeed, it is not only lighter, but may be made more subtle. It is rather singular that the old chemists called antimony their lead, maintaining that, in some of its properties, it bore a near affinity to lead.
- Abridged from the Builder.
The discovery has since been claimed by a Mr. Waldon, who states that he, some years since, furnished specimens of this new pigment, "oxide of antimony, superior to while lead, and much cheaper," to Mr. Barry, for trial at the new palace at Westminster. A finer or more brilliant whiteness is the result; another excellence is its succadaneous remedy for "painters' colic."
Mechanical an Useful arts. Colouring Matters of Madder.
The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)Dr. Schunck concludes a long paper, read to the British Association, on this subject, with the following practical deductions: -
Few subjects connected with the arts have raised so much discussion as the nature of the process of Madder-dyeing. The investigation of Robiquet on this subject, instead of clearing it up, seemed to add to its complexity. He considered his alizarin as the substance mainly concerned in the production of madder colours. This has been denied by others, though I think on insufficient grounds. A remarkable discovery in regard to madder-dyeing, was the fact that lime is very essential in this process. It was found that madder, if not grown on calcareous soil, is incapable of producing fast colours, but that if in this case chalk be added to the madder during dyeing, of if calcareous water be employed, the desired effect is produced. This, again, has given rise to endless discussions. It was found by Persoz that the minutest quantity of lime added to alizarin impaired its colouring power during dyeing, and the effect of lime in madder-dyeing apperared to be an inexplicable mystery. I will not enter further into the disputes on this subject, but shall state at once my own views. It seems to me that former investigators have erred in supposing that madder contained only one colouring matter, whereas I think I have proved that there are two, perfectly distinct and definite, alizarin and rubiacin, which perform distinct functions during the process of dyeing. I have found, as I stated above, that of the two colouring matters, alizarin and rubiacin, the former is the only one that is capable of dyeing when in a free state, and further, that the brown precipitate produced by acids in a watery extract of madder contains the whole of these two colouring matters in a free state. If, then a piece of mordanted cloth be dyed with this brown precipitate, after being freed from all excess of acid, the whole effect is produced by the alizarin contained in the brown precipitate. If, however, a small quantity of lime, chalk, soda, or any alkaline base, either caustic or carbonated, be added to the brown precipitate before dyeing, then its power of dyeing is very much increased. In order to prove this, I took six pieces of mordanted cloth, all of the same size. Nos. 1, 2, and 3 were mordanted in the usual way with acetate of alumina, and Nos. 4, 5, and 6 with acetate of iron. Nos. 1 and 4 were dyed with a certain quantity of the brown precipitate; Nos. 2 and 5 with the same quantity of the brown precipitate, to which, however, there had previously been added a very small quantity of lime water; Nos. 3 and 6, lastly, with the same quantity of brown precipitate, and a large excess of lime water. The dyeing was performed each time in the same vessel with the same quantity of water, and for the same length of time. Now I found at the conclusion that No. 2 exhibited a far darker, fuller, and more brilliant shade of red than No. 1, and No. 5 a much more intense purple colour than No. 4, whereas Nos. 3 and 6 showed hardly any colour at all. Now I can offer only one explanation of these differences. When a small quantity of lime is added to the brown precipitate, it combines exclusively with the rubiacin, or is transferred during the process of dyeing exclusively to the rubiacin. The first effect of the dyeing is the combination of the alizarin with the alumina and peroxide of iron of the mordants. These compounds then attract and combine with the lime compound of rubiacin contained in the fluid, by which means a greater intensity of colour is produced. I repeated this experiment with the pure colouring matters. I took two pieces of mordanted cloth of the same size, and dyed the one with pure alizarin, and the other with the same quantity of alizarin to which rubiacin, combined with lime, was added, and I found that the latter was much darker than the former. I therefore conclude that madder colours are always double compounds of alizarin, rubiacin, alumina, and an alkaline base, or of alizarin, rubiacin, peroxide of iron, and an alkaline base.
It follows from this that the maximum of tinctorial power in madder is produced when the alizarin is in a free state, and the rubiacin is in combination with lime or some alkaline base. If an excess of lime be added, then the alizarin also combines with it, and is thus rendered incapable of attaching itself to the alumina and peroxide of iron of the mordants. A slight excess of lime exists in the root when grown on a calcareous soil; for if a quantity of madder which has dyed as much cloth as it is capable of doing, and is seemingly quite exhausted of colouring matter, be treated with sulphuric acid, and the acid be carefully removed by washing, it is found that after being so treated it is capable of again dyeing almost as much mordanted cloth as it did before, - a fact long known in practice. I may state, in addition, that the colours produced by the brown precipitate to which a small quantity of lime has been added, resist the action of soap and acids, &c., to which all madder colours must be subjected in order to heighten them, much better than if no lime had been added. I therefore conclude, that though the possibility in general of dyeing with madder is due to alizarin, the solidity and brilliance of madder colours must be ascribed to rubiacin.
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)Dr. Schunck concludes a long paper, read to the British Association, on this subject, with the following practical deductions: -
Few subjects connected with the arts have raised so much discussion as the nature of the process of Madder-dyeing. The investigation of Robiquet on this subject, instead of clearing it up, seemed to add to its complexity. He considered his alizarin as the substance mainly concerned in the production of madder colours. This has been denied by others, though I think on insufficient grounds. A remarkable discovery in regard to madder-dyeing, was the fact that lime is very essential in this process. It was found that madder, if not grown on calcareous soil, is incapable of producing fast colours, but that if in this case chalk be added to the madder during dyeing, of if calcareous water be employed, the desired effect is produced. This, again, has given rise to endless discussions. It was found by Persoz that the minutest quantity of lime added to alizarin impaired its colouring power during dyeing, and the effect of lime in madder-dyeing apperared to be an inexplicable mystery. I will not enter further into the disputes on this subject, but shall state at once my own views. It seems to me that former investigators have erred in supposing that madder contained only one colouring matter, whereas I think I have proved that there are two, perfectly distinct and definite, alizarin and rubiacin, which perform distinct functions during the process of dyeing. I have found, as I stated above, that of the two colouring matters, alizarin and rubiacin, the former is the only one that is capable of dyeing when in a free state, and further, that the brown precipitate produced by acids in a watery extract of madder contains the whole of these two colouring matters in a free state. If, then a piece of mordanted cloth be dyed with this brown precipitate, after being freed from all excess of acid, the whole effect is produced by the alizarin contained in the brown precipitate. If, however, a small quantity of lime, chalk, soda, or any alkaline base, either caustic or carbonated, be added to the brown precipitate before dyeing, then its power of dyeing is very much increased. In order to prove this, I took six pieces of mordanted cloth, all of the same size. Nos. 1, 2, and 3 were mordanted in the usual way with acetate of alumina, and Nos. 4, 5, and 6 with acetate of iron. Nos. 1 and 4 were dyed with a certain quantity of the brown precipitate; Nos. 2 and 5 with the same quantity of the brown precipitate, to which, however, there had previously been added a very small quantity of lime water; Nos. 3 and 6, lastly, with the same quantity of brown precipitate, and a large excess of lime water. The dyeing was performed each time in the same vessel with the same quantity of water, and for the same length of time. Now I found at the conclusion that No. 2 exhibited a far darker, fuller, and more brilliant shade of red than No. 1, and No. 5 a much more intense purple colour than No. 4, whereas Nos. 3 and 6 showed hardly any colour at all. Now I can offer only one explanation of these differences. When a small quantity of lime is added to the brown precipitate, it combines exclusively with the rubiacin, or is transferred during the process of dyeing exclusively to the rubiacin. The first effect of the dyeing is the combination of the alizarin with the alumina and peroxide of iron of the mordants. These compounds then attract and combine with the lime compound of rubiacin contained in the fluid, by which means a greater intensity of colour is produced. I repeated this experiment with the pure colouring matters. I took two pieces of mordanted cloth of the same size, and dyed the one with pure alizarin, and the other with the same quantity of alizarin to which rubiacin, combined with lime, was added, and I found that the latter was much darker than the former. I therefore conclude that madder colours are always double compounds of alizarin, rubiacin, alumina, and an alkaline base, or of alizarin, rubiacin, peroxide of iron, and an alkaline base.
It follows from this that the maximum of tinctorial power in madder is produced when the alizarin is in a free state, and the rubiacin is in combination with lime or some alkaline base. If an excess of lime be added, then the alizarin also combines with it, and is thus rendered incapable of attaching itself to the alumina and peroxide of iron of the mordants. A slight excess of lime exists in the root when grown on a calcareous soil; for if a quantity of madder which has dyed as much cloth as it is capable of doing, and is seemingly quite exhausted of colouring matter, be treated with sulphuric acid, and the acid be carefully removed by washing, it is found that after being so treated it is capable of again dyeing almost as much mordanted cloth as it did before, - a fact long known in practice. I may state, in addition, that the colours produced by the brown precipitate to which a small quantity of lime has been added, resist the action of soap and acids, &c., to which all madder colours must be subjected in order to heighten them, much better than if no lime had been added. I therefore conclude, that though the possibility in general of dyeing with madder is due to alizarin, the solidity and brilliance of madder colours must be ascribed to rubiacin.
Mechanical an Useful arts. On dyeing.
The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)A Paper on this useful art has been read by Mr. Napier, to the Royal Institution. Having defined Dyeing to be the art of imparting colour to fibrous materials, Mr. Napier stated that he should confine his remarks to the processes of dyeing cotton. He noticed that, the fibres of raw cotton being enveloped in a resinous matter, it is necessary that it be boiled before it is subjected to the dye, an operation in which it loses from 7 to 9 per cent. of its weight. The principle of the use of mordants was then explained. There is, generally speaking, but little attraction between the colouring matter and the cotton. Hence the necessity for a mordant, i. e. an intermediate substance, which, being capable of uniting with the dye and the stuff, combines them permanently with each other. This remarkable property is possessed by the oxides of tin, lead, iron, and aluminum. Having exhibited the effects of mordants, and shown how by the expulsion of the acetic acid acetate of alumine was made to act as a mordant, Mr. Napier noticed that if nitrate of iron be exposed to sunlight, the colour produced is deepened by ferro-prussiate of potash. At the same time he admitted that, when an attempt was made to apply this principle to practical purposes, not half the usual intensity of colour was obtained. It was suggested as an explanation of this phenomenon, that the light either disables the iron from entering into the pores of the cotton, or else presents what Mr. Napier regards as a catalytic influence of the cotton itself. The well-known distinction between substantive and adjective colours having been illustrated, and safflower and indigo exhibited as types of the former, Mr. Napier showed how difficult it was in this, as in other branches of science, to lay down any rigid definition. Having mixed a mordant with an adjective, he produced effects which might fairly be ascribed to this mixture acting as a substantive colour — and he concluded by noticing the following process in dyeing silk. Safflower contains a red and also a yellow hue — the former injures the latter, and is soluble in water. Therefore the yellow tint having been washed out from it, the safflower is digested with carbonate of potass. This substance, however, though it dissolves the red tint, will not dye. The solution is therefore neutralized by an acid. When this is done, a mass of cotton placed in the middle of a vat filled with the dye absorbs the whole colouring matter. The cotton itself is next washed out in an alkali, the alkali again neutralized, and then the liquid is in a condition to dye silk.
— Athenæum, No. 1063.
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)A Paper on this useful art has been read by Mr. Napier, to the Royal Institution. Having defined Dyeing to be the art of imparting colour to fibrous materials, Mr. Napier stated that he should confine his remarks to the processes of dyeing cotton. He noticed that, the fibres of raw cotton being enveloped in a resinous matter, it is necessary that it be boiled before it is subjected to the dye, an operation in which it loses from 7 to 9 per cent. of its weight. The principle of the use of mordants was then explained. There is, generally speaking, but little attraction between the colouring matter and the cotton. Hence the necessity for a mordant, i. e. an intermediate substance, which, being capable of uniting with the dye and the stuff, combines them permanently with each other. This remarkable property is possessed by the oxides of tin, lead, iron, and aluminum. Having exhibited the effects of mordants, and shown how by the expulsion of the acetic acid acetate of alumine was made to act as a mordant, Mr. Napier noticed that if nitrate of iron be exposed to sunlight, the colour produced is deepened by ferro-prussiate of potash. At the same time he admitted that, when an attempt was made to apply this principle to practical purposes, not half the usual intensity of colour was obtained. It was suggested as an explanation of this phenomenon, that the light either disables the iron from entering into the pores of the cotton, or else presents what Mr. Napier regards as a catalytic influence of the cotton itself. The well-known distinction between substantive and adjective colours having been illustrated, and safflower and indigo exhibited as types of the former, Mr. Napier showed how difficult it was in this, as in other branches of science, to lay down any rigid definition. Having mixed a mordant with an adjective, he produced effects which might fairly be ascribed to this mixture acting as a substantive colour — and he concluded by noticing the following process in dyeing silk. Safflower contains a red and also a yellow hue — the former injures the latter, and is soluble in water. Therefore the yellow tint having been washed out from it, the safflower is digested with carbonate of potass. This substance, however, though it dissolves the red tint, will not dye. The solution is therefore neutralized by an acid. When this is done, a mass of cotton placed in the middle of a vat filled with the dye absorbs the whole colouring matter. The cotton itself is next washed out in an alkali, the alkali again neutralized, and then the liquid is in a condition to dye silk.
— Athenæum, No. 1063.
Mechanical an Useful arts. A New Mineral Useful in Arts.
The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)We learn that Mr. Blake, of Akron, Ohio (U.S.), has discovered a mineral, in the neighbourhood of the latter place, which promises to be of great value. He has visited Washington, and obtained a patent for it. When first dug up, it is of the consistence of tallow, and gradually hardens in a few days, so as to resemble slate, and finally it becomes as hard as rock. It is of the colour of indigo. It is impervious both to water and fire, and admits of the finest polish. When reduced to powder, and mixed up with linseed-oil, it has the appearance of black paint, and may be spread over wood, canvas, &c. Roofs have been guarded by it against fire; and as it does not absorb the rain, it protects the rafters from decay. It consists of about one-half of silica, one fourth alumina, with less proportions of magnesia, black oxide of iron, sulphate of iron, lime, and carbon.
— Sheffield Iris.
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)We learn that Mr. Blake, of Akron, Ohio (U.S.), has discovered a mineral, in the neighbourhood of the latter place, which promises to be of great value. He has visited Washington, and obtained a patent for it. When first dug up, it is of the consistence of tallow, and gradually hardens in a few days, so as to resemble slate, and finally it becomes as hard as rock. It is of the colour of indigo. It is impervious both to water and fire, and admits of the finest polish. When reduced to powder, and mixed up with linseed-oil, it has the appearance of black paint, and may be spread over wood, canvas, &c. Roofs have been guarded by it against fire; and as it does not absorb the rain, it protects the rafters from decay. It consists of about one-half of silica, one fourth alumina, with less proportions of magnesia, black oxide of iron, sulphate of iron, lime, and carbon.
— Sheffield Iris.
11.4.20
Mechanical an Useful arts. Present State of the Art of Mosaic.
The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)We quote the following from a paper by Mr. Digby Wyatt, Architect, in the Transactions of the Society of Arts:
During the last ten years, cements, coloured with metallic oxides, have been used by Mr. Blashfield, and with a tolerably successful result, for work protected from the weather; but for out-door work, required to stand frost, it has been found necessary to employ Roman cement, of which the dark brown gives a dingy hue to all colours mixed with it. This, with some other practical difficulties, has interfered with the success of the plan. Bitumen, coloured with metallic oxides, has also been tried with Mr. Blashfield as a material for ornamental flooring. The ground work of this pattern was first cast, in any given colour, and the inter stices were afterwards filled up with bitumen of various other shades; but the method was even less successful than the former. The contraction and expansion of the bitumen soon rendered the surface uneven; the dust, trodden in, obscured the pattern, and the plan, besides being ineffectual, was expensive. Thus far I have employed the words of Mr. Ward's record of the difficulties which inevitably attend upon the outset of any ingenious revival; reserving to myself the pleasure of describing to you the progress of more successful experiments.
In the year 1839, Mr. Blashfield, having been called upon by Mr. Hope to construct an elaborate Mosaic flooring for him, at his seat at Deepdene, in Surrey, and bearing in mind the principle of the ancient "Opus incertum," the Venetian pisé, and the common Italian "Trazzo" floors, constructed a pavement which has elicited much admiration from those men of taste who have examined it. This and many similar efforts attracted more general attention to the subject, and consequently a more general demand, which paved the way for those great improvements in the art of manufacturing and laying down ornamental pavements, which it is now my pleasing duty to describe.
These ingenious inventions, or revivals, are three in number: the first is, though not precisely Mosaic in its nature, still so nearly allied to it in character and appliance that it cannot be well separated from it; I allude to the Encaustic tiles. These consisted of a fictile material made into forms of about six inches square, into the surface of which, while still in a soft state, were pressed metal dies, upon which a pattern was worked in relief: the ornament being thus indented, the intaglio or indentation was filled up with clay of a different colour. The tile was then baked, and covered with a vitreous glaze, at once enhancing and protecting the colour of the material. This art obtained universally in England from about 1300 to 1500, and was again revived in 1830, when a patent was taken out for the manufacture of similar tiles; since which period, the revival has been carried out on a large scale by Messrs. Minton and Co., of Stoke-upon-Trent, and many other manufacturers, through whose exertions this beautiful decoration has now a very extensive employment.
The second great step in the revival of the art of Mosaic to which I would allude is that made by Mr. Singer (most ably assisted by Mr. Pether) who, in the year 1829, obtained a patent for a most ingenious machine, securing a perfectly uniform Tessera, by very simple means; also greatly improving the mode of backing and laying the pavement. Mr. Singer's object was to secure a perfect imitation of the ancient Roman "Opus Tesselatum," and to this end he required to produce tesserae, or small cubes, uniform in size, hardness, colour, and surface; and to accomplish this he placed compact and manipulated clay in a machine, where, by means of powerful levers, it was subjected to great pressure, and made to exude at last out of a horizontal aperture of six" by half an inch. As it protruded it was cut into lengths of three"; and these small pieces of clay, of six inches in length by three" in breadth, and one-half in depth, were left for some days to dry. Fifteen or twenty of them were then laid upon one another, and a frame of corresponding size (across which were strained wires, crossing one another at regular intervals.) sliding vertically on two uprights, was made to pass through them, cutting out by this motion perhaps one hundred uniform tesserae. When any curved forms were required, the tesserae were placed angle-wise in a groove, and a piece of curved metal being made to pass through a quantity of them placed together, of course gave a perfect coincidence of form in the parts divided. The tesseræ were then burnt and partially vitrified, making a very nice material, and one by means of which beautiful tesselated pavement may be produced. The works already executed by Mr. Singer, among which may be noticed the flooring of the hall of the Reform Club, and the paving of a portion of Wilton Church, near Salisbury, are of great beauty.
The third great improvement, which carries one branch of the art of Mosaic to even a higher point of perfection than that attained by the ancients, was originally discovered by Mr. Prosser, of Birmingham, in the year 1840. He found that if the material of porcelain (a mixture of flint and fine clay), be reduced to a dry powder, and in that state subjected to strong pressure between steel dies, the powder is compressed into about a fourth of its bulk, and is converted into a compact substance of extraordinary hardness and density, much less porous, and much harder than the common porcelain uncompressed, and baked in the furnace. This ingenious discovery was at first applied by Mr. Prosser to the manufacture of buttons; but the happy idea having suggested itself to Mr. Blashfield, that this process was, of all others, the one best suited for the formation of tesserae, he made arrangements with Messrs. Minton and Company, who had been employed by Mr. Prosser to carry out this invention, for a supply of small cubes thus formed; and by the application of these he has much benefitted the art. These tesserae can be made of any form, either in squares for tesselation; triangles and hexagons, for imitation of the "Opus Alexandrinum;" polygons and rhomboids; or of any colour; and by means of enamelling the surface with the most brilliant tints and gold, very perfect substitutes for the ancient glass Mosaic may be produced.
In order to form a Mosaic with these tesserae, the pattern is first arranged upon a true bench, that is, a perfectly level and rectangular table, and then the tesserae are placed close together upon it, so as to form exactly the required ornament; they are then covered over with a cement, discovered by Mr. Blashfield, which sets to an extreme degree of hardness, and perfectly resists both heat and water. Previously to this discovery, Roman cement had been employed. On that are bedded strong titles, or slate backing. When the cement has set, which takes place very quickly, the pavement may be removed and laid down in the situation intended, and will be found to be perfectly true on the face, of an even hardness, imperishable, and unchanging, with an almost imperceptible joint; and, altogether, as beautiful as such a work of art can be.
Exhibiting the Most Important discoveries and Improvements of the past year,
in mechanics and the useful arts; natural philosophy; electricity; chemistry; zoology and biology; geology and geography; meteorology and astronomy.
By John Timbs,
editor of "the Arcana of Science and Art."
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street,
MDCCCXLIX (1849)We quote the following from a paper by Mr. Digby Wyatt, Architect, in the Transactions of the Society of Arts:
During the last ten years, cements, coloured with metallic oxides, have been used by Mr. Blashfield, and with a tolerably successful result, for work protected from the weather; but for out-door work, required to stand frost, it has been found necessary to employ Roman cement, of which the dark brown gives a dingy hue to all colours mixed with it. This, with some other practical difficulties, has interfered with the success of the plan. Bitumen, coloured with metallic oxides, has also been tried with Mr. Blashfield as a material for ornamental flooring. The ground work of this pattern was first cast, in any given colour, and the inter stices were afterwards filled up with bitumen of various other shades; but the method was even less successful than the former. The contraction and expansion of the bitumen soon rendered the surface uneven; the dust, trodden in, obscured the pattern, and the plan, besides being ineffectual, was expensive. Thus far I have employed the words of Mr. Ward's record of the difficulties which inevitably attend upon the outset of any ingenious revival; reserving to myself the pleasure of describing to you the progress of more successful experiments.
In the year 1839, Mr. Blashfield, having been called upon by Mr. Hope to construct an elaborate Mosaic flooring for him, at his seat at Deepdene, in Surrey, and bearing in mind the principle of the ancient "Opus incertum," the Venetian pisé, and the common Italian "Trazzo" floors, constructed a pavement which has elicited much admiration from those men of taste who have examined it. This and many similar efforts attracted more general attention to the subject, and consequently a more general demand, which paved the way for those great improvements in the art of manufacturing and laying down ornamental pavements, which it is now my pleasing duty to describe.
These ingenious inventions, or revivals, are three in number: the first is, though not precisely Mosaic in its nature, still so nearly allied to it in character and appliance that it cannot be well separated from it; I allude to the Encaustic tiles. These consisted of a fictile material made into forms of about six inches square, into the surface of which, while still in a soft state, were pressed metal dies, upon which a pattern was worked in relief: the ornament being thus indented, the intaglio or indentation was filled up with clay of a different colour. The tile was then baked, and covered with a vitreous glaze, at once enhancing and protecting the colour of the material. This art obtained universally in England from about 1300 to 1500, and was again revived in 1830, when a patent was taken out for the manufacture of similar tiles; since which period, the revival has been carried out on a large scale by Messrs. Minton and Co., of Stoke-upon-Trent, and many other manufacturers, through whose exertions this beautiful decoration has now a very extensive employment.
The second great step in the revival of the art of Mosaic to which I would allude is that made by Mr. Singer (most ably assisted by Mr. Pether) who, in the year 1829, obtained a patent for a most ingenious machine, securing a perfectly uniform Tessera, by very simple means; also greatly improving the mode of backing and laying the pavement. Mr. Singer's object was to secure a perfect imitation of the ancient Roman "Opus Tesselatum," and to this end he required to produce tesserae, or small cubes, uniform in size, hardness, colour, and surface; and to accomplish this he placed compact and manipulated clay in a machine, where, by means of powerful levers, it was subjected to great pressure, and made to exude at last out of a horizontal aperture of six" by half an inch. As it protruded it was cut into lengths of three"; and these small pieces of clay, of six inches in length by three" in breadth, and one-half in depth, were left for some days to dry. Fifteen or twenty of them were then laid upon one another, and a frame of corresponding size (across which were strained wires, crossing one another at regular intervals.) sliding vertically on two uprights, was made to pass through them, cutting out by this motion perhaps one hundred uniform tesserae. When any curved forms were required, the tesserae were placed angle-wise in a groove, and a piece of curved metal being made to pass through a quantity of them placed together, of course gave a perfect coincidence of form in the parts divided. The tesseræ were then burnt and partially vitrified, making a very nice material, and one by means of which beautiful tesselated pavement may be produced. The works already executed by Mr. Singer, among which may be noticed the flooring of the hall of the Reform Club, and the paving of a portion of Wilton Church, near Salisbury, are of great beauty.
The third great improvement, which carries one branch of the art of Mosaic to even a higher point of perfection than that attained by the ancients, was originally discovered by Mr. Prosser, of Birmingham, in the year 1840. He found that if the material of porcelain (a mixture of flint and fine clay), be reduced to a dry powder, and in that state subjected to strong pressure between steel dies, the powder is compressed into about a fourth of its bulk, and is converted into a compact substance of extraordinary hardness and density, much less porous, and much harder than the common porcelain uncompressed, and baked in the furnace. This ingenious discovery was at first applied by Mr. Prosser to the manufacture of buttons; but the happy idea having suggested itself to Mr. Blashfield, that this process was, of all others, the one best suited for the formation of tesserae, he made arrangements with Messrs. Minton and Company, who had been employed by Mr. Prosser to carry out this invention, for a supply of small cubes thus formed; and by the application of these he has much benefitted the art. These tesserae can be made of any form, either in squares for tesselation; triangles and hexagons, for imitation of the "Opus Alexandrinum;" polygons and rhomboids; or of any colour; and by means of enamelling the surface with the most brilliant tints and gold, very perfect substitutes for the ancient glass Mosaic may be produced.
In order to form a Mosaic with these tesserae, the pattern is first arranged upon a true bench, that is, a perfectly level and rectangular table, and then the tesserae are placed close together upon it, so as to form exactly the required ornament; they are then covered over with a cement, discovered by Mr. Blashfield, which sets to an extreme degree of hardness, and perfectly resists both heat and water. Previously to this discovery, Roman cement had been employed. On that are bedded strong titles, or slate backing. When the cement has set, which takes place very quickly, the pavement may be removed and laid down in the situation intended, and will be found to be perfectly true on the face, of an even hardness, imperishable, and unchanging, with an almost imperceptible joint; and, altogether, as beautiful as such a work of art can be.
10.4.20
Paint for Iron Surfaces.
Manufacturer and builder 7, 1875
A writer in the Painter's Magazine says that the best linseed oil, with all its advantages, is but poorly adapted to long service as a protection to iron surfaces exposed to extreme variations of temperature and to all kinds of weather; but that in selecting a paint fur such purposes, mechanical adhesion is a consideration of the first importance. In this respect paints differ widely, but it must be remembered that mechanical adhesion is all we have to depend upon. With absorbent surfaces it is different. Prof. Williams gives it as his opinion, based on observation and experiment, that pitchy or bituminous films are especially effective as regards their adhesion to iron, for example, solutions of asphalt or pitch in petroleum or turpentine. These are also very effective as regards continuity, owing to the fact that, in drying, they form plastic films, which yield to the expansion and contraction of the iron, and manifest no tendency to crack. If the surface is rusty, they penetrate the oxid scale and envelop the particles very effectually, making them a portion of the paint. The solubility of such a film in water may be counteracted by mixing it with linseed oil. The experiment may easily be tried by mixing about two parts of Brunswick black with one of white, red, or colored paint, the body of which is composed of red or white lead or litharge. Red lead is the best for many reasons, if finely ground and thoroughly mixed with linseed oil; any of several kinds of bitumen may be used, either natural mineral asphalt, pine pitch, or artificial asphalt, such as gas tar or the residuum of petroleum distillation in cases where the crude oil has been distilled before being treated with acid. This gives a very hard, bright pitch, which is soluble in "one run" paraffin spirits, and which makes the base of an excellent, cheap, and durable paint for ironwork in exposed positions.
During the past few years we have heard many accounts of the preservative influence of paraffin when applied to iron surfaces, and can be recommended for all cases of ironwork which can be treated hot. The most effective, if not the most practical method of applying it is to heat the iron in vacuo, when paraffin, raised to the proper temperature, is run upon it. By this means the iron is claimed to be penetrated to a sufficient depth to afford a very effectual protection against oxidation, especially when a suitable paint is subsequently applied. Any non-oxidizable substance would probably answer, but paraffin is as cheap as any and quite as good, if not better. Brushed upon the outside merely, it is doubtful if paraffin would have much effect in preserving iron, while it would certainly lead to lessen, if not destroy, the mechanical adherence of a surface paint.
A writer in the Painter's Magazine says that the best linseed oil, with all its advantages, is but poorly adapted to long service as a protection to iron surfaces exposed to extreme variations of temperature and to all kinds of weather; but that in selecting a paint fur such purposes, mechanical adhesion is a consideration of the first importance. In this respect paints differ widely, but it must be remembered that mechanical adhesion is all we have to depend upon. With absorbent surfaces it is different. Prof. Williams gives it as his opinion, based on observation and experiment, that pitchy or bituminous films are especially effective as regards their adhesion to iron, for example, solutions of asphalt or pitch in petroleum or turpentine. These are also very effective as regards continuity, owing to the fact that, in drying, they form plastic films, which yield to the expansion and contraction of the iron, and manifest no tendency to crack. If the surface is rusty, they penetrate the oxid scale and envelop the particles very effectually, making them a portion of the paint. The solubility of such a film in water may be counteracted by mixing it with linseed oil. The experiment may easily be tried by mixing about two parts of Brunswick black with one of white, red, or colored paint, the body of which is composed of red or white lead or litharge. Red lead is the best for many reasons, if finely ground and thoroughly mixed with linseed oil; any of several kinds of bitumen may be used, either natural mineral asphalt, pine pitch, or artificial asphalt, such as gas tar or the residuum of petroleum distillation in cases where the crude oil has been distilled before being treated with acid. This gives a very hard, bright pitch, which is soluble in "one run" paraffin spirits, and which makes the base of an excellent, cheap, and durable paint for ironwork in exposed positions.
During the past few years we have heard many accounts of the preservative influence of paraffin when applied to iron surfaces, and can be recommended for all cases of ironwork which can be treated hot. The most effective, if not the most practical method of applying it is to heat the iron in vacuo, when paraffin, raised to the proper temperature, is run upon it. By this means the iron is claimed to be penetrated to a sufficient depth to afford a very effectual protection against oxidation, especially when a suitable paint is subsequently applied. Any non-oxidizable substance would probably answer, but paraffin is as cheap as any and quite as good, if not better. Brushed upon the outside merely, it is doubtful if paraffin would have much effect in preserving iron, while it would certainly lead to lessen, if not destroy, the mechanical adherence of a surface paint.
Painting on Glass and Porcelain. (V)
Manufacturer and builder 3, 1877
Continued from page 277.
In our preceding article we have shown the different ways of transferring the drawing on the pieces which are intended to be painted. To speak only of the trade, for outside of that all depends on the taste and talent of the artist, we will only say that his work must be free, light, and smooth in using the colors. If the pupil has carefully made the samples which we have recommended, he will know perfectly well the effeet produced by the different mixtures, and will be able to avoid those which might lessen the freshness of his colors.
Above all, we recommend the pupil to proceed freely in the sketch, passing, as in the aquanal, from the simple tints to the composed ones, beginning with the lightest; if it is convenient, it is advisable to have the painting twice in the oven, the first time when the "set" is a little advanced and when only the ground tone is laid on, without any working up, as shown in Fig 7. The first heating, which must be very moderate, is usually called "setting," because it serves only to make the color stick to the enamel and to allow of further retouching without danger of the colors put on over these rubbing off those under them. On this fixed sketch are placed the fine touches of coloring, and all required after the model Fig. 8 before the definite baking.
Some ceramic painters prefer to advance their painting as far ns possible, in order that they may have only to retouch it after the first fire. This way is certainly preferable, but we think that it ought only to be used when one has acquired a certain degree of perfection. After all, it is only a long practice which will show the best way to be followed in order to obtain the most satisfactory results.
A painting on porcelain is only successful when it has a smooth and equal glazing, without spots or other defects. To prevent the spreading of the colors, they must be put on in smooth thin tints without making them at once too thick; As to the false tints, they are often caused by wrongly mixing the colors, which react on each other and cause a partial weakening. of coloration in the tints, which ought to lie perfectly clear and bright.
If there is an opportunity, it is advisable to employ a porcelain manufacturer, who, for a small remuneration, will put your work, with what he makes for the trade, in one of his muffles. To do it yourself is difficult and very expensive.
The same must be said in regard to the ornaments, especially the golden threads, which ought to complete the decoration of a piece. This is a separate trade and one that requires a great training of the hand. To put on the gold long fine brushes of hair are used; with such an instrument and such a heavy material, it is very difficult to make those light, fine threads and the pure lines which competent gilders, know how to apply. After baking the gold is unpolished; it becomes brilliant by rubbing it with burnishers. This is usually done by women, is very hard work, and requires much care.
The few directions which we have given to decorate the hard porcelain, can also be applied to the soft porcelain or delf-ware, usually in commerce called pipe-earth. The manner of proceeding is the same; the colors only are different, at least for the soft porcelain. Most of the colors for hard porcelain can very well be used of soft porcelain. On delf-ware, that is to say, ontransparent enamel, one can pint on baked or unbaked enamel. The last requires very great dexterity, and beginners should never undertake it. The colors are pure metallic oxids, indicated by the name of "colors for a great fire," baking during twenty-five or thirty hours in a high temperature, which melts all together, and which, uniting the picture with its covering, give it a softness which nothing else can produce. The colors are used diluted in pure water and very liquid; they most be applied quickly and at once, without retouching, for all the touches with the brush show.
The colors of high temperature can also he used on baked enamel; then there is scarcely any difficulty and the result nearly as satisfactory, the enamel becoming again fused by the action of the fire. But in such a case one is never certain of the result; it often happens, in fart, that by the effect of a current of air, or by a strong flaring up of the flame, the melted enamel runs a little, and in running takes the color with it.
The painting on baked enamel with ordinary porcelain colors gives very good results, and nearly always a fine glazing; it is commonly preferred to decoration on porcelain, an it gives more freedom to the brush. The same treatment is followed as for porcelain.
Continued from page 277.
In our preceding article we have shown the different ways of transferring the drawing on the pieces which are intended to be painted. To speak only of the trade, for outside of that all depends on the taste and talent of the artist, we will only say that his work must be free, light, and smooth in using the colors. If the pupil has carefully made the samples which we have recommended, he will know perfectly well the effeet produced by the different mixtures, and will be able to avoid those which might lessen the freshness of his colors.
Above all, we recommend the pupil to proceed freely in the sketch, passing, as in the aquanal, from the simple tints to the composed ones, beginning with the lightest; if it is convenient, it is advisable to have the painting twice in the oven, the first time when the "set" is a little advanced and when only the ground tone is laid on, without any working up, as shown in Fig 7. The first heating, which must be very moderate, is usually called "setting," because it serves only to make the color stick to the enamel and to allow of further retouching without danger of the colors put on over these rubbing off those under them. On this fixed sketch are placed the fine touches of coloring, and all required after the model Fig. 8 before the definite baking.
Some ceramic painters prefer to advance their painting as far ns possible, in order that they may have only to retouch it after the first fire. This way is certainly preferable, but we think that it ought only to be used when one has acquired a certain degree of perfection. After all, it is only a long practice which will show the best way to be followed in order to obtain the most satisfactory results.
A painting on porcelain is only successful when it has a smooth and equal glazing, without spots or other defects. To prevent the spreading of the colors, they must be put on in smooth thin tints without making them at once too thick; As to the false tints, they are often caused by wrongly mixing the colors, which react on each other and cause a partial weakening. of coloration in the tints, which ought to lie perfectly clear and bright.
If there is an opportunity, it is advisable to employ a porcelain manufacturer, who, for a small remuneration, will put your work, with what he makes for the trade, in one of his muffles. To do it yourself is difficult and very expensive.
The same must be said in regard to the ornaments, especially the golden threads, which ought to complete the decoration of a piece. This is a separate trade and one that requires a great training of the hand. To put on the gold long fine brushes of hair are used; with such an instrument and such a heavy material, it is very difficult to make those light, fine threads and the pure lines which competent gilders, know how to apply. After baking the gold is unpolished; it becomes brilliant by rubbing it with burnishers. This is usually done by women, is very hard work, and requires much care.
The few directions which we have given to decorate the hard porcelain, can also be applied to the soft porcelain or delf-ware, usually in commerce called pipe-earth. The manner of proceeding is the same; the colors only are different, at least for the soft porcelain. Most of the colors for hard porcelain can very well be used of soft porcelain. On delf-ware, that is to say, ontransparent enamel, one can pint on baked or unbaked enamel. The last requires very great dexterity, and beginners should never undertake it. The colors are pure metallic oxids, indicated by the name of "colors for a great fire," baking during twenty-five or thirty hours in a high temperature, which melts all together, and which, uniting the picture with its covering, give it a softness which nothing else can produce. The colors are used diluted in pure water and very liquid; they most be applied quickly and at once, without retouching, for all the touches with the brush show.
The colors of high temperature can also he used on baked enamel; then there is scarcely any difficulty and the result nearly as satisfactory, the enamel becoming again fused by the action of the fire. But in such a case one is never certain of the result; it often happens, in fart, that by the effect of a current of air, or by a strong flaring up of the flame, the melted enamel runs a little, and in running takes the color with it.
The painting on baked enamel with ordinary porcelain colors gives very good results, and nearly always a fine glazing; it is commonly preferred to decoration on porcelain, an it gives more freedom to the brush. The same treatment is followed as for porcelain.
Painting on Glass and Porcelain. (IV)
Manufacturer and builder 12, 1876
Continued from page 250.
An soon as the artist has become perfectly familiar with the various colors he is to employ, and the various specimens of which we spoke in our former article have been made with care, he must proceed to outline on the piece to be decorated the subject which ho has chosen, and which he first must have very carefully drawn and colored on paper.
As the lead-pencil slides over the counsel without making a mark, the piece must be first prepared; this is done by passing lightly over it a piece of rag imbibed with spirits of ordinary turpentine, to which some more fatty, thick turpentine has been added. After having allowed it to dry for some minutes, the spirits evaporate, and there remains on the enamel a kind of crust, on which it is easy to draw with a lead-pencil, whether an ordinary or a lithographic one. But it is better to make on thin paper of vegetable fiber the outlines of the objects to be represented. and then to transfer these on the porcelain, or rather on the prepared layer of turpentine above described, in the following way: first a thin blackleaded paper is pet on the porcelain, and on top of this the drawing; both are fixed is place with little balls of molding-wax at the corners, then with a fine but blunt ivory point the outlines are traced, and by this means the lines passed over by the point will be sorbed on the porcelain.
Another way especially adapted for ornaments with repeated figures, is to employ paper in which the outlines are perforated with needle-holes; this is best done by having a needle fixed in a wooden handle like a lead pencil. After smoothing the back of the paper (where the needle has elevated the edges around the holes) wills a piece of fine and flat pumicestone, it is fixed with wax to the porcelain, and a fine powder passed over it — say pulverized black lead, black chalk, or any other suitable material; this limy be done by means of small woollen rag or a roller, when the powder, penetrating through the holes, becomes fixed on the transparent coating and shows the outlines of the drawing. Of course a dark powder is used on a white ground, and white powder on a dark colored piece of porcelain.
The outlines of the drawing being reproduced on the porcelain by one of tile above means, they are made more permanent by passing over them carmin, or some vegetable water-color, made more serviceable by mixing it with a little dextrin. Some artists even finish the picture in water-color, which however they use sparingly, but which in the end is burned out at the final operation. As the water-color is not removed by spirits of turpentine, this offers the advantage that the ground can be cleaned by means of the latter before the painting has been commenced, and the wrong pencil marks removed, as well as the black dust which will always adhere after the use of the perforated paper and its annexes.
It may he well also to trace the outlines with the enamel colors, using such as arc prominent in the object to be painted; but many practical porcelain painters are satisfied that it is better to use water-color first, which besides has the advantage of being transparent and shows the original line its case it is covered up too broadly.
It often happens that the whole or a large part of the piece to be decorated has to receive a ground color, intended to bring certain colors out better, or to temper the crudeness of the white ground. We will say a few words concerning the manner of operating in this case, and the precautions necessary to obtain a good result, which is by no means very easy.
For the Background. — For the background square or flat brushes are used, large enough to cover its a short time the surfaces to be painted. The color is sufficiently tempered with additional drops of lavender oil, which prevents a too rapid drying; the brush is dipped into it, and the surface equally covered with continuous strokes, evenly distributed, while taking care not to cover the same surface twice. This done, one of the blenders, of which we have spoken before on page 132, is taken, kept perpendicularly to the surface painted, and this surface tapped by light perpendicular touches or blows, so as to equalize the color; it is best to tap first the middle part of the colored layers, and then the corners, taking care to clean the blender often, so as to prevent the color from adhering and thus removing too much from the surface. After this the same operation is repeated with a smaller brush with shorter hair, so as to bring the particles constituting the color closer together and to make a uniform surface in which special particles are nearly invisible. A background, in order to be a success, must always be made in one operation, and quickly; it is therefore necessary to prepare an amount of color rather too abundant than too scant, so as to finish it at once without being compelled to prepare more color and commence again.
When an ornamental or other figure is to be represent, on a background, the porcelain is always first entirely covered with the some, as explained; if the background is too opaque to show a design previously made, this previous operation may be omitted, and the design carefully transferred or traced on the background after this if it is well dried, in the manner described, care being taken not to remove or injure in any way the color of the background.
The parts of the background outside the design are then covered with water color, and when everything is well dried (usually the next day) the figures of the design are painted over with a varnish mixed with oil of lavender; this will in a short time soften the background under it, and it may then be removed with a clean muslin rag; then the clean white porcelain will appear again, where the figures have to be painted and they will then appear as represented in Fig. 5, white on a dark background, and these are then painted with the enamel color selected, as represented in Fig. 6, where also a part is seen at the right as it appears when the perforated paper, in which the figure has been pricked, has been applied.
Further operations will be explained in future issues.
Continued from page 250.
An soon as the artist has become perfectly familiar with the various colors he is to employ, and the various specimens of which we spoke in our former article have been made with care, he must proceed to outline on the piece to be decorated the subject which ho has chosen, and which he first must have very carefully drawn and colored on paper.
As the lead-pencil slides over the counsel without making a mark, the piece must be first prepared; this is done by passing lightly over it a piece of rag imbibed with spirits of ordinary turpentine, to which some more fatty, thick turpentine has been added. After having allowed it to dry for some minutes, the spirits evaporate, and there remains on the enamel a kind of crust, on which it is easy to draw with a lead-pencil, whether an ordinary or a lithographic one. But it is better to make on thin paper of vegetable fiber the outlines of the objects to be represented. and then to transfer these on the porcelain, or rather on the prepared layer of turpentine above described, in the following way: first a thin blackleaded paper is pet on the porcelain, and on top of this the drawing; both are fixed is place with little balls of molding-wax at the corners, then with a fine but blunt ivory point the outlines are traced, and by this means the lines passed over by the point will be sorbed on the porcelain.
Another way especially adapted for ornaments with repeated figures, is to employ paper in which the outlines are perforated with needle-holes; this is best done by having a needle fixed in a wooden handle like a lead pencil. After smoothing the back of the paper (where the needle has elevated the edges around the holes) wills a piece of fine and flat pumicestone, it is fixed with wax to the porcelain, and a fine powder passed over it — say pulverized black lead, black chalk, or any other suitable material; this limy be done by means of small woollen rag or a roller, when the powder, penetrating through the holes, becomes fixed on the transparent coating and shows the outlines of the drawing. Of course a dark powder is used on a white ground, and white powder on a dark colored piece of porcelain.
The outlines of the drawing being reproduced on the porcelain by one of tile above means, they are made more permanent by passing over them carmin, or some vegetable water-color, made more serviceable by mixing it with a little dextrin. Some artists even finish the picture in water-color, which however they use sparingly, but which in the end is burned out at the final operation. As the water-color is not removed by spirits of turpentine, this offers the advantage that the ground can be cleaned by means of the latter before the painting has been commenced, and the wrong pencil marks removed, as well as the black dust which will always adhere after the use of the perforated paper and its annexes.
It may he well also to trace the outlines with the enamel colors, using such as arc prominent in the object to be painted; but many practical porcelain painters are satisfied that it is better to use water-color first, which besides has the advantage of being transparent and shows the original line its case it is covered up too broadly.
It often happens that the whole or a large part of the piece to be decorated has to receive a ground color, intended to bring certain colors out better, or to temper the crudeness of the white ground. We will say a few words concerning the manner of operating in this case, and the precautions necessary to obtain a good result, which is by no means very easy.
For the Background. — For the background square or flat brushes are used, large enough to cover its a short time the surfaces to be painted. The color is sufficiently tempered with additional drops of lavender oil, which prevents a too rapid drying; the brush is dipped into it, and the surface equally covered with continuous strokes, evenly distributed, while taking care not to cover the same surface twice. This done, one of the blenders, of which we have spoken before on page 132, is taken, kept perpendicularly to the surface painted, and this surface tapped by light perpendicular touches or blows, so as to equalize the color; it is best to tap first the middle part of the colored layers, and then the corners, taking care to clean the blender often, so as to prevent the color from adhering and thus removing too much from the surface. After this the same operation is repeated with a smaller brush with shorter hair, so as to bring the particles constituting the color closer together and to make a uniform surface in which special particles are nearly invisible. A background, in order to be a success, must always be made in one operation, and quickly; it is therefore necessary to prepare an amount of color rather too abundant than too scant, so as to finish it at once without being compelled to prepare more color and commence again.
When an ornamental or other figure is to be represent, on a background, the porcelain is always first entirely covered with the some, as explained; if the background is too opaque to show a design previously made, this previous operation may be omitted, and the design carefully transferred or traced on the background after this if it is well dried, in the manner described, care being taken not to remove or injure in any way the color of the background.
The parts of the background outside the design are then covered with water color, and when everything is well dried (usually the next day) the figures of the design are painted over with a varnish mixed with oil of lavender; this will in a short time soften the background under it, and it may then be removed with a clean muslin rag; then the clean white porcelain will appear again, where the figures have to be painted and they will then appear as represented in Fig. 5, white on a dark background, and these are then painted with the enamel color selected, as represented in Fig. 6, where also a part is seen at the right as it appears when the perforated paper, in which the figure has been pricked, has been applied.
Further operations will be explained in future issues.
Painting on Glass and Porcelain. (III)
Manufacturer and builder 11, 1876
Continued from page 183.
We will firm describe the manner of proceeding to decorate hard porcelain, that is, such as is composed of kaolin, and which is considered the best, as indeed it in. The preparation of the colors and the way of using them is however nearly the same for this porcelain as for the softer qualities — the enamelled earthenware and the fine quality of the some inside of pipeclay. The composition of the colora differs only in regard to the amount of flux they contain, that means that their fusibility must he in accordance to the nature of the pieces to be decorated and of the degree of heat they can stand. In hard porcelain the difference between the fusibility of the glazing or enamel and that of the color, may be considerable; for the softer kinds of porcelain and earthenware it should be nearly the same; in the last case it is a real advantage, because the colors penetrate, and, as it were, identify themselves with the objects.
The preparation of the colors requires great care; they are in commerce designated as vitrifiable colors and porcelain colors, and are generally (add in the form of a fine impalpable powder. They must however be ground over again on the ground glass with very pure water, until they no longer produce any grating sound nor feel gritty under the fingers; the water is evaporated, and they are then placed on the porcelain palette after having mixed them with the end of the tempering knife with a little ordinary spirits of turpentine.
In order to perform this grinding operation properly, it is well to first clean the glass plate with a linen rag and a little alcohol; it is also well to spread over the glass from time to time it little wool ashes, in order to remove all greasiness. Care must be taken to rub round and round, so as to bring the color alwap back to the center, else to scrape the color to the middle with the palette-knife, and to rub again, applying more pressure.
Colors thus prepared dry without becoming pulverulent, and can be perfectly preserved. Small amount, can afterward be taken in quantities sufficient for the wants at the moment it is to be used; it is then mixed with a little more turpentine, and in case of necessity, a very little thick lavender oil, until it has the consistency of a thick syrup. The degree of this consintency depends on what is to be painted, and it is only by experience that one learns the right degree of consistency needed. We must add however that in is case must the color be made too thick, notwithstanding it given greater facility in painting, because when too thick it may cause cracks in the paint, which leaves the white of the porcelain visible between them.
Before commencing the work, the artist must know his colors, end for this purpose it is necessary that he should make a series of samples on the same kind of porcelain he is going to decorate. An excellent way to do this is to apply to a palette, or what is better, to a square, tile, vertical and horizontal bands ¼ inch wide, and leave between, the bands an equal space, and applying the colors in the same order; in this way may be seen, not only the effect of the baking upon a single color, but also how it acts upon various mixtures, as by this way of proceeding every color passes successively over every other color, and this is very important. There are in fact certain colors which must never be mixed; such are the colors derived from gold, with those derived from iron, which spoil the brilliancy of the gold colors, or certain delicate colors with others less delicate; they are "devoured" — such is the technical term — by the latter, and the inspection of the painted tile will teach which are the more or less delicate.
The specimens of the isolated colors are also very useful. In making them it is well to put the color on with a large brush, and to apply it in layers in various degrees of thickness, no as to obtain graduated tints. When employed in too thick layers, certain colors peel off and do not adhere to the enamel of the porcelain, when too thin, they do not resist the action of the fire, and sometimes disappear almost completely. At first sight such a preparation of samples may seem extravagant, but all experts in this business agree that it not only cannot be too strongly recommended, but also that the samples should be made with care; the result is a great saving in mistakes and touches which may spoil the objects. A good porcelain painter never uses a color without having first tried it in the way described, so as to learn exactly how it behaves in the fire, as well as its mixture with other colors. Even with the help of these samples, making them with the utmost care, it will often happen, especially in the beginning, that disagreeable surprises will come from the furnace. It is only by long continued practice that the colors become well known, and that the artist her sure of the results of their employment.
Continued from page 183.
We will firm describe the manner of proceeding to decorate hard porcelain, that is, such as is composed of kaolin, and which is considered the best, as indeed it in. The preparation of the colors and the way of using them is however nearly the same for this porcelain as for the softer qualities — the enamelled earthenware and the fine quality of the some inside of pipeclay. The composition of the colora differs only in regard to the amount of flux they contain, that means that their fusibility must he in accordance to the nature of the pieces to be decorated and of the degree of heat they can stand. In hard porcelain the difference between the fusibility of the glazing or enamel and that of the color, may be considerable; for the softer kinds of porcelain and earthenware it should be nearly the same; in the last case it is a real advantage, because the colors penetrate, and, as it were, identify themselves with the objects.
The preparation of the colors requires great care; they are in commerce designated as vitrifiable colors and porcelain colors, and are generally (add in the form of a fine impalpable powder. They must however be ground over again on the ground glass with very pure water, until they no longer produce any grating sound nor feel gritty under the fingers; the water is evaporated, and they are then placed on the porcelain palette after having mixed them with the end of the tempering knife with a little ordinary spirits of turpentine.
In order to perform this grinding operation properly, it is well to first clean the glass plate with a linen rag and a little alcohol; it is also well to spread over the glass from time to time it little wool ashes, in order to remove all greasiness. Care must be taken to rub round and round, so as to bring the color alwap back to the center, else to scrape the color to the middle with the palette-knife, and to rub again, applying more pressure.
Colors thus prepared dry without becoming pulverulent, and can be perfectly preserved. Small amount, can afterward be taken in quantities sufficient for the wants at the moment it is to be used; it is then mixed with a little more turpentine, and in case of necessity, a very little thick lavender oil, until it has the consistency of a thick syrup. The degree of this consintency depends on what is to be painted, and it is only by experience that one learns the right degree of consistency needed. We must add however that in is case must the color be made too thick, notwithstanding it given greater facility in painting, because when too thick it may cause cracks in the paint, which leaves the white of the porcelain visible between them.
Before commencing the work, the artist must know his colors, end for this purpose it is necessary that he should make a series of samples on the same kind of porcelain he is going to decorate. An excellent way to do this is to apply to a palette, or what is better, to a square, tile, vertical and horizontal bands ¼ inch wide, and leave between, the bands an equal space, and applying the colors in the same order; in this way may be seen, not only the effect of the baking upon a single color, but also how it acts upon various mixtures, as by this way of proceeding every color passes successively over every other color, and this is very important. There are in fact certain colors which must never be mixed; such are the colors derived from gold, with those derived from iron, which spoil the brilliancy of the gold colors, or certain delicate colors with others less delicate; they are "devoured" — such is the technical term — by the latter, and the inspection of the painted tile will teach which are the more or less delicate.
The specimens of the isolated colors are also very useful. In making them it is well to put the color on with a large brush, and to apply it in layers in various degrees of thickness, no as to obtain graduated tints. When employed in too thick layers, certain colors peel off and do not adhere to the enamel of the porcelain, when too thin, they do not resist the action of the fire, and sometimes disappear almost completely. At first sight such a preparation of samples may seem extravagant, but all experts in this business agree that it not only cannot be too strongly recommended, but also that the samples should be made with care; the result is a great saving in mistakes and touches which may spoil the objects. A good porcelain painter never uses a color without having first tried it in the way described, so as to learn exactly how it behaves in the fire, as well as its mixture with other colors. Even with the help of these samples, making them with the utmost care, it will often happen, especially in the beginning, that disagreeable surprises will come from the furnace. It is only by long continued practice that the colors become well known, and that the artist her sure of the results of their employment.
Painting on Glass and Porcelain. II.
Manufacturer and builder 8, 1876
One of the most important materials used for painting on glass and porcelain is manganese, a substance rarely seen in its metallic state; but its oxid are largely employed in the arts, especially for decorating porcelain and staining glass. At Sèvres it is used in the composition of violets and blacks, and replaces advantageously the oxid of cobalt, and with the oxid of iron it is used for obtaining fine browns. This oxid is now more extensively used in pottery than before. The native oxid of manganese is sometimes combined with the oxid of lead as a glaze for the purpose of imparting a peculiar brown to many descriptions of porcelain. It is advisable to employ the oxid of manganese prepared as recently as possible from its solution in hydrochloric acid by precipitation with ammonia or potash dissolved in a large quantity of water. The precipitate, which is the dentoxid of manganese, is well swished, and being dried, carefully calcined. The salts of manganese appears not to be available to the artist in oil or water colors. In glass manufacture the peroxid of manganese forms a very important substance, it is largely used in the making of flint, crown, and plate glass, the principal use being to prevent the peroxidation of the iron which enters into the composition, and thus to preserve the whiteness of the glass. If the quantity employed slightly exceeds that which is necessary to prevent the peroxidation of the iron, or if the glass has been exposed to long-continued or too great a heat, it assumes a fine pink or rose-color. Indeed where glass contains an excess of manganese, although it may preserve its desired whiteness, it will, under the influence of sunshine, slowly ebonize, and become gradually more and more pinky. This is often observed In the windows of old mansions; and it is not an uncommon occurrence that a ship proceeding to a tropical climate with white glass in her cabin windows, returns home with glass of a tine rose tint. Common cast flint glass is often distinguished by this peculiar color, produced by excess of oxid of monganese.
The colors used for painting glass, porcelain, and earthenware are all metallic preparations; they do not afford any shades for the palette of the artist, unless under some peculiar circumstance; still the enamel-painter uses all those colors as well as the potter. It should be remembered that all these metallic oxide, used either for glass or porcelain, or for the higher art of the enamel-painter, are mixed with silicious matter, with which, in the heat of the furnace, they combine and form a hard glass.
We will now give some formula, for the composition of colors with several metals:
Ruby Red. - 6 cwt. of batch (the technical name for the mixture used for making flint-glass) with about 1 ounces of oxid of gold.
Amethyst, or Purple.- 6 cwt. of batch with 20 pounds of manganese.
Common Orange. - 6 cwt. of batch with 12 pounds of iron ore and 4 pounds of manganese.
Gold Topaz Color. - 6 cwt. of batch with 3 pounds of oxid of uranium.
One of the most important materials used for painting on glass and porcelain is manganese, a substance rarely seen in its metallic state; but its oxid are largely employed in the arts, especially for decorating porcelain and staining glass. At Sèvres it is used in the composition of violets and blacks, and replaces advantageously the oxid of cobalt, and with the oxid of iron it is used for obtaining fine browns. This oxid is now more extensively used in pottery than before. The native oxid of manganese is sometimes combined with the oxid of lead as a glaze for the purpose of imparting a peculiar brown to many descriptions of porcelain. It is advisable to employ the oxid of manganese prepared as recently as possible from its solution in hydrochloric acid by precipitation with ammonia or potash dissolved in a large quantity of water. The precipitate, which is the dentoxid of manganese, is well swished, and being dried, carefully calcined. The salts of manganese appears not to be available to the artist in oil or water colors. In glass manufacture the peroxid of manganese forms a very important substance, it is largely used in the making of flint, crown, and plate glass, the principal use being to prevent the peroxidation of the iron which enters into the composition, and thus to preserve the whiteness of the glass. If the quantity employed slightly exceeds that which is necessary to prevent the peroxidation of the iron, or if the glass has been exposed to long-continued or too great a heat, it assumes a fine pink or rose-color. Indeed where glass contains an excess of manganese, although it may preserve its desired whiteness, it will, under the influence of sunshine, slowly ebonize, and become gradually more and more pinky. This is often observed In the windows of old mansions; and it is not an uncommon occurrence that a ship proceeding to a tropical climate with white glass in her cabin windows, returns home with glass of a tine rose tint. Common cast flint glass is often distinguished by this peculiar color, produced by excess of oxid of monganese.
The colors used for painting glass, porcelain, and earthenware are all metallic preparations; they do not afford any shades for the palette of the artist, unless under some peculiar circumstance; still the enamel-painter uses all those colors as well as the potter. It should be remembered that all these metallic oxide, used either for glass or porcelain, or for the higher art of the enamel-painter, are mixed with silicious matter, with which, in the heat of the furnace, they combine and form a hard glass.
We will now give some formula, for the composition of colors with several metals:
Ruby Red. - 6 cwt. of batch (the technical name for the mixture used for making flint-glass) with about 1 ounces of oxid of gold.
Amethyst, or Purple.- 6 cwt. of batch with 20 pounds of manganese.
Common Orange. - 6 cwt. of batch with 12 pounds of iron ore and 4 pounds of manganese.
Gold Topaz Color. - 6 cwt. of batch with 3 pounds of oxid of uranium.
S. Mannerheim: Färg.
Epione 12 R, 1926
Då Florence Nightingale i riden yttrade att intet i hennes liv givit henne större glädje än de blommor hon erhållit då hon varit sjuk, så uttalarhon en sanning, som gäller för alla tider. Intet kan mer än blommor lysa upp ett sjukrum, giva dess kala väggar och hygieniska, bohag ett stänk av behag odh överflöd. Och detta just genom den färgglädje ögat genom dem insuper, icke så mycket genom deras doft. Starkt doftande blommor måste man t. o. m. såsom alltför irriterande undvika hos de sjuka.
Mycken urskiljning borde emellertid utövas vid valet av blommor och ett studium vore det väl värt att söka utfinna på vad sätt olika patienters överkänsliga nerver reagera för färgen. Sjuka finnas t. ex. som hava obehag för gult och som lida av åsynen av blommor i denna färg, då åter vita blommors inverkan på sjuka nerver ibland kan vara underbart välgörande. Jag minnes en patient, som grät av glädje vid åsynen, av en magnolias sammetslika vita blomblad. !Och sannerligen, den blomman bidrog väsentligt till den sjukas tillfrisknande.
Men detta går kanske för långt, förefaller alltför subtilt och fordrar ett så ingående studium av varje patients egenart att igen skulle hinna därmed. Dock har jag velat anföra dessa exempel, emedan det för varje sjuksköterska har sitt stora intresse att söka sätta sig in i det sätt varpå en sjuk reagerar för intryck utifrån. Det är ju ej enbart blommor, som giva färgsensationer. Just på grund av färger kan patientens hela omgivning vara honom antingen sympatisk, försättande honom i en harmonisk, för tillfrisknandet gynnsam sinnesstämning, ellerkan den verka irriterande eller deprimerande, och sålunda vara motsatsen till välgörande för den sjuke.
Ur denna synpunkt sett, hava, synes det mig, många försyndelser blivit begångna vid inredande av sjuksalar och rum, såväl under förgångna tider som i våra dagar.
I fråga om det enskilda hemimets inredning och färger har ju modet för dagen mycket att säga. Än har folk föredragit mörka tapeter, än hava de ljusa varit moderna. Nuförtiden älska de flesta, följande häri en raffinerad smaks exempel, en neutralt tonad väggyta, mot vilken tavlor och andra konstverk taga sig bäst ut. Och när en färg blir regel, så bliva såväl de enskilda som arkitekterna dess slavar, och fara föreligger att den tillämpas i alla förhållanden, utan att man därvid betänker hurusom en gråbrun fond, uttänkt för att framhäva tavlor och konstverk i ett hem, knappast lämpar sig för en sjuksal, där Iden blir bakgrund för intet annat än de sjukes estetiskt mycket litet givande gestalter.
En tid fanns, då denna färg ansågs praktisk å sjukhus, men då var det emedan den höll så bra möt smutsen, som iden föredrogs framför andra. Senare kom en reaktion mot allt det mörka och trista. Ljusare färger blev odå åter rådande inom hemmen odh sjuksalarna följde exemplet och lyste upp i vitt, i ljusblått, grönt, gult, gredelint etc. Det fanns sjukhus där varje rum hade sin skilda färg, därigenom verkligen givande intryck av en samling påskägg. Vackert var det ju ej, ingen vila för ögat men gladvar nog denna brokighet, och därför hade den sina goda sidor. I all synnerhet hade detta varit fallet, om man alltid hade sökt finna den för varje individuellt psyke mest harmoni befordrande färgen, så att ej iden, sioin t. ex. pinades av rött, råkade komma in i just det rum, som osökt föride tanken till Strindbergs bekanta bok.
Problemet av färgen å sjukrumsväggar är säkert ej det lättaste att lösa. Den grå eller gråbruna är ju, såsom nedan framhållits, ingen lyckad fond för bleka ansikten, och tärda gestalter. Men dessutom kan den knappast undgå att verka deprimerande på ett redan förut nedstämt sinne, och i ett sjukhus, där allt skall vara tviättbart och dammgömmor ej få förekomma, har man inga glada färgklickar i form av tavlor, ingen solstrimma på ramarnas förgyllning, somkunde giva den saknade lustkänslan. Därför måste denna åstadkommas genom själva väggytans färgton, som alltså borde vara klar och ljus. Den får ej vara så grann, att den irriterar, ej heller blandad så att den verkar oren. Om den går i grönt eller blått får den ej verka iskällare utan bör giva en känsla av värme. Det blå bör helst vara pastellblått och det gröna ljusaste mossgrönt.
För omkring 20 år sedan kom jag på en studieresa till Stockholm. Jag hade nyss förut besökt det stora Eppendorffer sjukhuset i Hamburg och där sett bleka ansikten i gråmålade sängars enformiga rader i de med grå färg bestrukna stora salarna. Koncentrerad tröstlöshet. I Stockholm fick jag plötsligt å Maria sjukhus, se ljusgröna väggar och grannröda filtar. O, vad det var vackert efter allt det trista grå. Dåvarande prefekten å Maria, Doktor Rissler, sade sig hava experimenterat med diverse färger och stannat vid den gröna såsom; den lugnaste, för ögat mest vilsamma.
Å Kirurgiska Sjukhuset i Helsingfors genomfördes kort därpå samma idé. I salar och sjukrum målades väggarna i ljusgrönt medan matsalar och korridorer höllos i vitt, såsom varande den mest praktiska färgen, just emedan den icke "höll mot smutsen", utan smutsen tvärtom genast synes på vitt och med detsamma kan avlägsnas.
Att sjukhuset genom det å detsamma målmedvetet genomförda färgproblemet gjort en, vinst, tror jag ej någon borde vara i tvivel om, som senaste sommar, vid den internationella sjuksköterskekongressem, var i tillfälle att lyssna till de beundrande kömmentarier som just färgskalan å "Kirurgen" vid gästernas besök därstädes föranledde. Och dock tyckes nu åter en smakriktning arbeta sig fram, som anser grått vara den bästa färgen även, i sjukhus, enriktning som bland de synpunkter, som för densamma äro avgörande, tyvärr ej medtagit den om färgens inverkan på den sjukes sinnesstämning.
Huru stark: en sadan inverkan kan vara framgår av följande lilla sannsaga.
En patient, som hade, så trodde man, högstettparveckor kvar att leva och som själv ej hade minsta energi och motståndskraft kvar, blev vid tiden för Kirurgiska sjukhusets ommålning flyttad från sitt i gammal, gråbrun "sjukhusfärg" målade rum till ett av dem, som nyss blivit förvandlade till ljusgröna. Först märkte hon ej något, men påföljande morgon, då hon slog upplögonen, lyste solen in odh hon såg sig förvånad omkring. "Det här", sade hon, "är ju som om jag plötsligt kommit ut på en solbelyst grön äng." Och från den stunden vidtog hennes tillfrisknande.
Jag vet ej om, jag med dessa rader nått vad; jag åsyftat, som endast är att väcka dem, som äga bestämma över färgen i våra sjukhus, på tanken om den stora vikt det har att färgernas terapeutiska inverkan tages under övervägande vid målning odh inredning av sjukhusens salar och enskilda rum.
Soläng 23/8 1926.
- S. Mannerheim
Då Florence Nightingale i riden yttrade att intet i hennes liv givit henne större glädje än de blommor hon erhållit då hon varit sjuk, så uttalarhon en sanning, som gäller för alla tider. Intet kan mer än blommor lysa upp ett sjukrum, giva dess kala väggar och hygieniska, bohag ett stänk av behag odh överflöd. Och detta just genom den färgglädje ögat genom dem insuper, icke så mycket genom deras doft. Starkt doftande blommor måste man t. o. m. såsom alltför irriterande undvika hos de sjuka.
Mycken urskiljning borde emellertid utövas vid valet av blommor och ett studium vore det väl värt att söka utfinna på vad sätt olika patienters överkänsliga nerver reagera för färgen. Sjuka finnas t. ex. som hava obehag för gult och som lida av åsynen av blommor i denna färg, då åter vita blommors inverkan på sjuka nerver ibland kan vara underbart välgörande. Jag minnes en patient, som grät av glädje vid åsynen, av en magnolias sammetslika vita blomblad. !Och sannerligen, den blomman bidrog väsentligt till den sjukas tillfrisknande.
Men detta går kanske för långt, förefaller alltför subtilt och fordrar ett så ingående studium av varje patients egenart att igen skulle hinna därmed. Dock har jag velat anföra dessa exempel, emedan det för varje sjuksköterska har sitt stora intresse att söka sätta sig in i det sätt varpå en sjuk reagerar för intryck utifrån. Det är ju ej enbart blommor, som giva färgsensationer. Just på grund av färger kan patientens hela omgivning vara honom antingen sympatisk, försättande honom i en harmonisk, för tillfrisknandet gynnsam sinnesstämning, ellerkan den verka irriterande eller deprimerande, och sålunda vara motsatsen till välgörande för den sjuke.
Ur denna synpunkt sett, hava, synes det mig, många försyndelser blivit begångna vid inredande av sjuksalar och rum, såväl under förgångna tider som i våra dagar.
I fråga om det enskilda hemimets inredning och färger har ju modet för dagen mycket att säga. Än har folk föredragit mörka tapeter, än hava de ljusa varit moderna. Nuförtiden älska de flesta, följande häri en raffinerad smaks exempel, en neutralt tonad väggyta, mot vilken tavlor och andra konstverk taga sig bäst ut. Och när en färg blir regel, så bliva såväl de enskilda som arkitekterna dess slavar, och fara föreligger att den tillämpas i alla förhållanden, utan att man därvid betänker hurusom en gråbrun fond, uttänkt för att framhäva tavlor och konstverk i ett hem, knappast lämpar sig för en sjuksal, där Iden blir bakgrund för intet annat än de sjukes estetiskt mycket litet givande gestalter.
En tid fanns, då denna färg ansågs praktisk å sjukhus, men då var det emedan den höll så bra möt smutsen, som iden föredrogs framför andra. Senare kom en reaktion mot allt det mörka och trista. Ljusare färger blev odå åter rådande inom hemmen odh sjuksalarna följde exemplet och lyste upp i vitt, i ljusblått, grönt, gult, gredelint etc. Det fanns sjukhus där varje rum hade sin skilda färg, därigenom verkligen givande intryck av en samling påskägg. Vackert var det ju ej, ingen vila för ögat men gladvar nog denna brokighet, och därför hade den sina goda sidor. I all synnerhet hade detta varit fallet, om man alltid hade sökt finna den för varje individuellt psyke mest harmoni befordrande färgen, så att ej iden, sioin t. ex. pinades av rött, råkade komma in i just det rum, som osökt föride tanken till Strindbergs bekanta bok.
Problemet av färgen å sjukrumsväggar är säkert ej det lättaste att lösa. Den grå eller gråbruna är ju, såsom nedan framhållits, ingen lyckad fond för bleka ansikten, och tärda gestalter. Men dessutom kan den knappast undgå att verka deprimerande på ett redan förut nedstämt sinne, och i ett sjukhus, där allt skall vara tviättbart och dammgömmor ej få förekomma, har man inga glada färgklickar i form av tavlor, ingen solstrimma på ramarnas förgyllning, somkunde giva den saknade lustkänslan. Därför måste denna åstadkommas genom själva väggytans färgton, som alltså borde vara klar och ljus. Den får ej vara så grann, att den irriterar, ej heller blandad så att den verkar oren. Om den går i grönt eller blått får den ej verka iskällare utan bör giva en känsla av värme. Det blå bör helst vara pastellblått och det gröna ljusaste mossgrönt.
För omkring 20 år sedan kom jag på en studieresa till Stockholm. Jag hade nyss förut besökt det stora Eppendorffer sjukhuset i Hamburg och där sett bleka ansikten i gråmålade sängars enformiga rader i de med grå färg bestrukna stora salarna. Koncentrerad tröstlöshet. I Stockholm fick jag plötsligt å Maria sjukhus, se ljusgröna väggar och grannröda filtar. O, vad det var vackert efter allt det trista grå. Dåvarande prefekten å Maria, Doktor Rissler, sade sig hava experimenterat med diverse färger och stannat vid den gröna såsom; den lugnaste, för ögat mest vilsamma.
Å Kirurgiska Sjukhuset i Helsingfors genomfördes kort därpå samma idé. I salar och sjukrum målades väggarna i ljusgrönt medan matsalar och korridorer höllos i vitt, såsom varande den mest praktiska färgen, just emedan den icke "höll mot smutsen", utan smutsen tvärtom genast synes på vitt och med detsamma kan avlägsnas.
Att sjukhuset genom det å detsamma målmedvetet genomförda färgproblemet gjort en, vinst, tror jag ej någon borde vara i tvivel om, som senaste sommar, vid den internationella sjuksköterskekongressem, var i tillfälle att lyssna till de beundrande kömmentarier som just färgskalan å "Kirurgen" vid gästernas besök därstädes föranledde. Och dock tyckes nu åter en smakriktning arbeta sig fram, som anser grått vara den bästa färgen även, i sjukhus, enriktning som bland de synpunkter, som för densamma äro avgörande, tyvärr ej medtagit den om färgens inverkan på den sjukes sinnesstämning.
Huru stark: en sadan inverkan kan vara framgår av följande lilla sannsaga.
En patient, som hade, så trodde man, högstettparveckor kvar att leva och som själv ej hade minsta energi och motståndskraft kvar, blev vid tiden för Kirurgiska sjukhusets ommålning flyttad från sitt i gammal, gråbrun "sjukhusfärg" målade rum till ett av dem, som nyss blivit förvandlade till ljusgröna. Först märkte hon ej något, men påföljande morgon, då hon slog upplögonen, lyste solen in odh hon såg sig förvånad omkring. "Det här", sade hon, "är ju som om jag plötsligt kommit ut på en solbelyst grön äng." Och från den stunden vidtog hennes tillfrisknande.
Jag vet ej om, jag med dessa rader nått vad; jag åsyftat, som endast är att väcka dem, som äga bestämma över färgen i våra sjukhus, på tanken om den stora vikt det har att färgernas terapeutiska inverkan tages under övervägande vid målning odh inredning av sjukhusens salar och enskilda rum.
Soläng 23/8 1926.
- S. Mannerheim
Papier-Mache and Carton Pierre.
Manufacturer and builder 4, 1871
Time use of paper for various constructional purposes has occupied the attention of savants, in many forms. We have seen boots, shoes, paneling for coaches and other purposes, coffins, and even guns, made of this material; but the, exceptional and speculative adaptations of the material we have not now to deal, the subject of the present notice being simply the use of paper in its various forms for architectural decorative purposes. It probably does not strike the unpractical or unprofessional mind, when assisting at the opening of some new theatre, and admiring the decorations of the house, and the enrichments of the front of the stalls, the proscenium, and the ceiling, that these are for the most part hollow, and made of that moat homely of all materials, brown paper. Such, however, is, in the great majority of casts, the simple fact, and we propose to give a short account of the manipulation of the material, and the method of its adaptation.
The sweepings and waste of the factories are the materials used, moistened with water with a glue, and pressed in a brass mould — this is papier-máché, (pressed paper) while the cuttings of card-board, stewed to is pulp and ground to an oven consistency by steam-rollers, and cast in a plaster mould, are the constituents of carton pierre, (stone made of card;) and we may quote Her Majesty's Theatre, the Gaiety, most of the new theatres in the provinces, and private mansions in numbers throughout both town and country, as instances of its use. The brown paper for the papier-máché is softened in water sufficiently to allow it to be forced into the sharpest angles of a brass mould previously coated with a light skin of paper pulp which has been cast for the purpose, and lias the inside carefully chased. The sharpest carves and angles of delicate foliage are thus reproduced; and for all the lighter portions of time work, enriched mouldings, beads, and foliage, this is the material adopted, light strips of wood glued to the back keeping the work in its place, and being available for its fixing, which is simply a matter of nails and screws. For the heavier portions of work, such as sofa or table-legs, largo coffers for ceilings, trusses, figures, and the more solif features, carton pierre is used. A mould is prepared in plaster, which takes to pieces in the ordinary way. This is, in the majority of cases, not filled up solid, but only carefully lined by hand pressure with a thickness varying from one fourth inch to one half inch, or, perhaps, a little more, with the carton pierre in a state of pulp. It is allowed to dry for a certain time; and when sufficiently consilidated for the mould to be removed, it is heated in a drying-roon until perfectly hard, and the process is then complete. A similar process of drying is applied to the papier-máché; in fact, they are dried in the same room. As compared with ordinary plaster, upon the question of cost, plane surfaces, or work involving a large amount of repetition, can be more cheaply executed in plaster; while the most elaborate and expensuve enrichments can be executed to better advantage in papier-máché, which has the great advantage of being much more manageable in fixing. It can be prepared to any pattern, and put together ire the workshop; and its fixing is either by glue, nails, or screws. The mess invariably attending the working of plaster is also avoided — a most important element in buildings finished, as is now so much the fashion, with the wood stained in its native color, and not painted; and the use of water is avoided — a great advantage in new buildings, where it is of importance that the seasoned joiners,' work should be kept as dry as possible.
We had an opportunity last week of inspecting a somewhat novel application of the material at Messrs. Jackson's, Rathbone Place, to whom we are indebted for some of the above details. For the Marquis of Westminster, at Grosvenor House, under Mr. Clutton, the entire ceiling of a largo room, 50 feet long and 30 feet wide, is being made entirely of these materials, and is hung up independent of the walls by the wood framing, which forms, as it were, the core upon which the ceiling is built; it is highly decorated; and there are largo octagonal coffers, some of them four feet to five feet across, with trusses and enriched bands; but the great peculiarity is this, that, by means of special machinery provided for the purpose, the whole ceiling, which forms one piece, can be raised or lowered at will to a height of about four feet, according to the various requirements for which the room is being occupied. It is needless to say that, with as plaster ceiling, this would be quite impracticable.
Before dismissing tile subject, we may just allude to a material which, though neither papier-máché nor carton pierre, is used for some of the same purposes. This is Desachy's latent fibrous plaster. There is nothing new in the materials employed; it is a combination of ordinary fine or common plaster and canvas. The plaster is cast very thin, less than one fourth inch, in a mould, and then upon the back of it is laid the canvas which becomes incorporated with it as it sets; the shape is supported by light strips of wood, laid on at the same time; and for plain mouldings and large paneling, this system gives all the usual effect, combined with extreme lightness and facility for fixing. As an instance, we saw as large circular moulding, more than seven feet diameter, for surrounding a light, made in one piece, ready for fixing, no portion of the face of which was more than a quarter of an inch in thickness. We may mention the ceiling of the library of the new Record Office as an instance of its use, the apparently massive Gothic ribs, forming the groins between the skylight, being of this material, screwed to wrought-iron girders inside, which really do the work. The method combines great lightness with absolute security from fire; and its cost is not such as to preclude its being adopted in any case where it is desirable to attain a similar result. In addition to the advantages alluded to above, as gained by the introduction of thew variants materials, the demand for which is increasing, we may notice the question of rapidity of completion as most important. Time, especially in connection with theatrical matters, is of the first importance; the delay of a few months in the completion of a building makes a difference of a whole season; and it would have been impossible to complete any of the theatres recently opened within some months, of the time actually occupied, had it not been for the facility afforded for their decoration by the use of carton pierre and papier-máché.
— The London Architect.
Time use of paper for various constructional purposes has occupied the attention of savants, in many forms. We have seen boots, shoes, paneling for coaches and other purposes, coffins, and even guns, made of this material; but the, exceptional and speculative adaptations of the material we have not now to deal, the subject of the present notice being simply the use of paper in its various forms for architectural decorative purposes. It probably does not strike the unpractical or unprofessional mind, when assisting at the opening of some new theatre, and admiring the decorations of the house, and the enrichments of the front of the stalls, the proscenium, and the ceiling, that these are for the most part hollow, and made of that moat homely of all materials, brown paper. Such, however, is, in the great majority of casts, the simple fact, and we propose to give a short account of the manipulation of the material, and the method of its adaptation.
The sweepings and waste of the factories are the materials used, moistened with water with a glue, and pressed in a brass mould — this is papier-máché, (pressed paper) while the cuttings of card-board, stewed to is pulp and ground to an oven consistency by steam-rollers, and cast in a plaster mould, are the constituents of carton pierre, (stone made of card;) and we may quote Her Majesty's Theatre, the Gaiety, most of the new theatres in the provinces, and private mansions in numbers throughout both town and country, as instances of its use. The brown paper for the papier-máché is softened in water sufficiently to allow it to be forced into the sharpest angles of a brass mould previously coated with a light skin of paper pulp which has been cast for the purpose, and lias the inside carefully chased. The sharpest carves and angles of delicate foliage are thus reproduced; and for all the lighter portions of time work, enriched mouldings, beads, and foliage, this is the material adopted, light strips of wood glued to the back keeping the work in its place, and being available for its fixing, which is simply a matter of nails and screws. For the heavier portions of work, such as sofa or table-legs, largo coffers for ceilings, trusses, figures, and the more solif features, carton pierre is used. A mould is prepared in plaster, which takes to pieces in the ordinary way. This is, in the majority of cases, not filled up solid, but only carefully lined by hand pressure with a thickness varying from one fourth inch to one half inch, or, perhaps, a little more, with the carton pierre in a state of pulp. It is allowed to dry for a certain time; and when sufficiently consilidated for the mould to be removed, it is heated in a drying-roon until perfectly hard, and the process is then complete. A similar process of drying is applied to the papier-máché; in fact, they are dried in the same room. As compared with ordinary plaster, upon the question of cost, plane surfaces, or work involving a large amount of repetition, can be more cheaply executed in plaster; while the most elaborate and expensuve enrichments can be executed to better advantage in papier-máché, which has the great advantage of being much more manageable in fixing. It can be prepared to any pattern, and put together ire the workshop; and its fixing is either by glue, nails, or screws. The mess invariably attending the working of plaster is also avoided — a most important element in buildings finished, as is now so much the fashion, with the wood stained in its native color, and not painted; and the use of water is avoided — a great advantage in new buildings, where it is of importance that the seasoned joiners,' work should be kept as dry as possible.
We had an opportunity last week of inspecting a somewhat novel application of the material at Messrs. Jackson's, Rathbone Place, to whom we are indebted for some of the above details. For the Marquis of Westminster, at Grosvenor House, under Mr. Clutton, the entire ceiling of a largo room, 50 feet long and 30 feet wide, is being made entirely of these materials, and is hung up independent of the walls by the wood framing, which forms, as it were, the core upon which the ceiling is built; it is highly decorated; and there are largo octagonal coffers, some of them four feet to five feet across, with trusses and enriched bands; but the great peculiarity is this, that, by means of special machinery provided for the purpose, the whole ceiling, which forms one piece, can be raised or lowered at will to a height of about four feet, according to the various requirements for which the room is being occupied. It is needless to say that, with as plaster ceiling, this would be quite impracticable.
Before dismissing tile subject, we may just allude to a material which, though neither papier-máché nor carton pierre, is used for some of the same purposes. This is Desachy's latent fibrous plaster. There is nothing new in the materials employed; it is a combination of ordinary fine or common plaster and canvas. The plaster is cast very thin, less than one fourth inch, in a mould, and then upon the back of it is laid the canvas which becomes incorporated with it as it sets; the shape is supported by light strips of wood, laid on at the same time; and for plain mouldings and large paneling, this system gives all the usual effect, combined with extreme lightness and facility for fixing. As an instance, we saw as large circular moulding, more than seven feet diameter, for surrounding a light, made in one piece, ready for fixing, no portion of the face of which was more than a quarter of an inch in thickness. We may mention the ceiling of the library of the new Record Office as an instance of its use, the apparently massive Gothic ribs, forming the groins between the skylight, being of this material, screwed to wrought-iron girders inside, which really do the work. The method combines great lightness with absolute security from fire; and its cost is not such as to preclude its being adopted in any case where it is desirable to attain a similar result. In addition to the advantages alluded to above, as gained by the introduction of thew variants materials, the demand for which is increasing, we may notice the question of rapidity of completion as most important. Time, especially in connection with theatrical matters, is of the first importance; the delay of a few months in the completion of a building makes a difference of a whole season; and it would have been impossible to complete any of the theatres recently opened within some months, of the time actually occupied, had it not been for the facility afforded for their decoration by the use of carton pierre and papier-máché.
— The London Architect.
Photo-xylography.
Manufacturer and builder 4, 1871
Soon after the invention of photography, efforts were made to transfer photograph to blocks of wood, and to engrave them afterwards like ordinary cuts. Thu advantage of this process is twofold: first, it is not necessary to make the drawing; and secondly, the photographic image is a much better copy than any hand drawing, especially if the copy is to be reduced in size. In regard to the process of transferring, it has not as yet met with any great difficulties, though images could not be very well fixed, and were liable to become too dark. A further and more serious inconvenience made itself apparent in the old process of preparation. The block became so much softened and impregnated with salts that the artist was unable to execute his work with ordinary facility; in a word, the wood became fibrous, and not capable of being well cut. At a more recent date, the attempt was wade to paste a skin of collodion with the photograph on the block, and then to cut it. It happened, however, that the skin would become partially loosened, which made this method completely useless.
The difficult problem has finally been solved by Mr. Leth, in Leipzig, whose method is in detail as follows: In order to preserve the wood from the penetration of water, during the subsequent operations, the wood-block is coated on its reverse and on its four edges with varnish or wax. After this, the perfectly polished cutting surface is grounded in the ordinary manner. Wood-cutters generally use for this purpose white-lead, zinc-white, or blanc-fixe, with gum-water; but for the purpose under consideration gluewater is sufficient. That grounding is accomplished by means: of rubbing with the finger and the ball of the hand true til the surface is uniformly white and dry. This surface is hereupon immersed in a somewhat concentrated solution of alum, which will coagulate the glue, the superfluous liquid being thrown off by swinging the block about. The block is then allowed to dry. The photographic image is not produced on the wood block, but on a glass plate which is coated with a solution of bichromate of potash mixed with gum and honey.
By laying upon the letter a positive photographic copy of an image, and subjecting it to the action of light, an indistinct picture is obtained, but by spreading burned soot or another dustcolor upon it, it appears perfect; and if a proper shade has been selected, can scarcely be distinguished from an ordinary photograph. The parts of the chrome salt solution which have been affected lay the light fail to take the dustcolons, while they adhere on the parts whichateo been protected against the action of the light, anal thus the image is brought out. The latter is now to be transferred upon the wooal block. This is done by cawing the picture with collodion, and after that putting it into dilute nitric acid. Thereby tho chrome salt Is decomposed and the still soluble gum washed off, while the dust-colors remain on the collodion. The cohesion between the collodion skin and the glas, is at the same time removed. If the glass is immersed in a large vessel with sugar-water, the skin may be easily removed by the fingers. The skin now floats in the sugar-water. It is made to cover the wood block by immersing the latter in the water, so that its prepared surface comes just below the fleeting collodion skin. When the latter lies without folds or bubbles in the proper position on the prepared wood surface, the block is withdrawn from the water and placed on edge for drying. In order to dissolve and separate the collodion skin, the surface of the picture is now sprinkled with ether. The dust-colors, which represent the image, however, remain upon the ground-surface, and after the ether has evaporated, the block is ready for cutting. In regard to the shade, it does not depend upon the chemical process, but upon the dust-powder itself, which may be taken of any tint. Any picture taken from nature may be transferred in this manner, and if engraved, will show a similarity to the original not easily attainable.
Soon after the invention of photography, efforts were made to transfer photograph to blocks of wood, and to engrave them afterwards like ordinary cuts. Thu advantage of this process is twofold: first, it is not necessary to make the drawing; and secondly, the photographic image is a much better copy than any hand drawing, especially if the copy is to be reduced in size. In regard to the process of transferring, it has not as yet met with any great difficulties, though images could not be very well fixed, and were liable to become too dark. A further and more serious inconvenience made itself apparent in the old process of preparation. The block became so much softened and impregnated with salts that the artist was unable to execute his work with ordinary facility; in a word, the wood became fibrous, and not capable of being well cut. At a more recent date, the attempt was wade to paste a skin of collodion with the photograph on the block, and then to cut it. It happened, however, that the skin would become partially loosened, which made this method completely useless.
The difficult problem has finally been solved by Mr. Leth, in Leipzig, whose method is in detail as follows: In order to preserve the wood from the penetration of water, during the subsequent operations, the wood-block is coated on its reverse and on its four edges with varnish or wax. After this, the perfectly polished cutting surface is grounded in the ordinary manner. Wood-cutters generally use for this purpose white-lead, zinc-white, or blanc-fixe, with gum-water; but for the purpose under consideration gluewater is sufficient. That grounding is accomplished by means: of rubbing with the finger and the ball of the hand true til the surface is uniformly white and dry. This surface is hereupon immersed in a somewhat concentrated solution of alum, which will coagulate the glue, the superfluous liquid being thrown off by swinging the block about. The block is then allowed to dry. The photographic image is not produced on the wood block, but on a glass plate which is coated with a solution of bichromate of potash mixed with gum and honey.
By laying upon the letter a positive photographic copy of an image, and subjecting it to the action of light, an indistinct picture is obtained, but by spreading burned soot or another dustcolor upon it, it appears perfect; and if a proper shade has been selected, can scarcely be distinguished from an ordinary photograph. The parts of the chrome salt solution which have been affected lay the light fail to take the dustcolons, while they adhere on the parts whichateo been protected against the action of the light, anal thus the image is brought out. The latter is now to be transferred upon the wooal block. This is done by cawing the picture with collodion, and after that putting it into dilute nitric acid. Thereby tho chrome salt Is decomposed and the still soluble gum washed off, while the dust-colors remain on the collodion. The cohesion between the collodion skin and the glas, is at the same time removed. If the glass is immersed in a large vessel with sugar-water, the skin may be easily removed by the fingers. The skin now floats in the sugar-water. It is made to cover the wood block by immersing the latter in the water, so that its prepared surface comes just below the fleeting collodion skin. When the latter lies without folds or bubbles in the proper position on the prepared wood surface, the block is withdrawn from the water and placed on edge for drying. In order to dissolve and separate the collodion skin, the surface of the picture is now sprinkled with ether. The dust-colors, which represent the image, however, remain upon the ground-surface, and after the ether has evaporated, the block is ready for cutting. In regard to the shade, it does not depend upon the chemical process, but upon the dust-powder itself, which may be taken of any tint. Any picture taken from nature may be transferred in this manner, and if engraved, will show a similarity to the original not easily attainable.
Finland's Imports from Great Britain and Germany. A statistical summary. (osa)
Finnish Trade 6, 1928
[...]
Dyes.
From Great Britain coarse mineral dyes are imported, while imports from Germany mainly comprize fine tar dyes.
[...]
[...]
Dyes.
| Year Mill. | Great Britain Fmks. | percent | Germany Mill. Fmks. | percent |
| 1923 | 5 | 10 | 37 | 67 |
| 1924 | 5 | 11 | 25 | 59 |
| 1925 | 4 | 8 | 29 | 63 |
| 1926 | 3 | 6 | 35 | 63 |
| 1927 | 4 | 8 | 36 | 64 |
[...]
Photography in Colors.
Manufacturer and builder 1, 1891
Captain Abney, a distinguished authority on photography, in a paper on the effect of light on matter, read before the British Association, said:
"The question is often asked when photography in natural colors will be discovered. Photography in natural colors not only has been discovered, but pictures in natural colors have been produced. I am not alluding to the pictures produced by manual work, and which have from time to time been foisted on a credulous public as being produced by the action of light itself, much to the damage of photography, and usually to the socalled inventors. Roughly speaking, the method of producing the spectrum in its natural colors, is to chlorinize a silver plate, expose it to white light till is assumes a violet color, heat till it becomes rather ruddy, and expose it to a bright spectrum. The spectrum colors are then impressed in their natural tints. Experiment has shown that these colors arc due to an oxidized product being formed at the red end of the spectrum and a reduced product at the violet end. Photography in natural colors, however, is only interesting from a scientific point of view, and, so far as I can see, can never have a commercial value.
"A process, to be useful, must be one by which reproductions are strictly made; in other words, it must be a developing and not a printing process, and it must be taken in the camera, for any printing process requires not only a bright light, but also a prolonged exposure. Now, it can be conceived that in a substance which absorbs all the visible spectrum, the molecules can be so shaken and sifted by the different rays, that eventually they sort themselves into masses which reflect the particular rays by which they are shaken; but it is almost — I might say quite — impossible to believe that when this sifting has only been commenced, as it would be in the short exposure to which a camera picture is submitted, the substance deposited to build up the image by purely chemical means would be so obliging as to deposit in that the particular size of particle which should give to the image the color of the nucleus on which it was deposited. I ant aware that in the early days of photography we heard a good deal about curious results that bad been obtained in negatives, where red-brick houses were shown as red anti the blue sky as bluish. The cause of these few coincidences is not hard to explain, and would be exactly the same as when the red- brick houses were shown as bluish and the sky as red in a negative. The records of the production of the latter negatives are naturally not abundant, since they would not attract much attention. I may repeat, then, that photography in natural colors by a printing-out process — by which I mean by the action of light alone — is not only possible, but has been done, but that the production of a negative in natural colors front which prints in natural colors might be produced, appears, in the present state of our knowledge, to be impossible. Supposing it were not impracticable, it would be unsatisfactory, as the light with which the picture was impressed would be very different from that in which it would be viewed.
"Artists are fully aware of this difficulty in painting, and take their precautions against it. The nearest approach to success in producing colored pictures by light alone, is the method of taking three negatives of the same subject through different colored glasses, complementary to the three color sensations which together give to the eye the sensations of white light. The method is open to objection on neeonnt of the impure color of the glasses used. If a device could be adopted whereby only those three parts of the spectrum could be severally used which form the color sensations, the method would be more perfect than it is at present. Even then perfection could not be attained, owing to a defect which is inherent in photography, and which cannot be eliminated. This defect is the imperfect representation of gradation of tone. For instance, if we have a strip graduated from what we call black to white (it must be recollected that no tone can scientifically be called black and none white), and photograph it we shall find that in a print from the negative the darkness which is supposed to represent a gray of equal mixtures of black and white, by no means does so, un less the black is not as black or the white as white as the original."
Captain Abney, a distinguished authority on photography, in a paper on the effect of light on matter, read before the British Association, said:
"The question is often asked when photography in natural colors will be discovered. Photography in natural colors not only has been discovered, but pictures in natural colors have been produced. I am not alluding to the pictures produced by manual work, and which have from time to time been foisted on a credulous public as being produced by the action of light itself, much to the damage of photography, and usually to the socalled inventors. Roughly speaking, the method of producing the spectrum in its natural colors, is to chlorinize a silver plate, expose it to white light till is assumes a violet color, heat till it becomes rather ruddy, and expose it to a bright spectrum. The spectrum colors are then impressed in their natural tints. Experiment has shown that these colors arc due to an oxidized product being formed at the red end of the spectrum and a reduced product at the violet end. Photography in natural colors, however, is only interesting from a scientific point of view, and, so far as I can see, can never have a commercial value.
"A process, to be useful, must be one by which reproductions are strictly made; in other words, it must be a developing and not a printing process, and it must be taken in the camera, for any printing process requires not only a bright light, but also a prolonged exposure. Now, it can be conceived that in a substance which absorbs all the visible spectrum, the molecules can be so shaken and sifted by the different rays, that eventually they sort themselves into masses which reflect the particular rays by which they are shaken; but it is almost — I might say quite — impossible to believe that when this sifting has only been commenced, as it would be in the short exposure to which a camera picture is submitted, the substance deposited to build up the image by purely chemical means would be so obliging as to deposit in that the particular size of particle which should give to the image the color of the nucleus on which it was deposited. I ant aware that in the early days of photography we heard a good deal about curious results that bad been obtained in negatives, where red-brick houses were shown as red anti the blue sky as bluish. The cause of these few coincidences is not hard to explain, and would be exactly the same as when the red- brick houses were shown as bluish and the sky as red in a negative. The records of the production of the latter negatives are naturally not abundant, since they would not attract much attention. I may repeat, then, that photography in natural colors by a printing-out process — by which I mean by the action of light alone — is not only possible, but has been done, but that the production of a negative in natural colors front which prints in natural colors might be produced, appears, in the present state of our knowledge, to be impossible. Supposing it were not impracticable, it would be unsatisfactory, as the light with which the picture was impressed would be very different from that in which it would be viewed.
"Artists are fully aware of this difficulty in painting, and take their precautions against it. The nearest approach to success in producing colored pictures by light alone, is the method of taking three negatives of the same subject through different colored glasses, complementary to the three color sensations which together give to the eye the sensations of white light. The method is open to objection on neeonnt of the impure color of the glasses used. If a device could be adopted whereby only those three parts of the spectrum could be severally used which form the color sensations, the method would be more perfect than it is at present. Even then perfection could not be attained, owing to a defect which is inherent in photography, and which cannot be eliminated. This defect is the imperfect representation of gradation of tone. For instance, if we have a strip graduated from what we call black to white (it must be recollected that no tone can scientifically be called black and none white), and photograph it we shall find that in a print from the negative the darkness which is supposed to represent a gray of equal mixtures of black and white, by no means does so, un less the black is not as black or the white as white as the original."
Yhtä ja toista. Wedenpitäwää, läpinäkywää ja raswaa läpäisemätöntä paperia...
Haminan Lehti 18, 15.2.1916
Wedenpitäwää, läpinäkywää ja raswaa läpäisemätöntä paperia saadaan siten, että paperi kastetaan wäkewään booriliuwokseen, johon shellakkaa on wähän lämmittämällä liuotettu. Seosta woidaan wärjätä aniliiniwärillä. — Koneteoll.
Wedenpitäwää, läpinäkywää ja raswaa läpäisemätöntä paperia saadaan siten, että paperi kastetaan wäkewään booriliuwokseen, johon shellakkaa on wähän lämmittämällä liuotettu. Seosta woidaan wärjätä aniliiniwärillä. — Koneteoll.
9.4.20
Poisonous Colors.
The Manufacturer and Builder 2, 1874
In opposition to our expressed opinion that all anilin colors are not necessarily poisonous, some of our contemporaries think that it is better to cry, if at all, on the safe side, and to avoid the use of anilin dyes for culinary purposes altogether. We do not object to this advice, and surely those anilin dyes in which arsenic enters as a component part are certainly poisonous. A warning has been raised against fabrics dyed with anilin colors as injurious to the wearer. That has been contradicted by German chemists, who think to prove that it can not be so. But then it is asserted that people have been poisoned and no sufficient cause could be found than the wearing of anilin dyed clothes. A writer in California goes even so far as to assert that carmine is awfully poisonous, and bangs up an alarming tableau of the consequences - loosening of the teeth, falling out of the hair, scrufulous eruptions, dyspepsia, insanity, and idiocy. It is curious that carmine has from time immemorial been considered utterly harmless, and used by druggists to color tinctures, etc. It is also stated that experiments were made in France, and that a baby died under terrible convulsions after eating four ordinary plates of ice cream, colored with carmine. Our esteemed contemporary, the Boston Journal of Chemistry, remarks justly in this regard, that four ordinary plates of ice cream are very likely to disagree awfully with a baby, whether it (the cream, not the baby) were colored with carmine or not.
In opposition to our expressed opinion that all anilin colors are not necessarily poisonous, some of our contemporaries think that it is better to cry, if at all, on the safe side, and to avoid the use of anilin dyes for culinary purposes altogether. We do not object to this advice, and surely those anilin dyes in which arsenic enters as a component part are certainly poisonous. A warning has been raised against fabrics dyed with anilin colors as injurious to the wearer. That has been contradicted by German chemists, who think to prove that it can not be so. But then it is asserted that people have been poisoned and no sufficient cause could be found than the wearing of anilin dyed clothes. A writer in California goes even so far as to assert that carmine is awfully poisonous, and bangs up an alarming tableau of the consequences - loosening of the teeth, falling out of the hair, scrufulous eruptions, dyspepsia, insanity, and idiocy. It is curious that carmine has from time immemorial been considered utterly harmless, and used by druggists to color tinctures, etc. It is also stated that experiments were made in France, and that a baby died under terrible convulsions after eating four ordinary plates of ice cream, colored with carmine. Our esteemed contemporary, the Boston Journal of Chemistry, remarks justly in this regard, that four ordinary plates of ice cream are very likely to disagree awfully with a baby, whether it (the cream, not the baby) were colored with carmine or not.
7.4.20
Små rön som andra ha gjort.
Dagens Press 67, 21.3.1917
[...]
Kulört tyg, ljusrödt och grönt, behåller em färg, om man blandar ättika i det vatten man tvättar det i Högrldt tyg, som i tvätten mistat sin färg, kan återfå denna, om man tillsätter sköljvattnet med ättika. Den ljusblå och purpurröda färgan bevaras genom soda i vattnet, och till svart ylletyg bör i tvätten alltid användas pottaska, som bevarar och ofta förbättrar färgen.
[...]
[...]
Kulört tyg, ljusrödt och grönt, behåller em färg, om man blandar ättika i det vatten man tvättar det i Högrldt tyg, som i tvätten mistat sin färg, kan återfå denna, om man tillsätter sköljvattnet med ättika. Den ljusblå och purpurröda färgan bevaras genom soda i vattnet, och till svart ylletyg bör i tvätten alltid användas pottaska, som bevarar och ofta förbättrar färgen.
[...]
6.4.20
Wärien puute.
Helsingin Sanomat 31, 2.2.1915
"Kutoma ja paperiteollisuus"-lehdessä kirjoitetaan:
Saksan yksinwaltius wäri-, kuten yleensä kemiallisen teollisuuden aloilla on, kuten aikaisemmin jo on ollut puhe, saanut sen kanssa sotaa käywät maat ja näiden mukana meidänkin maan oloihin, joissa wärien ja muutamien kemikalioiden saanti tuottaa waikeuksia. Omissa oloissa ei tämä ole lainkaan ihmeteltäwää. Suuremman wäritehtaan perustaminen, joka kykenisi kaikkia sellaisia tuotteita walmistamaan, joita wäreinä tai wärillisinä aineina teollisuuden ja talouden aloilla tarwitaan, tuskin woi meillä tulla kysymykseen. Mahdollisesti sellaisen, joka walmistaisi wain muutamia enemmän käytännössä olewia tuotteita. Toisin on asianlaita maissa sellaisissa kuin Ranska, Englanti ja Venäjä. Eipä suinkaan, ettei näissä tällaisia laitoksia jo olisi. Sellaisia kyllä löytyy, mutta owat ne enemmän tai wähemmän olleet saksalaisista wäriteollisuusyhtiöistä riippuwia. Ei siis ole ihmeteltäwissä, että aate päästä omaperäiseen, Saksasta riippumattomaan wäriteollisuuteen näissä maissa on joutunut wakawan harkinnan alaiseksi. Olemme aikaisemmin kertoneet, että Wenäjällä jo on ryhdytty warsin laajasuuntaisiin toimenpiteisiin asian johdosta. Myöhempiä tietoja, miten tämä miljoonayritys siellä aiotaan toteuttaa, ei meillä wielä ole.
Kun kysymys on warsin mielenkiintoisa ja epäilemättä, silloin kun se toteutetaan, tulee wärien saannissa ja hinnoissa waikuttamaan niihin meikäläisiinkin teollisuuksiin, jotta wäriä tarwitsewat, sietää lähemmin selostaa, miten woimaperäisen wäriteollisuuden saanti aiotaan Englannissa toteuttaa.
Siitä kirjelmästä, jonka Englannin hallitus on lähettänyt wärejä käyttäwille tehtailijoille, käy selwille, että tarkoitus on perustaa yhteistoiminnallinen yhtiö, jonka pääomana olisi 75 milj. markkaa. Waltio ottaisi yritykseen osaa siten, että yhtiö saisi tarwittawasta pääomasta ½, eli siis 37,5 milj. markkaa waltion lainana, jolle maksetaan 4% wuotuista korkoa ja joka on maksettama takaisin 25 wuodessa. Osakkeen suuruus olisi 1 punta eli siis 25 mk. Kun koko pääoman määrä on merkitty, sitoutuu waltio antamaan ½ lainasta heti yhtiön käytettäwäksi ja loput sitten kun neljännes osakemaarästä on sisäänmaksettu. Ehtona lainan saantiin esittää hallitus, että sille annetaan oikeus määrätä kaksi johtajaa yhtiöön.
Saadakseen wärien tarwitsijat sidotuiksi yhtiöön, käy kiertokirjeestä selwille, että osakkeen ostajan on [] wuotena tai wiitenä wuotena sen jälkeen kun hänen entiset sitoumuksensa muiden wäritehtaiden kanssa owat päättäneet, käytettäwä wain kotimaisen yhtiön wärejä, jos tawaran laatu on hywää ja hinnat owat kohtuulliset. Riitaisuudet ratkaistaan sowinto-oikeudessa.
Neuwotteluja on paraillaan käymässä kuulun englantilaisen wäritehtaan Read Holiday & Sons Limitedin Hudderfieldissä olewien tehtaiden ostamisesta yhtiön haltuun ja niiden laajentamisesta suuremmiksi. Yhteistyöstä sweitsiläisten wäritehtaiden ja näistä meillä Suomessakin tunnetun wäritehtaan nimeltä "Gesellschaft für chemisehe Industrie" kanssa Baselissa toiwotaan saatawan suurta apua.
Auttaakseen yhtiötä olisi hallitus suostuwainen päästämään wäriteollisuudessa käytettäwän alkoholin denaturoituna tullitta maahan. Siinä pääpiirteet, millä keinoin kotimainen, saksalaisista riippumaton wäriteollisuus Englannissa aiotaan saada syntymään.
Yritys on aiottu etupäässä kotimaista tarwetta warten. Rahassa laskettuna se lienee nykyisin noin 50 milj. markkaa wuodessa. Mutta kun ottaa lukuun, että wäriteollisuudessa jo on warsin wanhat ja wankat juuret Englannissa — siellähän se alun pitäen syntyikin —, että Englannissakin yhä enemmän aletaan kiinnittää huomiota kemialliseen koulutukseen ja että Saksa näihin asti on saanut suurimman osan wäriteollisuudessaan käyttämästään kiwihiiliterwasta Englannista, emme omasta puolestamme epäile asian onnistumista. Ja jos niin käy, tulewnt monet niistä maista, jotka wäreihin nähden owat joko kokonaan kai suurimmalta osalta olleet Saksasta riippuwaisia, saamaan wäritarpeensa Englannista. Sillä yrityksellä on epäilemättä edellytyksiä hywin nopeaan muuttua maailmanteollisuudeksi. Ja eritoten silloin jos englantilaiset saawat alusmaansa myöskin asiaan innostumaan. Siihen nähden, mitä saksalaiset owat suomalaisia wärienkäyttäjiä tuotteillaan werottaneet, on meillä täysi syy toiwoa, että wäriteollisnuden juurruttaminen wenäläiseen ja englantilaiseen maaperään täysin onnistuisi.
"Kutoma ja paperiteollisuus"-lehdessä kirjoitetaan:
Saksan yksinwaltius wäri-, kuten yleensä kemiallisen teollisuuden aloilla on, kuten aikaisemmin jo on ollut puhe, saanut sen kanssa sotaa käywät maat ja näiden mukana meidänkin maan oloihin, joissa wärien ja muutamien kemikalioiden saanti tuottaa waikeuksia. Omissa oloissa ei tämä ole lainkaan ihmeteltäwää. Suuremman wäritehtaan perustaminen, joka kykenisi kaikkia sellaisia tuotteita walmistamaan, joita wäreinä tai wärillisinä aineina teollisuuden ja talouden aloilla tarwitaan, tuskin woi meillä tulla kysymykseen. Mahdollisesti sellaisen, joka walmistaisi wain muutamia enemmän käytännössä olewia tuotteita. Toisin on asianlaita maissa sellaisissa kuin Ranska, Englanti ja Venäjä. Eipä suinkaan, ettei näissä tällaisia laitoksia jo olisi. Sellaisia kyllä löytyy, mutta owat ne enemmän tai wähemmän olleet saksalaisista wäriteollisuusyhtiöistä riippuwia. Ei siis ole ihmeteltäwissä, että aate päästä omaperäiseen, Saksasta riippumattomaan wäriteollisuuteen näissä maissa on joutunut wakawan harkinnan alaiseksi. Olemme aikaisemmin kertoneet, että Wenäjällä jo on ryhdytty warsin laajasuuntaisiin toimenpiteisiin asian johdosta. Myöhempiä tietoja, miten tämä miljoonayritys siellä aiotaan toteuttaa, ei meillä wielä ole.
Kun kysymys on warsin mielenkiintoisa ja epäilemättä, silloin kun se toteutetaan, tulee wärien saannissa ja hinnoissa waikuttamaan niihin meikäläisiinkin teollisuuksiin, jotta wäriä tarwitsewat, sietää lähemmin selostaa, miten woimaperäisen wäriteollisuuden saanti aiotaan Englannissa toteuttaa.
Siitä kirjelmästä, jonka Englannin hallitus on lähettänyt wärejä käyttäwille tehtailijoille, käy selwille, että tarkoitus on perustaa yhteistoiminnallinen yhtiö, jonka pääomana olisi 75 milj. markkaa. Waltio ottaisi yritykseen osaa siten, että yhtiö saisi tarwittawasta pääomasta ½, eli siis 37,5 milj. markkaa waltion lainana, jolle maksetaan 4% wuotuista korkoa ja joka on maksettama takaisin 25 wuodessa. Osakkeen suuruus olisi 1 punta eli siis 25 mk. Kun koko pääoman määrä on merkitty, sitoutuu waltio antamaan ½ lainasta heti yhtiön käytettäwäksi ja loput sitten kun neljännes osakemaarästä on sisäänmaksettu. Ehtona lainan saantiin esittää hallitus, että sille annetaan oikeus määrätä kaksi johtajaa yhtiöön.
Saadakseen wärien tarwitsijat sidotuiksi yhtiöön, käy kiertokirjeestä selwille, että osakkeen ostajan on [] wuotena tai wiitenä wuotena sen jälkeen kun hänen entiset sitoumuksensa muiden wäritehtaiden kanssa owat päättäneet, käytettäwä wain kotimaisen yhtiön wärejä, jos tawaran laatu on hywää ja hinnat owat kohtuulliset. Riitaisuudet ratkaistaan sowinto-oikeudessa.
Neuwotteluja on paraillaan käymässä kuulun englantilaisen wäritehtaan Read Holiday & Sons Limitedin Hudderfieldissä olewien tehtaiden ostamisesta yhtiön haltuun ja niiden laajentamisesta suuremmiksi. Yhteistyöstä sweitsiläisten wäritehtaiden ja näistä meillä Suomessakin tunnetun wäritehtaan nimeltä "Gesellschaft für chemisehe Industrie" kanssa Baselissa toiwotaan saatawan suurta apua.
Auttaakseen yhtiötä olisi hallitus suostuwainen päästämään wäriteollisuudessa käytettäwän alkoholin denaturoituna tullitta maahan. Siinä pääpiirteet, millä keinoin kotimainen, saksalaisista riippumaton wäriteollisuus Englannissa aiotaan saada syntymään.
Yritys on aiottu etupäässä kotimaista tarwetta warten. Rahassa laskettuna se lienee nykyisin noin 50 milj. markkaa wuodessa. Mutta kun ottaa lukuun, että wäriteollisuudessa jo on warsin wanhat ja wankat juuret Englannissa — siellähän se alun pitäen syntyikin —, että Englannissakin yhä enemmän aletaan kiinnittää huomiota kemialliseen koulutukseen ja että Saksa näihin asti on saanut suurimman osan wäriteollisuudessaan käyttämästään kiwihiiliterwasta Englannista, emme omasta puolestamme epäile asian onnistumista. Ja jos niin käy, tulewnt monet niistä maista, jotka wäreihin nähden owat joko kokonaan kai suurimmalta osalta olleet Saksasta riippuwaisia, saamaan wäritarpeensa Englannista. Sillä yrityksellä on epäilemättä edellytyksiä hywin nopeaan muuttua maailmanteollisuudeksi. Ja eritoten silloin jos englantilaiset saawat alusmaansa myöskin asiaan innostumaan. Siihen nähden, mitä saksalaiset owat suomalaisia wärienkäyttäjiä tuotteillaan werottaneet, on meillä täysi syy toiwoa, että wäriteollisnuden juurruttaminen wenäläiseen ja englantilaiseen maaperään täysin onnistuisi.
Paints.
Manufacturer and builder 4, 1880
Those who have had experience with many of the paints sold in the market, have been taught by that experience that cheap paint does not pay, lacking as [] those characteristics which a good article should possess in order to give satisfaction. Especially is this so at present when the cost of all materials entering into the composition of paint has greatly advanced. Many mixtures sold under the name of "paint" are simply washes, and it in scarcely necessary to state that these counterfeits of the true article have been very saccessfully palmed off to those looking to cheapness rather than to the quality of the material they were buying. This dear-bought experience, however, has been sufficient in the majority of instances to deter these would be economists from falling a second time into their error, they haying become thoroughly convinced from the knowledge gained that the old saying, "The best is the cheapest," is as true when applied to paint as to any other article of merchandise. It is not difficult to discover how the manufacturers of cheap paint are able to undersell honest dealers. Every kind of adulteration is resorted to; inferior oils, such as rosin and cotton-seed oils, gums held in solution with benzine, and other so-called "combination oils," are employed, as well as the not unusual dilution by the addition of from ones half to two-thirds of alkaline water. Such being the fact, it is not strange that the manufacturers of these washes are enabled to "cut under." The surprising part of the matter is that they charge no much in view of the inferior article they furnish; it is evident that their profile, even at their prices, must be something enormous.
In 1873, the average prices to dealers for materials used in making paint were as follows: Linseed oil, 62 cents; white lead, [] cents; zinc, 5 cents; spirits of turpentine, 26 cents. Prices now are: Oil, 85 cents; lead, 9 cents; zinc, 7½ cents; turpentine, 48 cents, and coloring pigments, dryers, etc., have advanced in similar proportion (with an upward tendency), making an average advance of nearly 40 per cent on all materials used in good oil paints.
Now, as paints made only of good materials must cost about 40 per cent more than last year — labor, coal, packages, etc., having also advanced, it is evident that manufacturers must make an approximate advance in their prices, or by not doing so, practically acknowledge either that they do business without profit, or that they use inferior materials this year, or that they most have always used inferior materials and charged higher prices than their goods were worth; and if a manufacturer advances his prices only 5 or 10 per cent, inferences can easily be drawn, for there has yet been discovered no way to it one dollar's worth of materials together at a cost of seventy-five cents.
It is refreshing to find in the trade, manufacturers who are using their efforts to expose the "cheap men," and are counteracting their false pretensions by furnishing a first-class article at a fair price; notably among these are the H. W. Johns Manufacturing Co., of 87 Maiden Line, New York, whose excellent asbestos liquid paints have been frequently commended by us for their beauty and durability. Although these pants are of course higher in price than those referred to in the beginning of this article, they are infinitely cheaper in the end, as has already been made obvious. The manufacturers of these paints state that, notwithstanding the rise in prices noted, they will make no change in the quality, and, as heretofore, shall make but one grade of paints — that is, the best whirls can be produced from the best and purest materials; but owtug to the immense increase in the demand fur their paints, and increased manufacturing facilities, they purpose for the present giving their customers the advantage of favorable contracts they have made for a portion of their raw materials, and make an advance of less than 25 per cent un their average prices of last year. They also call attention to the fact, that the average weight of their shade paints is 15½ pounds, exclusive of packages, or 16½ pounds in gallon cans. Their outside and inside whites weigh respectively 2 and 2¼ pounds more than their shades, and if reduced with linseed oil to the same weight, would cost no more; its other words, the cost per pound is about the same, the additional weight being necessary in consequence of the natural transparency of the purest white, which they use exclusively its connection with clarified Calcutta linseed oil, producing a full bodied liquid white, two coats of which they claim will be found equal to three of any other in covering properties, nail superior in brilliancy and durability to the best white lead. They claim theirs to be the most perfect paints ever made for structural purposes, and that they command their price for the reason that they are not only better and worth the difference, but are in fact more econotnical for the consumer.
For twenty-two years the above company have made a specialty of manufacturing preservative paints and coatings for wood, metals, fabrics, etc. Six years since the manufacture of liquid paints for general structural purposes was commenced by them on an extensive scale, Some of the finest public and private buildings and most extensive structures in the country are decorated with these paints, among others the United States Capitol at Washington, the Metropolitan Elevoted Railroad of New York, etc., as well an thousands of the better classes of dwellings.
The manufacturers have again recently doubled the capacity of their point works, and claim their facilities for manufacturing are not equaled by those of any other paint manufacturer in this country.
Those who have had experience with many of the paints sold in the market, have been taught by that experience that cheap paint does not pay, lacking as [] those characteristics which a good article should possess in order to give satisfaction. Especially is this so at present when the cost of all materials entering into the composition of paint has greatly advanced. Many mixtures sold under the name of "paint" are simply washes, and it in scarcely necessary to state that these counterfeits of the true article have been very saccessfully palmed off to those looking to cheapness rather than to the quality of the material they were buying. This dear-bought experience, however, has been sufficient in the majority of instances to deter these would be economists from falling a second time into their error, they haying become thoroughly convinced from the knowledge gained that the old saying, "The best is the cheapest," is as true when applied to paint as to any other article of merchandise. It is not difficult to discover how the manufacturers of cheap paint are able to undersell honest dealers. Every kind of adulteration is resorted to; inferior oils, such as rosin and cotton-seed oils, gums held in solution with benzine, and other so-called "combination oils," are employed, as well as the not unusual dilution by the addition of from ones half to two-thirds of alkaline water. Such being the fact, it is not strange that the manufacturers of these washes are enabled to "cut under." The surprising part of the matter is that they charge no much in view of the inferior article they furnish; it is evident that their profile, even at their prices, must be something enormous.
In 1873, the average prices to dealers for materials used in making paint were as follows: Linseed oil, 62 cents; white lead, [] cents; zinc, 5 cents; spirits of turpentine, 26 cents. Prices now are: Oil, 85 cents; lead, 9 cents; zinc, 7½ cents; turpentine, 48 cents, and coloring pigments, dryers, etc., have advanced in similar proportion (with an upward tendency), making an average advance of nearly 40 per cent on all materials used in good oil paints.
Now, as paints made only of good materials must cost about 40 per cent more than last year — labor, coal, packages, etc., having also advanced, it is evident that manufacturers must make an approximate advance in their prices, or by not doing so, practically acknowledge either that they do business without profit, or that they use inferior materials this year, or that they most have always used inferior materials and charged higher prices than their goods were worth; and if a manufacturer advances his prices only 5 or 10 per cent, inferences can easily be drawn, for there has yet been discovered no way to it one dollar's worth of materials together at a cost of seventy-five cents.
It is refreshing to find in the trade, manufacturers who are using their efforts to expose the "cheap men," and are counteracting their false pretensions by furnishing a first-class article at a fair price; notably among these are the H. W. Johns Manufacturing Co., of 87 Maiden Line, New York, whose excellent asbestos liquid paints have been frequently commended by us for their beauty and durability. Although these pants are of course higher in price than those referred to in the beginning of this article, they are infinitely cheaper in the end, as has already been made obvious. The manufacturers of these paints state that, notwithstanding the rise in prices noted, they will make no change in the quality, and, as heretofore, shall make but one grade of paints — that is, the best whirls can be produced from the best and purest materials; but owtug to the immense increase in the demand fur their paints, and increased manufacturing facilities, they purpose for the present giving their customers the advantage of favorable contracts they have made for a portion of their raw materials, and make an advance of less than 25 per cent un their average prices of last year. They also call attention to the fact, that the average weight of their shade paints is 15½ pounds, exclusive of packages, or 16½ pounds in gallon cans. Their outside and inside whites weigh respectively 2 and 2¼ pounds more than their shades, and if reduced with linseed oil to the same weight, would cost no more; its other words, the cost per pound is about the same, the additional weight being necessary in consequence of the natural transparency of the purest white, which they use exclusively its connection with clarified Calcutta linseed oil, producing a full bodied liquid white, two coats of which they claim will be found equal to three of any other in covering properties, nail superior in brilliancy and durability to the best white lead. They claim theirs to be the most perfect paints ever made for structural purposes, and that they command their price for the reason that they are not only better and worth the difference, but are in fact more econotnical for the consumer.
For twenty-two years the above company have made a specialty of manufacturing preservative paints and coatings for wood, metals, fabrics, etc. Six years since the manufacture of liquid paints for general structural purposes was commenced by them on an extensive scale, Some of the finest public and private buildings and most extensive structures in the country are decorated with these paints, among others the United States Capitol at Washington, the Metropolitan Elevoted Railroad of New York, etc., as well an thousands of the better classes of dwellings.
The manufacturers have again recently doubled the capacity of their point works, and claim their facilities for manufacturing are not equaled by those of any other paint manufacturer in this country.
5.4.20
Chemical Test Papers.
Manufacturer and builder 10, 1881
Among the most useful, though at the came time the most simple, auxiliaries in the lands of the analytical chemist, are "test papers." These are small strips of bibulous paper which have been saturated with certain vegetable tinctures, and indicate, by an immediate change of color, the presence of an acid or an alkali in a given solution. They are made up in the form of little books, and strip can be readily torn off when required. Blue litmus paper has been steeped in a tincture made from a kind of lichen (Rocella tinctoria) growing abundantly in the Canary and Cape Verd Islands. This paper turns red when dipped into a liquid having an acid reaction. Red litmus paper, which had been reddened by an acid, is used as a feet for alkalies, which restores the blue color. An amusing experiment may be performed by placing a drop of some acid at the bottom of a tall vessel, and pouring in a solution of blue litmus. The blue color is immediately changed to red. The experiment may be reversed by pouring the reddened liquid into another vessel containing a drop of ammonia. The blue color will reappear. These changes appear extraordinary to the uninitiated. Yellow turmeric paper has been steeped in a tincture made from the roots of the Curcuma longa, a plant growing in all parts of Bengal. Its color is changed by alkalies to brown. It must not bo forgotten that this property is possessed by some substances that are not, strictly speaking, alkalies. For instance, carbonate of soda is a salt, but it changes red litmus to blue; we can, therefore, only say with correctness that it has an alkaline reaction. There are other test papers, such as ozone papers, for detecting ozone in the atmosphere. These are impregnated with starch paste and iodide of potassium, and turn blue when acted upon by minute quantities of ozone. Then we have lead-papers, which turn black on exposure to sulphuretted hydrogen.
Among the most useful, though at the came time the most simple, auxiliaries in the lands of the analytical chemist, are "test papers." These are small strips of bibulous paper which have been saturated with certain vegetable tinctures, and indicate, by an immediate change of color, the presence of an acid or an alkali in a given solution. They are made up in the form of little books, and strip can be readily torn off when required. Blue litmus paper has been steeped in a tincture made from a kind of lichen (Rocella tinctoria) growing abundantly in the Canary and Cape Verd Islands. This paper turns red when dipped into a liquid having an acid reaction. Red litmus paper, which had been reddened by an acid, is used as a feet for alkalies, which restores the blue color. An amusing experiment may be performed by placing a drop of some acid at the bottom of a tall vessel, and pouring in a solution of blue litmus. The blue color is immediately changed to red. The experiment may be reversed by pouring the reddened liquid into another vessel containing a drop of ammonia. The blue color will reappear. These changes appear extraordinary to the uninitiated. Yellow turmeric paper has been steeped in a tincture made from the roots of the Curcuma longa, a plant growing in all parts of Bengal. Its color is changed by alkalies to brown. It must not bo forgotten that this property is possessed by some substances that are not, strictly speaking, alkalies. For instance, carbonate of soda is a salt, but it changes red litmus to blue; we can, therefore, only say with correctness that it has an alkaline reaction. There are other test papers, such as ozone papers, for detecting ozone in the atmosphere. These are impregnated with starch paste and iodide of potassium, and turn blue when acted upon by minute quantities of ozone. Then we have lead-papers, which turn black on exposure to sulphuretted hydrogen.
Maataloutta. Rakennuksien maalaaminen.
Iisalmen Sanomat 74, 10.7.1926
Muutamia huomioita ja ohjeita yksinkertaisimmista maataloustöistä.
Paljon on maassamme wielä "harmaita koteja" ulkonaisestikin. Ja wärikkäistäkin löytää aina paikan ja toisen, jossa on korjauksen waraa. Kelirikon aikana saa "tekewäkin" monesti etsimttää etsiä sopiwaa hommaa. Kewät ja kewätkesä aina heinäaikaan asti on muutenkin sopiwa aika maalaustöitten suoritukselle. Katselkaammepa siis ymparillemme emmekö wain löydätin aiwan kotinurkista tätä kelle hywänsä sopiwaa, mutta silti hyödyllistä ja sopiwaa hommaa. Maalatkaamme harmaus pois kodeistamme! Hiukan wain huolta ja jokunen markka likoon, niin jo tuli lisää kauneutta ja ilon aihetta kotiimme. - Mutta maalauksesta on myös hyötyä. Kauemminkin kestäwät puiset rakennuksen osat jos ne owat maalilla ajan hammasta wastaan suojattu. Harwemmin syttyy pärekatto kipinöistä, jos sopiwa maali estää sen sammaloitumasta. "Ei mikään niin kannata kuin talonkaupat ja punamultatynnörin käyttö onkin sananpartena.
"Wirheellisesti tehty työ tulee kalleimmaksi" pitää paikkansa maalaukseenkin nähden. Siksipä koetamme antaa tässä muutamia ohjeita yksinkertaisimpien maalaustöiden suorituksesta.
Höyläämättömän puunpinnan maalaus waatii wähimmän ammattitaitoa. Sehän suoritetaan joko kotona keitetyllä wärillä, joka tulee halwimmaksi tai kaupoista saatawilla kiwennäiswäreillä. Monia keittowärin reseptejä on olemassa, mutta otettakon tähän wain seuraawa. Vedessä liuotetaan 1 kg. liimaa ja toisessa astiassa samoin 2 kg. wihtrilliä. Kahden tunnin liukenemisen jälkeen keitetään ne yhdessä lisäten 5 kg. ruisjauhoja sekä, jonkun aikaa keitettyä, 10 kg. italianpunasta ja 6 ltr. puuterwaa. Jos haluaa waalentaa wäriä, woi sekoittaa liitujauhoa. Keittäessä tehdän seos wettä lisäämällä sopiwaksi siwellä. - Keltainen keittowäri tehdään keittämällä 2 kg. wihtrilliä, 2 kg. ruisjauhoja ja 1 litra suoloja sekä lisäämällä jonkun aikaa keitettyä 8 kg. keltamultaa ja liitujauhoa tai punamultaa sen mukaan miten tummaksi tai waaleaksi wäri halutaan. Keittowäri paranee mitä kauemmin sitä keittää. - Seuraawa keittämätön wäri on myös kehuttu: 4 ltr. kuorittua maitoa, ½ kg. semen.iä, 100 gr. maaliöljyä ja tarpeen mukaan punamultaa sekoitetaan keskenään. - Keittowäreistä on kestäwin ja peittäwin punainen wäri. Se onkin kaunis wäri luonnon keskellä, joskaan ei yhtä sopiwa tiheissä asutusryhmissä. Jos pelätään liikaa punaisuutta katon sekä seinien ollessa punaiset, niin woidaan pärekatto siwellä terwawedellä, tai terwaöljyllä (saadaan 180 kg. tynnöreissä 3:— kg.), jonka sekaan woi sekoittaa keltamultaa, jolloin saadaan kaunis hopeaan wiwahtawa wäri. Seinät woidaan tällöin maalata punaisiksi sekä listat ja nurkkawuorit walkoisiksi. Tai maalataan katto punaiseksi ja seinät keltaiseksi (tai ruskeaksi) keitto- tai terwawärillä.
Yleensä on seinäwäreinä paras käyttää tummia wärejä, jotta tekewät lämpöisemmän waikutuksen kuin waaleat värit. Warsinkin jos maalattawa pinta on rapistunut tai kirjawa seinä, eiwät waaleat wärit ole tarpseksi tasoittawia. - Ulkomaalauksissa ei öljywäriä ole wälttämätöntä käyttää muualla kuin asuinrakennuksen ikkunoissa ja listoituksessa. Jos warat owat pienet woi listoituksenkin tehdä höyläämättömistä laudoista ja peittää esim. hapahkoon maitoon (mieluummin koko maitoon) wiruwaksi watkatulla liitujauhoseoksella. Kun liutoitukseen menee kuitenkin werrattain wähän öljywäriäkin, saa kestäwämmän pinnan jos listat höylätään ja maalataan öljywärillä (lyijywalkoisella). - Öljywäri tulee kalliimmaksi ja waatii suurem- paa ammattitaitoa. Siksi on sen käyttö supistettawa wain asuinrakennuksen sisäosia käsittäwäksi. Siellä öljywäri on puhtaussyistä suositeltawa. Sensijaan sellaisiin kosteissa paikoissa olewiin rakennuksen osiin kuin kuistien ja portaitten lattioihin, eläinsuojien laipioihin y. m. puuosiin, jopa owiin (paras terwata jo lautoina joka puolelta) ja ikkunoihin (myös saunassa ja kellareissa) ei öljywäri ole sopiwa. Jos tarkastaa öljymaalausta tällaisissa paikoissa, niin huomaa useimmiten, miten maali alkaa helpeillen lähteä irti puusta. Jos tällöin ei heti raawita pois rapistuwaa maalia, niin seisoo wesi maalin ja puun wälissä ja on luonnollisesti tällöin wain pahennukseksi. Tällainen maalin irtautuminen johtuu usein myös huonosta työn suorituksesta, sillä harwoinhan tällaisiin töihin tulee ammattimaalareita hankituksi. Mutta sitä suuremmalla syyllä on tällaiset rakennusosat parempi suojata edellä mainitulla tersaöljyllä tai tärpätillä ohennetulla terwalla, joitten sekaan soi wäriksi panna kelta- tai punamultaa. Siseltäsän puun täytyy saan ehdottomasti olla kuiwaa ja terwaseos kuumaa, että se imeytyy puun sisään, eikä jää pintaan, josta se myöhemminkään ei tahdo hywin kuiwua tarttumajomaksi. Owia terwatessa tai maalatessa ei tule unohtaa owen alasyrjääkään, sillä sen kautta kosteus kynnyksestä juuri pahimmin imeytyy oween. Ulkorakennusten owet on eroitukseksi asuinhuonerakennusten owista sopiwa maalata wanhaan hywään tapaan mustaksi sekoittamalla terwaan setää "kimröökiä". - Tässä ei ole tilaisuutta tarkemmin käsitellä öljywärimaalausta. Tulkoon wain että on käytettäwä ohuitta maalia ja siweltäwä ennen useampaan kertaan. Pohjasiwelyn jälkeen oksat spriilakataan. Öljywärillä peitettäwän puun tulee olla ehdottoman kuiwaa, jota wastoin wesiwärimaalaus miltei sopiwimmin käy kosteahkoon puuhun. - Maaliseosta on tottumattoman paras tehdä koko tarwittawa määrä tai ainakin yhden maalattawan seinäosan tai kattoloppeen osuus, sillä eri seokset woiwat tulla erilaisia, jolloin syntyy rumia työsaumoja.
Sanotaan, että siwistyksemme nuoruus ja pintapuolisuus näyttäiksi esim. siinä, että tarpeeksi arwostelewasti hyljätään kaiken uuden tieltä sellaistakin wanhaa, jota ansaitsisi paremman kohtalon. Pienenä osoituksena tästä woisi ehkä pitää m. m. sitä että öljywäriäkin tahdotaan täyttää sellaisissakin paikoissa, joihin se ei sowa ja unohdetaan tuo esi-isäimme kunniassa pitämä kolmas kolmesta hywästä, wiinasta, saunasta ja terwasta, tuo rehti suomalainen puuterwa. "Minkäs teet niin tee terwan kanssa", neuwoi ennen isä poikaansa. Nyt se enää tuskin kelpaa weneen ja kengän pohjiin käytettäwäksi (wiinan saadessa liiankin suuren käytännön). Ja kuitenkin on terwa eri muodoissa kelwollinen, halpa ja kauniskin puun säilytysaine. Onhan oikealla tawalla siwelty owikin kuin kaunis, petsattu huonekalu. Terwaa ei tottumattominkaan woi käyttää siinä määrin wirheellisesti että siitä koituisi wain wahinkoa, kuten öljywäriä. Sanotaan esim. Ruotsissa waatiwissa huwiloissa y. m. käytettäwän terwaa ulkomaalauksessa, parwekkeissa y. m. s. Elkäämme siis mekään hyljeksikö sitä ainakaan sen wuoksi, että se on niin halpaa ja ehta kotimaista.
Hywin maalattuna on wähäpätöisin töllikin kaunis ja puoleensa wetäwän näköinen, jotawastoin hywästikin rakennettu talo näyttää yksitoikkoiselta ja ilottomalta maalaamattomana. Niinhän tuwan punainen seinä loistaa wihreän kaswillisuuden lomitse tuin kypsä mansikka aholla. Siweltimet siis heilumaan joka talossa ja "nurkat" uuteen uskoon. Iloisemmaksi siitä mielen saa ja elämänhalu kaswaa.
- E. R. S.
Muutamia huomioita ja ohjeita yksinkertaisimmista maataloustöistä.
Paljon on maassamme wielä "harmaita koteja" ulkonaisestikin. Ja wärikkäistäkin löytää aina paikan ja toisen, jossa on korjauksen waraa. Kelirikon aikana saa "tekewäkin" monesti etsimttää etsiä sopiwaa hommaa. Kewät ja kewätkesä aina heinäaikaan asti on muutenkin sopiwa aika maalaustöitten suoritukselle. Katselkaammepa siis ymparillemme emmekö wain löydätin aiwan kotinurkista tätä kelle hywänsä sopiwaa, mutta silti hyödyllistä ja sopiwaa hommaa. Maalatkaamme harmaus pois kodeistamme! Hiukan wain huolta ja jokunen markka likoon, niin jo tuli lisää kauneutta ja ilon aihetta kotiimme. - Mutta maalauksesta on myös hyötyä. Kauemminkin kestäwät puiset rakennuksen osat jos ne owat maalilla ajan hammasta wastaan suojattu. Harwemmin syttyy pärekatto kipinöistä, jos sopiwa maali estää sen sammaloitumasta. "Ei mikään niin kannata kuin talonkaupat ja punamultatynnörin käyttö onkin sananpartena.
"Wirheellisesti tehty työ tulee kalleimmaksi" pitää paikkansa maalaukseenkin nähden. Siksipä koetamme antaa tässä muutamia ohjeita yksinkertaisimpien maalaustöiden suorituksesta.
Höyläämättömän puunpinnan maalaus waatii wähimmän ammattitaitoa. Sehän suoritetaan joko kotona keitetyllä wärillä, joka tulee halwimmaksi tai kaupoista saatawilla kiwennäiswäreillä. Monia keittowärin reseptejä on olemassa, mutta otettakon tähän wain seuraawa. Vedessä liuotetaan 1 kg. liimaa ja toisessa astiassa samoin 2 kg. wihtrilliä. Kahden tunnin liukenemisen jälkeen keitetään ne yhdessä lisäten 5 kg. ruisjauhoja sekä, jonkun aikaa keitettyä, 10 kg. italianpunasta ja 6 ltr. puuterwaa. Jos haluaa waalentaa wäriä, woi sekoittaa liitujauhoa. Keittäessä tehdän seos wettä lisäämällä sopiwaksi siwellä. - Keltainen keittowäri tehdään keittämällä 2 kg. wihtrilliä, 2 kg. ruisjauhoja ja 1 litra suoloja sekä lisäämällä jonkun aikaa keitettyä 8 kg. keltamultaa ja liitujauhoa tai punamultaa sen mukaan miten tummaksi tai waaleaksi wäri halutaan. Keittowäri paranee mitä kauemmin sitä keittää. - Seuraawa keittämätön wäri on myös kehuttu: 4 ltr. kuorittua maitoa, ½ kg. semen.iä, 100 gr. maaliöljyä ja tarpeen mukaan punamultaa sekoitetaan keskenään. - Keittowäreistä on kestäwin ja peittäwin punainen wäri. Se onkin kaunis wäri luonnon keskellä, joskaan ei yhtä sopiwa tiheissä asutusryhmissä. Jos pelätään liikaa punaisuutta katon sekä seinien ollessa punaiset, niin woidaan pärekatto siwellä terwawedellä, tai terwaöljyllä (saadaan 180 kg. tynnöreissä 3:— kg.), jonka sekaan woi sekoittaa keltamultaa, jolloin saadaan kaunis hopeaan wiwahtawa wäri. Seinät woidaan tällöin maalata punaisiksi sekä listat ja nurkkawuorit walkoisiksi. Tai maalataan katto punaiseksi ja seinät keltaiseksi (tai ruskeaksi) keitto- tai terwawärillä.
Yleensä on seinäwäreinä paras käyttää tummia wärejä, jotta tekewät lämpöisemmän waikutuksen kuin waaleat värit. Warsinkin jos maalattawa pinta on rapistunut tai kirjawa seinä, eiwät waaleat wärit ole tarpseksi tasoittawia. - Ulkomaalauksissa ei öljywäriä ole wälttämätöntä käyttää muualla kuin asuinrakennuksen ikkunoissa ja listoituksessa. Jos warat owat pienet woi listoituksenkin tehdä höyläämättömistä laudoista ja peittää esim. hapahkoon maitoon (mieluummin koko maitoon) wiruwaksi watkatulla liitujauhoseoksella. Kun liutoitukseen menee kuitenkin werrattain wähän öljywäriäkin, saa kestäwämmän pinnan jos listat höylätään ja maalataan öljywärillä (lyijywalkoisella). - Öljywäri tulee kalliimmaksi ja waatii suurem- paa ammattitaitoa. Siksi on sen käyttö supistettawa wain asuinrakennuksen sisäosia käsittäwäksi. Siellä öljywäri on puhtaussyistä suositeltawa. Sensijaan sellaisiin kosteissa paikoissa olewiin rakennuksen osiin kuin kuistien ja portaitten lattioihin, eläinsuojien laipioihin y. m. puuosiin, jopa owiin (paras terwata jo lautoina joka puolelta) ja ikkunoihin (myös saunassa ja kellareissa) ei öljywäri ole sopiwa. Jos tarkastaa öljymaalausta tällaisissa paikoissa, niin huomaa useimmiten, miten maali alkaa helpeillen lähteä irti puusta. Jos tällöin ei heti raawita pois rapistuwaa maalia, niin seisoo wesi maalin ja puun wälissä ja on luonnollisesti tällöin wain pahennukseksi. Tällainen maalin irtautuminen johtuu usein myös huonosta työn suorituksesta, sillä harwoinhan tällaisiin töihin tulee ammattimaalareita hankituksi. Mutta sitä suuremmalla syyllä on tällaiset rakennusosat parempi suojata edellä mainitulla tersaöljyllä tai tärpätillä ohennetulla terwalla, joitten sekaan soi wäriksi panna kelta- tai punamultaa. Siseltäsän puun täytyy saan ehdottomasti olla kuiwaa ja terwaseos kuumaa, että se imeytyy puun sisään, eikä jää pintaan, josta se myöhemminkään ei tahdo hywin kuiwua tarttumajomaksi. Owia terwatessa tai maalatessa ei tule unohtaa owen alasyrjääkään, sillä sen kautta kosteus kynnyksestä juuri pahimmin imeytyy oween. Ulkorakennusten owet on eroitukseksi asuinhuonerakennusten owista sopiwa maalata wanhaan hywään tapaan mustaksi sekoittamalla terwaan setää "kimröökiä". - Tässä ei ole tilaisuutta tarkemmin käsitellä öljywärimaalausta. Tulkoon wain että on käytettäwä ohuitta maalia ja siweltäwä ennen useampaan kertaan. Pohjasiwelyn jälkeen oksat spriilakataan. Öljywärillä peitettäwän puun tulee olla ehdottoman kuiwaa, jota wastoin wesiwärimaalaus miltei sopiwimmin käy kosteahkoon puuhun. - Maaliseosta on tottumattoman paras tehdä koko tarwittawa määrä tai ainakin yhden maalattawan seinäosan tai kattoloppeen osuus, sillä eri seokset woiwat tulla erilaisia, jolloin syntyy rumia työsaumoja.
Sanotaan, että siwistyksemme nuoruus ja pintapuolisuus näyttäiksi esim. siinä, että tarpeeksi arwostelewasti hyljätään kaiken uuden tieltä sellaistakin wanhaa, jota ansaitsisi paremman kohtalon. Pienenä osoituksena tästä woisi ehkä pitää m. m. sitä että öljywäriäkin tahdotaan täyttää sellaisissakin paikoissa, joihin se ei sowa ja unohdetaan tuo esi-isäimme kunniassa pitämä kolmas kolmesta hywästä, wiinasta, saunasta ja terwasta, tuo rehti suomalainen puuterwa. "Minkäs teet niin tee terwan kanssa", neuwoi ennen isä poikaansa. Nyt se enää tuskin kelpaa weneen ja kengän pohjiin käytettäwäksi (wiinan saadessa liiankin suuren käytännön). Ja kuitenkin on terwa eri muodoissa kelwollinen, halpa ja kauniskin puun säilytysaine. Onhan oikealla tawalla siwelty owikin kuin kaunis, petsattu huonekalu. Terwaa ei tottumattominkaan woi käyttää siinä määrin wirheellisesti että siitä koituisi wain wahinkoa, kuten öljywäriä. Sanotaan esim. Ruotsissa waatiwissa huwiloissa y. m. käytettäwän terwaa ulkomaalauksessa, parwekkeissa y. m. s. Elkäämme siis mekään hyljeksikö sitä ainakaan sen wuoksi, että se on niin halpaa ja ehta kotimaista.
Hywin maalattuna on wähäpätöisin töllikin kaunis ja puoleensa wetäwän näköinen, jotawastoin hywästikin rakennettu talo näyttää yksitoikkoiselta ja ilottomalta maalaamattomana. Niinhän tuwan punainen seinä loistaa wihreän kaswillisuuden lomitse tuin kypsä mansikka aholla. Siweltimet siis heilumaan joka talossa ja "nurkat" uuteen uskoon. Iloisemmaksi siitä mielen saa ja elämänhalu kaswaa.
- E. R. S.