Lacquerware

“ The outline thus left "is now gone over with a particular kind of soft lacquer-varnish. When this industry is pursued in hot weather the varnish speedily dries, and consequently where the pattern is a good deal involved . ... a small portion only is executed at one time, and the gold powder, which enters largely into most of the lacquer-ware for the foreign market, is applied to each part as it is being executed. For this a large and very soft brush is used, and by its aid the gold powder is well rubbed in with the lacquer or varnish. ”

“ LACQUER, or Lacker, a general term for coloured and frequently opaque varnishes applied to certain metallic objects and to wood. The term is derived from the resin lac, which substance is the basis of lacquers properly so called. Technically, among Western nations, lacquering is restricted to the coating of polished metals or metallic surfaces, such as brass, pewter and tin, with prepared varnishes which will give them a golden, bronze-like or other lustre as desired. ”

“ There are very respectable-looking lacquer cabinets ranging in price from 5s. to 20l. But they are only made for the foreign market. No such things exist in a Japanese home. A really good bit of old lacquer (the best is generally made into the form of a small box, a portable medicine-chest, or a chow-chow box) is worth from 20l. to 200l. We saw one box, about three inches square, which was valued at 45l.; and a collection of really good lacquer would be costly and difficult to procure even here. The best specimens I have ever seen are at Lady Alcock's ”

“ The cold lacquer is the application of a preparation of brass lacquer, which can be purchased from any oil-shop, chemist, or metal dealer, put on with a camelhair-brush like varnish, and immediately placed in an oven or a hot stove, and exposed to the heat for a few minutes until the lacquer is quite firm and set. A gas-oven such as those in common use in so many kitchens nowadays answers the purpose very well. ”

“ LACKER, or Lacquer, is a kind of varnish, applied to brass, tin, and other metals, in order to improve their colour, and to prevent them from tarnishing.
The best lacquer is prepared from rectified spirit of wine, and seed-lac, in the proportion of three ounces of the latter to one pint of the former. The mixture is digested for some hours in a moderate heat; when the liquor is strained, and left to subside. ”

“ I called at the house of U Tha Shein, one of the chief lacquer makers, and he took me about to different huts to see the various stages of the work.
First, a "shell" is made of finely-plaited bamboo; this is covered with a black pigment and "softened" when dry by turning it on a primitive lathe and rubbing it with a piece of sand-stone. Then the red lacquer is put upon {70} the black box with the fingers, which stroke and smear it round very carefully. In Burmese the red colour is called Hinthabada, from a stone I was told they buy in Mandalay. ”

“ They are used to protect different substances from the action of the atmosphere, and to give them an elegant bright surface; woods and painted work are the chief things varnished; metals are coated with a kind of varnish called “lacquer,” this is to prevent the bright surface of the metal from being dulled by the air or damp, and to give an artificial appearance to some metals; tin, for instance, if lacquered with yellow lacquer, acquires somewhat the appearance of brass. ”

“ The most highly prized is the LACQUER ON GOLD GROUND, and the specimens of this which first reached Europe during the time of Louis XV., were presentation pieces from the Japanese Princes to some of the Dutch officials.
Gold ground lacquer is rarely found in furniture, and only as a rule in some of those charming little boxes, in which the luminous effect of the lac is heightened by the introduction of silver foliage on a minute scale, or of tiny landscape work and figures charmingly treated, partly with dull gold and partly highly burnished. ”

“ The tests of good lacquer are its exquisite finish, its satiny, oily feel, and the impossibility of making any impression on it with your thumb-nail. ItPage 318 is practically indestructible, and will wear for ever. All the poor as well as the rich people here use it, and have used it for centuries, instead of china and glass, for cups, saucers, dishes, bowls, which would need to be often washed in the hottest of water. It is said that the modern Japanese have lost the art of lacquer making ”

“ Care is requisite in brushing the dirt from fine work, and finishing it quite dry. Any thing stronger than soap, as acids, pearl-ash, or soda, will be liable to remove the lacquer.
To polish inlaid Brass Ornaments.—Mix powdered tripoli and linseed oil, and dip in it a piece of hat, with which rub the brass; then, if the wood be ebony, or dark rosewood, polish it with elder ashes in fine powder.
79. To clean Lacquer.—Make a paste of starch, one part; powdered rotten-stone, twelve parts; sweet oil, two parts; oxalic acid, one part; water to mix. ”

“ For practical purposes it is better to thin the lacquer with turpentine oil or other solvent in order to facilitate the lacquering and lessen the drying time of the lacquer. Since the lacquer-coating turns brown at a high temperature, lacquers of a light colour should be dried at 120° to 150° C.; and even those of a deep colour must not be heated above 180° C. Most pigments are blackened by lacquer ”

“ We can imagine that lacquer was at first employed as a preservative for the woodwork on which it was used as a coating, developing as time went on into a medium for artistic work of the highest order. Lacquer is not an artificial mixture such as our copal and other varnishes but is principally the natural product of the Rhus vernicifera, the Chinese lac tree, Ch’i shu. Therefore it is virtually “ready-made” when extracted. The tree abounds in central and southern China and is assiduously cultivated for its valuable sap. ”

“ The black lacquer is made by adding to crude or branch lacquer about five per cent of the tooth-dye used by women, a liquor formed by boiling iron filings in rice-vinegar, exposing to the sun, and stirring frequently for several days. ”

“ By Lacroix’ process enamel colours are made which can be applied to porcelain without further admixture with a flux; for example, a very fine blue is made by dissolving 300 parts of pure alumina and 100 parts of cobalt carbonate in nitric acid, evaporating the solution to dryness, igniting the residue and fusing it with 300 parts of quartz sand free from iron, 900 parts of crystallised boric acid and 1,800 parts of red lead. A blue glass is obtained which easily melts, but is difficult to powder ”

“ Orange lake finely tempered with shell-lac varnish.
f. (Green.) —α. From pale shell-lac, dissolved in alcohol (lacquer) , and tinged green by dissolving verdigris or acetate of copper in it.
β. From sesquiferrocyanide of iron and bichromate of potassa, of each 1⁄2 oz.; ground to an impalpable powder, first alone, and then with gum mastic (clean and also in fine powder) , 2 oz.; a little pyroxilic spirit is next added, gradually, and the whole again ground until the mass becomes homogeneous and of a fine transparent green. The beauty increases with the length of the grinding. ”

“ The yield of branch lacquer is only about one per cent in comparison with that of other lacquers, while the proportion of ninety per cent is required in working. Hence a mixture is made of various kinds of lacquers, sea-weed jelly, finely grated sweet-potatoes, and as much soot as is needed to color the mass. Each manufacturer has his own special mixture, but the extraneous additions are believed not to injure the quality of the whole. True branch lacquer becomes extremely hard when dry ”

“ Competent critics assert that Shibata Zeshin, who died as lately as 1891, was probably as great as any lacquer artist that ever existed, and that others no less skilled are still living to-day.—The lacquer poison, of which so much has been said by travellers, is never fatal, though it is extremely painful in some cases. Blood to the head, swelling, violent itching and burning, occasionally small festering boils, are the symptoms. Lacquer in any stage, except when perfectly dry, is capable of producing it. The lacquer tappers always use gloves as a protection. ”

“ Appreciation of lacquer is a taste which has to be acquired, but which, when acquired, grows upon one, and places the best lacquer in the category of almost sacred things. To show a really fine piece casually to a new-comer, or to send it home as a gift to one of the uncultivated natives of Europe or America, is, as the Japanese proverb says, "like giving guineas to a cat." ”

“ As already stated, yellows can be accentuated by a super-position of lacquer, and in the same manner blues and greys add intensity to black. Red can be strengthened by a foundation of lacquer, also flesh and yellow, either singly or in combination. The drawing of lacquer and white formes should receive the most careful attention. They should fit each other accurately, even to the most minute details; for the slightest overlapping will be revealed by the presence of a very assertive buff colour, while any deficiency in combination will leave a not less striking margin of bright tin exposed. ”

“ Chemical Composition—Lactucarium is a mixture of very different organic substances, together with 8 to 10 per cent. of inorganic matter. It is not completely taken up by any solvent, and when heated merely softens but does not melt. Nearly half the weight of lactucarium consists of a substance called Lactucerin or Lactucon, which in our opinion is closely allied to if not identical with similar substances occurring in numerous milky juices. Lactucerin as afforded by the drug under examination is probably a mixture of several bodies. ”

“ Bacillus lacticus (Bacterium acidi lactici, Zopf) is always found in milk which has stood for some time, and in sour foods (cabbage, cucumbers, etc.) ; it turns the milk sour by producing lactic acid fermentation in the sugar contained in the milk; the lactic acid formed, eventually causes the coagulation of the casein. It resembles the Vinegar-bacteria, occurring as small cylindrical cells, rarely in short rows; not self-motile.—Several other Bacteria appear to act in the same way, some occurring in the mouth of human beings; some of these Bacteria give to butter its taste and flavour. ”

“ The combustion of wax is far more perfect than that of tallow, and consequently produces a greater quantity of light and heat.
Lac is a substance very similar to wax in the manner of its formation; it is the product of an insect, which collects its ingredients from flowers, apparently for the purpose of protecting its eggs from injury. It is formed into cells, fabricated with as much skill as those of the honey-comb, 359 but differently arranged. The principal use of lac is in the manufacture of sealing-wax, and in making varnishes and lacquers. ”

“ Should the color be too dark, it may be lightened by reduction with a little spirit until the correct shade is produced. The most suitable temperature for the metal during the work is about the warmth of the hand; if too hot or too cold, the lacquer may smear, and will then have to be taken off again with spirit or hot potash lye, the goods being dried in sawdust or recleaned as at first, before applying the lacquer again. Round articles may be fixed in the lathe and the lacquer laid on with a pad of wadding. In order to color brassware, a solution of 30 parts caustic soda ”

“ PALE BRASS LACKER Take 2 galls. spirits of wine, 3 ozs. cape aloes, cut small, 1 lb. fine pale shellac, 1 oz. gamboge, cut small, no turpentine. Varnish made exactly as before, but observe, that those who make lackers frequently want some paler and some darker and sometimes inclining more to the particular tint of certain of the component ingredients; therefore if a 4 oz. vial of a strong solution of each ingredient be prepared, a lacker of any tint can be prepared at any time as by changing varnish. ”

“ MANUFACTURE OF GUM LAC BY THE LAC INSECT. Another insect of the same family as the cochineal, prepares a substance called gum lac, which is used as a dye, and also as a varnish. This is the lac insect, (coccus lacca,) found on several kinds of trees in the East Indies, especially in the uncultivated mountains on both sides the Ganges, where it is produced in such abundance, that were the consumption ten times greater than it is, the markets might be readily supplied. ”

“ One of the best of the edible species of Lactarius, known as Lactarius deliciosus, changes, wherever cut or bruised, to a dull livid green. This fungus is filled with an orange milky fluid, which becomes green on exposure to the air, and it is consequently the juice which oxidizes on exposure. Some varieties more than others of the cultivated mushroom become brownish on being cut, and a similar change we have observed, though not recorded, in other species. ”

“ A maker who can preceive it only as it is revealed by stringing on the iron is not competent to be in charge of a factory, for anybody could detect it there. The development of lactic acid is a species of fermentation induced by the spontaneous increase of inherent minute bacteria. It takes the same experience to perceive and govern it in milk and cheese as it does practice with square and compass to become a carpenter. We cannot tell you all about it—it will take many days of careful observation and fine testing to understand its nature enough to make it your servant in the cheese making art. ”