Smalt

“ A vitreous pigment used in porcelain painting, resulting in a rich, deep blue colour. It is prepared from smalt.
Rubelite. A precious stone not much used for jewellery. It is a species of tourmaline, red and pink in colour. ”

“ Any one who grinds smalt should do it on plates of tempered steel with a cone shaped grinder; then put it in aqua fortis, which melts away the steel that may have been worked up and mixed with the smalt, and which makes it black; it then remains purified and clean; and if you grind it on porphyry the porphyry will work up and mix with the smalt and spoil it, and aqua fortis will never remove it because it cannot dissolve the porphyry.
If you want a fine blue colour dissolve the smalt made with tartar, and then remove the salt. ”

“ We have a proverb in the craft which says: ‘Smalto sottilé e niello grosse.’ ‘Enamel should be fine, niello should be coarse,’ and that’s just what it is. You put your enamel in a little round mortar of well-hardened steel, and about the size of your palm, & then you pound it up with very clean water and with a little steel pestle specially made for the purpose of the necessary size. ”

“ Smalts of good quality is composed of particles of the same size and has a pure sky-blue colour. A shade inclining to red is generally to be ascribed to the presence of iron; material of this nature is of little value.
Smalts is not easily attacked by chemical reagents. It has been above [Pg 234] stated to belong to the easily decomposed glasses, and it is attacked by reagents which ordinary glass completely resists. Finely ground smalts is strongly attacked by boiling sulphuric acid, and, after fusion with soda, is soluble in acids. Water has some action upon smalts ”

“ To obtain smalts in an exceedingly fine state of division the best plan is to grind the colour in a little water, and then to separate the finest particle by the process of elutriation, that is, by diffusing the reduced mass through a large volume of water, and after allowing the larger particles to subside, pouring off the liquor in which the finer particles are suspended, to a separate vessel, in which they are allowed to subside. ”

“ The artist prepares his enamel colours by pounding them in an agate mortar, with a pestle of agate, and grinding them on an agate slab, with oil of lavender, rendered viscid by exposure to the sun in a shallow vessel, loosely covered with gauze or glass. The grinding of two drachms of enamel pigment into an impalpable powder, will occupy a labourer a whole day. The painter should have alongside of him a stove in which a moderate fire is kept up, for drying his work whenever the figures are finished. ”

“ Stain is, however, used of giving an intended and perhaps pleasing color to wood, glass, etc., by an application of coloring-matter which enters the substance a little below the surface, in distinction from painting, in which coloring-matter is spread upon the surface; dyeing is generally said of wool, yarn, cloth, or similar materials which are dipped into the coloring liquid. Figuratively, a standard or a garment may be dyed with blood in honorable warfare; an assassin's weapon is stained with the blood of his victim. ”

“ Then when you want to apply your enamels, having put a morsel of each colour on your palette (the finger palette I described to you above fixed on to the stem of your leaden pear) you mix with every bit of enamel you lay on your work, a tiny drop of this quince-seed-water, the effect of which is to produce a kind of gum which holds the enamels together so that they don’t fall, & no other gum has a like effect. ”

“ The gloss, or enamel, as it is sometimes called, is produced mainly by friction with a warm iron, and may be put on linen by almost any person. The linen to be glazed receives as much strong starch as it is possible to charge it with, then it is dried. To each pound of starch a piece of sperm or white wax, about the size of a walnut, is usually added. ”

“ Enamel is coloured white by oxide of tin, blue by oxide of cobalt, red by gold, and green by copper. Different kinds of enamel are (1) inlaid or incrusted. (2) Transparent, showing designs on the metal under it. (3) Painted as a complete picture. “Many fine specimens of ancient Chinese enamel were seen in the Exhibition of 1851. They have the enamel on copper, beautifully coloured and enlivened with figures of flowers, birds, and other animals. The colouring is most chaste and effective. ”

“ The perfect scouring of silks removes from 20 to 27% of their weight, according to the character of the silk and the amount of soap or oil used in the working. Scouring renders all common silks, whether white or yellow in the raw, a brilliant pearly white, with a delicate soft flossy texture, from the fact that the fibres which were agglutinated in reeling, being now degummed, are separated from each other and show their individual tenuity in the yarn. ”

“ With plenty of brains, sensual, dry and passionate, observing everything, calculating everything, unweariable, unbreakable, fragile, yes, like a willow that bends and—bing!—comes lashing back, made of solid cement under the friable enamel. ”

“ Haviland & Co., who may be taken as a standard, classify their faïences into six groups—viz. cream faïences, which are thus named from their color, and which are decorated with paintings under the enamel or with translucid enamels; enamelled paintings, possessing all the tone, richness and variety of oil-paintings; grand-fire fresco paintings, or exact representations of wall frescoes, and especially adapted for panels or architectural ornaments; gilt enamels, reproducing Chinese lac-paintings or vases of precious stones; Limoges enamels, very similar to the ancient enamels of Léonard Limousin ”

“ To produce enamel decorations at their true value the color should be painted upon the dry glaze before it is burned. The best relation between surface and color is thus secured. The color must be worked quite thin with water and a little glycerine. A quick, sure stroke is needed as no change or erasure is possible. ”

“ Deep grooves are painted from the corners of the nose, a sunken appearance given to the temples, and crows' feet drawn from the eyes.
The high lights come above the wrinkles; and are placed on the most prominent parts of the forehead.
The beard, which is of a mixture of black, deep red, and grey hair, is next gummed into position, taking care that no grease paint is on any part of the face to which the gum is to be applied. ”

“ Wine stains, fruit stains, beer stains, water stains, paint stains, pitch stains, any stains—all come out at one rub with the infallible and invaluable composition. If a lady stains her honour, she has only need to swallow one cake and she’s cured at once—for it’s poison. If a [204] gentleman wants to prove his, he has only need to bolt one little square, and he has put it beyond question—for it’s quite as satisfactory as a pistol-bullet, and a great deal nastier in the flavour, consequently the more credit in taking it. ”

“ Cloisonné enamel is that in which the cloisons or cells are formed by soldering thin, flat wire of metal upon a plate of copper, the cloisons, being filled with the various enamels, in powder or in paste, then, in order to vitrify the enamel, exposed to heat in a kiln, if upon a flat surface, or by the aid of a blow-pipe if upon a curved surface. ”

“ Enamel may be applied to metal objects and add a great deal to their value and attractiveness if used sparingly. The enamels most used are transparent and opaque; the transparent reflects the color of the metal adding a great deal of life to the work, the opaque gives color on the surface only. ”

“ Drawing slate is sometimes used as a black colour for painting. For this purpose it is pounded or ground, and then mixed with oil or size, according to the kind of work for which it is required. When black chalk is strongly heated, it loses its colour, and assumes that of a reddish grey.
122. HONE, or WHET SLATE, is a well-known kind of stone, of somewhat slaty texture, and generally of dull white, or greenish grey colour. Its surface is smooth, and feels unctuous to the touch. ”

“ The soft silkiness of hair he often expresses by free and flowing lines, some of which, breaking away from the principal mass, are relieved against the background, breaking the monotony of the workmanship, and suggesting movement by their vagueness of contour. Often, too, certain loose lines, either broken or continued without crossing in different directions, admirably distinguish the natures of certain substances, and imitate to perfection the soft richness of furs or the sheen of satin. ”

“ These are formed in the shape of a wedge, and by the following wonderful provision of nature have always a fine, sharp, cutting edge. On examining them carefully, we find that the inner part is of a soft, ivory-like composition, which may be easily worn away, whereas the outside is composed of a glass-like enamel, which is excessively hard. ”

“ A thin face, delicately sharp in outline, a hatchet-face it might be called unkindly, is set in bushy masses of crisp hair, whose reddish gold is wonderfully clear and beautiful in tint. The face, too, is fresh and fair in colour. ”

“ Under the new manners, and since the introduction of the graceful lounge, the antimacassar doubtless has saved many ancestral works, but nowadays we wear neither powder nor pomatum. On the contrary, we dye, dry, and frizzle our hair till it might serve as a brush to remove any dust it encountered, and it spoils nothing. ”

“ To clean Silks.—A quarter-pound of soft soap, a teaspoonful of brandy, a pint of gin. Mix all well together. With a sponge or flannel spread the mixture on each side of the silk without creasing it. Wash it in two or three pails of cold water, and iron on the wrong side when rather wet.
217. To remove Stains from Silks.—Stains produced by vinegar, lemon-juice, oil of vitriol, or other sharp corrosives, may often be removed from silks by mixing a little pearlash with soap-lather and passing the silk through them. Spirits of hartshorn will also often restore the color. ”

“ It is on these scales that the lustre or gloss of the hair depends. Since lustre is due to the unbroken reflection of light from the surface of the hair, the smoother the surface, the glossier it will appear. When the scales of the cuticle are irregular and uneven, the surface of the hair will not be uniform and [24] smooth, and the light reflected from it will be broken and scattered, and consequently the hair will not possess a high degree of lustre. ”

“ When dry any bare patches of skin will have a dead appearance and require painting with oil colors thinned with turpentine to reduce the gloss. The end of the nose and lips are touched with varnish to produce the natural moist appearance. ”

“ A fourth process is rubbing the color into the grain of the paper. A fifth—a supplementary one—is scratching out. Last is the ignominy of the stipple—the wetting of the brush in the mouth, a technic entirely dependent upon the quantity of saliva the student can spare for his work. Almost every early wash water-color in existence can be classified according to the employment in its making of some or all of these means. ”

“ At the present stage of the inquiry there are, as I take it, three discoveries to make, starting from that smear. Find out (first) whether there is any article of dress in this house with the smear of the paint on it. Find out (second) who that dress belongs to. Find out (third) how the person can account for having been in this room, and smeared the paint, between midnight and three in the morning. If the person can't satisfy you, you haven't far to look for the hand that has got the Diamond. ”

“ In the case of a grisaille painted enamel the white is mixed with water or turpentine, or spike oil of lavender, or essential oil of petroleum (according to the taste of the artist) and the white is painted thickly in the light parts and thinly in the grey ones, whereby a slight sense of relief is obtained and a great degree of light and shade. ”

“ Earthen-ware is of two kinds—that showing a non-vitrified fracture, and that showing a vitrified fracture. I. Earthen-ware with non-vitrified fracture may have either a transparent glaze or an opaque enamel. 1. Transparent glaze may be plumbiferous or alkaline, and in either case colorless or colored. a. Plumbiferous.
Glaze, colorless—Faience d’Oiron or Henri Deux ware, Wedgwood, Meakin, Creil, Montereau.
Glaze, colored—Palissy, Nuremberg, Minton’s majolica. b. Alkaline.
Glaze, colorless—Persian faience, Chinese and Japanese faience; Deck, of Paris. ”

“ Shouldering one another to get next at the sharpening-stone, were men stripped to the waist, with the stain all over their limbs and bodies; men in all sorts of rags, with the stain upon those rags; men devilishly set off with spoils of women's lace and silk and ribbon, with the stain dyeing those trifles through and through. ”

“ The women steep the leaves in sea-water, and then beat them with a mallet till all the green skin comes off, leaving a beautifully white silky fibre, which they dye red, yellow, and brown, and then plait into wonderfully fine sashes, about a foot wide. ”

“ Pounded slate is advantageously used for cleaning iron and other works in metal. When well ground, and mixed with a certain proportion of loam, slate is made into moulds for the casting of metals in; and, when 80burned and coarsely ground, is used instead of sand in the making of a solid and impermeable mortar or cement, for the parts of buildings that are covered with water.
121. BLACK CHALK, or DRAWING SLATE, is an earthy substance, of slaty texture; generally of a greyish, sometimes a bluish black colour. ”