5G ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERS". 



a uniform ground, of any color required to produce the intended 

 design; as, for instance, a name-plate, or tablet, with the ground 

 white and the inscription in blue. The white ground, having 

 been fused on in the melting-furnace and allowed to cool, there is 

 then applied, with a brush evenly over the whole surface, a coat- 

 ing of blue enamel, the materials of which are finely levigated 

 and mixed with gum-Arabic and water, or other mucilage, to form 

 a paste of slightly adherent properties. 



When dry, a stencil of the inscription, or of each letter sep- 

 arately, is laid on, and the enamel paste is removed from the 

 parts which are unprotected by the stencil, by the application of 

 a stiff brush, leaving the ground clean, except the letters. The 

 plate is then again subjected to heat, whereby the paste, which is 

 fusible at a lower temperature than the ground previously laid, 

 becomes permanently fixed upon it. 



The mechanical removal, by means of a brush, enables very 

 delicate lines to be formed through the paste, to expose the en- 

 amel ground, and admits of the use of ornaments having sharp 

 angles and minute points and details to be distinctly and per- 

 fectly rendered. 



The ground may be dark, and of any color, as well as of the 

 kind described, and the subsequent coat of a lighter color; as, 

 for instance, the ground may be of blue and the inscription white, 

 and a succession of colors may be given to produce a variously 

 colored design, by the same method. 



The inscription or design may be cut out in the stencil, and the 

 ground thereby exposed be removed by the brush, instead of the 

 surrounding parts, with a like effect, it being left to the choice of 

 the designer whether this process be followed, or that previously 

 described. 



The stencils are formed of very thin sheet metal (or even of 

 paper, where they require to be used but a few times), which, by 

 their flexibility, lie more closely in contact with the surface, and 

 leave the lines" and margins of the figures perfect, while they con- 

 form to convex and irregular surfaces. 



He combines with the method described the use of artistic 

 graphic representations, such as views, portraits, or groups, 

 thereby producing metal tablets decorated in enamel, in a man- 

 ner adapted to architectural purposes, as the finishing of interiors, 

 panels for cabinet work, etc. Such designs are produced upon 

 stone in the usual lithographic manner, and printed in successive 

 impressions upon paper prepared for transferring, by having its 

 surface coated with gum-Arabic, or other substance that is soluble 

 in water, mineral colors and fluxes being used, which are -adapted 

 to fuse under heat, and combine to form the picture in enamel 

 of appropriate colors. 



The enamel ground having been fused on, as previously de- 

 scribed, for stencilling, it is covered with copal or other suitable 

 varnish, and the face of the prepared picture is laid upon it and 

 pressed, to insure adhesion of all parts, when the paper is re- 

 moved by wetting, as is ordinarily clone in transferring prints. 

 The plate is then subjected to heat until the colors of the picture 



