SEALING WAX 759 



applies to its cutting-point, or edge, some diamond-powder, mixed up with olive oil; 

 and turning the wheel, he holds the stone against the tool, BO as to produce the 

 wished-for delineation and erosion. A 



similar apparatus is used for engraving 1757 1758 1759 

 on glass. _. n _ n_ ^ 



In order to give the highest degree of 

 polish to the engraving, tools of box- wood, 



pewter, or copper, bedaubed with moistened tripoli or rotten-stone, and lastly a 

 brush, are fastened to the mill. These are worked like the above steel instru- 

 ments. Modern engravings on precious stones have not in general the same fine 

 polish as the ancient. 



Several varieties of machine have been of late years introduced to facilitate the 

 processes of engraving gems. Many of them involve the pentagraph, so that a seal 

 may be engraved by the machine at once, either larger or smaller than the original 

 from which it is copied. Most of these engraving machines are upon the principles 

 described xinder CARVING BY MACHINERY. 



S&AK-OXX.. See OILS. 



SEAIi-SKIM. See FURS. 



SE AUNG- WAX. (Cire a cacheter, Fr. ; Siegellack, Ger.) The Hindoos from, 

 time immemorial have possessed the resin lac, and were long accustomed to use it for 

 sealing manuscripts before it was known in Europe. It was first imported from the 

 East into Venice, and then into Spain ; in which country sealing-wax became the 

 object of a considerable commerce, under the name of Spanish-wax. 



If shellac be compounded into sealing-wax, immediately after it has been separated 

 by fusion from the palest qualities of stick or seed lac, it then forms a better and less 

 brittle article than when the shellac is fused a second time. Hence sealing-wax, 

 rightly prepared in the East Indies, deserves a preference over what can be made in 

 other countries, where the lac is not indigenous. Shellac can be restored in some 

 degree, however, to a plastic and tenacious state by melting it with a very small portion 

 of turpentine. The palest shellac is to be selected for bright-coloured sealing-wax, 

 the dark kind being reserved for black. 



The following proportions may be followed for making red sealing-wax : Take 4 

 ounces of shellac, 1 ounce of Venice turpentine, and 3 ounces of vermilion. Melt 

 tho lac in a copper pan suspended over a clear charcoal fire, then pour the turpentine 

 slowly into it, and soon afterwards add the vermilion, stirring briskly all the time of 

 the mixture with a rod in either hand. In forming the round sticks of sealing-wax, a 

 certain portion of the mass should be weighed while it is ductile, divided into the 

 desired number of pieces, and then rolled out upon a warm marble slab, by means of 

 a smooth wooden block, like that used by apothecaries for rolling a mass of pills. 

 The oval sticks of sealing-wax are cast in moulds, with the above compotmd in a state 

 of fusion. The marks of the lines of junction of the mould-box may be afterwards 

 removed by holding the sticks over a clear fire, or passing them over a blue gas-flame. 

 Marbled sealing-wax is made by mixing two, three, or more coloured kinds of it 

 while they are in a semi-fluid state. From the viscidity of the several masses, their 

 incorporation is left incomplete, so as to produce the appearance of marbling. Gold 

 sealing-wax is made simply by stirring gold-coloured mica spangles into the melted 

 resins. Wax may be scented by introducing a little essential oil, essence of musk, 

 or other perfume. If 1 part of balsam of Peru be melted along with 99 parts of the 

 sealing-wax composition, an agreeable fragrance will be exhaled in the act of sealing 

 with it. Either lamp-black or ivory-black serves for the colouring-matter of black 

 wax. Sealing-wax is often adulterated with rosin ; in which case it runs into thin 

 drops at the flame of a candle. 



The following proportions are stated to form good sealing-wax : 



Bed No. 1. 4 oz. Venetian turpentine, 6 oz. shellac, f oz. colophony, 1| oz. cinna- 

 bar, &c. 



Red No. 2. 4 oz. turpentine, 5 oz. shellac, l oz. colophony, 1J oz. cinnabar, 

 magnesia to colour. 



Fine Black. 4$ oz. Venetian turpentine, 9 oz. shellac, \ oz. colophon}', lamp-black 

 mixed with oil of turpentine as much as is required. 



Black. 4 oz. Venetian turpentine, 8 oz. shellac, 3 oz. colophony, lamp-black, and 

 oil of turpentine. 



Yellow. 2 oz. Venetian turpentine, 4 oz. shellac, 1| oz. colophony, J oz. king's 

 yellow. 



Dark Brown. 4 oz. Venetian turpentine, 7J oz. shellac, 1 oz. brown English 

 earth (ochre). 



Light Brown. 4 oz. Venetian turpentine, 7 oz. shellac, 1 oz. brown earth, J oz. 

 cinnabar. 



