254 JAPANNING. 



Tortoise-shell Japan Ground. 



The best kind is made by means of a varnish 

 prepared in the following manner : 



Take of good linseed-oil one gallon, and of umber 

 half a pound ; boil them together till the oil become 

 very brown and thick; strain it through a coarse 

 cloth, and boil it in till it acquire the consistence 

 of pitch. 



Clean well the metal, or other pieces which are 

 to be japanned, and lay vermilion tempered with 

 shell-lac varnish, or with drying-oil diluted with 

 oil of turpentine, very thinly, on the places intended 

 to imitate the more transparent parts of the tortoise- 

 shelL When the vermilion is dry, brush over the 

 whole with the black varnish, tempered to a true 

 consistence with oil of turpentine; and when it is 

 set and firm, put the work into a stove, where it 

 may undergo a very strong heat, which must be 

 continued a considerable time ; if even three weeks 

 or a month it will be the better. 



This was given amongst other receipts by 

 Kunckel ; but appears to have been neglected till 

 it was revived with great success in the Birming- 

 ham manufactures, where it was much used. 



Method of painting Japan Work. 



Japan w^ork ought properly to be pamted with 

 colours in varnish; though, for the greater dis- 

 patch, and in some very nice work in small, for the 

 freer use of the pencil, the colours are sometimes 

 tempered in oil ; which should previously have a 

 fourth part of its weight of gum animi dissolved in 

 it; or in default of that, gum sandarach, or gum 

 mastich. When the oil is thus used, it should be 



