413 PAINTING IN GLASS. 



ami difficulty. Were it not for some smaller strokes which must 

 necessarily be in wood, the entire impression might in the outset 

 he made on the glass itself, without any intervention of paper ; 

 since experience has proved to the calico-printers, that the great 

 m;i->es of colour cannot be successfully delivered from wood ; 

 wherefore they are obliged, in those parts of their patterns, to use 

 bits of smooth norn. out beaver-hat, which might very well be 

 pressed on the glass-plate. 



However, from what we every day see effected in the case of 

 prints affixed to glass without any of the paper remaining, and also 

 of copper-plate embellishments upon porcelain and queen's ware, 

 we doubt not that the picture, while fresh, may, by well managed 

 pressure, be transferred from the paper to an even plate of ground 

 glass coated with a proper gluten which shall not, at least not ma. 

 terially, ofluscate its transparency ; and experiment must determine 

 whether the paper may afterward be gently drawn or peeled off, or 

 must be burned away, or destroyed by a corrosive liquid, if any 

 such can be found which will not injure the colours. 



Suppose, however, the operation of removing the paper to be 

 satisfactorily performed, proceed we now to secure the indelibility 

 of the picture. 



Let a square plate of cast-iron, an inch or two in thickness, and 

 as level and smooth as possible, be furnished on every side with a 

 metal ledge rising an inch or more in height, which ought to be iu 

 two separate pieces, the one permanently fastened to the plate, the 

 other capable of being removed at pleasure, for the purpose of lay- 

 ing in and taking out the glass without violence. 



Within that ledge let the glass be fitted, closely touching it on 

 every side, and lying with the painted surface uppermost. Upon 

 this lay another plate of glass, fitted in the same manner. 



Let, now, the metal frame, with the inclosed glasses, be exposed 

 to the action of fire until the glass plates, without being melted to 

 absolute fluidity, shall nevertheless become sufficiently soft to 

 coalesce into one body under a strong pressure. The body which 

 conveys the pressure, and lies in immediate contact with the glass, 

 must ].:illy fit and completely fill the entire space between the 

 ledges, that there be no room for the soft glass to spread in any 

 direction. 



Those who have witnessed the process pursued in softening 

 tortoise-shell in the fire, and pressing it into the various shapes of 



