Mother-of-Pearl and its Uses. 401 



and the device or figure drawn upon the outer plate. They 

 are then held in a vice or clamp, and cut out as one plate 

 with a fine saw, or wrought into form with files; drilling tools 

 can be employed to assist in the operation. To separate 

 the pieces, the cemented shells are thrown into warm water, 

 which softens the glue and divides them. Cast or sheet 

 iron and papier-mach^ are the materials upon which pearl is 

 generally fixed or inlaid. The process is as follows : — 



If the article be of cast iron, it is well cleaned from the 

 sand which usually adheres to the casting, and is blackened 

 with a coat of varnish and lamp-black. When this is 

 thoroughly dried, another coat of japan or black varnish 

 is spread evenly upon it. Before the varnish becomes too 

 dry, pieces of pearl cut in the form of leaves, roses, or such 

 flowers as the fancy of the artist may dictate or the 

 character of the article may require, are laid upon it, and 

 pressed down with the finger, and they immediately ad- 

 here to the varnished surface. The work is then placed 

 in a heated oven, and kept there for several hours, or until 

 the varnish is perfectly dried. It is then taken from the 

 oven, and another coat of varnish applied indiscriminately 

 on the surface of the pearl and the previous coating, and 

 again placed in the oven till dry. This process is repeated 

 several times. The varnish is then scraped off" the pearl 

 with a knife, and the surface of the pearl and the varnish 

 around it is found to be quite even. The pearl is then 

 polished with a piece of pumice-stone and water, and the 

 surface of the varnish is rubbed smooth with powdered 

 pumice-stone, moistened with water. It is in this un- 

 finished state that the pearl has the appearance of being 

 inlaid, and from which it derives its name. Its final 

 beauty and finish depend altogether on the skill of the 

 artist who now receives it. 



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