WAX 



WAX 



jfuig for the bed fort, inftead of the vermilion, the bell 

 ivory black ; and for the coarfer fort, inftead of the ver- 

 milion and red-lead, the common ivory black. For hard 

 green fealing-wax, inftead of vermilion, ufe poH'dered ver- 

 digrife ; and for a bright colour, diftilled, or cryftals of 

 verdigrife. For liard blue fealing-wax, inftead of the ver- 

 milion, fubftitute well powdered fmalt, or for a light blue, 

 verditer ; or a mixture of both. For yellow hard fealing- 

 ; wax, fubftitute mafticot, or, for a bright colour, turbith 

 mineral, inftead of the vermilion. The hard purple wax 

 is made like the red ; changing half the quantity of the ver- 

 I milion for an equal, or greater proportion of fmalt, as the 

 purple is defired to be more blue or more red. 



For uncoloured foft fealing-wax, take of bees'-wax, one 

 pound ; of turpentine, three ounces ; and of olive oil, one 

 ounce ; place them in a proper veftel over the fire, and let 

 them boil for feme time ; and the wax will be then fit to be 

 \ formed into rolls or cakes for ufe. For red, black, green, 

 blue, yellow, and purple foft fealing-wax, add to the pre- 

 ceding compofition, while boiling, an ounce or more of any 

 ingredients directed above for colouring the hard fealing- 

 wax, and ftir the mafs, till the colouring ingredient be in- 

 [ corporated with the wax. 



j The hard fealing-wax is formed into fticks, by roUing 

 the mafs on a copper-plate, or ftone, with a rolling-board, 

 lined with copper, or block-tin, into rolls of any required 

 fize. In order to give them the fire-polifh, or glofs, a fur- 

 nace or ftove, like a pail, with bars at the bottom for fup- 

 porting the charcoal, and notches at the top of the fides for 

 putting the fticks of wax over the fire, is ufually provided. 

 By means of this ftove the fticks of wax may be conveniently 

 expofed to the fire, and turned about, till the wax is fo 

 melted on tlie furface as to become fmooth and ftiining. 

 Hard feahng-wax may be formed into balls, by putting a 

 proper quantity on the plate or ftone, and having fafhioned 

 it into a round form, rolling it with the board till it be 

 fmooth. 



The foft wax is eafily formed into rolls or cakes, by 

 pouring the melted mafs of the ingredients, as foon as they 

 are duly prepared, into cold water, and working it with the 

 hands into any defired figure. Some perfume both thefe 

 kinds of wax, by ufing, for a pound of the wax, half an 

 ounce of benjamin, one fcruple of oil of Rhodium, ten 

 grains of muflc, and of civet and ambergrife, each five 

 grains ; rubbing the oil with the other ingredients powdered ; 

 and when the wax is ready to be wrought into fticks, fprink- 

 ling in and well ftirring the mixture ; or by ufing one ounce 

 of benjamin, one fcruple and a half of oil of Rhodium, and 

 five grains of ambergrife, in the fame manner. Lewis's 

 Com. of Arts, p. 370. Handmaid to the Arts, vol. ii. 

 p. J4, &c. 



WAx-Caniiles. See Candle. 



Wax, To imitate Fruit, i^c. in. Take the fruit, and 

 bury it half-way in clay ; oil its edges, and the extant half 

 of the fruit ; then nimbly throw on it tempered alabafter, 

 or plafter of Paris, to a confiderable thicknels. When this 

 is concreted, it makes the half mould, the fecond half of 

 which may be obtained in the fame way. The two parts 

 of the mould being joined together, a little coloured wax, 

 melted, and brought to a due heat, being poured through 

 a hole made in any convenient part of the mould, and pre- 

 fently (hook every way therein, will reprefent the original 

 fruit. Boyle's Works abr. vol. i. p. i 36. 



Here we muft not forget that pretty mvention of M. Be- 

 noift, a man famous at Paris for his figures of wax. Being 

 by profefiion a painter, he found the fecret of forming 

 moulds on the faces of living perfons, even the faireft and 

 moll delicate, without any danger either to their health or 



complexion : in which moulds he caft mallcs of wax ; lo 

 which, by his colours, and glafs eyes imitated from nature, 

 he gave a fort of life : infomuch as, when clothed in proper 

 habits, they bore fuch a refemblance, that it was difficult 

 diftinguifhing between the copy and the original. 

 Wax, Gilding. See Gilding. 



Wax, Grafting, is a compofition ferving to bind or fix 

 the bud, or graft, in the cleft of the ftock. 



Inftead of grafting wax, the country gardeners, &c. only 

 ufe clay, over which they lay a piece of linen cloth, and fo 

 keep it moid ; and to prevent its cracking with the heat of 

 the fun, they tie mofs over it. But the wax ordinarily ufed 

 is a compoil of one pound and a half of pitch, a quarter of 

 a pound of wax, and an ounce of oil of almonds, melted and 

 mixed together : with the addition, in fpring or autumn, of 

 a moderate quantity of turpentine. 



For cleft-grafting, whip-grafting, and grafting by ap- 

 proach, Mr. Mortimer recommends tempered clay, or foft 

 wax ; but for rind-grafting, clay and horfe-dung. 

 Wax, Green. See Green IVax. 

 Wax, thorough, in Botany. See Bupleurum. 

 Wax, Painting in. See Encaustic Painting. 

 Wax-BHI. See Loxia ^IJiriU. 



W AX-Scot, or Wax-Jhot, Ceragium, in our Ancient CuJ- 

 toms, money paid twice a year towards the charge of main- 

 taining lights, or candles, in the church. 



WAXENBURG, m Geography, a town of Auftria j 

 10 miles W. of Freyitadt. 



WAXHOLM, a fortrefs on the coaft of Sweden, in 

 the Baltic ; fituated on a fmall ifland at the entrance of the 

 channel of the Malar Lake, and built in the year 1649. ft 

 has fince been greatly improved and enlarged, fo that it has 

 the appearance of a little town. Here all homeward-bound 

 fhips are fearched. On this ifland, which is called ll/^axon, 

 befides this fort, are a church, a fchool, and a cuftom-houfe. 

 The chief occupation of the inhabitants is fiihing ; 16 miles 

 E. of Stockholm. N. lat. 59° 21'. E. long. 18° 16'. 



WAXING, Ceratio, in Chemijlry, the preparation of 

 any matter to render it fit and difpofed to hquefy, or melt, 

 which of itfelf it was not. 



This is frequently done, to enable things to penetrate 

 into metals, or other folid bodies. 



Waxing, in the Manujadure of Calico, Sec, a procefs 

 by which the operation of certain colours is refifted by flop- 

 ping out with wax ; but it is too expenfive to be often 

 adopted among calico-printers, who are anxious to finifti 

 their prints with the leall poffible charge. Formerly this 

 mode was very generally pratlifed, and great quantities of 

 wax were confumed in the procefs. In the Eaft Indies 

 wax is ftiU ufed for preferving the whites in calico-printing. 

 In printing the filk handkerchiefs called bandanas, a pro- 

 cefs called luaxing is ftill followed. It conlllls in making 

 a preparation of tallow and rofiii very liquid by heat, and 

 in printing it in that ftate with a block upon the filk. 

 When fuch goods are palled through the blue vat, thofe 

 parts which are covered with the tallow and rofin are 

 preferved from the attion of the indigo, and remain white, 

 while the whole remainder is dyed a fad blue. The 

 method afterwards taken to difcharge a part of this blue, 

 and produce yellow, orange, &c. is as follows : — The 

 agent employed for this pnrpofe is the nitrous, and fome- 

 times the nitro-muriatic acid. This was ufed for the pur- 

 pofe of putting yellow figures upon blue filk handker- 

 chiefs. With this view aqua fortis, or nitro-muriatic acid, 

 of a ftrength fuitable to the kind of blue that is to be dif- 

 charged, is mixed either with gum-tragacanth, or with 

 llour pafte, to a proper confidence, and in this form it is 

 printed on the filk, by means of a common block, ou which 



the 



