Part 14

By combining glue (and many other adhesives) directly with the tannin or gall nut astringent we obtain _a waterproof cement_ of great strength, which is very useful for shoes. It is, in fact, not at all a difficult matter, where other appliances are wanting, to make from leather, without sewing, a soled shoe when tannin and glue are obtainable. The same can be done with canvas.

During the great wars in America thousands of soldiers often went barefoot in winter-time, with abundance of horses or cattle killed all round them, because they did not know that a strong moccasin can be made by cutting out a piece of raw hide, piercing holes in it, and drawing it up like a bag round the ankles, as is so commonly done here in the mountain districts in Italy. I once astonished a soldier in the war by suggesting this, and he declared he must try it. It is remarkable how rarely man in an uneducated state ever _invents_ anything, be it a myth, a tale, or a practical invention.

If the upper leather of a slipper or shoe be cut out, it can, if wet, be easily made to assume the form of a foot by drying it on a last, or even on another shoe. Let the seam of the back jut or flap over the edge, and allow full selvage for the rest to turn under the sole. The latter may be of sole leather. If there is none, glue two or three pieces of the leather together with the tannin cement, and roll them over strongly. Then glue the back and the under-lap with great care. With a little practice a fairly good shoe can be thus made. Canvas can be used in the same way. To dwellers in the wilderness this may be valuable information. But very pretty ornamental slippers can be made by young ladies out of scraps of gaily coloured leather. They can buy a pair of soles, and get the leather at a leather-dealer’s. This is all simply substituting glueing for sewing, and strong tannin-glue holds _quite_ as strongly as a great deal of the sewing of cheap, machine-made shoes. It would, indeed, not be a very difficult or expensive thing to shoe or clothe all mankind comfortably, were it not for the fashions followed by the wealthy.

These very cheap shoes, made with either wooden or leather soles, and that so easily that a child can learn to manufacture them in an hour, can be easily ornamented so as to be really attractive. Take the leather, moisten it with a sponge, and then with a tracer, which is like the end of a screw-driver--_i.e._--

draw a pattern in the damp, soft leather. When it dries the pattern will remain. Then with a point or stamp, dot or roughen the ground. Finally, when dry, paint the pattern black, and then varnish it. Anybody with the least knowledge of drawing can make and sell such ornamented shoes for a good profit, as they are as yet hardly known to anybody. Other colours may be substituted for black, or gilding applied.

I have in another place shown (_vide_ Papier-Mâché) how good artificial leather can be made by combining paper--best in pulp--with indiarubber and benzole fluid solution. Also how soles can be made by steeping pasteboard in the same, and how these, which are very easily and cheaply made, can be glued on to the leather so as to protect the latter from wearing out, for ever, if renewed. A bottle of this cement, combined with Diamond or Turkish Cement, will in like manner repair boots when the sole begins to split or part; and if applied when it begins to gape, it will be closed for a long time. This is such a practical, cheap, and easy method of making boots and shoes last, that my wonder is that every man who goes shod, and especially every traveller, has not a bottle of it by him. Observe that the two edges should be well pinched or screwed together (a six-penny vice will answer for this), and the leather first heated, though all this is not a _sine quâ non_, but only an improvement.

Leather thus attached by a very strong cement is quite as durable and much pleasanter to wear than “copper toes” or iron heels, which assimilate their wearers to horses. And it takes no longer to make and attach a heel or a sole in this manner than to black a pair of boots, as I have myself verified within a few hours.

Where seams _rip out_, the best repairing is by sewing as shoemakers do, which is not hard to learn, and I advise all young people to learn it. But where sewing cannot be resorted to, the cement, well applied and compressed till dry, will hold almost any break for a long time.

I urge ladies of all classes and conditions to carefully consider this chapter. They are more accustomed to repairing than men, and will take to it more intelligently. As their _chaussures_ are made of thinner leather than ours, they need repair oftener, but are, on the other hand, so much the easier to repair. Every mother of a family will at least profit by studying this book.

Shoemakers’ paste, much used for shoes, belongs properly to leather-work. It is made by boiling crushed barley to a thick mess, the water being kept extremely hot. It is then set aside till fermentation begins, which announces itself by an extremely offensive smell. Thence it passes to a stage in which it is a brownish syrupy mass, possessing great power as an adhesive. It is now taken from the fire and a little carbolic acid added to arrest fermentation. This can be used by itself for an adhesive; it also combines well with _indifferent_ substances, such as powdered lime, or chalk, white zinc, ochre, clay, or umber. It may be as well used for binding books.

I have already given a very good recipe for reuniting broken leather straps. I here add another from LEHNER. It is very good, but hardly worth the very considerable extra trouble and expense as compared to the former:--

Gilders’ glue 250 Sturgeon’s bladder 60 Gum-arabic 60

Reduce to bits and boil in water to a solution, to which add:--

Venice turpentine 5 Oil of turpentine 6 Spirits of wine 10

The strap-ends, or pieces of leather, having been thoroughly cleaned, are now covered with the adhesive and pressed together between hot plates, where the work must remain till cold.

A very good artificial leather, perfectly waterproof, may be made by covering a strip of strong paper, or, better still, one of glazed muslin, with the gutta-percha cement. Add to this fresh layers of cement and paper, till the requisite thickness is obtained. This is useful for mending soles. Where the gutta-percha or indiarubber cement is not to be had, substitute copal varnish and glycerine, or thick turpentine varnish and a little glycerine.

TO MEND HATS, BLANKETS, AND SIMILAR FABRICS BY FELTING

Wool, as is well known, if put into a pair of shoes, will pack or settle into a solid felt sole if the shoes are worn. This felt is like cloth. The same can be done by rolling it like dough on a board with a roller. Lay the cloth or hat to be mended so that the felt to be made can be worked into it. Then take fine wool and clean and roll it thoroughly, working it into the edges. It may happen many a time to a man without a needle to succeed in mending garments in this manner.

Waterproof glue or adhesive, such as is fully described in the chapter on Indiarubber, may be added to facilitate the adhesion of the felt to the cloth or felt ground. There is a peculiar art or knack of working moistened felt into the edges of cloth, and of ironing or pressing them down so as not to show, which can, however, be soon acquired. In this way cloth may be glued upon cloth with very good effect. The extraordinary tenacity and fineness of the adhesives now made, be it specially observed, renders mending of this kind (which was impossible a generation ago) now perfectly possible. I advise those who doubt this to get a piece of cloth and experiment for themselves. The patch may not be invisible, but it will look better than if botched with a needle. Felt, however, can easily be repaired to perfection.

Large pieces of stuff can be made by rolling slightly gummed wool, which fact many men do not know, even when living in the wilderness, where wool or hair may be abundant. Nothing is so common as to see shepherds in utter raggedness where the very shreds of wool left by their sheep on the thorns would clothe them, with a little industry. The quality, durability, and fineness of felt depend on the quality of the wool, and the care and skill of the operator. Many of the cheap cloths known as shoddy are really felts.

Felt is easily formed, because under certain conditions it seems to have a strange tendency to form itself. The reader knows that a string in the pocket, subjected to our every movement, will inevitably tangle and knot itself up in the most mysterious manner; and so the fibres of wool, if rubbed together, twine and bind themselves into most intimate union. I earnestly advise all who expect to live where sheep are plenty, and tailors or seamstresses few and far between, to experiment in felt-making, and, if possible, learn from a hatmaker how it is done. There was at one time in New York a factory where strong, serviceable suits of felt cloth were made, and these, consisting of coat, waistcoat, and trousers, were sold at retail for five dollars, or one pound--I myself having seen them.

When a piece of cloth is thus adjusted or applied to fill a hole or mend a rent, the edges may be either simply gummed and adjusted, or they may be treated with a mixture of felt or cloth-dust and gum. In this case, before the adhesive is _quite_ hard, yet after it has ceased to be soft, lay over the patch a piece of cloth of exactly the same kind, and press it with a warm flat-iron. (_Vide_ Invisible Mending of Garments, Laces, or Embroideries.)

In most cases a torn woollen garment may be very well restored by carefully sewing a piece into the hole, or by uniting the edges with long stitches. Then make a paste of felt or dust, or short, fine threads of the same cloth, with indiarubber cement, and work it over the surface. With practice this can be done so neatly as to quite conceal the mending. Pass an iron over the whole. When indiarubber cement cannot be obtained, glue mixed with one-fourth glycerine can be used.

Ammonia combined with wool forms a solvent which is also a cement. I have not experimented with it.

INVISIBLE MENDING OF GARMENTS, LACES, OR EMBROIDERIES

Most people are aware that there are tailors or others who are such artists in mending that they can sew up a rent “in almost anything” so skilfully that the tear cannot be perceived. I have myself seen this done so admirably in fine black cloth that not only was there no sign of a tear perceptible, but none was manifest after long wearing the garment. This nicety is partly due to skill, but there is also a method in it. Such mending is specially shown in Italy by Jewesses in repairing valuable old laces, embroideries, and the like. As a very large proportion of those who buy and sell such goods are Jews, it is but natural that their wives and female friends should be specially employed in mending. The process which they employ is as follows:--

“Thread a needle with one of your own hairs, then draw the edge of the rent or tear together in this manner, darning it, as it were, very finely and carefully, for it is in this that the whole art consists.

“After this take a piece of cloth as near like to the stuff you wish to mend as you can obtain. Lay this piece on the rent so as to cover it, then damp it slightly, and press it down with a hot iron until the surface looks quite even.”

It may here be observed that, firstly, the _thinner_ the thread used, so that it be only strong enough to hold, the less probability is there that the repair will show. For this purpose, for extremely delicate mending a human hair is almost invisible; for most work silk thread will answer. It is, however, more likely to cut through the edge than a hair, because the hair is more elastic.

Secondly, it may be observed that the so-called darning is really a kind of invisible weaving, and not a sewing together or a stitching close of edges, which latter, as it always puckers up or rises, must show the line of repair. The darning has its strength of attachment afar off, not close to the edges; it makes, as it were, a kind of network or a weaving together of the cloth--that is, the cloth is woven again into one piece by an invisible thread which hides itself in the thicker fabric. The laying down of a cloth of _precisely the same texture_ as that mended, and then ironing it, is very ingenious, because one of a different kind would produce a different impression.

The friend from whom I received the above, Miss ROMA LISTER, adds that the Jewesses do this kind of work very well, but ask a franc or twenty-five sous for mending the smallest rent. However, when the torn shawl is once finished you cannot see where the hole has been.

Somewhat allied to this is the patient German method of mending stockings by reknitting; also that of spreading strong flexible glue on a patch of chamois. This is laid under the rent, the edges being carefully reunited over it. I would here suggest that if the tear be first carefully darned, even with human hair or finest silk, and the gummed leather then applied to the reverse, the mending would endure for a much longer time.

There is a stitch known in Germany as _Kettenstich_, or chain-stitch--though it is _not_ that which is generally known among us as the “German chain-stitch.” It is peculiarly long and strong, and will hold together the edges of even soft leather, for which reason it is generally used in Turkey and Russia to sew together the many-coloured pieces of leather such as we see in Kasan work--slippers and boots--and cushions from Constantinople. This is a valuable stitch for close, invisible mending. It is allied to the lock-stitch of the sewing-machine.

A great variety of fabrics can be carefully adjusted and drawn together over a piece of strong, glazed muslin (of the same colour) covered with waterproof glue--_e.g._, indiarubber or glue and rubber cement--so that the mending will not be apparent. This process is very applicable to loose skirts, or to any garments on which there is no such severe pull, as, _e.g._, trousers or coat-sleeves. To effect these as well as all other repairs perfectly it will be necessary to experiment a few times. Unfortunately nearly all amateurs without exception make no experiment till it is necessary to repair something, and then, because they very naturally botch it, find fault with the recipe. Yet, strangely as it may sound, there are many cases in which mending or making fabrics can be executed far more neatly with a very strong cement, such as that of mastic and sturgeon’s bladder, than with needle and thread, the former actually requiring less margin to hold than the average width of a seam, for the least possible overlap suffices to bind where the adhesive is strong. This process of mending is little known, probably because there has been hitherto very little general knowledge of the immense strength and tenacity of certain cements, which have, indeed, only been discovered of late. For all ordinary mending, in fact, glue with glycerine, or glue and indiarubber solution in benzole, will answer as well as the far more expensive Turkish or Diamond cement.

If the reader will only reflect that a large proportion of all black and glossy silks are heavily gummed, sometimes up to their own weight, it will be understood that there can be no substance with which they can be more appropriately mended than with cement--a fact well known to many who employ postage-stamps or black court-plaster to heal their rents; but as this is generally very expensive, and as any old silk and glue or gelatine, or dextrine, answer just as well, the latter had better be considered.

There is much weaving of the most exquisite fabrics done in the East, and even among savages, almost entirely by hand; that is to say, the threads are simply attached to a rod, while the woof is worked in with a needle. Most fabrics can be mended by an analogous process, which is a remaking the cloth. Much depends on the proper finishing or dressing the surface by laying on it a piece of cloth and ironing it.

MENDING MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND CORAL

Mother-of-Pearl is the shell of the pearl-oyster (_Avigula margaritifera_), much admired for its beautiful texture and white colour, in which there is a peculiar iridescence or rainbow play of colours. The best, and by far the principal portion in commerce, comes from the islands of the Pacific. It has risen immensely in value of late years. Almost, if not quite, equal to it is the East Indian, from the Sulu Islands, Ceylon, and Aden, or the Persian Gulf. An inferior kind comes from the Eastern Mediterranean, also another from America.

The iridescent glaze, accompanied with more or less of the mother or solid substance, is found in a very great number of shells; _e.g._, the Peter’s Ear (_Halyotis iris_) of the Pacific; also in common mussels, especially the _Unio_, found in most clear streams or brooks in Europe and America where there is not much lime. These often yield pearls of great value.

Mother-of-pearl can be sawed without any great difficulty into plates, which are polished with fine sand and then with tripoli. Of late a great deal of small furniture inlaid with squares and triangles of this material has found its way from Turkey and Persia to London. These pieces are simply attached with cement made of sturgeon’s bladder, mastic, salmiac, or even glue. They can generally be obtained from dealers in Oriental goods. ABRAHAM SASSOON, of Wardour Street, will supply them in any quantity.

LOUIS EDGAR ANDÉS and SIGMUND LEHNER, both experimental technologists, have given several curious recipes for imitating mother-of-pearl. From filing or grinding, the best mother-of-pearl shell becomes like a white metal, which can be combined with white of egg or pure white gelatine to a fine marble-like substance, which, however, lacks iridescence. Broken into very small pieces, which are set in a bed of glue and glycerine, and then covered, when dry, with another coating of the same, we have what its inventor, LEHNEr, assures us is a very good imitation of pearl-shell.

But there is scaled away from a variety of shells a coating of _nacre_, or coloured glaze, which when powdered still retains the pearly lustre. This may be taken even from the common American oyster or all mussels. According to ANDÉS, who refers, I think, to this, it can be laid on any substance and covered with a gum-glaze. He also informs us that the pearl-like inner layers of oyster-shells, or of any other kind, reduced to powder and mixed with sturgeon’s bladder and spirits, painted on grey paper in several coats, present the appearance of _nacre_. I have seen specimens of such painting which were indeed very pretty, but the pearly iridescence was rather faint. According to the author, the pearly brilliancy is much increased by an addition of silver-bronze powder.

I conclude from this, not having in this instance experimented personally, save in carving pearl, that coarse powders of the highly coloured greenish and other _nacres_ of tropical shells, as well as of the European mussel and some other shells, can be combined with binding-gums of a transparent nature so as to form a very admirable imitation of mother-of-pearl.

I may here remark, in connection with this, that the common American clam (_Venus mercernaria_) has a white shell of intense hardness, which, when polished, is as beautiful as porcelain or ivory; also that the purple spot in the American oyster-shell, from which the Indians made a very hard and beautiful bead, might easily be drilled out for buttons.

A very beautiful imitation of mother-of-pearl is made in Japan. It is not, however, iridescent. It is said to be made with rice. I conjecture that this is rice treated with diluted acid.

I have before me now a string of 400 imitation red _coral_ beads, price twopence, such as are commonly sold everywhere. They are manufactured of vermilion powder, rice-flour, and gum, and, when they are carefully made, are extremely hard and durable, so much so that the composition may be used to mend broken articles made of red coral. Such objects in a fractured state are very common in curiosity shops, but the art of repairing them seems to be as yet unknown, though it is extremely profitable.

Of coral, LEHNER tells us that celluloid in combination with different substances--_e.g._, white zinc or cinnabar--can be coloured from delicate rose to fiery vermilion, and forms a very close imitation of coral. A very good and much cheaper imitation can be made by preparing perfectly white paper-paste (_vide_ Papier-Mâché), and combining it with vermilion, zinc, &c. From such artificial coral very beautiful cups, plates, and ornaments for inlaying, beads, pendants for jewellery, book-covers, &c., can easily be made. The colour can be varied to turquoise, emerald, ebony, ivory, &c., by simply changing the colouring-powders used.

There is a very cheap and common imitation of coral made by dipping vermicelli, twigs, &c., into a solution of red sealing-wax in spirits of wine. This is, however, extremely brittle. White marble-dust, or very fine white flint sand, combined with vermilion and silicate of soda, is said to produce a very admirable imitation of coral. The basis of levigated sand, or carbonate of lime, with silicate, can be varied with the dyes to imitate any gems, and is invaluable for mending pottery or stone-work.

Coral and several other substances are also imitated by combining about nine parts of very clear glue to one of glycerine. This is qualified with one equivalent of white zinc or dye-stuffs. Thus the glue basis is combined with colcothar, ochre-sepia, umber, ochre, or chrome. This is also a valuable cement for mending a great variety of objects.

Any fine white shells ground to powder may be combined with gum and a very little glycerine and vermilion to make artificial coral; also white glue or gelatine with glycerine. This may be made in quantity for casts of all kinds of objects, such as plates in inlaid work.

RESTORING AND REPAIRING PICTURES

“_The restoration of disfigured and decayed works of art is next in importance to their production._”--Field, Chromatography.

I published in 1864 a work entitled _The Egyptian Sketch Book_, which began with the following abridged account of how oil pictures are cleaned:--

“Three young painters had often heard what the American PAGE has proved, that by carefully peeling the pictures of certain great artists, coat by coat, one may learn all their secrets of colour. So, having obtained an undoubted Titian, representing the Holy Virgin, they laid it on a table and proceeded to remove the outer varnish by means of friction with the fingers; which varnish very soon rose up in a cloud of white dust, and acted very much as a shower of snuff would have done.

“Then they arrived at the ‘naked colours,’ which had by this time assumed a very crude form, owing to the fact that a certain amount of liquorish tincture, as of Turkey rhubarb, or _tinct. rhabarbara_, had become incorporated with the varnish, and to which the colours had been indebted for their golden warmth.

“This brought them to the _glazing proper_, which had been deprived of the evidence of the age or antiquity by the removal of the _patinæ_, or little cups, which had formed in the canvas between the web and the woof.