Part 20
This stain powder should be kept out of the way of children, as if swallowed it is poisonous.
Fresh lemon-juice mixed with a little salt is excellent for removing stains of ink, iron mould, &c.
TO MAKE GREASE BALLS.--Shave down half a pound of white soap, and mix it with three ounces of fuller’s earth, powdered. Then mix together three ounces of ox-gall, and two ounces of spirits of turpentine. With this, moisten the soap and fuller’s earth, till you have a stiff paste. Mix it thoroughly, and beat it well. Make it into balls with your hands, and place the balls where they will dry slowly. To use it, scrape down a sufficiency, and spread it on the grease spot. Let it rest awhile; then brush it off, and scrape and apply some more. A few applications will generally remove the grease.
TO EXTRACT GREASE WITH CAMPHINE OIL.--Grease of the very worst sort (for instance whale oil) may be extracted successfully even from silks, ribbons, and other delicate articles, by means of camphine oil, which can always be procured at the lamp-stores. As this oil is best when fresh, get but a small quantity at a time. Pour some camphine into a clean cup, and dip lightly into it a bit of clean, soft, white rag. With this rub the grease spot. Then take a fresh rag dipped in the camphine, and continue rubbing till the grease is extracted, which will be very soon. You will find the colour of the article uninjured. To remove the turpentine odour of the camphine, rub the place with cologne water or strong spirits of wine, and expose it to the open air. If any of the camphine-scent remains, repeat the cologne. We have known lamp oil removed from white satin by this process.
FINE YELLOW COLOURING FOR WALLS.--Procure from a paint-shop one pound of chrome yellow, and three pounds of whiting. Mix and grind them thoroughly together; and then add a quart of boiling water, and stir it well in. Next boil a quarter of a pound of glue in a quart of water, and when completely dissolved, add it immediately to the mixture, and stir the whole very hard. Thin it with more water till you get it of the desired consistence. It will be a beautiful yellow, approaching to lemon colour.
BLUE WASH FOR WALLS.--Get a pound of blue vitriol from a drug or paint store, and have it powdered very finely in a mortar. Provide also two quarts of lime. Take six cents’ worth of glue, and boil it in a quart of soft water till thoroughly dissolved. Put the powdered vitriol into a wooden bucket, and when the glue-water is cold, pour it on the vitriol, and mix and stir it well. When the vitriol is dissolved in the glue-water, stir in by degrees the two quarts of lime. Then try the tint of the mixture by dipping a piece of white paper into it; and when it dries, you can judge if it is the colour you want. It should be a clear light beautiful blue. If you think it too dark, add some more lime. If too pale, stir in a little more of the powdered vitriol. It is well to provide an extra quantity of each of the articles, in case a little more of one or the other should be required on trial of the colour.
TO CLEAN WHITEWASH BRUSHES.--Wash off, with cold water, the lime from the bristles of the brush; and scrub well with a hard scrubbing-brush the part where the bristles are fixed into the wood. This should be done at once, as soon as the whitewashing for that day is finished. It is far better than to let them soak all night.
AN EASY WAY TO MAKE INK.--Take two ounces of the best and most perfect nut-galls, and bruise them to pieces with a hammer. Put them into a large mug, with half an ounce of copperas, and a quarter of an ounce of powdered gum-arabic. Pour on a pint of boiling water. Cover the vessel, and let it stand in a warm place for a week; frequently stirring the contents with a stick. Afterwards leave it one day undisturbed; and then pour off the liquid through a funnel into a bottle; in the bottom of which you have put half a dozen cloves or a spoonful of brandy, either of which will prevent the ink from moulding. Keep the bottle closely corked.
TO USE DURABLE INK.--It is an error (rectified by experience) to wash as soon as possible articles that have been marked with durable ink. On the contrary, they should be kept _without washing_ for at least a week. If washed too soon, the soap and water will disturb the ink before it is thoroughly dried in, causing the letters to spread and look rough. Also, it will not be so good a black. Every time, before using it, set the little bottle with the marking liquid in the sun, or before a bright fire; and then stir it up from the bottom. This will increase its blackness. After putting the wash or gum-liquid on the place to be marked, dry it by the fire or in the hot sun, and then iron it smoothly. Do not write the name till next day, and then, as above mentioned, set the marking ink in the sun, and stir it up from the bottom. When the name is written, dry it as soon as possible, and then iron it again.
Durable ink may be extracted by wetting the writing with hot water, and then rubbing on a little sal-ammonia.
After making durable ink, set the marking liquid or lunar caustic preparation for three or four days in the hot sun; otherwise it will not become black.
SUMACH INK.--The milk or gum that exudes from the sumach is a good substitute for durable ink. Break off the stalks that support the leaves. Squeeze them into a cup, and write with the liquid. Expose it to the sun and it will become a fine black.
VERY FINE INK.--Into a large jar or pitcher put half a pound of the best Aleppo galls, broken up with a hammer or flat-iron; but not pounded. Pour on two quarts of soft water, nearly of boiling heat. Cover the vessel; and let it stand on a warm hearth or in the hot sun for a fortnight; stirring it to the bottom twice a day, with a stick. At the end of the fortnight, add two ounces of green copperas; two ounces of logwood chips; two ounces of gum-arabic; half an ounce of alum; and half an ounce of sugar-candy. Let the whole remain in a moderate heat a fortnight longer; stirring it twice a day. Keep the mouth of the vessel covered with paper only, tied down over it. On the last day, do not stir it, but pour the ink through a strainer into another vessel, and then with a funnel transfer it to bottles. Pour a small tea-spoonful or more of brandy into the top of each bottle, if small. To a pint bottle there should be a table-spoonful of brandy. This will preserve the ink from moulding. Cork the bottles well, and seal the corks. Keep them in a place of temperate heat.
In buying Aleppo galls get those that are dark coloured, heavy, and free from holes.
GOOD INK.--Bruise two ounces of Aleppo galls; put them into a pitcher with half an ounce of copperas, and a quarter of an ounce of gum arabic. Pour on a pint of soft water at boiling heat. Cover it, and let it stand a week; stirring it several times a day, except on the last day. Then pour it through a funnel into a bottle that has half a dozen cloves in it. In pouring, see that you do not disturb the sediment at the bottom of the pitcher. Cork the bottle tightly.
TO SOFTEN SPONGES.--A sponge, when first purchased, is frequently hard, stiff, and gritty. To soften it, and dislodge the particles of sea-sand from its crevices, (having first soaked and squeezed it through several cold waters,) put the sponge into a clean tin sauce-pan, set it over the fire, and boil it a quarter of an hour. Then take it out, put it into a bowl of cold water, and squeeze it well. Wash out the sauce-pan, and return the sponge to it, filling up with clean cold water, and boil it another quarter of an hour. Repeat the process, giving it three boils in fresh water; or more than three if you find it still gritty. Take care not to boil it too long, or it will become tender, and drop to pieces. You may bleach it by adding to the water a few drops of oil of vitriol.
The Mediterranean sponges are the best.
After using a sponge, always wash it immediately in clean water, squeeze it out, and put it to dry.
TO REMOVE THE ODOUR FROM A VIAL.--The odour of its last contents may be removed from a vial by filling it with cold water, and letting it stand in any airy place uncorked for three days; changing the water every day.
TO LOOSEN A GLASS STOPPER.--The manner in which apothecaries loosen glass stoppers when there is difficulty in getting them out, is to press the thumb of the right hand very hard against the lower part of the stopper, and then give the stopper a twist the other way, with the thumb and fore-finger of the left hand; keeping the bottle stiff in a steady position.
TO GET A BROKEN CORK OUT OF A BOTTLE.--If in drawing a cork it breaks, and the lower part falls down into the liquid, tie a long loop in a bit of twine, or small cord, and put it in; holding the bottle so as to bring the piece of cork near to the lower part of the neck. Catch it in the loop, so as to hold it stationary. You can then easily extract it with a cork-screw.
TO PURIFY THE ATMOSPHERE OF A ROOM.--Mix, in a cup, some brown sugar, with sufficient water to make it a thick liquid. Put a hot coal on a shovel; pour on the coal a tea-spoonful, or more, of the sugar, and carry it carefully about the room. The smoke will entirely remove any disagreeable odour. If the sugar is thrown dry upon the hot coal, it will blaze up, and burn out immediately, without effecting the desired purpose; but if mixed with a little water, it will not blaze at all, but the vapour arising from it will continue to smoke, till the unpleasant smell is entirely dispelled.
A few sprigs of lavender, laid on hot coals, and carried round the room, on a shovel, is a good remedy for a disagreeable odour.
Chloride of lime, sprinkled on dry, will, _unfailingly_, dispel the effluvia of any ill-scented substance. It is very cheap. A jar of it should be kept in every house; as, for this purpose, there is nothing more effectual.
TO CLEAN JARS.--There is frequently much trouble in cleaning the inside of jars that have contained sweet-meats, pickles, mince-meat, &c., so as entirely to remove all the odour of their former contents, before they can be used for another purpose. If the jars are of stone, fill them up with scalding water, and let them stand awhile. If of white-ware, or glass, the water must be merely warm; for if hot, it will crack them. Then stir in a large tea-spoonful, or more, of pearlash. Whatever of the former contents has remained sticking about, and adhering to the sides and bottom, will immediately disengage itself, and float loose through the water. Afterwards empty the jar, and if any odour lingers about its inside, fill it again with warm water and a spoonful of pearlash, and let it stand, undisturbed, a few hours, or till next day. Then empty it again, and rinse it with cold water. Wash phials in the same manner. Also, the inside of tea, coffee, and chocolate-pots. If you cannot, conveniently, obtain pearlash, the same purpose may be answered, nearly as well, by filling the vessels with strong lye, poured off clear from the wood-ashes. For kegs, buckets, crocks, or other large vessels, lye may always be used.
TO CLEAN LOOKING-GLASSES.--Take a newspaper, or a part of one, according to the size of the glass. Fold it small, and dip it into a basin of clean, cold water. When thoroughly wetted, squeeze it out in your hand, as you would a sponge; and then rub it, hard, all over the face of the glass; taking care that it is not so wet that the moisture will stream down the glass. Also, if any drops get beneath the frame, and behind the glass, they will remain there, in bubbles, and cannot be dislodged, without removing the board at the back. There is no danger of any such accidents, if the newspaper is merely moistened, or damped throughout; without being so wet as to drip. After the glass has been well rubbed, with the damp paper, let it rest a minute. Then go over it with a fresh newspaper, (folded small in your hand,) till it looks clear and bright; which it will, almost immediately. Finish with a fresh piece of newspaper, thoroughly dry.
This method, simple as it is, will be found, on trial, the best and most expeditious way of cleaning mirrors, or any plate-glass; giving a clearness and polish, that cannot be so soon produced by any other process. The inside of window-panes may be cleaned in this manner; the windows having been first washed on the _outside_. Also, the glasses of spectacles, &c. The glass globe of a lamp may thus be cleaned with newspapers.
The efficacy is attributed to the materials used in making the printing-ink.
TO REMOVE DARK STAINS FROM SILVER.--There are many substances that communicate a dark, inky stain to silver spoons, forks, &c.; a stain sometimes so inveterate as to resist all common applications. A certain remedy is, to pour a little sulphuric acid into a saucer; wet with it a soft linen rag; and rub it on the blackened silver, till the stain disappears. Then brighten the article with whiting, finely powdered and sifted, and moistened with spirits of wine. When the whiting has dried on, and rested a quarter of an hour, or more, wipe it off with a silk handkerchief, and polish with a soft buckskin.
TO CLEAN RINGS, BROOCHES, AND OTHER JEWELRY.--Put a little hartshorn into a saucer; dip into it a clean, soft rag, from an old cambric handkerchief. With the rag, go carefully over the jewelry, on both sides. Then dry and polish, with another bit of soft rag; and, finally, with a soft piece of old silk. Precious stones, mosaics and cameos may be cleaned in this manner. To brighten pearls, tear off a small bit of pin-paper, (such as rows of pins are stuck in,) roll it up, and, with the end of the roll, rub each pearl, separately; renewing the paper frequently.
The application of hartshorn, rubbed on with the finger, will generally remove the stain-spots that are sometimes found on new silk, and on new kid gloves. There are few stains, indeed, that may not be obliterated by hartshorn. If too strong, dilute it with a little water. Pour out, into your saucer, but very little hartshorn, at a time, as it evaporates almost immediately.
Reddish stains, on black silk, or worsted, can, almost always, be removed by hartshorn; and the original black colour will immediately re-appear.
TO KEEP SILVER ALWAYS BRIGHT.--Silver, in constant use, should be washed every day in a pan of suds made of good white soap and warm water; drying it with old soft linen cloths. Twice a week, (after this washing,) give it a thorough brightening with finely-powdered whiting, mixed to a thin paste with alcohol; rubbing longer and harder where there are stains. Then wipe this off, and polish with clean soft old linen. Silver is cleaned in this manner at the best hotels.
PLATE POWDER.--Buy, at a druggist’s, an ounce of levigated oxide of iron, and four ounces of prepared chalk, finely pulverized. Mix them well together, and put the mixture into small boxes. Rub it, dry, on the silver, and then polish with a clean buckskin; finishing with an old silk handkerchief. This is the composition usually sold as plate powder. Its colour is a reddish brown.
POWDER FOR CLEANING GOLD LACE.--Of burnt roche-alum, powdered as fine as possible, take two ounces and a half. Mix, thoroughly, with it, half an ounce of finely-powdered chalk. Take a small, clean, dry brush; dip it into the mixture, and rub it, carefully, on gold lace, or gold embroidery, that has become tarnished. Finish with a clean piece of new canton flannel. Keep a box or bottle of this mixture, that it may be ready to use on occasion. It is equally good for silver lace, and for jewelry.
TO KEEP BRITANNIA-METAL BRIGHT.--Dip a clean woollen cloth into the best and cleanest lamp oil, and rub it, hard, all over the outside of your Britannia-ware. Then wash it well in strong soap-suds, and afterwards polish with finely-powdered whiting and a buckskin. The inside of Britannia vessels should be washed with warm water, in which a little pearlash has been dissolved. They should then be set, open, to dry in the sun and air. If not kept very nice, this metal will communicate a disagreeable taste. There is so much copper in its composition, that tea-pots or coffee-pots of china, or white-ware, are far preferable to Britannia-metal.
TO CLEAN SILVER EXPEDITIOUSLY.--Put some powdered magnesia into a saucer. Have ready a few bits of new canton flannel. It is well, in cutting out canton flannel, to save the small shavings, or clippings, for this purpose. Dip a bit of the flannel into the magnesia, and with it rub the silver, very hard. It will brighten, immediately, if there are no black stains on it. Finish, by polishing with a clean piece of the flannel, without magnesia.
Dark stains on silver are best removed by rubbing them with flannel, dipped in sulphuric acid. This should be done before any brightening substance is applied.
PASTE FOR CLEANING KNIVES.--Make a mixture, one part emery, and three parts crocus martis, in very fine powder. Mix them to a thick paste, with a little lard or sweet oil. Have your knife-board covered with a thick buff-leather. Spread this paste on your leather, to about the thickness of a quarter-dollar. Rub your knives in it, and it will make them much sharper and brighter, and will wear them out less, than the common method of cleaning with brick-dust, on a bare board.
A GOOD WAY OF CLEANING SILVER.--Mix in a cup or saucer a paste of powdered magnesia, and the best and clearest lamp oil, (whale oil,) and cover with this paste the silver that is to be cleaned. Let it rest a quarter of an hour or more; applying the paste to all the articles you intend cleaning before you begin to remove it from any one of them. Afterwards wipe it off, entirely, with a soft linen rag, and then proceed to polish the plate with a soft buckskin, and some dry magnesia. Finish with a silk handkerchief. The longer you rub, the brighter will be the silver, but you must change frequently to clean parts of the buckskin. If the silver has much chasing or ornamental frost-work, it may be necessary to take a small soft brush to clean out all the hollows and crevices. But, if possible, avoid using a brush, as it wears the silver thin.
Silver may be kept continually bright with very little trouble, by cleaning it three times a-week, or every day, with dry magnesia rubbed on with a bit of clean shaggy canton flannel that has never been washed. Scraps and clippings of woollen flannel should never be used for cleaning plate, as its roughness may scratch it.
Dark stains on silver or gold may be immediately removed (however bad) by the application of a little sulphuric acid poured into a saucer and rubbed on with a soft rag. Then polish with magnesia and canton flannel.
The colour of silver will always be injured by keeping it in a room where there is a coal fire.
The cases of gold or silver watches may be cleaned, as above, with powdered magnesia and canton flannel.
TO TAKE WHITE MARKS FROM MAHOGANY.--If a white mark has been left on a mahogany table by carelessly setting down on it a vessel of hot water, rub the place hard with a rag dipped in lamp oil; and afterwards pour on a little cologne water, or a little alcohol, and rub it dry with a clean rag.
The dish-marks left on a dining-table can of course be taken off in the same manner.
If brandy is spilt on mahogany, and leaves a whitish mark, that mark can be removed by rubbing it hard with a rag dipped in more brandy. Try it.
TO TAKE SPERMACETI OUT OF A HEARTH OR FLOOR.--First scrape off the drops of spermaceti with a knife. Then take a live coal in the tongs and hold it carefully and closely over the place. Afterwards wipe it with a rag, and then wash it with hot soap-suds.
TO REMOVE GREASE FROM A STOVE HEARTH.--When oil or any other grease has been dropped on a stove hearth, immediately cover the place with _very hot_ ashes. Afterwhile, clear away the ashes; and if the grease has not quite disappeared, repeat the process.
TO MAKE SHOES OR BOOTS WATER-PROOF.--Melt together, in a pipkin, equal quantities of bees-wax and mutton suet. While liquid, rub it over the leather, including the soles.
TO EXTRACT OIL FROM THE FLOOR OR HEARTH.--Mix together two heaped table-spoonfuls on powdered fuller’s earth; one large table-spoonful of potash or pearlash; and one large table-spoonful of soft soap. Add sufficient boiling water to make it into a thick paste. Spread it hot on the oil spot, with a broad flat stick; let it remain an hour or two. Then brush it off, and renew the application. When the grease has disappeared, scrub the place with soap and water.
This mixture is equally good for boards, stone, or marble.
TO TAKE OFF WALL PAPER.--To clear a wall from paper previous to painting or white-washing it, wet the old paper thoroughly with a long-handled brush dipped in a bucket of water, (warm water is best.) Let it rest till the water has penetrated it, and the paper blisters and loosens, so that you can peel it off with your hands. Do not wet too much at a time. If any small bits are found still adhering, wet them afresh, and scrape them off with a strong knife.
TO REMOVE PAINT FROM THE WALL OF A ROOM.--If you intend papering a painted wall, you must first get off the paint, otherwise the paper will not stick. To do this mix in a bucket with warm water a sufficient quantity of pearlash, or potash, so as to make a strong solution. Dip a brush into this, and with it scour off all the paint, finishing with cold water and a flannel.
DUSTING FURNITURE.--If a hand-brush is employed for dusting furniture it should always be followed by a cloth; and the cloth should be so used as to _wipe up_ the dust; and not merely flirted about it, so as to drive the particles from one place to another. The cloth in wiping up the dust should hold it _in_, and then be shaken frequently out of a back window. A brush or a bunch of feathers will keep the dust floating about the room; dislodging but not absorbing it; and only removing it from one article to settle it on another. Therefore a cloth is indispensable in _really_ freeing the furniture from dust. A yard of sixpenny calico, or of strong unbleached muslin, will make two small dusters or one large one. They should be hemmed or whipped over the edges, that servants may have no pretext for regarding them as mere rags, to be thrown away or torn up when dirty. It is difficult to dust well with a ragged dusting-cloth.
TO TAKE FRUIT STAINS FROM WHITE DOILIES OR NAPKINS.--The use of coloured doilies for wiping the fingers after eating fruit being nearly exploded, and small white napkins being now substituted for that purpose, let them, as soon as taken from table, be thrown _immediately_ into a large vessel of clean water. If hot water is at hand it will be better than cold. Leave them to soak during the remainder of the day. Then take them out, put them where they will dry; and you will generally find that the fruit stains have disappeared. If any remain, wet the stains with hot water, and then rub on some lemon-juice, or salt-of-lemon stain-powder; washing it off as soon as it has removed the stain. Cream of tartar will sometimes produce this effect. It is scarcely possible to get a stain out of any sort of linen after it has been previously washed with soap.