Part 96

(_e_) The painting is first removed from the frame, and the dust and smoke brushed off with a pencil or feather. After this it is washed with a sponge dipped in well water. It is next covered with a thick layer of soap; shaving soap is the best for the purpose, because it remains moist and does not dry on. After the soap has been on 8 or 10 minutes it is all washed off with a strong brush or pencil, adding a little water if necessary. The soap that still adheres is rinsed off sufficiently with water, and the picture left to dry. When completely dry, it is further cleansed with nitro-benzol--also known as nitro-benzine, artificial oil of bitter almonds, or essence of mirbane. It is a yellowish oily, poisonous liquid, with a powerful smell of bitter almonds. It is formed when coal-tar benzol is mixed with fuming or concentrated nitric acid under suitable precautions. The nitro-benzol is poured into a dish, and a clean linen rag is dipped in it, and passed over the painting. This quickly removes all the adherent dirt. This linen rag must be frequently exchanged for a clean one. When the rag remains clean after going over it repeatedly, the cleansing is finished. If the colours look dull after going over it the last time and letting it dry, it is given a thin coat of the finest olive oil, and after a while must be varnished with a good, quickly-drying varnish. (Von Bibra.)

(_f_) The picture had better first be sponged with cold water and allowed to dry, then apply solution of hydrogen peroxide with a clean sponge in successive lines, not going over the same surface twice; again allow to dry. If the solution is sufficiently strong, the painting is now tolerably clean; if not, a second or third application is necessary. Peroxide of hydrogen, hydroxyl, or hydrogen di-oxide (H_{2}O_{2}), owing to the readiness to part with half its combining weight of oxygen, is a powerful bleaching agent; but the way in which it serves to clean oil paintings is accounted for thus:--Sulphuretted hydrogen, which is present in the atmosphere, especially in the neighbourhood of towns, attacks the lead in the paint and forms lead sulphide, which is readily soluble in peroxide of hydrogen, water and lead sulphate being the result; thus

PbS + 4H_{2}O_{2} = PbSO_{4} + 4H_{2}O (J. T. C. Williams.)

Prints.--(_a_) Presuming these to be mounted, proceed in the following manner. Cut a stale loaf in half, with a perfectly clean knife; pare the crust away from the edges. Place them on a flat table, and rubbing the surface with the fresh-cut bread, in circular sweeps, lightly but firmly performed, will remove all superficial markings. Soak the prints for a short time in a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid, say 1 part acid to 100 of water, and then remove them into a vessel containing a sufficient quantity of clear chloride of lime water to cover them. Leave them here until bleached to the desired point. Remove, rinse well by allowing to stand an hour in a pan in which a constant stream of water is allowed to flow, and finally dry off by spreading on clean cloths. Perhaps may require ironing between two sheets of clean paper.

(_b_) Put on a smooth board, cover it thinly with common salt finely pounded; squeeze lemon juice upon the salt so as to dissolve a considerable proportion of it; elevate one end of the board, so that it may form an angle of about 45° or 50° with the horizon. Pour on boiling water from a tea-kettle until the salt and lemon-juice be all washed off; the engraving will then be perfectly clean, and free from stains. It must be dried on the board, or on some smooth surface, gradually. If dried by the fire or the sun it will be tinged with a yellow colour.

(_c_) Hydrochloric acid, oxalic acid, or eau de Javelle may be employed, weakened by water. After the leaves (if it be a book) have by this means been whitened, they must be bathed again in a solution of soda sulphate, which will remove all the chlorine, and leave the pages white and clean. They will, however, have lost all firmness of texture, owing to the removal of the size from the paper. It will, therefore, be advisable to give a bath of gelatine and alum made with boiling water, to which may be added a little tobacco, or any other simple substance to restore the tint of the now too white paper.

(_d_) Immerse each mildewed sheet separately in a solution made in the proportions of ½ lb. lime chloride to 1 pint water. Let it stand, with frequent stirring, for 24 hours, and then strain through muslin, and finally add 1 qt. water. Mildew and other stains will be found to disappear very quickly, and the sheets must then be passed separately through clear water, or the lime chloride, if left in the paper, will cause it to rot. Old prints, engravings, and every description of printed matter may be successfully treated in the same manner.

(_e_) “I have in my time cleaned many hundreds. The plan which I adopt is as follows:--I place them, one or two at a time, in a shallow dish, and pour water over them until they are completely soaked or saturated with it. I then carefully pour off the water, and pour on to the prints a solution of lime chloride (1 part liquor calcis chloratæ, to 39 of water). As a general rule, the stains disappear as if by magic, but occasionally they are obstinate. When that is the case, I pour on the spot pure liquor calcis chloratæ, and if that does not succeed, I add a little dilute nitro-muriatic acid. I have never had a print which has not succumbed to this treatment--in fact, as a rule they become too white. As soon as they are clean they must be carefully washed with successive portions of water until the whole of the chlorine is got rid of. They should then be placed in a very weak solution of isinglass or glue, and many collectors colour this solution with coffee-grounds, &c., to give a yellow tint to the print. They should be dried between folds of blotting-paper, either in a press or under a heavy book, and finally ironed with an ordinary flat-iron to restore the gloss; placing clean paper between the iron and the print. Grease stains are much more difficult. I find benzine best. Small grease spots may be removed by powdered French chalk being placed over them, a piece of clean blotting-paper over the chalk, and a hot iron over that.” (F. Andrews.)

(_f_) Mildew often arises from the paste used to attach the print. Take a solution of alum of medium strength and brush on back and face of the engraving 2 or 3 coats, then make the frame air-tight by pasting a strip of paper all round the inside of glass, leaving about ½ in. overlapping (taking care not to paste the paper on the glass, so as to be seen from the front), then place your glass in frame, take the overlapping piece and paste to side of rebate; place your picture in position, spring backboard in, and then place a sheet of strong paper (brown) on the table, damp it, and paste round back of frame, lay it on to the paper, leave to dry, cut level. If this does not answer there will be no help for it, but dust off as the mould accumulates. Do not brush on surface with the alum if the engraving is coloured, but several coats on the back.

(_g_) A plan recommended by Wm. Brooks is to get a dish or china tray a little larger than the engraving to be operated upon; if, smaller, there is a great risk of tearing and damaging the engraving. The bleaching agent used is Holmes’ ozone bleach. The strength preferred is 1 part bleach to 10 of water, well shaken up before pouring into the dish. A much stronger solution can be used (say 1 in 5), but the weaker it is the easier is its removal from the paper afterwards. The engraving is immersed in the solution face upwards, avoiding bubbles. The only caution to be observed is that the sodden engraving is somewhat rotten, and needs careful handling. If the engraving be only slightly stained, ½ hour will suffice to clean it, but if quite brown it may require 4 hours. After all the stains are removed, and the paper has regained its whiteness, pour the solution back into the bottle, as it can be re-used till it becomes discoloured; fill up the dish with water, changing frequently for about 3 hours, or place it in running water. When the engraving is sufficiently washed, it can be taken out, blotted off, and hung up to dry. When quite dry, it may be ironed on the back with a warm flat-iron, which must not be too hot. (_Brit. Jl. Photog._)

(_h_) If the engravings are very dirty, take 2 parts salt and 1 soda, and pound them together until very fine. Lay the engraving on a board, and fasten it with drawing-pins, and then spread the mixture dry equally over the surface to be cleaned. Moisten the whole with warm water and a little lemon-juice, and, after it has remained about a minute, or even less, tilt the board up on its end, and pour over it a kettleful of boiling water, being careful to remove all the mixture, and avoid rubbing. If the engraving is not very dirty, the less soda used the better, as it has a tendency to give a yellow hue.

(_i_) Does not injure the quality or texture of the engraving. Immerse the print in a lye made by adding to the strongest muriatic acid its own weight of water; to 3 parts of this mixture add 1 of red oxide of lead or black oxide of manganese. If the print is very dirty, it may remain in the liquid 24 hours without harm. Indian ink stains should be first assisted out with hot water, and pencil marks with rubber or breadcrumbs. If there be old paste on the back, it must be removed with warm water. The saline crystals left after immersion are removed by several rinsings in warm water.

(_j_) To remove surface dirt from engravings and mezzotints, the most effectual plan is to use common bookbinders’ paste, applied with a paste brush, both to front and back of the print; the paste will take up the whole of the dirt, which will come away with the paste when it is removed with water. A bath of plain water completes the operation, from which the print will emerge as fresh as when first issued. Many a guinea has been earned by this simple but efficacious plan.

Frames.--(_a_) Fly-marks can be cleaned off with soap and water used sparingly on end of finger covered by piece of rag. When all cleared off, rinse with cold water, and dry with chamois leather; next buy 1 lb. (1_d._) of common size, and 2 penny paint pans. Boil a little of the size in one of the pans with as much water as will just cover it. When boiled, strain through muslin into clean pan, and apply thinly to frames with camel-hair brush (called technically a “dabber,” and costing 6_d._ to 1_s._ each). Take care you do not give the frames too much water and “elbow grease.” On no account use gold size, as it is used only in regilding, and if put on over the gold would make it dull and sticky.

(_b_) Dissolve a very small quantity of salts of tartar in a wine bottle of water, and with a piece of cotton wool soaked in the liquid dab the frames very gently (no rubbing on any account, or you will take off the gilt), then stand up the frames so that water will drain away from them conveniently, and syringe them with clean water. Care must be taken that the solution is not too strong.

(_c_) If new gold frames are varnished with the best copal varnish, it improves their appearance considerably, and fly-marks can then be washed off carefully with a sponge. The frames also last many times longer. It also improves old frames to varnish them with it.

(_d_) Gilt frames may be cleaned by simply washing them with a small sponge, moistened with hot spirits of wine or oil of turpentine, the sponge only to be sufficiently wet to take off the dirt and fly-marks. They should not afterwards be wiped, but left to dry of themselves.

(_e_) Old ale is a good thing to wash any gilding with, as it acts at once upon the fly-dirt. Apply it with a soft rag; but for the ins and outs of carved work, a brush is necessary; wipe it nearly dry, and do not apply any water. Thus will you leave a thin coat of the glutinous isinglass of the finings on the face of the work, which will prevent the following flies’ fæces from fastening to the frame, as they otherwise would do.

(_f_) The _Papier Zeitung_ recommends the following method of renovating gilt frames. It consists in applying with a camel-hair pencil a gum solution to which has been added gold bronze having the colour of the frame. Before mixing with the gum water the bronze must be washed with water until it runs off perfectly clear. If one application does not suffice, it may be repeated until the spot entirely disappears, but of course one coat must be dry before the next is applied. Spots treated in this way look very well at first, but it will not last, for it is not able to resist the moisture in the air unless it is specially prepared. For this purpose an ordinary bristle brush is rubbed with a piece of yellow wax until it is somewhat sticky, then it is passed very lightly over the spot several times as when dusting it. This gives it a very thin coat of wax that hardens in 2 or 3 days; in the meantime it must be protected against dust.

_Sponge._--(_a_) First clean, wash, and squeeze out the sponges; then dip them into a 2 per cent. solution of potassium permanganate. Here they become quite brown (from separated manganic oxide); after 10 minutes, take out, wash in water, again well press, and dip into a 2 per cent. solution of oxalic acid [some prefer diluted sulphuric (1:20) or diluted hydrochloric acid (1:15)], in which they become perfectly white. Success mainly depends on the soaking in the permanganate solution; if they are macerated too short a time they do not become thoroughly white; if too long, they are apt to become rotten. (Siemens.)

(_b_) First clean the sponges by immersing in dilute hydrochloric acid. Then soak in a bleaching liquid, composed of 1 part sodium hyposulphite, 12 water, and 2 hydrochloric acid. After some time, remove and well wash. To the last wash-water a little glycerine is added in order to preserve the sponges soft. The liquid is best pressed out by passing the sponges through a clothes-wringer.

(_c_) Toilet sponges which have been in use, often become peculiarly slimy, fatty, and almost useless, owing to some action of the soap. Mere washing in distilled water does not remove the difficulty. It may be overcome by using fused calcium chloride. The sponge is pressed as much as possible, placed on a plate, the powdered calcium chloride is sprinkled upon it, and allowed to deliquesce upon the sponge. After about ½ hour, the sponge may be washed in water and dried, when it will become white. (Valta.)

(_d_) Soak the sponges, previously deprived of sand and dirt by beating and washing, in a 1 per cent. solution of potassium permanganate. Remove them, wash thoroughly with water, and press out the water. Next put them into a solution of ½ lb. sodium hyposulphite in 1 gal. water, to which 1 oz. oxalic acid has been added, and leave in the solution for 15 minutes. Finally, take out, and wash thoroughly. By this treatment the sponges are rendered perfectly white. Many sponges contain a more or less dark-coloured brownish core. If treated only with permanganate and acid, the core is either not bleached at all, or, if it has been somewhat bleached, the tint is apt to grow again darker. (Borham.)

(_e_) Soak for 10 minutes in a 2 per cent. solution of potash permanganate; then in a 2 per cent. solution of oxalic acid with the addition of a little sulphuric acid for about ½ hour; finally treat with a 2 per cent. solution of potash carbonate for ½ hour, wash, and dry. The solution of potash carbonate produces the yellow colour often particularly wanted. (_Chem. and Drug._)

(_f_) A sponge employed in photographic manipulations for a few months loses all its valuable qualities, becoming black, hard, and greasy, and contaminating anything which it touches. To clean it, a solution of potash permanganate in water is prepared of such a strength that it appears of a wine colour, and into this the unserviceable sponge is immersed, and allowed to remain for some time. When taken out and squeezed, it is next put into a diluted muriatic acid of ordinary commercial quality, being immersed and kept saturated therein for some time as before. The most appropriate strength of this acid solution is about 10 parts water to 1 of acid. The sponge is taken out after sufficient treatment, squeezed well to free it from the acid, and then washed well in good spring water. When taken out, it will be found to be quite clean, to have again assumed its light colour, and to be free from all foreign matter. Sponges treated in this way become like new sponges, and can be used without any fear of their contaminating, even if employed for the filtration of neutral liquids. The main thing to be attended to in this plan of purifying sponge is to see that it is thoroughly saturated both by the permanganate and the acid solutions, which should be allowed ample time to soak through the mass; care must also be observed to wash the sponges thoroughly with plenty of water at the end of the operation. (Dr. J. Stinde.)

(_g_) When sponges get greasy, let them dry, and then work them with a small quantity of turpentine, and after a few minutes wash them with warm soap-and-water with a little bit of soda. This will get them quite clean with very little trouble. (E. T. Scott.)

(_h_) Put a handful of salt on the sponge, and rinse the salt well through the sponge. Let the sponge dry in a thorough draught of air. The latter precaution alone will keep sponges free from sliminess, unless they become saturated with soap.

(_i_) I tried the effect of sulphuric acid as follows:--In a large basin mixed about 1 pint water and 2 tablespoonfuls sulphuric acid (common oil of vitriol), then steeped the sponge about 2 hours, wrung it out several times in the acid, and finally well washed out the acid in clean water; it was then just like new, having regained its former size, colour, and elasticity, with not the slightest trace of its former sliminess. It was a large bath sponge, and in an extremely bad condition. (J. W. Jackson.)

(_j_) Dissolve some citric acid in water in a hand-basin, and wash the sponge in it as in (_i_).

_Stuffed Specimens._--(_a_) Give a good brushing with a stiff clothes-brush. After this warm a quantity of new bran in a pan, taking care it does not burn, to prevent which quickly stir it. When warm, rub it well into the fur with your hand. Repeat this a few times, then rid the fur of the bran, and give it another sharp brushing until free from dust. (_b_) Sponge with white soap and warm water, rubbing well into and about the roots of the hair, but avoid using an excess of water to soak into the stuffing, or the specimen will, in all probability, never thoroughly dry, and moths and rot will be the result. Dry in a current of air as free from dust as possible; brush the fur occasionally as it dries (a coarse comb at first will, perhaps, separate the hairs better). Before putting it into its case, wash freely with benzoline, rubbing with the fur; you may never dread moths, and your specimen will always be clean if your case is properly made and closed up air-tight by means of paper pasted over every joint and crack.

_Teapot._--(_a_) Fill with boiling water and add some strong washing soda; let it remain for a day or two. (_b_) Weak solution of spirits of salt (hydrochloric acid).

_Textile Goods._--The arrangement of a laundry is dealt with in another section. The present section is concerned with the ordinary household washing, drying, ironing, and starching operations.

The first step is to sort the dirty linen the day before washing actually takes place. White goods should be separated from coloured, and linen from woollen. Repairs may often be considerably reduced by doing them while the articles are soiled and before the ordeal of the washtub has converted thin places into holes and small holes into large ones.

Much labour is saved by putting the articles in soak overnight, which dislodges the dirt and avoids the hard rubbing otherwise necessary. A good soak mixture is an inch cut off a bar of soap to every 4 gal. of water used, and a dessert spoonful of washing powder, allowing both soap and powder to dissolve before introducing the clothes. For body linen the water should be hot, for bed linen it may be cold. Curtains, blinds, fringes, and other articles which harbour dust and smoke should be soaked in plain cold water. Another excellent soak mixture is made as follows:--Dissolve 2 lb. soap in 5½ gal. nearly boiling water; add 3 tablespoonfuls ammonia and 1 of spirits of turpentine; soak the clothes in this mixture for 3 hours before washing.

On washing day the first care is to get a copper full of boiling water. Meantime the articles in soak can be prepared. Always commence operations with the most delicate goods.

Thus laces and fine muslins are dealt with first. If to be boiled they must be tied up in a clean coarse muslin bag, but usually they will hardly require this treatment, but simple washing will suffice. In this case pass them into a hot soak mixture as already described and work them with the hands without rubbing, till clean. Then rinse, first in warm water, then in cold; fold; roll up in a clean towel, and put aside ready for starching.

Go over the body linen in soak and pay special attention to stains and extra dirty spots. Wring the articles as free as possible from the dirty water, beginning always with the finest, and put into another tub containing a warm soak; here wash again, and then pass through a tub of clean cold water to remove adhering suds. Next fill the copper with clean cold water and add the same quantities of soap and washing powder as before; wring the goods out of the cold washwater, put them into the copper, bring to boiling, and let boil for 10-15 minutes. Pass successive lots into the copper in the same way, replenishing the water, soap, and washing powder as needed. Each lot as taken from the boiler should be rinsed first through hot and then through cold water, well wrung, dipped, an article at a time, in water containing some blue, wrung out, shaken, folded, and put on one side. The bluewater will need additions of blue occasionally.

When all the body linen has gone through the copper, the table and bed linen may follow in the same way; but after the second rinsing on leaving the copper these articles can at once be hung out to dry. The kitchen linen will come last and be washed in the suds of the previous batches.

Drying should always be at least partially effected in the sun if possible. When available, nothing is better than exposing linen on a clean lawn. Failing this it must be hung on wires or ropes provided for the purpose. Galvanised wire lasts longer and is cleaner than rope. Both require rubbing clean with a damp cloth before use. After sunning, the drying must always be completed before a good fire, especially in the case of body linen. Table and bed linen should be taken in while still damp, and folded and mangled before drying by the fire. Body linen is not mangled, but ironed or starched.

Ironing may be done without starching, or with. Calicoes are generally ironed on the right side, as they thus keep clean for a longer time. In ironing a frock, first do the waist, then the sleeves, then the skirt. Keep the skirt rolled while ironing the other parts, and set a chair to hold the sleeves while ironing the skirt, unless a skirt-board be used. Silk should be ironed on the wrong side, when quite damp, with an iron which is not very hot, as light colours are apt to change and fade. In ironing velvet, turn up the face of the iron, and after damping the wrong side of the velvet, draw it over the face of the iron, holding it straight; always iron lace and needlework on the wrong side, and put them away as soon as they are dry.