Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas, Recipes and Processes. Various

parts, by weight.

      VII.—Paste for Wall Paper.—Soak 18 pounds of bolus (bole) in water, after it has been beaten into small fragments, and pour off the supernatant water. Boil 10 ounces of glue into glue water, mix it well with the softened bolus and 2 pounds plaster of Paris and strain through a sieve by means of a brush. Thin the mass with water to the consistency of a thin paste. The paste is now ready for use. It is not only much cheaper than other varieties, but has the advantage over them of adhering better to whitewashed walls, and especially such as have been repeatedly coated over the old coatings which were not thoroughly removed. For hanging fine wall paper this paste is less commendable, as it forms a white color, with which the paper might easily become soiled if great care is not exercised in applying it. If the fine wall paper is mounted on ground paper, however, it can be recommended for pasting the ground paper on the wall.

Label Pastes:

      Pastes To Affix Labels To Tin.

      —Labels separate from tin because the paste becomes too dry. Some moisture is presumably always present; but more is required to cause continued adhesion in the case of tin than where the container is of {40} glass. Paste may be kept moist by the addition of calcium chloride, which is strongly hygroscopic, or of glycerine.

      The following formulas for pastes of the type indicated were proposed by Leo Eliel:

I.—	Tragacanth	1 ounce
Acacia	4 ounces
Thymol	14 grains
Glycerine	4 ounces
Water, sufficient to make	2 pints

      Dissolve the gums in 1 pint of water, strain, and add the glycerine, in which the thymol is suspended; shake well and add sufficient water to make 2 pints. This separates on standing, but a single shake mixes it sufficiently for use.

II.—	Rye flour	8 ounces
Powdered acacia	1 ounce
Glycerine	2 ounces
Oil of cloves	40 drops

      Rub the rye flour and acacia to a smooth paste with 8 ounces of cold water; strain through cheese cloth, and pour into 1 pint of boiling water, and continue the heat until as thick as desired. When nearly cold add the glycerine and oil of cloves.

III.—	Rye flour	5 parts
Venice turpentine	1 part
Liquid glue, a sufficient quantity

      Rub up the flour with the turpentine and then add sufficient freshly prepared glue (glue or gelatine dissolved in water) to make a stiff paste. This paste dries slowly.

IV.—	Dextrine	2 parts
Acetic acid	1 part
Water	5 parts
Alcohol, 95 per cent.	1 part

      Dissolve the dextrine and acetic acid in water by heating together in the water bath, and to the solution add the alcohol.

V.—	Dextrine	3 pounds
Borax	2 ounces
Glucose	5 drachms
Water	3 pints 2 ounces

      Dissolve the borax in the water by warming, then add the dextrine and glucose, and continue to heat gently until dissolved.

      Another variety is made by dissolving a cheap Ghatti gum in limewater, but it keeps badly.

      VI.—Add tartaric acid to thick flour paste. The paste is to be boiled until quite thick, and the acid, previously dissolved in a little water, is added, the proportion being about 2 ounces to the pint of paste.

      VII.—Gum arabic, 50 parts; glycerine, 10 parts; water, 30 parts; liq. Stibii chlorat., 2 parts.

      VIII.—Boil rye flour and strong glue water into a mass to which are added, for 1,000 parts, good linseed-oil varnish 30 parts and oil of turpentine 30 parts. This mixture furnishes a gluing agent which, it is claimed, even renders the labels proof against being loosened by moisture.

      IX.—Pour 140 parts of distilled cold water over 100 parts of gum arabic in a wide-necked bottle and dissolve by frequent shaking. To the solution, which is ready after standing for about 3 days, add 10 parts of glycerine; later, 20 parts of diluted acetic acid, and finally 6 parts of aluminum sulphate, then straining it through a fine-hair sieve.

      X.—Good glue is said to be obtained by dissolving 1 part of powdered sugar in 4 parts of soda water glass.

      XI.—A glue for bottle labels is prepared by dissolving borax in water; soak glue in this solution and dissolve the glue by boiling. Carefully drop as much acetic acid into the solution as will allow it to remain thin on cooling. Labels affixed with this agent adhere firmly and do not become moldy in damp cellars.

      XII.—Dissolve some isinglass in acetic acid and brush the labels over with it. There will be no cause to complain of their coming off, nor of striking through the paper. Take a wide-mouthed bottle, fill about two-thirds with commercial acetic acid, and put in as much isinglass as the liquid will hold, and set aside in a warm place until completely dissolved. When cold it should form a jelly. To use it place the bottle in hot water. The cork should be well-fitting and smeared with vaseline or melted paraffine.

      How To Paste Labels On Tin.

      —Brush over the entire back of the label with a flour paste, fold the label loosely by sticking both ends together without creasing the center, and throw to one side until this process has been gone through with the whole lot. Then unfold each label and place it on the can in the regular manner. The paste ought not to be thicker than maple syrup. When of this consistency it soaks through the label and makes it pliable and in a condition to be easily rubbed into position. If the paste is too thick it dries quickly, and does not soak through the label sufficiently. After the labels have been placed upon the cans the latter must be {41} kept apart until dry. In putting the paste upon the labels in the first place, follow the method of placing the dry labels over one another, back sides up, with the edge of each just protruding over the edge of the one beneath it, so that the fingers may easily grasp the label after the pasting has been done.

      Druggists’ Label Paste.

      —This paste, when carefully made, is an admirable one for label use, and a very little will go a long way:

Wheat flour	4 ounces
Nitric acid	1 drachm
Boric acid	10 grains
Oil of cloves	5 drops
Carbolic acid	1/2 drachm

      Stir flour and water together, mixing thoroughly, and add the other ingredients. After the stuff is well mixed, heat it, watching very carefully and removing the instant it stiffens.

      To Attach Glass Labels To Bottles.

      —Melt together 1 part of rosin and 2 parts of yellow wax, and use while warm.

      Photographic Mountants (see also Photography).

      —Owing to the nature of the different papers used for printing photographs, it is a matter of extreme importance to use a mountant that shall not set up decomposition in the coating of the print. For example, a mountant that exhibits acidity or alkalinity is injurious with most varieties of paper; and in photography the following formulas for pastes, mucilages, etc., have therefore been selected with regard to their absolute immunity from setting up decomposition in the print or changing its tone in any way. One of the usual mountants is rice starch or else rice water. The latter is boiled to a thick jelly, strained, and the strained mass used as an agglutinant for attaching photographic prints to the mounts. There is nothing of an injurious nature whatever in this mountant, neither is there in a mucilage made with gum dragon.

      This gum (also called gum tragacanth) is usually in the form of curls (i.e., leaf gum), which take a long time to properly dissolve in water—several weeks, in fact—but during the past few years there has been put on the market a powdered gum dragon which does not occupy so many days in dissolving. To make a mucilage from