Books › An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925 › scan 132
Scan 132
An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925
31 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 106. See the scan on archive.org.
1The bottle should then be uncorked, and the varnish strained through a linen cloth, one which is neither too fine nor too coarse. It is then poured into a second bottle, which must be absolutely clean and dry.
3The varnish of which we have spoken before should be made up of the ingredients which follow in the proportions given:
5Gum lac ……………………………………… 5 3/5 ounces
6Powdered gum sandaric ………………… 14/15 of an ounce
7Mastic in tears …………………………… 14/15 of an ounce
8Spirits of wine …………………………… 7/8 of a quart
10Before placing these three varieties of gum in the bottle together with the spirits of wine, they should be coarsely pounded; if they are pounded too fine they will not dissolve as easily, since in that case they are inclined to cling together in mass.
12The quality of the spirits of wine employed may be tested in the following manner:
14One should take 3 4/5 ounces of this varnish, mix it with 16 ounces¹ of spirits of wine and add 2 ounces of prepared turpentine. All these ingredients should be enclosed in the bottle, which is exposed to the sun, or placed on a moderately heated stove. In this way a very fine varnish, one which dries in a very short time, is obtained.
16GOLDEN ORANGE
18Steep 1 ounce of tumeric and 23/100 ounces of oriental saffron for twenty-four hours in 26 2/3 ounces of spirits of wine. This infusion is filtered, then pounded out on a well-mixed powder composed of 1 ounce of gum gutta (gamboge Gum), 2 3/5 ounces of gum sandrach, the same amount of gum elemi, 1 13/15 ounces of dragon's blood in reeds, an equal amount of seed lac; and the whole is then dissolved in a water bath.
20RED INDIA VARNISH
22This varnish is prepared by dissolving in a water bath the ingredients which follow, placed in 7/8 of a quart of spirits of wine, pulverizing them before the operation:
24Cochineal ……………………………………… 14/15 of an ounce
25Dragon's blood …………………………… 1 13/15 ounces
26Gum lac …………………………………………. 1 13/15 ounces
28After they have been entirely dissolved, the resulting mixture is withdrawn from the water bath and filtered before preserving for use.
30¹ The various weights and measures here given have been translated from the metric system and every endeavor has been made to approximate them as closely as possible to our domestic equivalent. Where weight instead of measure is applied to liquids, the translation is made from the metric gram. "The gram, unit of weight, is a cubic centimeter of pure water at greatest density."
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