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Adhesives, Paints, and Varnishes: Paste

PASTES Flour Paste. - Ordinary paste is made by mixing wheat flour or rice flour with water, with or without boiling. It may be improved by the addition of various other adhesives, as rosin, gum arabic, and glue, and also by the addition of alum.

To make simple cold flour paste.

ADHESIVES, PAINTS, AND VARNISHES mix 1 tablespoonful of flour with 1 teacupful of cold water. Add a few drops of carbolic acid or other preservative.

Or, for library paste, dissolve ounce of alum in 1 pint of warm water. Stir in flour to the consistency of cream, carefully breaking all lumps.

Add 1 teaspoonful of powdered resin and 5 or 6 cloves, or a few drops of oil of cloves, and boil until it thickens. Thin, if necessary, with a little hot water. Put in an earthen or glass vessel, as a glass fruit jar tightly covered, and keep in a cool place. Soften when needed with warm water. This paste is suitable for scrapbooks and similar articles, and is better for such uses than a paste or mucilage containing gum arabic. To soften library paste, add a few drops of water and melt the paste with gentle heat.

Or to 1 heaping teaspoonful of flour add½ teaspoonful of pulverized alum. Rub smooth with a little cold water. Mix with boiling water to the consistency of cream and boil until it thickens.

To Preserve Flour Paste. -Add to each half pint of flour paste not containing alum 15 grains of corrosive sublimate. This prevents the formation of mold and preserves the paste from the attacks of insects and vermin. Add also a few drops of oil of lavender, rosemary, or cloves, or any of the essential oils, and a few drops of carbolic acid. ---- Paper Hanger's Paste. - Mix 4 pounds of flour, 1 pound of powdered alum, and pound of pulverized rosin.

Rub up this mixture with a small quantity of warm water until smooth and free from lumps. Mix with boiling water to the consistency of cream and boil until it thickens.

Or use cornstarch or wheat starch or rice flour instead of wheat flour.

To use this paste, spread it freely on the paper, then lay or fold the pasted sides lightly together. This assists in distributing the paste evenly and also in handling the paper. After the upper end has been attached, the lower part may be unfolded as it goes on the wall. The wall should first be coated with a thin glue size made of about 4 ounces of glue to 1 gallon of water.

Or make a glue size by dissolving 10 ounces of glue in 2½ gallons of water.

Mix 9 pounds of bole, an earthy substance resembling clay, with water to the consistency of cream, and strain off the water through cheese cloth.

Add the moistened bole to the glue size and stir in 2 pounds of gypsum.

Strain through cheese cloth and dilute with boiling water. This is an excellent paste for old walls covered with one or more coatings of whitewash.

Rice Paste or Japanese Cement.-- Mix powdered rice with a little cold water, rubbing it until smooth and free from lumps. Add boiling water and boil, stirring constantly, until it thickens. This is an excellent library paste, suitable for scrapbooks and all kinds of fancy paper work.

Or it may be used to paste strips of transparent paper used to mend tears in valuable books, as it is nearly transparent when dry. For all fine paper work, it is much superior to paste made of wheat flour.

Flour Cement.-A paste of wheat flour and cold water worked with the fingers into a stiff dough is a useful cement for attaching the metal tops to glass articles and other similar purposes. It requires two or three days to harden.

Flour Paste with Sugar. The addition of 1 tablespoonful of sugar to 1 quart of flour paste increases its adhesiveness and tenacious quality.

MUCILAGE Gum arabic and similar substances, as gum tragacanth, senegal, and the like, are readily soluble in water, and hence form the base of the liquid adhesives known as mucilage. Gum-arabic Paste. Dissolve 21 ounces of gum acacia in 2 quarts of warm water. Stir in 1 pound of wheat flour to form a paste. Add 14 ounces of sugar of lead and 14 ounces of alum dissolved in water. Stir and bring to a boil with gentle heat. Remove the mixture from the fire, but before it boils, and cool for use. Thin, if necessary, with a solution of gum arabic in water.

Or dissolve 2 ounces of gum arabic in 1 pint of water. Add ounce of laundry starch and ounce of white sugar mixed with a little cold water to a thick paste free from lumps, and boil in a double boiler until the starch becomes clear. Add a few cloves or a few drops of any essential oil as a preservative.

Or mix 4 ounces of gum arabic, 3 ounces of starch, and 1 ounce of sugar in a dry mortar. Add cold water to make a paste as thick as melted glue.

Bottle for use.

Or dissolve 1 ounce of gum arabic in 2 ounces of water and thicken to a paste with starch. - Gum-arabic Cement.