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Leather, Ink, and Miscellaneous: Brazil

Led Ink.-Red ink may be made out of cochineal or Brazil wood, or the coal-tar colors known as puchsin, magenta, or eosin. These are readily soluble in water, but should have a few drops of corrosive sublimate or other antiseptic added to prevent mold. Eosin inks copy freely, but fade if exposed to sunlight.

To make red ink, bring 1 gallon of the best vinegar to a boil with gentle heat, add 1 pound of Brazil wood, and simmer for half an hour. Stir in pound of powdered alum and strain through cheese cloth. Add gill of fresh gall to each quart of the ink.

Cork tightly in glass bottles.

Or boil for 1 hour 4 ounces of ground Brazil wood in 1 pint of diluted acetic acid (1 part pure acid to 10 parts water). Add ounce of alum, strain, and add 1 ounce of LEATHER, INK, AND MISCELLANEOUS gum arabic dissolved in a little hot water. Use copper or enamel ware for the above.

Or dissolve 10 grains of the best carmine lake in the least possible quantity of ammonia. Let stand 24 hours and dilute with 2 fluid ounces of distilled water.

Or boil 2 ounces of powdered cochineal and 2 ounces of cream of tartar with 8 ounces of water until dissolved. Strain, and add 1 ounce or a little more of carbonate of potassium. Stir in 1 ounce of alum and 1 ounce of gum arabic dissolved in a little boiling water. Additional carbonate of potassium will darken the color of the ink.

Blue Ink.- Take 2 ounces of Prussian blue crystals and cover with hydrochloric acid. Stir or shake the mixture thoroughly, pour off the acid through a suitable strainer, and pour on water to rinse the blue completely free of the acid. Dry the crystals, mix with an equal quantity of oxalic acid in fine powder, and thin with distilled water to the color desired. Or dissolve indigo carmine in water.

Or mix 2 ounces of ferrocyanide of iron and 2 ounces of strong hydrochloric acid. Dissolve and dilute with soft water.

Or mix 1 ounce of powdered Prussian blue with 1½ fluid ounces of muriatic acid. Dilute with water.

Violet Ink. - Dissolve with gentle heat 1 ounce of methyl-violet aniline in 1 gill of alcohol. Stir until thoroughly dissolved. Then add 1 gallon of boiling water. This is a vivid, beautiful violet, which flows smoothly and dries quickly, but will fade if exposed to sunlight. It is the common violet ink of commerce.

Green Ink. - Dissolve 1 ounce of iodine-green aniline in 1 gill of hot alcohol, and dilute with 2 quarts of soft water. This is a vivid and beautiful color which will yield several copies, and is very little faded by sunlight.

Or dissolve 2 ounces of verdigris and 1 ounce of cream of tartar in 8 ounces of soft water, and boil until the right shade is reached.

Or mix 1 ounce of crystallized acetate of copper with 1 pint of soft water.

Or rub together 3 drams of soluble Prussian blue and 3 drams of gamboge with 2 ounces of mucilage, and dilute with pint of soft water.

Yellow Ink. Dissolve yellow or orange aniline colors in boiling water.

Or boil 1 pound of French berries with 2 ounces of alum in 1 gallon of water until the color is sufficiently strong. Strain, and add 4 ounces of gum arabic.

Show-card Inks.-Any of the above colored inks may be used for show cards if desired, or dissolve 1½ ounces of gum arabic in 8 ounces of water, and while hot strain through cheese cloth. Mix with this ordinary painters' colors, either dry or ground in oils, and apply with a brush. To make a show card permanent, brush it over with a thin glue size, lay on the ink with a brush, and finish with a hard, white varnish.

To mix various colors of ink for different tints, see under "Paints and Painting."

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Inks are prepared by grinding thin sheets of the metal on a glass plate with a little honey to reduce them to a fine powder. This powder is then laid on filter paper, washed with hot water to remove the honey, and dissolved in a solution of gum arabic for use.

The writing may be done with a nearly colorless glue size, and the fine bronze, gold, or silver powder may be dusted over it while the size is still wet.

SPECIAL INKS Sympathetic Inks. -These inks are invisible until brought out by the effect of heat or some chemical. For an invisible ink, write with fresh milk, which will not show until the paper is gently heated.

Or write with a solution of sugar in water.

Or write with a mixture of 1 part of sulphuric acid and 20 parts of water, using a quill or gold pen. The acid will corrode an iron or steel pen.

This is invisible until the paper is made warm enough to evaporate the water, when the acid will char the paper in black characters.

Or write with a solution of acetate of lead, and afterwards expose the writing to the fumes of a brimstone match.

Or write with a weak solution of nutgalls, and apply a solution of iron to the paper.

Or write with a solution of nitrate of silver, and apply a solution of common salt. These methods have often been used to conceal subjects of correspondence by writing letters with ordinary inks, and between the lines writing with invisible ink another message. The secret of the combination must, of course, be known to the person for whom the writing is intended. Luminous Ink. - Dissolve 1 dram of phosphorus in 1 ounce of oil of cinnamon. Cork tightly, and put the bottle in hot water until dissolved.

Letters written with this solution will be visible in the dark.

Hectograph Ink.-Mix 1 ounce of iodine-green or methyl-violet aniline colors with 1 ounce of glycerin, and dissolve the mixture in 10 ounces of distilled water. This is used in printing from a gelatin pad, usually called a hectograph. To make such a pad, cover 1 ounce of gelatin with cold water, and let stand over night. Put in a new tin dripping pan or other tin dish having low sides and square corners 12 ounces of gelatin, and heat slowly, but do not let it boil. Stir in the soaked gelatin and let the mixture stand over a slow fire until the water is all evaporated. This will produce a solid pad of clear gelatin.