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Decalcomania,

Or the Art of Ornamenting China, Glass, Earthenware, Woodenware, Fancy Boxes, Ivory, and Paper Maché Goods, Japannedware, Binding of Books, Fans, Leather Work, etc., etc.

Directions. Cover the picture entirely (taking care not to go beyond the outlines) with a slight coat of fixing varnish; then put the picture on the object to be ornamented, being careful to place it properly at once, in order not to spoil it by noving. The varnish newly applied being too liquid, the picture should be left to dry eight or ten minutes, and placed on the object to be ornamented, when just damp enough to be still adherent; this done, cover the back of the picture with a piece of cloth steeped in water, then, by means of a knife or pen-holder, rub it all over, so as to fix every part of it; then remove the piece of cloth and rinse the paper with a paint-brush steeped in water; at the end of a few minutes the paper will come off, leaving the painting transferred.

Care must be taken that the piece of cloth, without being too wet, should be sufficiently so for the paper to be entirely saturated. The picture must now be washed with a wet paint-brush, and dried very lightly with some blotting paper. The ornamented article should, after this, be put near the stove or any other warm place, to make it dry well and to improve the adhesiveness of the pictures. The polishing varnish should not be applied until the next day, keeping the pictures in the meantime carefully out of the dust. The latter varnish should be put on as lightly as possible. If dark-colored objects are to be ornamented, such as bindings of books, Russian leather, leather bags, &c., the picture must first be covered with a mixture of white lead and turpentine, following the outlines of the design and covering it entirely. When this coat is perfectly dry, proceed according to the above instructions.

To print on silk, paper, or materials that cannot bear washing after the process, proceed as follows:

Cover the picture entirely with a light coat of fixing varnish and let it dry for an hour or two; then pass a sponge, lightly damped, over the whole surface of the paper, in order to take away the composition which is on it in the blank parts, and which often cleans the material.

When the paper is dry, re-varnish the picture, and transfer it on to the material by means of a paper cutter, avoiding to employ the piece of cloth or anything damp; then, with a paint-brush slightly steeped in water, wet the paper lightly, and leave it a full quarter of an hour on the object before removing it.

To remove a spoiled print, rub it with a soft rag imbibed in turpentine.

Our readers will at once appreciate the merits of this invention; the facility with which it can be applied, also its numerous applications.

Cosmetic for the Complexion.

Mix glycerine with water, together with a small quantity of alcohol, add Cologne, or other perfume, and you have a preparation closely resembling the celebrated Email de Paris. This preparation is said to impart a soft, white, and elegant skin of the texture and color of polished ivory, and to remove all discolorations, black worm specks, and roughness of the skin, and smooths out the marks of small-pox.

Cheap Outside Paint.

Take 2 parts (in bulk) of water-lime ground fine, 1 part (in bulk) of white lead ground in oil. Mix them thoroughly, by adding best boiled linseed-oil nough to prepare it to pass through a paint-mill, after which temper with oil till it can be applied with a common paint-brush. Make any color to suit. It will last three times as long as lead paint, is superior, and cost not one-fourth as much.

Brilliant Whitewash, closely resembling Paint.

Many have heard of the brilliant stucco whitewash on the east end of the President's house at Washington. The following is a receipt for it:

Take bushel nice unslaked lime, slake it with boiling water, cover it during the process to keep in the steam. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or strainer, and add to it a peck of salt, previously well dissolved in warm water, 3 lbs. ground rice, boiled to a thin paste, and stirred in boiling hot, lb. powdered Spanish whiting, and 1 lb. of clean glue, which has been previously dissolved by soaking it well, and then hang it over a slow fire, in a small kettle within a large one filled with water.

Add 5 galls. of hot water to the mixture, stir it well, and let it stand a few days, covered from the dirt. It should be put on right hot: for this purpose, it can be kept in a kettle on a portable furnace. It is said that about a pint of this mixture will cover a square yard upon the outside of a house, if properly applied. Brushes more or less may be used, according to the neatness of the job required. It answers as well as oil-paint for wood, brick, or stone, and is cheaper. It retains its brilliancy for many years. There is nothing of the kind that will compare with it, either for inside or outside walls. Coloring-matter may be put in, and made of any shade you like. Spanishbrown stirred in will make red pink, more or less deep, according to the quantity. A delicate tinge of this is very pretty for inside walls. Finely pulverized common clay, well mixed with Spanish-brown, makes a reddish stone-color. Yellow ochre stirred in makes yellow-wash; but crome goes further, and makes a color generally esteemed prettier. In all these cases the darkness of the shades, of course, is determined by the quantity of coloring used. It is difficult to make rules, because tastes are different; it would be best to try experiments on a shingle, and let it dry. Green must not be mixed with lime; it destroys the color, and the color has an effect on the whitewash which makes it crack and peel. When walls have been badly smoked, and you wish to have them a clean white, it is well to squeeze indigo plentifully through a bag into the water you use, before it is stirred in the whole mixture, or add a little blue stone. If a larger quantity than 5 galls. be wanted, the same proportion should be observed.

To render Gunpowder Incombustible and Combustible at pleasure. It has been recently announced that a plan has been discovered by which gunpowder may be rendered non-explosive at pleasure, and afterwards restored to its former condition of combustibility.

This remarkable discovery was lately announced to have been made in England, but it seemed so improbable that little attention was paid to it..

By experiments made during October of this year (1865), at Jersey City, New Jersey, under the charge of Mr. Handel Cossham, one of the party of English railway capitalists accompanying Sir Morton Peto to this country, the matter has been clearly demonstrated to be possible. At this experiment, common gunpowder was first explodedi in the ordinary manner. Ground glass was then mixed with it, in proportion of two parts of gunpowder to one of ground glass. This mixture then refused to explode under the stimulation of red-hot pokers, matches, fuses, and lighted paper.

It took fire and burned slowly, but it would not