Provide a box of wood or paper of sufficient size, suspend by thread
or thin wire in several places the object you wish to cast. Now mix
four parts of plaster of Paris with two parts of fine brickdust ; add
water to bring to consistency of cream ; with this cover the article
intended to be cast, using care not to disturb it from the natural posi-
tion. When you have filled your box with the plaster, etc., let it harden
and make an opening in the top to pour the metal in. Place it near
the fire by degrees until you can make it red-hot. Then let it cool and
with a bellows blow and shake out all the ashes from the mold you
can ; then pour in some quicksilver and shake it round in the mold in
order to loosen every particle of the ashes therein ; also make a passage
through where the strings were tied in order to let out the gases when
you pour in your metal. After the metal is sufficiently cool soak the
mold in water and remove it from the cast. You can take any metal,
such as silver, block tin, etc., but the following alloys are the cheapest :
Take grains tin, six parts ; bismuth, two parts, and lead, three parts ;
melt together in an iron ladle. This will fill out splendidly. Another
still more fusible alloy is : Two parts bismuth, one part lead and one
part tin.
CHAIRS. 23
CHAIRS.
RESEATING THEM.
If the canes are much broken lace them together with cord, then
with carpet thread and a big needle, fasten on a piece of coarse muslin,
the shape of the original seat ; cut another the same shape but a little
larger (of this keep a pattern). Put in a stuffing of hair or moss and
fasten the cloth down, at intervals with long tacks.
For the outside cover use the coarse gray linen, such as is sold for
crumb cloths. Get as dark a gray as possible. Cut the linen by the
pattern you have and nail it on neatly with short tacks, burying the
heads in the wood to prevent them wearing holes in the gimp with
which you must border the cushioned seats, as much for ornament as
to conceal the edge of the linen cover which cannot be neatly finished
otherwise. The gimp should be of a bright color to contrast with the
gray and light it up prettily, and should be studded with gilt-headed nails.
An improvement can be made by working the linen with red and
blue zephyr. Do not try to bring the cover over the edge of the chair
as it cannot be neatly done.
Flag bottomed chairs can be made to look nicely by first taking a
strip of strong cloth as wide as the chair seat, and twice the length,
pass it under the chair and sew it tightly together on the top, then cut
a pattern exactly fitting the chair and cover with rep, cretonne, or
chintz. Finish with a border of the same about three inches wide.
Very good covers can be pieced log cabin style and finished with a
valance of woolen goods pinked around the edge.
CHILDREN.
IN-DOOR AMUSEMENTS FOR THEM.
For a swing in the house, procure two screws with hooks on the end,
and fasten them in the casing above an inside door (one which leads
from sitting to dining-room, or one which connects two warm rooms),
and then fasten a rope to the screws, and with a board for a seat you
have a nice swing for the three-year olds, or for the smaller ones. By
a little patient teaching they will soon learn to swing and amuse them-
selves for a long time.
Page 26
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Provide a box of wood or paper of sufficient size, suspend by thread or thin wire in several places the object you wish to cast. Now mix four parts of plaster of Paris with two parts of fine brickdust ; add water to bring to consistency of cream ; with this cover the article intended to be cast, using care not to disturb it from the natural position. When you have filled your box with the plaster, etc., let it harden and make an opening in the top to pour the metal in. Place it near the fire by degrees until you can make it red-hot. Then let it cool and with a bellows blow and shake out all the ashes from the mold you can ; then pour in some quicksilver and shake it round in the mold in order to loosen every particle of the ashes therein ; also make a passage through where the strings were tied in order to let out the gases when you pour in your metal. After the metal is sufficiently cool soak the mold in water and remove it from the cast. You can take any metal, such as silver, block tin, etc., but the following alloys are the cheapest : Take grains tin, six parts ; bismuth, two parts, and lead, three parts ; melt together in an iron ladle. This will fill out splendidly. Another still more fusible alloy is : Two parts bismuth, one part lead and one part tin.
CHAIRS. 23
CHAIRS.
RESEATING THEM.
If the canes are much broken lace them together with cord, then with carpet thread and a big needle, fasten on a piece of coarse muslin, the shape of the original seat ; cut another the same shape but a little larger (of this keep a pattern). Put in a stuffing of hair or moss and fasten the cloth down, at intervals with long tacks.
For the outside cover use the coarse gray linen, such as is sold for crumb cloths. Get as dark a gray as possible. Cut the linen by the pattern you have and nail it on neatly with short tacks, burying the heads in the wood to prevent them wearing holes in the gimp with which you must border the cushioned seats, as much for ornament as to conceal the edge of the linen cover which cannot be neatly finished otherwise. The gimp should be of a bright color to contrast with the gray and light it up prettily, and should be studded with gilt-headed nails.
An improvement can be made by working the linen with red and blue zephyr. Do not try to bring the cover over the edge of the chair as it cannot be neatly done.
Flag bottomed chairs can be made to look nicely by first taking a strip of strong cloth as wide as the chair seat, and twice the length, pass it under the chair and sew it tightly together on the top, then cut a pattern exactly fitting the chair and cover with rep, cretonne, or chintz. Finish with a border of the same about three inches wide. Very good covers can be pieced log cabin style and finished with a valance of woolen goods pinked around the edge.
CHILDREN.
IN-DOOR AMUSEMENTS FOR THEM.
For a swing in the house, procure two screws with hooks on the end, and fasten them in the casing above an inside door (one which leads from sitting to dining-room, or one which connects two warm rooms), and then fasten a rope to the screws, and with a board for a seat you have a nice swing for the three-year olds, or for the smaller ones. By a little patient teaching they will soon learn to swing and amuse themselves for a long time.