• • 34 DESIGNING FOR W oRK : H orv ro Go ABOUT Jr. [Work-April 5 ,....., I A
Nature, inquiring, in a spirit of reverence, What supports the ivy 1 Often Oak branches twist them- . selves into various <strong>for</strong>ms, a nd shoot out at all manner of. an9les, and bend into endl~ss curves ; the 1vy tollows <strong>for</strong> the sake of 1ts .. • <strong>for</strong> truth. times the oak. ornamentation. I ' pro~esses • • " • . ' •• Work-April 5, 1890.} CLEANING AND LACQUERING OPTICAL BRASSWORK. 35 strong support. Here is a motive : one out of thousands that Nature holds out to us. "But we don't want a mere copy of Nature," it may be sa.id ; anybody can do that sort of 1 design. I reply that I also do not mean to . adhere to Nature servilely- and strictly, but I believe this, that there IS no truer, purer, or more logical basis of design than Nature, and if one only thinks out a natural synonym or emblem, as it were, pre-existing inN a tu re, that the functions of any design, however conventional, even geometric, its treatment may be, must of necessity bear the impress of their origin. I would add that if ·you quote from Nature, let your quotation be correct, and thus o,cknowledge its source, no matter how your fancy mo,y lead you to carry it out in the way of treatment. 'l'here ·~ is nothing new, ot· even original, in this. The art of the Egyptians and the Greeks . was thus based ; well-known instances are the lotus of the one and the acanthus of the · ' Corinthian cap,itals. These remarks bring me to "style, ' as it is termed, which only means carrying out in design a motive in the sort of way commonly done by others, either at any particular epoch, or in different countries, or in harmony with architectural 'l'he designer, when selecting a style of treatment, should there<strong>for</strong>e have read something of the history of, and be somewhat familiar with what is known of, the epoch, or people, or architectut'ion of a smooth file to co!lte· m between the last named ; the work bemg finally brought up to an even grain by means of Onkey's emery paper, in the following degrees of fineness : <strong>No</strong>s. F, F F, and 0. In order t o preserve the colour of the· brass up to the moment of lacquering it. will be advisalJie t o dip it in a little comnH:rcial nitric acid to which a small quantity of cre:-tm of tartar has been added, the· article being immediately o,ften\'ards rinsed in clean water t o remove all traces .of the acid, and then dried in hot sawdust, tho: dust being afterwards brushed off with a dry soft brush, and the article lactluered as quickly as possible. In the case of old work which has been. previously lacr;uered, ~uch; as a microscope- . or photograplnc lens, 1t wlll be necessary tOo first unscrew the lens cells and separate the inner tubes from the outer jackets, being particular to note the position of the Yarious parts ; anfl when thus separated, l1oil off the old · lacquer in a lye made by mixing 1. lb. of potash with a gallon of water the \\;ark being tdlowed to remain in this t'ye <strong>for</strong> abont twenty minutes, when it should be taken out and immediately plunged into clean cold water, which will have the etfect of removing the whole of the old lacquer; it is then taken out ancl brushed with a clean brush, and if considerably tarnished, it should be dipped in a pickle as be<strong>for</strong>e described, which will eat away all the outer coa.ting of corrosion and leave the surface of clean brass. When quite bright and clean it is removed from the pickle and thoroughly rinsed in clean water. If runnin~ water is to hand, so much the better j if not, it will be found necessary to have several vessels of clean water handy, so that the work may have a good rinse in all of them, and on being removed from the last water, it is transferred to the ~:>awdu::;t boxhfrom. which it is taken in hand to be polis eel according to the instructions herein contained, and the degree of finish required. Jt. is advisable to conduct the operation of dipping out in the open air, or in a well ventilated apartment, as the fumes given off by the nitric acid are very baneful to health; bnt where ordinary care is exercised, there need be no fear of danger. Those w.ho • '' • The Work Magazine Reprint Project (-) 2012 tools<strong>for</strong>workingwood.com ' . '
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