The San Francisco call., 1896-04-28
A CHAPTER ON PAsTEs.
The Best Way to Make Them for DIFF
ferent Purposes.

ferent Purposes.
The following are some useful recipes
for making pastes of various kinds:
powdered gum tragacanth, q ounce;
water, IL ounces; acetic acid, 20 drops.
If the paper is good this paste will not
stain it. Give it one or two coats gum
arabic as varnish.
Perpetual paste, or paste that will keep
several months, is made by dissolving a
teaspoonful of alum in a quart of warm
water When cold, stir in -four to give it the
consistence of cream, beating out all the
Jumps. Then stir in as much powdered
rosin as will lie on dime. Have on the
fire teakette of boiling water. Pour the
boiling water on the mixture, and stir con-
stantly until it assumes the consistence of
molasses. This will occur in few min
utes. Pour out into an earthen vessel to
cool, then cover and put in a cool place.
When needed take portion and dilute
with warm water.
Paste for Scrap Book.-Equal quantities,
say a small lump of each, of glue and
alum are dissolved in water. Beat up with
-four until the mass is incorporated to-
gether and quite smooth, then add boiling
water and stir we'll. This will keep long
while in cool place.
Postage Stamp Paste.-The paste or
cumming postage stamps is made as fol-
lows: Two parts gum dextrine, one part
acetic acid and five parts water are added
together and put into q water bath, dis
solving the gum, after which one part
alcohol is added. English postage stamps
are gummed with a potaJo-starch paste.
Ordinary Starch or Flour Paste.-It is
best TO prepare paste by triturating the
starch or flour with cold water until no
Jumps remain, and not too thick mass is
formed, and pouring into this boiling
water very slowly, with rapid stirring,
until the paste begins to form, as indicated
by the increase of transparency, and then
rapidly adding the rest of the water (boil-
ing) necessary for the paste. Boiling the
paste is very injurious, rendering it less
adhesive and liable to peel off. Rye -four
gives more adhesive paste than starch
or wheat flour. but it is too strong or
hard to spread for paper hanging; it is of
alum to the water with which the paste is
prepared renders it more permanent, and
the use of boiling lime water instead of
pure soft water ADDS to it's adhesiveness.
An aqueous extract of decomposed gluten,
however. affords the best paste with starch.
By Incorporating with the paste guam
tity or turpentlne equal in weight to half
of the starch employed, and stirring while
the paste is still not, it will be rendered
more lmpervious to moisture, and at the
same time more adhesive.
A paste, very brilliant and adhesive,
and said to be superior to gum arab
may be made by dissolving caseine (pre-
cipitated from milk by acetic acid, and
washed with pure water) in a saturated So
luton of borax.
A label gum that only requires moisten-
ing with saliva to affix to objects is made
from eleven parts (by weight) of good
glue, previously soaked in cold water until
soft; seven parts gum arabic and little
rock candy, in ffty-six parts of water, sub
jected to a gentle heat, with continued
stirring until the mass is uniform.
There are several substances useful for
adding to paste to keep it sweet. Among
these may be found essence of winter
green, hydronapthol dissolved in little.
alcohoD oil of cloves, oil of sassafrass and
carbolic acid. Alum also helps to keep it,
besides hardening or stiffening it. Oil OF
pennyroyal added will keep the flies
away. Two grains of hydronapthol is
sufficient for each pint of paste. The oil
essences may be objectionable sometimes,
being liable to grease delicate paper, but
they give an agreeable perfume and keep
the paste from souring.
Glutol added to common paste gives a
fine, strong paste that keeps we'll and s
much used by paper-hangers in this man.
ner.-Western Painter.