A METHOD OR PROCESS OF IMITATING LAPIS LAZULI, PORPHYRY, JASPER, THE VARIOUS SORTS OR KINDS OF MAR- BLE, AND ALL OTHER STONES USUALLY WROUGHT, CARVED, SCULPTURED, OR POLISHED, ALSO INLAID OR MOSAIC WORK, TO BE USED FOR OR IN THE FORMATION OR MANU- FACTURE OF CHIMNEYPIECES, SLABS, FUNERAL MONUMENTS, AND FOR EVERY OTHER PURPOSE TO WHICH SUCH STONES AND MARBLES ARE OR MAY BE APPLIED
Year: 1810

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, THOMAS
WADE, of Nelson Place, Kent Road, in the Parish of Saint George, South-
wark, in the County of Surry, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the fiftieth year of His reign,
clid, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Wade, His special licence, that I, the said Thomas Wade, my
exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Wade,
my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also within all His Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A METHOD OR PROCESS OF
IMITATING LAPIS LAZULI, PORPHYRY, JASPER, THE VARIOUS SORTS OR KINDS OF MAR-
BLE, AND ALL OTHER STONES USUALLY WROUGHT, CARVED, SCULPTURED, OR POLISHED,
ALSO INLAID OR MOSAIC WORK, TO BE USED FOR OR IN THE FORMATION OR MANU-
FACTURE OF CHIMNEYPIECES, SLABS, FUNERAL MONUMENTS, AND FOR EVERY OTHER
PURPOSE TO WHICH SUCH STONES AND MARBLES ARE OR MAY BE APPLIED;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Thomas
Wade, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
:

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Wade, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained
in the following explanation thereof, that is to say :—
I make use of a composition somewhat resembling that employed in the
manufacture of earthenware, pottery, or porcelain, of which I would form or
make the various pieces or slabs; and I work or fashion them to the desired
shape by the modes usually known or practised in the earthenware or porcelain
manufacture. But as pieces of large dimensions and considerable thickness,
formed of the materials generally used in the above manufactures, would be
apt by fire to lose their proper shape, and become warped or uneven, I pre-
vent that defect by proper addition of sand, chalk, bono, ashes, selenite, coarsely
powdered glass or flint, or by an admixture of all or some of these, but which
in particular, or the precise proportion of any or either of them, can only be
ascertained by experiment, as clays differ materially from each other, and the
same bed of clay is of different qualities in its different parts and at various
depths. As it still sometimes happens, notwithstanding the above precautions,
that the slabs, parts, or pieces, in or by the process of baking or burning, may
be warped, bent uneven, or untrue, I carefully examine them, and should
that be the case they are brought to an even or true shape or surface by
rubbing with sandstone, rasping, filing, or by other convenient means.
Should the article intended to be made require to be composed of several
constituent or smaller parts, as in the case of chimneypieces, I drill or make
holes in the particular parts of the various pieces where they are intended to
be joined, in order to admit brass or other cramps or pins for the purpose of
holding them more firmly together when joined or set up. And if the piece
be intended to imitate or resemble carved or sculptur'd stone or marble, I flute
or otherwise carve, mould, or shape it accordingly previous to the process of
baking or burning. Sometimes I so contrive or form the slabs, parts, or picces,
that where they are joined together there is a fluting, reading, or moulding by
which the joint is partially or entirely hidden or concealed. Sometimes I
stamp or mould small ornaments or devices according to the pattern to be
imitated; and afterwards I fix or attach them to the surface of the slab or
piece, as is usual in the above-mentioned manufactures. It is found necessary
to round the edges in a very trifling degree, as the glaze or enamel does not
well cover or easily spread over very sharp edges; besides, by being rather

page_text: rounded, they are not so liable to be chipped or broken. I then bake the
slabs, parts, or picces in a furnace or kiln, such as is in use with potters; after-
wards I print or paint them with enamel colors with the necessary designs, and in
the proper manner to imitate or resemble the various sorts or kinds of marbles
and stones, as well as inlaid or mosaic work. In performing this I avail myself
of all the various artifices used by potters, japanners, marbled paper makers,
and others, to paint the different patterns, designs, or devices, such as printing
them on damp paper and transferring the impression off, tracing the designs,
or employing artists to paint them. Here it must be observed, I some-
times lay on the enamel colors, and afterwards put a transparent glaze
over them; at other times I use opaque enamel, as best suits the nature of the
work.
To imitate polished, white, or statuary marble, I cover the picces when
moulded, fluted, and ornamented, with the whitest and most beautiful enamel.
The glaze or enamel I make use of does not differ from enamel in general use,
except that I never use glase of lead when the colours are of a delicate cast,
and more especially when the work is intended to imitate or resemble white or
statuary marble. After the pieces are painted, they are again exposed to the
fire in a kiln or furnace, when the enamel is melted or vitrified, and they
become covered with a glassy shining surface not easily matched, and which
seems peculiarly adapted for monumental tablets with inscriptions, as they
can scarcely ever be defaced, or obliterated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wade, have hereunto set my
band and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our
Lord Oue thousand eight hundred and ten