Another plan is frequently adopted for cheap work: Make a thin paste
with plaster of Paris, suitably tinted and watered, and well rub in
across the grain with a piece of felt or old coarse canvas till the
pores are all full; any superfluity should be instantly wiped off from
the surface before it has time to set. The succeeding processes are
papering and oiling. In applying the polish, which should be done
immediately after oiling, the rubber should be made rather sappy with
thin polish, and worked without oil. During the embodying a pounce-bag
containing plaster of Paris is sparingly used; this application tends to
fill the pores and also to harden the body of polish on the exterior,
but too much should not be used, or it will impart a semi-opaque
appearance to the work. This first body is allowed sufficient time to
harden; it is then rubbed down lightly with flour paper or old worn No.
1, and then embodied with thicker polish or a mixture of polish and
varnish, and the smallest quantity of oil applied to the rubber. When a
sufficient body of polish is given to the work, the surface is rubbed
very carefully with a lump of moist putty plied in the longitudinal
direction of the grain; this will bring up a gloss, and very little
spiriting will be required.


=Stencilling.=--An imitation of marqueterie on light-coloured woods can
be obtained by the following method: Cut a stencil pattern in stout
cartridge paper (this is best done upon a piece of glass with the point
of a sharp penknife), and place it on the centre of a panel or wherever
required, and have ready some gas-black mixed with thin polish; apply
this with a camel-hair pencil over the cut-out pattern, and when it is
removed finish the lines and touch up with a finer tool. The work should
be first bodied-in, and when the pattern is dry rubbed down with a piece