PAPIER-MACIIS. the French term for a preparation of moistened paper, of which many articles are manufactured in England, France, and Germany. Such articles have been made in France for more than a century. In 1740 one Martin, a German varnisher, went to Paris to learn this manufacture from Lefevre. On returning to his own country, he was so successful in his exertions that his paper snuff boxes were called, after him, " Martins." So much money went from Prussia to France in purchase of papier-machd articles, that Frederic 11., in 1765, established a manufactory at Berlin, which soon became very successful. Brunswick, Nurnberg, Vienna, and other German towns, by degrees commenced the manufacture, and it is now carried on to a considerable extent.
Two modes are adopted of making articles of this kind : 1, By glueing or pasting different thicknesses of paper together ; 2, By mixing the substance of the paper into a pulp and pressing it into moulds. The first mode is adopted principally for those articles, such as trays, &c., in which a tolerably plain and*flat surface is to be produced. Common millboard. such as forms the covers of books, may convey some idea of this sort of manufacture. Sheets of strong paper are glued together, and then so powerfully pressed that the different strata of paper become as one. Slight curvatures may be given to such pasteboard when damp, by the use of presses and moulds. Some of the snuff boxes are made by glueing pieces of paper, cut to the sizes of the top, bottom, and sides, one on another, round a frame or mould. which is afterwards removed. Articles made of pasteboard have often a fine black polish imparted to them in the following manner : After being coated with a mixture of size and lampblack, they receive a coating of a peculiar varnish. Turpentine is boiled down till it becomes black, and three times as much amber in fine powder is sprinkled into it, with the addition of a little spirit or oil of tur pentine. \Then the amber is melted, some sarcocolla and some more spirit of turpentine are added, and the whole is well stirred. After being strained, this varnish is mixed with ivory-bLack, and applied in a hot room on the papier-michd articles, which are then placed in a heated oven. Two or three coatings of the black varnish will produce a durable and glossy surface impervious to water. Some of the articles now made in this way have their surfaces inlaid with mother-of-pearl ; the shell is fastened down to the surface as a veneer, an immense body of varnish is laid on, and by rubbing the superfluous varnish from the pearl, the whole is brought to one common level, presenting a brilliant if not alwayi tasteful effect. The batter kind of tea-trays are ishapefti in or rather on iron moulds, the top of the mould giving the shape of the tray. The paper employed is a grayish, thick, granulated kind, made expressly for the purpose. The mould and paper are taken to a heated stove-room to dry, after three thicknesses have been applied ; and this removal is repeated from ten to forty times, for the trays are made of thicknesses of paper varying from thirty to a hundred and twenty. The surface of the mould is greased in the first instance, to ensure the easy removal of the papier-in ich6 when of the proper thick ness. A patent was taken out a few years ago fur making papier-inlich6 panels for carriagea. and considerable skill has been shown In the manufacture ; but such panels are not much used in England, owing in part to the operation of the piper-duty.
The second kind of pepier-mtch6 is, however, the more extensively made. It comprises that which is pressed into moulds in the state of a pulp. This pulp is generally wade of cuttings of coarse paper boiled in water, and beaten in a mortar till they assume the consistence of a paste, which is boiled in a solution of gum-arabic or of size to give it tenacity. The moulds are carved in the usual way, and the pulp poured into them, a counter-mould being employed to make the cast nothing more than a crust or shell, as in plaster casts. In some manu factories, instead of using cuttings of made paper, the pulp employed by the paper-maker is, after some further treatment, poured into the moulds to produce papier-mach6 ornaments. The use of ornaments made in the way just described is rapidly increasing. The carved and composition ornaments employed to decorate picture- and looking glees frames are in some cases superseded by those of papier-inach6 ; but it is in the decoration of ceilings and walls of rooms and the interiors of public buildings that papieronach6 is found most valuable. Plaster and composition ornaments are very ponderous ; carved orna ments are costly ; but those of paper are light and of moderate price. In many of our theatres, in the House of Lords, in the Pantheon Bazaar, in the saloons of some of the splendid steamboats recently built, and in numerous other instances where internal decorations are required, papienmach4 ornaments have been largely employed. Napa in relief are also occasionally made of papier-mlicha.
A remarkable instance of the employment of papier-rMch6 is men tioned in Erach and Grfiber's • Allgemeino Encyclopiidie.' Near Bergen in Norway a church has been built capable of holding nearly a thousand persons. This building is octagonal without, but perfectly circular within. The interior of the walls, as well as the extenor of the Corinthian columns, is covered with pepier-m&clid. Tho roof, the ceiling, the statues within the church, and the basso-riliovis on the outside of the walls, are also made of this substance. The papier mAcbe was made water-proof, and nearly Ere-proof, by an application of vitriol-water and lime slaked' with whey and white of egg.
An important modification of papier-niAch6 is that which is known by the name of carton pierre, or stone cardboard. This substance has been employed for half a century in France, but its use in England has been much more recent. It is a mixture of paper pulp, whiting, and glue. The mixture is pressed into moulds, then backed with paper, and removed to a drying-room to harden. The substance, when dr , is light, facile of application as an architectural ornament: It is now much used in obtaining casts of statuettes, busts, dead game, friezes, pilasters, foliage, &c. Messrs. Jackson and Graham have used this material very largely in the Army and Navy Club-house and other modern buildings.
Messrs. Bielefeld, among other inventions relating to papier-mieh6, have introduced a mode of grinding fibrous and other materials into a consistence like that of putty; this is put into frames of a proper depth, rolled and compressed, heated and oiled, and finished by painting or varnishing. One among various compositions proposed ie the follow ing :-32 lbs. flour, 91113. alum, and 1 lb. copper are mixed with 80 lbs. water; to these are added 15 lbs. resin, 1 lb. litharge, and 10 lbs. boiled linseed oil ; the whole is finally ground up with 60 lbs. rag-dust or paper-makers' half-stuff.