PASTES Flour Paste. — Ordinary paste is made by mixing wheat flour or rice flour with water, with or without boil ing. It may be improved by the ad dition of various other adhesives, as rosin, gum arabic, and glue, and also by the addition of alum.
To make simple cold flour paste, mix 1 tablespoonful of flour with 1 teacupful of cold water. Add a few drops of carbolic acid or other pre servative.
Or, for library paste, dissolve ounce of alum in 1 pint of warm water. Stir in flour to the consistency of cream, carefully breaking all lumps. Add 1 teaspoonful of powdered resin and 5 or 6 cloves, or a few drops of oil of cloves, and boil until it thick ens. Thin, if necessary, with o, little hot water. Put in an earthen or glass vessel, as a glass fruit jar tightly cov ered, and keep in a cool place. Soften when needed with warm water. This paste is suitable for scrapbooks and similar articles, and is better for such uses than a paste or mucilage contain ing gum arabic.
To soften library paste, add a few drops of water and melt the paste with gentle heat.
Or to 1 heaping teaspoonful of flour add teaspoonful of pulverized alum. Rub smooth with a little cold water. Mix with boiling water to the consistency of cream and boil until it thickens.
To Preserve Flour Paste.—Add to each half pint of flour paste not con taining alum 15 grains of corrosive sublimate. This prevents the forma tion of mold and preserves the paste from the attacks of insects and ver min. Add also a few drops of oil of lavender, rosemary, or cloves, or any of the essential oils, and a few drops of carbolic acid.
Paper Hanger's Paste. — Mix 4 pounds of flour, pound of powdered alum, and pound of pulverized rosin. Rub up this mixture with a small quantity of warm water until smooth and free from lumps. Mix with boil ing water to the consistency of cream and boil until it thickens.
Or use cornstarch or wheat starch or rice flour instead of wheat flour.
To use this paste, spread it freely on the paper, then lay or fold the pasted sides lightly together. This assists in distributing the paste evenly and also in handling the Af ter the upper end has been attached, the lower part may be unfolded as it goes on the wall. The wall should first coated with a thin glue size made of about 4 ounces of glue to 1 gallon of water.
Or make a glue size by dissolving 10 ounces of glue in 2i gallons of water. Mix 9 pounds of bole, an earthy sub stance resembling clay, with water to the consistency of cream, and strain off the water through cheese cloth. Add the moistened bole to the glue size and stir in 2 pounds of gypsum. Strain through cheese cloth and dilute with boiling water. This is an ex cellent paste for old walls covered with one or more coatings of white wash.
Rice Paste or Japanese Cement.— Mix powdered rice with a little cold water, rubbing it until smooth and free from lumps. Add boiling water and boil, stirring constantly, until it thickens. This is an excellent library paste, suitable for scrapbooks and all kinds of fancy paper work.
Or it may be used to paste strips of transparent paper used to mend tears in valuable books, as it is nearly transparent when dry. For all fine paper work, it is much superior to paste made of wheat flour.
Flour Cement.—A paste of wheat flour and cold water worked with the fingers into a stiff dough is a useful cement for attaching the metal tops to glass articles and other similar pur poses. It requires two or three days to harden.
Flour Paste with Sugar.—The ad dition of 1 tablespoonful of sugar to 1 quart of flour paste increases its adhesiveness and tenacious quality.