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Excellent tempering bath for the body of cuirasses

Take river water, as clear & running as
possible, & heat it to a little more than tepid. Then take a bunch
of weld, & take the grain of it & put it into
the said water & boil it
thoroughly, stirring it with a stick, then pour it into a
muid or other vessel, then throw into it two
pecks of salt. 

Next, take a big cauldron of the said
river water & heat it to a litte more than
tepid. & take three or four double handfuls of
fatty red earth, wet it & throw it into the cauldron
with the said water. Take as much pigeon dung
as the said earth, & as much horse
dung & as much iron filings. & wet the
whole separately, & throw it into the cauldron & leave
it for two or three days. Then throw it afterwards
into the said muid and stir the whole thoroughly together. And
the older this tempering bath is, the better it will be.


Varnish for distemper

You can make marble by distemper from lake or
rose of Ghent & chalk. Once dry, glaze with
lake mixed in wine, for the glue makes it die &
blacken. And all will then appear red, but the varnish you will
put here, which will penetrate, will make dark & light parts appear
as they ought to be. The varnish is made thus, mix with clear
Venice turpentine some spike lavender oil& until all is clear & liquid enough, &it is done
without fire. This one es is for things in
distemper, and the turpentine varnish that you know, for
panels. Pure spike lavender oil varnish is not good for
panels, for spike lavender oil is too penetrating &
makes colours sparkle, unless it was made long ago.

