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Varnish of spike lavender oil

One needs to heat lavender spike oil and as it begins to
simmer, put in powdered sandarac gum so that it soon melts. And
over a charcoal fire stir continuously until the sandarac
is well melted, which you will know by taking a little of the said
varnish on a plate. And if it is fatty when you handle
it with a finger, it is ready. And for one lb
of lavender spike oil, you will put five ounces of
pulverized sandarac, although some only put in four
ounces, but this is not so good nor so fatty. This one is
promptly dry. Framemakers, to avoid the trouble of polishing
their ebony, varnish it with this, as do guitarmakers.
This is not as appropriate for panels as that of fine turpentine,
though it is good for the moldings of panels. One did not used to
varnish the landscape of a panel when linseed varnish was in use,
because it would have yellowed the landscape. But with that of
turpentine, one varnishes everything. You can put in
pulverized mastic extracted in tears or otherwise, and it will be
more dessicative in place of sandarac.

If you want to varnish on plaster or a wall, first put on
your very hot colle de retaille, because if cold it
would not penetrate the wall, & when you would put your
varnish on, it would come off.

Varnish of spike lavender oil is not as appropriate for colors as
that of turpentine, for spike lavender oilmakes them
dieeats away at the colors since it is too
penetrating.


To remove varnish from an old panel that has yellowed &
varnish it anew

Take white soap & sieved ashes, &
soak both in water. And with a sponge, take the said
ashes & soap & rub the panel with them. And as you
see that the old varnish is removed, throw a
bucket of water against the panel to clean it.
Next put it for a quarter of an hourin the
sun to make it dry and to revive the colors. Next, once the panel
dries, you can apply your turpentine varnish.



Make sure the colors do not come off.

