Making and Knowing
A minimal edition of BnF Ms Fr 640

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agate of various color. But because this total whiteness did not respond to make this white crust on the surface that I was seeking, leaving the rest of the thing of its natural color, I made a opening in a brick of the exact size of the thing & put it inside. Then I reddened two glassmaker’s solders, & as they were red, I presented them one after the other onto the surface of the thing until I got the white crust that I required, on which I made such drawing as I wanted, uncovering up to the red base with a diamond point, and I polished it with hog bristles and tripoli. I do not know if it would be better to reheat it under hot ashes, & if it would be good to encase it in alabaster, which is very cold, as I encased it in the brick.

Carnation from arsenic

Sublimated arsenic, that is to say, the white one that is sold as stone, when ground on marble, mixed with vermilion or lake or minium, makes a beautiful flesh color that is always shiny. Yellow arsenic has a very beautiful color, the white one is good in oil and agrees well with the lake.

To dye

Mix sal ammoniac & vitriol & boil them together. Then mix in lake or verdet & azure or similar, & dye. This will not come off unless the animal sheds. @Non bona.

Polishing of stones

Engraved stones are not polished on a copper wheel, but with brushes and tripoli. Yet faceted and flat stones are polished on the said wheel.

Fine sieves of raw silk

One makes tammy of raw silk on a weaver, to make very fine and delicate sieves. And for that effect, you must not choose raw silk whitened by sulfur smoke: this renders the silk charged with a sticky vapor that would hold the flour and in the end would prevent it from

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