041v - - - - - Glaziers’ black
Iron scale taken from bars that have been in the fire for a long time, & which is thick, is much better than the common delicate kind that falls under the anvil in the forge, because it imitates niello. To said black, described elsewhere, some add d a little minium to it.
Sheared ewes
If the shearer wounds them at some point, he applies the very excrement of the ewe on it. When they are fat, they are easier to shear and do not get hurt as easily.
at left middle margin
If the shearer wants to ‘viscorter’ them, that is to castrate them as they are one or two years old, he must not have been with his wife, because this would cause the sheep to die.
Colors and gilding on glass
One ought not to give as strong gum water on glass for the gold layer as for silver layer as for the gold layer because a silver leaf is twice as strong as a gold leaf. Also, silver is harder and therefore does not scratch as easily. Q And if the gum was not a little strong for the silver, the latter would not crack so neatly. When you work, the humid the exhalation of your breath moistens the leaf layered on the glass, & therefore it would be good, while working, to heat it up a few times. You need to be very careful to wash that which you want to be blank & serve as a background for painting with colors, for if it were not quite clean of the gum’s greasiness & viscosity, the & of other things, the colors would not be so brisk on it. To advance your works, you can ponce, or, better still, layer the gum & leaf on a cut paper. In this way, you will need to repair very little. If you want to make gold color there without gold, mix soaked dried saffron with a little massicot.