Harper's Household Handbook: A guide to easy ways of doing woman's workMcCulloch-Williams, Martha
General
Harper's Household Handbook: A guide to easy ways of doing woman's work
McCulloch-Williams, Martha
Formulas, recipes, etc.; Home economics
=Paint and Varnish=: Soak hardened metallic paint in turpentine till
softened, then remove with gasolene, alcohol, or chloroform. Chloroform
is the thing for fine fabrics of delicate colors. Use alcohol on white
stuff, swabbing with an upward motion. Varnish requires little beyond
the turpentine treatment. Earth paints and calcimine demand washing in
soapsuds to get rid of the color. Remove paint from floors or windows
with strong hot soda water or else a cloth well wet in turpentine.
Gasolene will likewise remove it, but is more apt to smear. Plate glass
or fine mirrors should be polished with whiting and alcohol after the
spots have been removed. Wet to a cream, rub on, let stand awhile, then
rub off with clean cloths.
=Ice-cream and Gelatine=: Such spots must be soaked in clear cold water
for at least an hour. If on garments that forbid soaking, lay the spot
upon a folded damp cloth, put another over it, and press with moderate
weight for an hour. Then wipe off on both sides with borax water, weak
and cold, followed by several rinsings in clear cold water. Shift the
spot to a clean place now and then. When clean pin it smooth between
thick clothes and press dry with a moderate iron. Wash fabrics, of
course, can be laundered after soaking.
=Fruit Stains=: Soak fresh fruit stains half an hour in cold water, then
pour boiling water through them and dry quickly. If they have been set
by soap and boiling, touch them with Javelle water (see section
Renovators), washing it out quickly. Use only on white things—it takes
out color as well as stains. Some stains on colored things can be taken
out harmlessly by covering with salt and vinegar and leaving two hours
in the sun. Tomato juice and salt in sunshine is another
prescription—with a bright tin underneath. An apple cut in half and laid
under a set stain in sunshine is likewise effectual. Take care, though,
to wash the material well in cold water so there may not be a fresh
apple stain.
Ammonia removes acid discolorations; it also mitigates perspiration
marks. Use the spirits, and follow with alcohol and water, dabbed on
lightly.
=Wine Stains=: Wet wine stains with alcohol or whisky and soak an hour
in cold water, else pour boiling water through them with the fabric held
taut, and dry before laundering. This for table linen. Stained silk or
cloth must be dabbed many times with tepid water, pressing with dry
cloths between dabbings. Do not make wet enough to leave circles. Shake
finely powdered chalk on thickly when the dabbing is done, let it lie
for a day, then brush off, and if a mark remains dab with alcohol and
water, blood warm, or hold the stain with the wrong side next a steaming
spout, wiping it off well as soon as it is damp.
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