Exception has been taken to gutta-percha shoes and galoshoes on account of their want of or deficiency in springiness. I remedy this, (when desired) by making the block out of which the sole and upper is formed, of two sheets or pieces of gutta-percha, and interposing between them, while they are yet in a warm and plastic state, a thin plate of steel, slightly bent in the direction from heel to tip, and press the whole closely together, so that the metallic spring may become permanently fixed, embodied in, and combined with other materials. _Third._ I paint and print articles and fabrics made in whole or in part of gutta-percha, and also other articles and fabrics of any color or colors, and of any design or pattern, by using as a vehicle for the pigments or other coloring matters, the following compound: I take one part of caoutchouc and one part of gutta-percha, each dissolved in spirits of turpentine, (or other suitable solvent,) add thereto four parts of gold-oil size; mix the whole of these materials together in a bath of hot water, and then thin with spirits of turpentine, it being of advantage to use this compound in a very thin state. The pigments or other coloring matters should be well ground up in turpentine before they are mixed with the vehicle. The proportions such as I have given, are such as I find to answer, on the whole, best in practice. In carrying out the different improvements which I have hereinbefore specified, I uniformly prefer employing such gutta-percha, or compound of gutta-percha, as has been prepared by boiling or by masticating it in a bath of water and muriate of lime, but to this mode of preparation I do not here lay any claim. To make a compound preferable to any yet in use for casting and moulding purposes, for water-proofing cloth, leather, and other articles and fabrics, and for coating ships’ bottoms, lining tanks and cisterns, &c., I mix with gutta-percha which has been first boiled in a bath of muriate of lime, and then masticated thoroughly, and while it is yet undergoing the process of mastication, a compound of shellac and borax, adding the same little by little as the mastication proceeds, and using more or less, according as it is desired to make the compound more or less tenacious. The compound of shellac and borax is prepared by boiling in a steam kettle over a common fire, five parts stick lac, or shell lac, or seed lac, with one part of borax, in so much water as will just cover these materials, and evaporating the water according to the thickness desired to be given to the compound. Any desired color may be given to this mixture of gutta-percha, shellac and borax, by mixing the requisite pigment or coloring matter with the shellac and borax compounds. The improvements which I claim in my invention are as follows: