Page:The Art of Bookbinding, Zaehnsdorf, 1890.djvu/160

124 found rather difficult at first to work the pallets straight over the back and even to the sides of the bands, but after a little practice it will become easy to accomplish. Morocco. Flexible work, as a rule, has blind lines, a broad and a narrow one, worked close to the bands. Damp the back with a sponge and clean water, and work the moisture evenly into the leather with a hard clean brush. Take a pallet of a size suitable to the book, warm it over the stove, and work it firmly over the back. As the leather dries, make the pallet hotter; this will generally be found sufficient to produce the required dark lines. Sometimes it will be necessary to damp the different places two or three times in order to get the proper colour in the blind tooling.

The tools may have a tendency to stick to the leather and possibly burn it. To obviate this, take $1 1/4$ oz. of white wax and 1 oz. of deer fat or lard, place them in a pipkin over a fire or in a warm place, so that they may be well mixed together; when mixed allow them to cool. Rub some of this mixture upon the rough or fleshy side of a piece of waste morocco, and when working any tools in blind, rub them occasionally over the prepared surface. This mixture will be found of great service in getting the tools to slip or come away from the leather in working. Lard alone is sometimes used, but this mixture will be found of greater service to any finisher, and the advantage of adding the wax will be apparent.

The lines impressed on the back must now have their gloss given to them. This is done by giggering the pallets over them. Make the pallet rather hot, rub it over the greased piece of leather, and work it backwards and forwards in the impression previously made. Great care must be taken that the pallet be kept steadily in the impressions already made, or they will be doubled. The back is now ready for lettering. This will be found further on, classed under gold work.