Curious Arts.
TO WRITE IN VARIOUS COLOURS WITH THE SAME PEN, INK, AND
PAPER. -- Take a sheet of paper and wet some parts of it with a solution of sub
carbonate of potas, which must be diluted with water so as not to appear on the paper
when dry. Wet some other parts with diluted muratic acid, or with juice of lemons. Some
other parts may be wet with a diluted solution of alum; and others with an infusion of nut-
galls (water in which bruised or pulverized nut-galls have been steeped.) None of these
preparations must be so strong as to colour the paper any. When these are dry, take some
finely powered sulphate of iron, and rub it lightly on some parts of the paper that have
been wet with the sub carbonate of potas and infusion of galls. Then with the juice of
violets, or of the leaves of red cabbage, write on the paper as usual with a pen. The ink is
of itself a faint purple; where the paper was wet with acid, the writing will be bright red; on
the sub-carbonate of potas, it will take a beautiful green; on the alum it will be deep yellow;
and on the infusion of galls that was rubbed with powder, it will be black. The juice of
violets will take a brilliant yellow on the alkali if it be very strong. The juice of violets or
red cabbage may be kept a long time by means of the addition of a few drops of alcohol; or
the leaves may be dried by the fire, and thus may be kept ready for use; and it is only
requisite to steep them in hot water, in order to prepare the ink at any time.