consist of a combination of two or three of the oils mentioned, in various proportions, and are usually the result of the compounders individual experience or preference. While the ingredients and proportions are usually withheld from the purchaser, there can be no monopoly nor proprietary rights in any of them..It savors too strongly of patent medicines. There is nothing to prevent any china-painter from preparing, in any desirable proportion, any combination of the oils mentioned.
Nothing is gained by secrets and mysteries in china-painting, beyond the commercial advantages of profit.
The reader is advised to try these several oils, and to ultimately adopt that or those which give to him the best results ; and having ascertained this from actual experience, to adhere to it until thoroughly familiar with its possibilities, Those mentioned are standard articles, and may be obtained anywhere and at any time. Whereas, if entirely dependent upon certain formulas and mixtures, endless perplexity results if the painter be suddenly deprived of them.
The tube colors are already mixed with their proportion of thick oil, and the medium necessary to manipulate them with ease is turpentine ; or, if a large surface is to covered, lavender-oil should be used. Lavender-oil keep the color
