Page 195 - My FlipBook

PORCELAIN INLAYS 179
they are made ; in a little time they will remain
open, and should be scraped so that they are free
to the bottom of the tray. Then turn up the flame
so that the drying is rapidly completed. The writer
has carefully timed himself on several occasions,
and finds that it can be satisfactorily accomplished
in five minutes. As soon as the tray is removed
from the stand and cooled the inlay body is placed
in it, and at once placed in the furnace. Even if
the furnace is hot the investment will remain intact.
There is no necessity to dry as rapidly as this unless
time presses, but this method is very useful on
occasion, and in the writer's hands has proved more
satisfactory than the use of alcohol.
Whether alcohol or distilled water (with or
without the addition of gum-tragacanth to the water)
is used for mixing with the inlay body is prin-
cipally a question of individual taste and manipula-
tion. The alcohol mix can be placed in the furnace
at once, and the alcohol will catch fire and blaze off
without any disturbance of the body. A partially
dried alcohol mix will, however, blow all to pieces.
A water mix must be completely dried before it is
placed in the furnace, to prevent its blowing up
through generation of steam. This careful dry-
ing takes a little time unless pieces of blotting-
paper are applied to first remove as much moisture