118.  Horn knife handles and umbrella handles.  The property which horn possesses of becoming soft by the action of water and of heat, fits it for many useful purposes.  It is pressed into moulds, and becomes embossed with figures in relief, adapted to the objects to which it is to be applied.  If curved, it may be straightened; or if straight, it may be bent into any forms which ornament or utility may require; and by the use of the mould these forms may be multiplied in endless variety.  The commoner sorts of knives, the crooked handles for umbrellas, and a multitude of other articles to which horn is applied, attest the cheapness which the art of copying gives to the things formed of this material.

119.  Moulding tortoise-shell.  The same principle is applied to things formed out of the shell of the turtle, or the land tortoise.  From the greatly superior price of the raw material, this principle of copying is, however, more rarely employed upon it; and the few carvings which are demanded, are usually performed by hand.

120.  Tobacco-pipe making.  This simple art is almost entirely one of copying.  The moulds are formed of iron, in two parts, each embracing one half of the stem; the line of junction of these parts may generally be observed running lengthwise from one end of the pipe to the other.  The hole passing to the bowl is formed by thrusting a long wire through the clay before it is enclosed in the mould.  Some of the moulds have figures, or names, sunk in the inside, which give a corresponding figure in relief upon the finished pipe.

121.  Embossing upon calico.  Calicoes of one colour, but embossed all over with raised patterns, though not much worn in this country, are in great demand in several foreign markets.  This appearance is produced by passing them between rollers, on one of which is figured in intaglio the pattern to be transferred to the calico.  The substance of the cloth is pressed very forcibly into the cavities thus formed, and retains its pattern after considerable use.  The watered appearance in the cover of the volume in the reader’s hands is produced in a similar manner.  A cylinder of gun-metal, on which the design of the watering is previously cut, is pressed by screws against another cylinder, formed out of pieces of brown paper which have been strongly compressed together and accurately turned.  The two cylinders are made to revolve rapidly, the paper one being slightly damped, and, after a few minutes, it takes an impression from the upper or metal one.  The glazed calico is now passed between the rollers, its glossy surface being in contact with the metal cylinder, which is kept hot by a heated iron enclosed within it.  Calicoes are sometimes watered by placing two pieces on each other in such a position that the longitudinal threads of the one are at right angles to those of the other, and compressing them in this state between flat rollers.  The threads of the one piece produce indentations in those of the other, but they are not so deep as when produced by the former method.