Recipes for varnish and for a harmless room-filling fire
Distilling cypress, amber and juniper for varnish; a fire trick using aquavite fumes
This text page holds a set of craft recipes written in mirror script. Two of them are for varnish: one distils cypress and dissolves amber in the distillate until it runs liquid, the other exploits juniper gum, dissolved in distilled juniper. Between them Leonardo describes a spectacle-fire that would set a sealed hall ablaze without harm, by perfuming it with incense, boiling ten pounds of aquavite into smoke, throwing varnish powder among the fumes, and entering with a lit torch.
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Amber varnish from distilled cypress
Distil cypress into a large flask, add enough water to match the amber, and seal it tightly so nothing escapes. Once the amber has dissolved, add more of the distillate until the varnish is as liquid as you wish. Leonardo notes that amber (carabe) is the liquor of cypress.
Varnish from juniper gum
Because varnish is the gum of juniper, distil juniper and dissolve the varnish in that distillate in the same manner as before. The result is a painter's varnish prepared without heat-hardening the resin.