Missed my stop...

Valentines Day illustration, Harpers Weekly February 1861.

Looking for a creative, period valentine idea?*

From the Baltimore Sun, February 14, 1856:

“If any should be disposed to affect a pretty little scientific experiment in honor of the occassion, we commend them to the following, which Septimus Plesse communicates just on the eve of the eventful day on “vaporographic pictures”.
“Glass valentines may be made on which may be invisibly imposed any written theme, poetry, or initials-

“Breathe on the glass and you’ll divine,

the portrait of your valentine. “

“Procure a few pieces of window glass, about the size of an ordinary playing card; then write or draw on thee whatever may be thought proper, with a quill pen that has been dipped in hydroflouric acid, using this watery liquid just as you would ink.  After the design has been upon the glass for about two minutes, the glasses are to be washed in clean water, and polished with a silk handkerchief or a dry soft cloth.  The drawing or writing will now be perfectly invisible, but if breathed upon the pictures or letters become ‘as clear as anon-day’.  The same effect is observed if the glass is held over the steam of hot water; hence, their name vapor, or steam, graphic, related to writing.   Hydroflouric acid, as it eats into glass, is sold in leaded bottles by the laboratorian chemists.

*Click the link above to see what Hydroflouric acid does.  It’s amazing how many hazardous chemicals were available to, and used everyday in the 19th century, including mercury, arsenic, cyanide, and acids.  Unless you are a chemist, please do not try this at home!