[Illustration: DRYING WAREHOUSE.]
The trade of manufacturing floor-cloth may be said to be connected with
the furnishing of the house, since this very useful covering for the
floors of halls and passages is now in almost universal use. Floor-cloth
is generally made in large factories built for the purpose, since
considerable space is required, not only for preparing, painting, and
putting the pattern upon the cloth, but also for drying it when it is
finished, the great lengths in which it is made rendering it necessary to
hang it from a great height, in order that it may dry without the paint
being damaged (_see drying warehouse_). The smell of the paint and other
substances also makes it desirable to have the factory well ventilated,
and situated at some distance from dwelling-houses.
The cloth is made partly of hemp and partly of flax, the former being
the cheaper of the two, but the latter being fitted to retain the oil
and paint on the surface without allowing it so easily to sink or soak
through. In order to avoid the necessity for seams or joinings in the
cloth, looms are constructed expressly for weaving canvas of the greatest
width likely to be required. When the pieces of cloth are taken to the
floor-cloth factories, they are generally either 100 yards long and 6
yards wide, 108 yards long and 7 yards wide, or 113 yards long and 8
yards wide. The flax and hemp are spun and the canvas woven principally
in Scotland, in the town of Dundee.
[Illustration: Shears. Cutting Knife.]
The canvas is cut into pieces (_see cutting knife and shears_), varying
from 60 to 100 feet long, and each of these pieces is stretched over a
frame in a vertical position, most factories having a large number of
such frames, some often 100 feet long by 18 or 20 feet high, and others
of smaller dimensions. A wash of melted size is applied by means of a
brush to each surface; and while this is wet the surface is well rubbed
with a flat piece of pumice stone, by which the little irregularities of
the canvas are worn down, and a foundation is laid for the oil and colour
afterwards to be applied.
The preparation of japanned cottons, which are used for table covers, or
what is known as “oil-cloth,” is very similar.
The paint employed for floor-cloth consists of the same mineral colours
as that used in house painting, and is mixed with linseed oil in the same
way; but it is very much thicker and stiffer in consistence, and has
very little turpentine added to it. The canvas receives several coatings
on the back as well as on the front, and is well dried and smoothed at
intervals.
[Illustration: Blocks. The finished Pattern. Pattern for Floor Cloth.
Back of Printing Block.]
[Illustration: Preparing Japanned Cottons.]
The pattern is placed on by means of wooden blocks, on the first of
which the rudiments, or ground work, of the design is cut, and on the
rest other portions of the pattern, so that, as they are covered with
paint and applied to the cloth by the workman, the pattern is gradually
printed, and appears in the different colours which are successively
applied to each block.
[Illustration: Printing Floor Cloth.]
The blocks are made of pear-tree wood on one side and of deal on the
other, the pear-tree wood being more easily engraved with the pattern.
The blocks (which we will suppose to be four for one pattern—red, yellow,
blue, and green) being ready, and the prepared canvas spread out on a
flat table, the printing commences.
The paint (say red) is applied with a brush to the surface of a pad or
cushion formed of flannel covered with floor cloth; the block held by
a handle at the back is placed face downwards on this cushion, and the
layer of paint thus obtained on the surface of the block is printed on
the canvas by pressing the block smartly down upon the surface of the
latter. A second impression is made in the same way, by the side of and
close to the first, until the whole surface of the canvas is printed over
with the pattern of this first block, which is generally about 15 inches
square. Then the second block is applied, and adds a little more to the
pattern in another colour; the third follows, adding still more; and then
the fourth, which completes the printing.
[Illustration: Trowel. Claw. Scrubbing Brush. Palette Knife. Paint
Brushes. Roughing Comb. Hammer.]
The _trowel_ and _palette knife_ spreading and mixing the paint, the
_roughing comb_ for patterns where the grain of wood is imitated, and the
pots, cans, and jars, for the colours, are the principal tools besides
those already described.