PAINTING, DECORATING, AND STENCILLING
There are very few crafts that a boy takes hold of with so much
confidence as painting. In the average boy’s mind it merely means getting
a pot full of paint, a brush, and daubing it on. This is painting in one
sense of the word, but not painting as a real craftsman should do it.
Good painting is a skilled trade, just as are horseshoeing, plumbing, or
bricklaying. But this manual is not intended to be an artisan’s guide;
all that can be done is to lay down certain principles, and to give the
practical hints that may make a boy’s efforts in this line worth while.
It is not necessary that a boy should know how to make paints; that is
a branch of manufacture that requires years of experience, improved
machinery, and chemical and mineral formulæ. A boy should know, however,
what paints are made of, how prepared, and how they are mixed, so that he
will be able to work with intelligence and success.
The basis of all good paint suitable for wood-work is lead or zinc. Some
painters prefer all lead for outside work, while others take two-thirds
of lead and one-third of zinc, and then add the coloring dust or ground
colors to get the required shade. Both white-lead and zinc are ground in
linseed-oil, and can be purchased in cans, or kegs, ranging in weight
from one-pound tins to five-hundred-pound kegs. Zinc is sold in the same
kind of packages, and the cost in small quantities is about ten cents
a pound. Inside shades of any color are generally made of two-thirds
zinc and one-third white-lead; then the dust or ground colors are added
to tone down the white to any desired shade. Pure boiled linseed-oil
and good turpentine should be used to thin paints. Benzine, naphtha,
kerosene, or other oils should never be used in the preparation or
thinning of paints unless for special purposes.
To make the best paint for outside use, take two pounds of white-lead and
one pound of white-zinc, and mix them thoroughly, adding whatever oil
is necessary to render the mixture about the consistency of rich cream.
If coloring matter is to be added, it is best to use the ground colors
rather than the dry dusts, because the colors ground in oil are much
finer, and will mix better with paint than the dusts. Colors ground in
oil may be purchased at a paint store for ten or fifteen cents a pound.
A portion of the color should be thinned first with turpentine, and then
added to the pot of mixed white, stirring the mixture while the coloring
is added.
If the paint should not be thin enough to lay on the wood, you may add
small portions of turpentine until it is the right consistency. A little
experience is the best teacher in this matter, and to make sure, it is
well to ask a painter. Painters, and all masters of arts and crafts
nowadays, are much more easily approached than they were a few years ago,
and a boy who really wants to know, and who goes about it in the right
way, can generally get the knowledge or advice he is seeking. When making
paint for inside use, take the proportion of two parts of zinc to one
part of lead, then mix and thin with oil to the consistency of rich milk
or thin cream.
Before new wood-work is painted, all knots or sappy places should be
given a coat or two of shellac to “set” the sap. The priming, or first
coat, should be composed of equal parts of boiled linseed-oil and
white-lead for outside, or zinc with some turpentine for inside work.
When this is dry one or two coats are to be laid on, taking care to apply
the paint evenly and to work it into all cracks, crevices, and corners.
The secret of good work is not in daubing a whole lot of paint on the
surface to be covered, but in laying it on evenly and in a thin coating,
so that it will neither gum nor run. Two or three thin coats are always
better than one thick one, and the extra time spent in putting the thin
coats on, and in going over the work several times, will be amply repaid,
because the work will last. The thick coat will dry unevenly, and in time
will chip, crack, and peel off.
When painting over old wood-work, it is always best to scrape or remove
as much of the old paint as possible. Then sand—paper everything smooth,
and wash all surfaces of painted wood-work with a sponge and sapolio,
or other good scouring soap. If there should be any glossy surfaces
to the wood-work it is best to give them a washing with a very strong
solution of washing soda. A saturated solution of the soda is best. This
is made by adding washing soda to water (about a pound to two quarts),
and mixing or stirring it until the water has taken up all the soda it
will hold. After the soda-water has been applied to the wood-work, be
careful to wash it all off with clear water, changing the bucket of water
frequently, so that no traces of soda will be left on the wood-work.
Follow these directions explicitly, and do not try your own way nor trust
to luck to have the new job look well and last. There is an old saying
that “A little putty and paint hide a multitude of sin,” but get rid of
as much of the “sin” as you can before the new coat is put on. The soda
bath is particularly necessary on old furniture that has been varnished
several times. Paint will not hold on varnished surfaces unless the
varnish is first cut with soda-water or some of the prepared paint and
varnish removers.
It is always best to mix your own paints rather than to purchase
“ready-mixed” paints or “prepared paints” at a store. There are, of
course, a great many reputable makers of mixed paints, and you may use
their preparations if you so desire. But my advice to the young craftsman
is to purchase the raw materials of a good dealer and learn how to mix
his own paints.
When you have finished using your brushes they should be washed out—first
with turpentine, then rubbed out in kerosene oil and laid away for future
use. If they are to be used again within a few days, it will not be
necessary to wash them out, and they may be allowed to stand in water.
Bore a hole through the handle, and slip through a stout wire so that
the ends of it will rest on the top edge of a can. The brush should then
be placed in the can so that it will hang on the wire but not touch the
bottom, as shown in Fig. 1. Then water is put in until it just covers
the bristles, as shown at A. Never drop a brush into a pail or can of
water for even so short a time as overnight. The brush sags and causes
the bristles to curve, as shown at B, and it is then a hard matter to
get them straight again. The several kinds of brushes that a boy will
need for his work are shown in Fig. 2. A is a regular wire-bound bristle
brush which can be had at a paint or hardware store in several sizes;
B is known as a “sash tool”; C is a flat floor or varnish brush; D is
a sizing, kalsomine, or whitewash brush; and at E a round-liner or
stipple brush and a flat tool are shown. For light work the tin-ferruled,
cedar-handle flat bristle brush can be had in sizes ranging from one to
six inches in width.
[Illustration: FIG. 1. FIG. 2.]
There is nothing that freshens up a room so much as repainted wood-work,
newly papered or tinted walls, and kalsomined ceilings; and while it may
not be possible for a boy to become an expert paper-hanger, it is quite
within his ability to tint walls and ceilings, paint wood-work, and
varnish the floors. If he has any artistic faculty whatever he can do a
great deal of effective decorating, and this is a subject that we will
now discuss at greater length.
Decorating
There is no secret in the art of decorating. Good judgment, good
craftsmanship, and common-sense, coupled with the use of the best
materials, will always bring about good results.
The schemes that are shown in the illustrations on the following pages
are those that any boy can carry out; and with a fair knowledge of
carpentry, painting, and other crafts he will find it an enjoyable task
to change his room into one containing characteristic features of his own
invention or creation.
A very simple effect is shown in Fig. 3, and for this room it will not be
necessary to remodel or change any of the wood-work. After removing all
old paper from the walls with hot water and a sponge (and cleaning off
the ceiling also), the walls and ceiling should be given a coat of size.
This is made by dissolving a handful of good ground or flake glue in a
pailful of water, and then painting it on the wall with a wide brush.
Do not slop the size over the floor, nor have your brush too wet with
the glue-water when you are using it. Try to work it in well rather than
attempt to lay it on thick. When it is dry you can kalsomine, paper, or
tint over the walls, and the size will help to hold the covering material
in place. The wood-work in this room is painted white or a light shade of
any color that is easily washed and kept clean. If paper is to be used on
the side walls, some very good patterns can be selected at a stock house
that will not cost more than twenty-five cents a roll.
[Illustration: FIG. 3—A BOY’S ROOM]
The pattern shown in this scheme is in stripes and running vines. Above
the picture-moulding the wall is tinted or papered with a light-buff
paper. With some apple-green fresco-paint the laurel-bush tops are drawn
in above every other stripe, if they are wide enough apart. This makes a
good finish to broad stripes that would otherwise stop at the moulding.
A small desk can be built in one corner. It has a hinged top, and within
it writing-materials may be kept. Above the desk a book-ledge may be
attached to the wall with two brackets. Simple curtains at the windows
and a painted or stained and varnished floor, with a carpet rug at the
centre, will complete the decorating of this room. The cost should not
exceed ten dollars.
Decorating a Bedroom
Of the many attractive schemes for the decoration of the bedroom, there
are none so pleasing and lasting as the plain paper and an ornamental
frieze.
A full-pattern paper soon becomes tiresome, and while there are thousands
of pretty figured papers adapted to bedrooms, at least one-half of the
bedrooms in our homes are overdone or poorly papered. Small figures and
as nearly neutral shades as possible should be used, as they are restful
to the eyes, particularly in time of sickness. In Fig. 4 a pleasing
scheme is shown, and while its beauty lies in its simplicity, it is quite
as inexpensive as it is attractive.
[Illustration: FIG. 4—A BEDROOM]
Pink is the general tone, and the wood-work is painted cream color or
light ivory. Four feet and six inches above the floor a rail is run
around the room, and between it and the surbase vertical strips are made
fast to divide the wainscot into panels.
Plain cartridge or ingrain paper is hung on the wall above the surbase,
and between the rail and picture-moulding a lighter-pink paper is
applied. This may be a finely figured paper, or a narrow, satin-striped
paper that can be had at twenty-five to fifty cents a roll. A border
paper with garlands and ribbons, to match the shade of the others, may
be had by the yard or roll in several widths. Light shades of soft green
or robin’s-egg blue, with white wood-work, always make an effective and
cheerful combination.
An artistic effect for the door may be secured by making thin panels for
the upper and lower sections, and covering them with a fabric or burlap
as near the shade of the paper as it can be matched. These are attached
to the door with a few large, oval-headed nails painted black. Sheet-lead
escutcheons and hinge-straps can be made and applied to the wood with
oval-headed upholsterers’ nails painted black. Any other metal-work in
the room is to be coated black.
Pink, black, and cream, or pale-green, black, and ivory color make
pleasing and cheerful combinations for bedroom decoration, and they do
not become tiresome.
A feature in this scheme is the mode of suspending small pictures from
the rail by means of harness-rings and large-headed nails painted black.
The larger pictures hung above the rail are arranged so that the bottom
of each is on a line with or touches the rail.
A Boy’s Room
The arrangement and scheme for one side of a model boy’s room is shown in
Fig. 5. In this attractive room the wood-work is white, or very light in
color, and the walls a soft, light-tea or olive green. The border above
the picture-moulding is a light shade of old pink ingrain paper on which
the wreath and garland border is painted in fresco colors or stencilled.
At one side of the room a generous chest of drawers can be built in
a corner, and three feet up from the floor a long drop-ledge may
be made fast to the wall and arranged so that hinge-brackets will
support it. When not in use for drawing or studying, the brackets can
be folded in against the wall and the ledge dropped down. Above this
ledge, and extending from the chest of drawers to a window or door, a
compartment-nest of shelves may be made from three boards with shorter
ones for partitions. This is supported every two feet of its length with
brackets screwed securely to the under side of the bottom shelf and
to the wall. At the top it is also secured with small strips of metal
screwed fast to the back edge of the top shelf, and through which screws
pass into the wall. Short curtains of some light material may be hung
from a wire stretched along the under side of the top shelf and caught up
to it in one or two places with staples.
[Illustration: FIG. 5—A BOY’S STUDY ROOM]
The floor in a boy’s room should be of stained and varnished narrow
boards over which a rug can be thrown. This makes it possible for the
outer edges of the floor to be wiped up frequently, and does not allow
dust to settle at the corners or edges as it would in a carpet. All the
metal-work, such as gas-brackets, hinges, hasps, escutcheons, handles,
and catches, should be given a coat or two of black finish, which will
lend them the appearance of being wrought iron.
Another Boy’s Room
The panelled wainscot in Fig. 6 is formed of vertical strips of wood four
inches wide and four feet high, mounted above the surbase. On top of
these a six-inch band of wood is carried all around the room, on which a
five-inch ledge is mounted, the latter being supported on brackets which
line with the centre of the vertical strips. The doors, door and window
casings, surbase, and wainscot-rails are painted white, and all the
hardware is black.
Hinge-straps of lead are cut and fastened to the doors and casings with
large, oval-headed nails. To cover the panels in the doors, one large
panel is made from thin wood. It is covered with burlap and nailed fast
to the side of the door facing the room, with large-headed nails, or
mock nail-heads not less than one inch in diameter. Four-inch ledges are
placed over the door and window casings. These are supported by brackets
at the ends that line with the middle of the casing uprights.
The walls above the wainscot-ledge are papered, and the panels in the
wainscot are covered with burlap glued to the wall. The burlap on the
panels and doors may be in a coffee or light-brown color, and the paper
should then be a light shade of old green. The ceiling is tinted light
buff.
[Illustration: FIG. 6—ANOTHER BOY’S ROOM]
A Nursery
If a boy has some younger brothers or sisters, he can fix up their room
or nursery in some such manner as shown in Fig. 7. The walls are to be
cleaned and sized; then the wood-work is painted white, and a toy ledge
or rail is made fast with small brackets, two feet and six inches up from
the floor, or about on a line with the window-sills.
The lower part of the wall is to be covered with dark-colored burlap, and
above the ledge a lighter-colored burlap or denim is applied with heavy
paste, to which a handful of glue has been added.
Another but narrower rail is made fast to the wall about on a line with
the middle rib of the windows. Above that the walls and ceiling are
painted in imitation of the blue sky with fleecy white clouds floating
about. Paint in some birds flying in the air, and one or two perched on
the tops of the window and door casings. If this work is well done it
will have a very realistic appearance. Pictures may be hung above the toy
ledge and under the top strip by means of large rings painted black.
Stencilling
The art of stencilling, although a very old one, is constantly being
revived through the efforts of amateur craftsmen. Many of the art
textiles now to be had in the art and dry-goods stores have printed
patterns in imitation of this style of decoration. Nothing in the way of
machine-printing, however, can equal the hand-stencilled fabrics.
[Illustration: FIG. 7—A NURSERY]
Simple figures are easily stencilled on fabrics, papers, or walls, and
the beginner will be wise in using the small, clearly defined figures;
then, as proficiency is acquired, the more intricate and ornate patterns
and designs may be employed. Every young craftsman should cut his own
stencil-plates from fibre or oil-board. It should be about the thickness
of two ordinary calling-cards, and stiff enough to hold its shape. The
design is drawn directly on the material, or on a piece of brown paper,
and then transferred to the board. With a sharp knife-blade the outline
is carefully cut, taking care to leave the bridges which are necessary
to hold the parts together. This is clearly shown in Fig. 8, which is a
small stencil for a fleur-de-lis. In Fig. 9 A the effect is shown after
the pigment has been applied to the fabric or wall. If the ornament had
been printed or stamped, however, it would have been made without any
breaks, or as shown in Fig 9 B.
Fresco colors should be employed for stencilling on walls, but on fabrics
aniline colors or diluted oil-paints may be used to good advantage.
When preparing colors for fabrics, the tube oil-paints, or body colors
ground in oil, should be employed. They should be thinned with benzine,
and placed in the bottom of a dish or saucer, so that the stencil-brush
will take up the colors at the tip ends of the bristles. Fresco colors
for walls should be used thick, or about the consistency of rich cream,
while those of oil or aniline need not be thicker than milk. Regular
stencil-brushes must be used for this work. Such brushes may be had at
any paint store, and will appear as shown in Fig. 10. Stencil-brushes are
round, something like a shaving-brush, but the bristles are stiffer and
are stubbed or cut square at the ends.
[Illustration: FIG. 8. FIG. 9. FIG. 10. FIG. 11. FIG. 12. FIG. 13.]
When cutting your stencils, keep turning the oil-board so that you
always make the cut towards you. Lay the material on a smooth piece of
close-grained wood, or a sheet of zinc, and hold your knife with the
blade in a vertical position, and not to one side or the other. Do not
make bevelled cuts. Straight ones are necessary or there will be smeared
edges.
For a stencil-plate to make the garland and ribbon border shown in the
frieze of the room (Fig. 4), a one-half section only is necessary (see
Fig. 11). The full length of a garland is marked on the wall by indicated
dots, with chalk or pencil; then the half garlands are stencilled
all around the room. When completed, the stencil-plate is carefully
wiped off; then it is reversed and the remaining halves are done. The
stencil-plate for the wreath ribbon and garland border shown in the room
(Fig. 5) is illustrated at Fig. 12. This is a half garland and wreath,
and is used as described for Fig. 11. The stencil-plate shown in Fig. 13
can be used as the frieze or border in Fig. 6. This is an empire design,
and its dignity and beauty make it a fitting ornament for any room in a
house.