are somewhat interchangeable, and it will depend upon the angle that the
slabs have been sawed as to whether they should be placed in one or the
other division. These two divisions are the striated marbles, which
includes the veined and serpentine marbles, and the conglomerate, which
includes most of the onyxes and marbles which show but little veining.
As stated before this arbitrary division is sometimes misleading, as a
striated marble will show up in chunky formation if sawed in a certain
way, and again considerable veining will show in a conglomerate if sawed
at the right angle. The placing them in one or the other of the two
divisions applies only when they are sawed in the natural and customary
way--squarely through the block where they show their character more
fully. In some varieties, however, as in some of the onyxes, there is
little regularity of formation and serpentine forms will be found
bordered with large chunks of conglomerates, and the latter with more or
less of well defined serpentine formation intermingled with it. This
really is what makes the chief beauty of the onyxes. The students should
study the forms taken by marbles thoroughly as possible in order to
store up in their memory the innumerable variations of forms of all the
several sorts of marbles which they come across.
QUESTIONS ON LESSON XXVI.
135. What is said relative to the imitation of marbles by ancient
civilizations?
136. What uses of marble imitations are made of today?
137. To what parts of interior decoration are they best adapted to?
138. What is said of the irregularity of form in marbles?
139. In how many divisions can marbles be placed in?
LESSON XXVII.
GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR MARBLING.
140. Under the name of marble are included all variegated stones, and
therefore the term "marbling," like that of "gilding," which is applied
to gold, silver and all metal leaves means considerably more than it
should. Truthfully speaking marbles are of lime formation, while
granites and jaspers and many others are not. The coloring of the
veinings are due to various causes; various substances being deposited
and enveloped in the lime formation, some by infiltration of metallic
ore beds above the lime formation, which found their way through some of
the softer fissures of the imperfectly formed limestone and deposited
there. Again, as in honeycomb limestone, substances which deposited
along with the lime, but which being more soluble have been washed out
of it, leaving the lime full of small holes, as the name indicates.
These being subsequently filled up with colored deposits.
141. General directions will be given in this and subsequent lessons as
to "how" the various operations used for imitating marbles are
performed, and the student will be referred to them when the special
description of the various well-known marbles and other stones are
given. The same operations being used in nearly all of them, being
varied to suit the peculiar needs of each as required.
[Illustration: grained door]
142. There is no need of special brushes or tools for any of the
operations about to be described, and the ones described as useful for
the imitation of wood by graining will more than suffice as but few
brushes are needed. For laying the grounds, some of the larger flat ones
and some smaller flat ones to lay in colors in smaller groups, and dry
ones to blend them. Some fitches or small bristle artists' brushes and
some camel's hair pencils with a few wing and tail feathers for putting
in some of the finer veins, and badger blenders are about all the tools
needed.
143. As to material, white lead and zinc white will form the bulk of it,
as it is used either as a base or by itself in all the marbles that will
be described, with, of course, the exception of the black marbles. As
there are so many colors used in imitating marbles, the whole list may
be of use at some time or other, and it will not be necessary to name
them all over at this time, as under each marble will be given the ones
needed. Light varnishes are required in order to give the finished
marble a uniform appearance and as a protection. This is the hardest
part of all to procure, as the stronger ones are not fit to use over
white or even upon some of the darker ones having white veins, turning
them yellowish. Damar varnish is forced upon the marbler, so there is
little wonder if many prefer to leave the work as it is without
varnishing.
All the above applies to oil color marbling only as work done in
distemper is never varnished. The colors needed in water color marbling
are the same as for oil work, only they must of course be in the dry
state.
144. The walls of halls are sometimes done in imitation of marble slabs,
and one is then required to scaffold for it in order to reach them. As
directions were given how to reach the walls and ceilings in Vol. II, or
"Interior Painting," the student is referred to that for fuller details.
For most work good step ladders will be found best, as they permit the
work to be done with more comfort, the operator climbing up or down as
needed without having to reach up or bend down too much.
QUESTIONS ON LESSON XXVII.
140. What is said regarding marble formation?
141. What of the general operation used in imitating marbles?
142. What are the tools needed in marbling?
143. What material is used in marbling?
144. What appliances are needed in wall work in order to reach their
surfaces?
LESSON XXVIII.
THE OPERATIONS OF MARBLING.
145. The laying on of the proper colors for the ground is the first
operation in the order in which they occur in marbling, and it is a very
important one, too. It will be well to state here that the descriptions
which are given is for marbling in oil, as that is by far the best way
of imitating marble, therefore the proper allowance must be made for
water color work of quicker drying, and therefore it will require
considerable speed in conducting the marbling operations, giving the
operator but little time to do his work in he cannot possibly produce as
good work as he can in oil. Only rather plain figured marbles should be
attempted by the students in distemper work. The ground is usually put
on all over alike in oil, and usually it is put on with white lead.
While that is fresh, if a parti-colored ground is desired, a little of
the proper color is worked over it and blended more or less to suit.
146. If the imitation is striated, veined or serpentine marble, while
the ground is still wet the main body of color and veining should be put
in and blended. The blending in marbling constitutes a most important
part, as by means of it veins and lines are made to disappear as it were
into the ground gradually, which gives it transparency, and it will look
as if it came from the interior and gradually becoming stronger toned as
it reached the surface. These effects are all produced by proper
blending.
If the imitation is a conglomerate marble the chunks should be put on
with dabs of color suitable and of the right size, depending upon the
blender to soften them into a gradual disappearance into the ground.
147. While the ground is still wet in veined or striated marble the
deeper toned veins, or rather that portion of the veins which it is
desired should appear as having reached the surface by a gradual ascent
from below, should be touched with a little of the fresh color and left
unblended. This is done with camel's hair pointed pencils or with the
tip end of feathers for some of the finer lined ones.
In the conglomerate imitation the chunks can be touched with fresh color
left unblended at what is desired should show as their surface point, so
that the chunks will show as if they were gradually sinking away from
sight to the interior of the stone.
[Illustration: double panelled grained door]
148. It will be best after having formed all the character of the
veining and having touched up the bright parts to let the work dry
before attempting to put in the white veining and what may be called the
"high lights," or the lightest parts of the colored veins or chunks in
the conglomerates. If this was attempted upon the wet color and one
should; undertake to finish the whole work at the one time, he will find
that he cannot produce good white veins and that they mix up so much
with the others as to become anything but _white_. Where it is desired
to produce the impression of white veins disappearing into the rest of
the work, however, it will be well to put in some and to blend them in
to produce that effect, while the first color is still wet and when it
has dried to go over them at what is intended for their surface points
with some fresh color, which will greatly enhance their transparent
effect. Now the light veins are put in without fear of their tones being
destroyed by mingling with the wet ground colors, and all the finishing
touches should be put in. Defects, if any, can be corrected and when the
work is dry it may or may not be varnished.
149. The directions given above will suffice to give the student the
manner of producing any kind of marble or onyx desired. The spots
usually seen in granites are produced by striking a brush upon a stick
at some distance from the surface which it is intended should be
covered, the size of the dots being governed by this distance, and also
by the kind of brush used. A fine spraying with turpentine afterward
will cause them to spread sufficiently to run together at the edges and
to look more natural than if left without this operation.
QUESTIONS ON LESSON XXVIII.
145. How should the grounds be put on in marbling?
146. How is the veining and blending done in marbling?
147. How is the veining made to appear as if coming up to the surface
from the interior?
148. How are the finishing touches put on?
149. What is further said of marbles and how are granites imitated?
LESSON XXIX.
THE VARIOUS MARBLES.
AGATE.
150. Agate is a variegated stone, a conglomerate, and according as it is
cut will sometimes show a number of veins usually circling around some
center. The ground is white lead, and the various colors may be put in
and blended over. This is followed up with touching certain parts with
fresh color, which is left unblended to give a sharp edge. The colors
vary very much in various specimens of agate, some being rather light
and others very dark, so the student has a good range to choose from,
from crimson lake, prussian blue and chrome yellow or ochre.
BROCATELLO.
151. The ground for Brocatello is made from ochre and white lead, or it
may be put on with white lead and ochre brushed into it, leaving it
darker in patches than in others. Then put on a thin glaze over it when
dry made of raw and burnt sienna with enough whiting to make it rather
transparent. When the color has set sprinkle it over with turpentine by
striking a small brush over a stick it will cause it to spread the color
and to show the yellow ground through. Then shade the larger blotches
with a light yellow ochre to show the angular fragments and give it
depth. Then vein with color made of vermillion and Prussian blue, being
careful not to put in the dark lines through the blotches.
BLACK AND GOLD MARBLE.
152. As the name indicates this marble's chief tone is black with
blotches of yellow. It is a conglomerate marble. The ground should be
put on with black paint and lightened up in parts by working in a little
white in spots, as it should not be uniform in tone, but the lightest
parts should be as dark as a dark slate. Dab on the yellow spots where
they belong and connect a few of them by veins, then blend to produce
transparency; then touch up with some of the light color, which should
not be blended. Let dry and put on a very few high lights on some of the
yellow and with ivory black used as a glaze correct any glaring mistakes
by covering them over which will then appear as belonging to the under
parts.
DOVE MARBLE.
153. This marble is one of the easiest to imitate on the whole list. It
is a veined marble and chiefly a warm gray with white veining. The
ground should be made from white lead, lamp black and warmed up with a
little vermillion. Put in the white veins and blend; after blending
touch up parts of veins you will wish to show as coming to the surface,
but do not blend. When dry emphasize such parts as desired with white.
EGYPTIAN GREEN MARBLE.
154. This is a conglomerate marble which presents many varied forms
according as it has been cut. Under certain cuttings it presents a mass
of crystalline matter of great beauty, and somewhat more difficult of
execution than the more ordinary forms of it do. By a little practice,
though, the student will find no great difficulty in representing it
correctly. It is a marble which presents in any of its forms a beautiful
appearance, and one which the operator is pretty sure to be called upon
to reproduce, therefore he should spare no pains to study it well and to
practice what he has learned in order to be ready for any emergency. The
ground is an invisible green made of black with a trifle of yellow
added. When dry put on a suitable green glaze, dabbing on here and there
the black masses and put in the green network of veining with a feather,
touching them up with a camel's hair pencil with the same color to give
it character and transparency. It will be noticed that according as it
is cut a mass of crystalline bodies seem to show through the
semi-transparent stone, and this will test the skill of the marbler to
reproduce naturally.
QUESTIONS ON LESSON XXIX.
150. Give a description of the marbling of agate?
151. How is Brocatello marble imitated?
152. Describe how black and gold marble is imitated?
153. Give a description of how dove marble is done.
154. How is Egyptian green marble imitated?
LESSON XXX.
DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIOUS MARBLES--CONTINUED.
ITALIAN PINK MARBLE AND SCARLET MARBLE.
155. Really this marble and the Italian scarlet marble are only
variations of sienna marble, and as the variation consists altogether in
the coloring of the marble and not at all in its veining and other
forms, there will be no need of telling "how" it should be done, as that
is related under the heading of sienna marble in the following
paragraph. For color venetian red lightened up to a pink with white lead
is used instead of that described, and in the scarlet variety vermillion
toned down with venetian red.
SIENNA MARBLE.
156. This marble is more extensively imitated than any of the others,
with the exception of white marble black veined, and there is no wonder
that it is so with its wealth of forms. No matter what one may fancy or
do it is pretty sure to look like some specimen of it has done before if
the same character is kept up to the end. It is true some forms are more
pleasant than are others, and that is true really in all marbles, so
that the student should not spend much time in trying to do something
which is considered an inferiority in the sienna marble itself. The most
pleasing forms are clumps of darker color overrun with veinings and
intervals of lighter tone also veined, but usually with much lighter
toned veins than the set occupying the darker clumps. But some of the
light as well as the darker ones usually trespass some upon each other's
ground, and in some specimens clumps of very fine dots extend over some
of the light areas instead of veins.
The ground should be put in with white and the larger clumps put in with
raw sienna and blended. Then some of the intervals may be connected with
lighter toned and smaller clumps, also made with the raw sienna upon
the still wet ground. Proceed afterward to put in darker broad veins
with the artist's bristle brushes and blending them. After the blending,
put in the white veining, which, of course, will mix with the still wet
ground, but that will give it the transparent effect if when the work
has dried they are touched up here and there with flake white to give
them their character. The darker veinings should also be touched up in
order to emphasize them and make them look transparent. Variations
galore will suggest themselves to the student who has made a study of
these marbles from natural specimens.
FLORENCE MARBLE.
157. The ground for this marble is a neutral tone of red made with white
lead and Indian red. The veining should be put in with burnt umber and a
second set with burnt sienna, a few of each running in every direction
without any regularity. This veining must be done while the ground is
still wet in order that the ends may blend in with it and seem to
disappear into it. Sometimes the veining runs out of clumps and seems to
break forth, leaving some parts nearly free of veinings, and then
suddenly to spring up into a network as intricate as seen upon a nutmeg
melon.
TENNESSEE MARBLE.
158. This is an American marble. It is usually of a mauve or bluish
violet tone, and of a medium between dark and light, some specimens
being rather dark. As it is plentiful and cheap much of it does not show
up at its best, but there are some specimens which are very beautifully
marked. As all other marbles, it has an infinity of showings. Its
general character is an all-over veining. Some specimens, however,
showing a few patches of plain white of considerable extent, and in all
the better ones some large thick white veins with a number of smaller
ones running in a wild way radiating from them, but with a distinct
tendency to run in the same direction as the large white veins spoken
of. Then there is another set of smaller veining of the same tone as the
ground, but much deeper scattered nearly all over it. The ground should
be put on with white paint and color made from Indian red deepened with
Prussian blue, dabbed on nearly all over it and blended into the white,
leaving a few patches of white and the larger fissure veins where
desired, although these can be put on after the ground has become dry.
Much of the smaller veining should be put on before the ground is dry in
order to mix with it and give the transparent effect so much desired.
Afterward the stronger high light effects in the large white veins and
in some of the parts of the smaller ones should be touched up with flake
white, and the darker veins should be touched up here and there also
with the darkest color.
QUESTIONS ON LESSON XXX.
155. Describe how Italian pink and Italian scarlet marbles are imitated?
156. How is sienna marble imitated?
157. How is Florentine marble reproduced?
158. What is said concerning the imitation of Tennessee marble?
LESSON XXXI.
DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS MARBLES, GRANITES AND PORPHYRIES--CONTINUED.
SERPENTINE MARBLE.
159. This marble is probably but a variation of the verd antique, which
it closely resembles in all its colorings. It contains more veinings
than the other, although it, too, shows up clumps of conglomerate very
much the same in formation; as a full description of verd antique is
given in the subsequent paragraph, the student can vary from the
directions given in so far as to introduce the veinings mentioned which
the other has but few of.
VERD ANTIQUE.
160. Verd antique marble is really a modified Egyptian, being somewhat
more blotchy than its cousin the Egyptian green marble. The ground
should be made from Prussian blue and yellow ochre to make a brownish
green, then dab some of each of the separate colors blue and yellow
where the blotches are desired; then connect them by veinings and blend,
touching up afterwards with fresh color parts which should show
prominently, but be careful not to overdo this, as but little of the
full tone of the yellow should show or it will make it look unnatural.
WHITE VEINED MARBLE.
BLACK VEINED WHITE MARBLE.
161. These two marbles are bracketed together, as with the exception of
the ground color and the reversing of the color used in the veining they
are so much alike that the same description will do for each of them.
They are veined marbles, and many specimens show fissures which for the
sake of naturalness and variety may be imitated but very sparingly, as
really it is a defect.
The ground for these marbles should be white lead; for the white veined
proceed to dab on patches of black with a small tool and blend the black
with the white all over, but have the ground darker in parts than in
others, varying from a gray to nearly true black, but of the latter
sparingly. A few white blotches and main white coarse veins are left,
and the white veins are put in with flake white, which will blend into
the ground and serve to give the proper transparency. When dry the pure
white veins must be touched in order to bring them out.
For the black-veined variety the white lead ground is gone over here and
there, but not too much of it, with a touch of black which must be
vigorously worked into the white to produce a few blotches of light,
faint gray not prominent at all. The veining is gray of a trifle darker
tone, which is called black by courtesy and as a contrast to the white
of the ground.
162. The above comprise about all the leading varieties of marbles.
There are many other varieties, chiefly of those described, and
differing from them chiefly in their coloring, their imitation being the
same excepting that.
ONYXES.
163. Onyxes differ from those stones which are known as marbles chiefly
in that they are more transparent. The clumps or blotches of variously
colored component parts of the conglomerate are much more diversified
than can usually be seen in marbles and according to the angle at which
they are cut present an endless variation. Sometimes whole slabs show
the conglomeration cut across; again in others considerable blank space
is found in close proximity and again serpentine waves of veins looking
very transparent run around the clumps, etc. Nothing but a close study
of the natural stone can give one a perfect idea of their vagaries of
form. The general directions given in paragraphs 140 to 149 cover all
that could be said here as to the manner of imitating them and the
student who has carefully followed the descriptions which are specially
given under each marble will find no great difficulty in imitating the
variously colored onyxes.
GRANITES, PORPHYRIES AND JASPERS.
164. All the above are closely related and may be bracketed together in
describing their imitation. According to their predominating colors they
are known as red, gray, white, etc., and have usually the name of the
countries from which they come given them in addition.
The ground color should consist of the leading or predominating color,
and the rest of the spots are put in by sprinkling or striking the brush
against a stick. When the colors have commenced to set, but before they
have dried and while still partly wet, turpentine should be sparingly
sprinkled upon the work, which will cause the spots to spread and run
into each other, but it must not be overdone or a mess will be the
result. A little fine flaked mica may be sprinkled upon the work after
it is finished, also before drying has been completed; this will give
more naturalness to the granite imitations; the porphyry and jasper do
not need it.
QUESTIONS ON LESSON XXXI.
159. Describe the character of serpentine marble?
160. How is verd antique marble imitated?
161. How are white-veined black marble and black-veined white marble
imitated?
162. What is said of other varieties of marbles?
163. How are onyxes imitated?
164. What is said regarding the imitation of granites, porphyries and
jaspers?
FINIS.
INDEX
Agate marbling--how done 145
Applying the rubbing in colors in graining 50
Ash graining--general remarks on 93
Ash graining--how grounds are made for 93
Ash graining--how grained in distemper 95
Ash graining--how grained in oil 94
Ash graining--how overgrained 95
Ash graining--Hungarian--how grained 96
Badger haired blenders--their uses 28
Bird's-eye maple--how grained 101
Black and gold marble--how imitated 145
Black veined white marble--how imitated 150
Blending distemper graining 62
Brocatello marble--how imitated 145
Brushes used for laying grounds 25
Brushes used rubbing-in color 25
Burled growth of woods 75
Burled Walnut--how to grain 122
Burled Walnut--how to overgrain 123
Camel's hair pencils used in graining and marbling 30
Champs--how wiped in quartered oak graining 41
Check rollers--how to use 53
Chestnut graining--general remarks on 156
Chestnut graining--how to grain it 157
Cherry graining--how to prepare grounds for 109
Cherry graining--how to grain it 109
Colored crayons--used in fine veinings 71
Colors used in preparing grounds in graining 21
Colors used in graining in distemper 22
Colors used in graining in oil 23