dead, then varnish; but few take this trouble. Mix the paint as under:
White lead, boiled oil, and the least drop of turps; mix sufficient
of each to form a creamy mixture; then add about 1 oz. patent drier
to each 1 lb. of paint. If you want the paint darker use enough burnt
umber to give the required tint. If you want to varnish, omit the oil
and use turps.
=Transparent Paint for Glass.=--Take for blue pigment, Prussian blue;
for red, crimson lake; for yellow, Indian yellow; and for other shades,
a mixture of the appropriate primary colors. Rub them in a size made
as follows: Venice turpentine, 2 parts; spirits of turpentine, 1 part,
and apply with a brush. The colors are moderately fast unless exposed
too long to direct sunlight. A solution of the various aniline dyes in
shellac varnish has also been recommended.
=Gilding.=--Gold leaf is the only successful application. First put
on a coat of Japan gold size, and when that is “tacky,” and nearly
dry, lay on the gold-leaf and dab it with a small tuft of cotton-wool.
Where you buy the gold-leaf you can buy a gilder’s tool for applying
it; but in order to get a smooth surface it must (when perfectly dry)
be burnished with an agate burnisher, which you will also get at the
color-shop, but you will not be able to burnish gold-leaf on the bare
wood. You can, if you like, varnish with pale copal varnish.
=Gilding on Glass.=--Glass letters are gilt the same way as you would
a name on a glass door. You can easily get a good burnish if you take
a little trouble. Get some of the best cotton wool at a chemist’s, and
well polish the gold with it; the gold must be thoroughly dry. Then go
over it with your size boiling hot; do not touch the same place twice
with the brush, or you will bring the gold up; repeat the process three
or four times, being sure to have your gold dry each time, the hotter
the size the brighter will be the burnish; be careful, however, and not
break the glass with the heat.
=Gilding Fretwork, etc.=--The first thing to be done is to whiten the
work. To do this scrape some whitening very fine, place it in a pipkin
with a lump of gilder’s size, and water sufficient to make it of the
consistency of thick cream, when heated over a fire; then, with a
camel-hair pencil, paint it on the object several times, allowing
each coat to dry before applying the next. When the several coatings
have raised it to the thickness of ¹⁄₁₆ in., set it aside for twelve
or more hours, to harden; when hardened, smooth the surface with very
fine sandpaper first, and finally with a piece of cork; when using
the cork frequently dip it in water, and, when practicable, use it in
a circular motion. Thus far successful, the next thing is to lay on
the gold. To gild, then, dissolve some gilder’s--not common size--in
water, and heat, and with a full brush lay it on the surface of the
object. Cut the gold leaf, on a pad of buff leather, with a clean
cut of the knife (much easier said than done; perseverance, however,
with the cost of a book or two of gold mutilated, and a large amount
of patience exhausted, will overcome the difficulty), to the size
required; take these up on a tip (a row of long hairs placed between
two bits of cardboard)--the professional way to do this is to strike
the hair of the tip against the gilder’s own whiskers or hair--and
gently lay them on the surface of the object, taking care that each
succeeding piece slightly overlaps the preceding. When dry, a small
piece of fine sponge, dipped in a weak solution of size water, should
be gently passed over it to give a uniform appearance. If the bright
gold requires to be deadened, deep ormolu should be used in a similar
way after sizing. The yellow used for the ungilt portions consists of
gilder’s yellow, dissolved in size water, and is put on with a brush.
=Painting on Gilded Panels.=--There is no preparation needed to paint
in oils on a gilded panel. No mediums are required, the ordinary oil
colors being used unmixed. If required to dry flat and to remain so,
they are mixed with turpentine and left unvarnished. If the shiny look
of oils is to be retained, they are slightly diluted with boiled oil,
and varnish with white hard varnish when dry.
=Gilding on Wood.=--To gild in oil, the wood, after being properly
smoothed, is covered with a coat of _gold size_, made of drying linseed
oil mixed with yellow ochre; when this has become so dry as to adhere
to the fingers without soiling them, the gold leaf is laid on with
great care and dexterity, and pressed down with cotton wool; places
that have been missed are covered with small pieces of gold leaf, and
when the whole is dry, the ragged bits are rubbed off with cotton. This
is by far the easiest mode of gilding; any other metallic leaves may
be applied in a similar manner. _Pale leaf gold_ has a greenish yellow
color, and is an alloy of gold with silver. Dutch gold leaf is only
copper colored with the fumes of zinc; being much cheaper than gold
leaf, is very useful when large quantities of gilding are required in
places where it can be defended by the weather, as it changes color if
exposed to moisture, and it should be covered with varnish. _Silver
leaf_ is prepared every way the same as gold leaf; but when applied,
should be kept well with varnish, otherwise it is liable to tarnish; a
transparent yellow varnish will give it the appearance of gold.
Whenever gold is fixed by means of linseed oil, it will bear washing
off, which burnished gold will not.
=To Gild Letters.=--When the sign is prepared as smooth as possible, go
over it with a sizing made by white of an egg dissolved in about four
times its weight of cold water; adding a small quantity of fuller’s
earth, this to prevent the gold sticking to any part but letters. When
dry, set out the letters and commence writing, laying on the size as
thinly as possible, with a sable pencil. Let it stand until you can
hardly feel a slight stickiness, then go to work with your gold leaf
knife and cushion, and gild the letters. Take a leaf upon the point of
your knife, after giving it a slight puff into the back part of your
cushion, and spread it on the front part of it as straight as possible,
give it another slight puff with your mouth to flatten it out. Now cut
it to the proper size, cutting with the heel of your knife forwards.
Now rub the tip of the knife lightly on your hair; take up the gold
on the point, and place it neatly on the letters; when they are all
covered, get some very fine cotton wool, and gently rub the gold until
it is smooth and bright. Then wash the sign with clean water to take
off the egg size.
=Sign Writing in Colors, Etc.=--On an oak ground ornamental letters, in
ultra-marine blue, filled in with gold and silver leaf, blocked up and
shaded with burnt sienna. _Another._--Gold letters on a white marble
ground, blocked up and shaded with a transparent brown or burnt sienna.
_On glass._--Gold letters shaded with burnt sienna. _Another._--Gold
letters shaded with black on a _scarlet_ or _chocolate ground_. On a
rich _blue ground_ shaded with black, look very well. _On a purple_
ground, pink letters shaded with white. Mix ultra-marine and vermilion
for a ground color, white letters shaded with grey. _Vermilion
ground_, chrome yellow stained and vermilion and lake, for the letters
shaded with black.
A substitute for the above colors: Rose-pink and red lead; and for the
letters stone yellow, white lead and Venetian red. Mix your colors for
writing in boiled oil, and use for dryer gold size. Other good grounds
for gold letters are, blues, vermilion, lake and Saxon. When your sign
is ready for gilding, follow the directions under the head “_To Gild
Letters on Wood_.”
=Gilder’s Size.=--Drying or boiled linseed oil, thickened with yellow
ochre, or calcined red ochre, and carefully reduced to the utmost
smoothness by grinding. It is thinned with oil of turpentine.
=Staining Wood a Dull Black.=--The work required to be stained should
be colored with drop-black and size. When this is thoroughly set it
should be papered off and colored again, and then be papered off again.
The polish should also be stained with drop black and a little indigo.
Next polish to a perfect surface, and let it set. After the wood has
absorbed all the polish possible, polish again, and dull it with the
finger dipped in fine emery; a fine metallic surface will thus be
obtained.
=Staining Floors.=--The best and cheapest and only permanent stain
for floors is permanganate of potash. Buy it by the ¹⁄₄ lb., and at
a wholesale chemist’s; mix about ¹⁄₄ oz. in a quart of water. Apply
freely and quickly to a dry floor with either cloth or brush, the
latter if you care for staining your hand. Repeat the process for
a very dark oak color; when dry, oil with burnt oil or beeswax and
turpentine; you cannot wash this color out. Benson’s stain is only
permanganate of potash. At first for a few moments the color is bright
magenta, but this at once changes to a dark permanent brown. For fifty
cents a whole house may be stained.
=Varnishing Wood.=--After smoothing wood with veneer scraper, brush on
thick coat of shellac varnish; then use fine sandpaper, No. 0. Do this
three times for close grained woods, such as black cherry, and four
times for porous wood, such as chestnut. Have two dishes. Into one put
finely ground pumice; into the other raw or boiled oil. Apply a mixture
of these with a piece of hair-cloth or broad-cloth. Don’t rub too hard.
Finish up with rotten stone, which will remove pumice and oil. Above is
a good dead varnish. _Another._--Take encaustic wax, heat, and apply
with a cork; rub in well, brush on thin coat shellac varnish, finish
with pumice and oil.
=Solvent for Old Putty and Paint.=--Soft soap mixed with a solution
of potash or caustic soda, or pearlash and slaked lime mixed with
sufficient water to form a paste. Either of these laid on with an old
brush or rag, and left for some hours, will render the putty or paint
easily removable. _Another._--Slack three pounds of stone quicklime in
water, then add one pound of pearlash, and make the whole about the
consistence of paint. Apply it to both sides of the glass, and let it
remain for twelve hours, when the putty will be so softened that the
glass may be easily taken out of the frame. _Another._--Break the putty
up in lumps the size of a hen’s egg, add a small portion of raw linseed
oil, and water sufficient to cover the putty, boil this in an iron
vessel for about ten minutes and stir it when hot. The oil will mix
with the putty, then pour the water off and it will be like fresh made.
For removing hard putty from a window sash take a piece of square iron,
make the same red hot, and run it along the putty till it gets soft.
The putty will peel off without injuring the wood work.
=Wash for Outside Work.=--For woodwork slake half a bushel of fresh
lime, by pouring over it boiling water sufficient to cover it 4 or 5
inches deep, stirring it until slacked; add 2 lbs. of sulphate of zinc
(white vitrol) dissolved in water. Add water enough to bring all to the
consistency of thick whitewash; it may be colored by adding powdered
ether, Indian red, umber, etc. If lampblack is added to colors, it
should first be thoroughly dissolved in alcohol. The sulphate of zinc
causes the wash to become hard in a few weeks.
=Another for Brick, Masonry, and Rough-cast.= Slake half a bushel
of lime as before; then fill a barrel ²⁄₃ full of water, and add a
bushel of hydraulic cement. Add 3 lbs. of sulphate of zinc previously
dissolved in water. The whole should be of the thickness of paint. The
wash is improved by stirring in a peck of white sand, just before using
it. It can be colored as before described.
=French Polish.=--Coat with one or more coats of shellac and rub down
smooth; make a rubber by rolling up a piece of flannel about 3 or 4
inches wide until it is about 1¹⁄₂ inches in diameter, and tie it round
with cord. Lay the end of the rubber on the mouth of a thin necked
bottle and apply the varnish to it, having previously shaken up the
contents in the bottle; then enclose the end of the rubber with a piece
of soft linen doubled, and moisten the face of the linen with a little
raw linseed oil.
Pass the rubber with a quick, light and circular motion over the
surface until the varnish becomes dry, or nearly so, and charge the
rubber again with varnish until 3 coats have been laid on, when a
little oil may be applied to the rubber and two more coats laid on. In
the finishing coat wet the inside of the cloth with a little alcohol,
and rub quickly and lightly over the whole surface. Lastly wet the
linen cloth with a little oil and alcohol without varnish, and rub as
before until dry.
The varnish is the usual preparation of shellac. See cabinet maker’s
varnish.
=Wood Filling Composition.=--Boiled linseed oil, 1 qt.; turpentine,
3 qts.; corn starch, 5 lbs.; Japan, 1 qt.; calcined magnesia, 2 oz.;
mix thoroughly. _Another._--Whitening, 6 oz.; Japan, ¹⁄₂ pt.; boiled
linseed oil, ¹⁄₂ pt.; turpentine, ¹⁄₂ pt.; corn starch, 1 oz.;
mix well together and apply to the wood. Add coloring if required.
_Another._--Linseed oil, 1 qt.; spirits of turpentine, ¹⁄₂ pt.; lime,
the size of a base-ball, broken fine. Let the mixture simmer on a
stove, covered over, for two or three hours, then strain through a
coarse cloth. It is to remain on 24 hours, then rub off with a woolen
cloth and polish.
=German Filling.=--Fill the pores with raw tallow and plaster of Paris
well amalgamated before a fire in cold weather. Darken, if required,
with any coloring to suit. When well rubbed in give a coat of shellac
and French polish or varnish.
=Polish for Walnut Wood.=--Mix with two parts of good alcoholic shellac
varnish, one part of boiled linseed oil, shake well, and apply with a
pad formed of woolen cloth. Rub the furniture briskly with a little of
the mixture until the polish appears.
=Rules the Painter Should Observe.=--Never eat or sleep without washing
the hands and face and rinsing the mouth. Keep the buckets, brushes,
etc., clean, so that they may be handled without smearing the hands.
Never sleep in a paint shop nor in a newly painted room. Never allow
paint to accumulate on the clothing or finger nails. Never wash the
hands in turpentine, as it relaxes the muscles and injures the joints;
any animal oil or even linseed oil is better. Never drink water that
has stood any length of time in a paint shop or newly painted room.
Never use spirituous liquors as it unites with the mineral salts and
tends to harden them and causes inflammation of the parts where they
concrete. Milk, sweet oil and the like should be used freely, as they
tend to soften the accumulated poisons and carry them off. Vinegar and
acid fruits used constantly, unite.
PAPER-HANGING.
The art of putting on, or “Hanging” paper is very simple, and is easily
learned; but to make a tasteful choice of paper for various situations,
is not so easy, hence the following remarks, which may be of service to
the workman or others on whom the selection of paper may devolve.
Walls to a room should be regarded only in the light of a frame-work
to what the room contains, and should be decorated so as to bring into
prominence and not eclipse the other parts of the chamber. Nothing
destroys the effect of a room so much as a handsome but staring wall
paper, or a wall so profusely ornamented as to strike upon the eye to
the exclusion of the rest of the decorations, thus bringing forward
what should be the background into the most conspicuous place. A
modern drawing room is always difficult to decorate artistically,
because of the taste of its builders for heavy cornices, prominent
mantelpieces, and rooms too lofty for their size; and as all these
misnamed “embellishments” are too costly to remove by tenants, the only
plan to pursue is to destroy their effect by exercising both taste and
ingenuity. First, with regard to the ceiling, the ornamental plaster
boss in its center should be removed, and the ceiling tinted a color
that harmonizes with the wall paper, as no harmonies can be hoped for
when what produces them is surmounted with the glaring white of an
ordinary ceiling. The tint used must be one that softens into the wall
paper, not one that contrasts; thus, if the tone of the room is that of
a soft grey blue, the ceiling should be a clear flesh pink; or should a
grey gre picked out with black be the chosen color, then it should be
colored a subdued lemon.
Some people cover their ceilings with a whole colored paper, and border
it with a stencilled pattern representing the thin garlands so familiar
upon Queen Anne decorations, but this is a more troublesome plan than
the simple coloring, which answers all the purpose. The walls, if they
are lofty, require a high dado. These high dados give a look of comfort
and “home” that is absent from the modern high pitched room papered
with one uniform pattern. The dado is divided 3 feet to 4 feet from the
ceiling, and the coloring of the lower portion must always be heavier
than that used on the upper or a top heavy look will be given to the
room. When many pictures are to be hung up the lower part of the dado
should be of a whole color, either a whole colored paper or a painted
wall, as pictures are only shown off upon such a background. Where a
whole tint is used for the lower part of the dado, the upper portion
should be decorated with a frieze paper of a good bold pattern, but
of subdued coloring and of tint that harmonizes with the lower. Thus,
the color used about the frieze should be the same as that on the
lower part, but of a lighter shade, intermixed with some other colors
that form a harmonious link between the two shades. Contrasts must
be carefully avoided, but pale pinks, blue and ambers can be blended
together above a subdued grey blue ground. The two portions of the dado
should be joined together with a light wooden (black or brown) railing,
or with a line of paint.
The dado decoration can be altered by placing the pattern paper upon
the lower part and leaving the upper plain-colored with or without
a stencilled pattern upon it. This will suit a room where not many
pictures are required, or that is already rather dark. Some part of the
wall should always be in plain color, as the eye requires rest; and no
pattern, however subdued in hue, can give the relief to the mind that
a bit of plain coloring affords, and this scarcity of ornament in one
part of a room is amply repaid by the effect it gives to such parts as
are bright and should be bright. The true theory of effect is to use
but one or two bright colors in a room, and to surround them by soft
and subdued tints that throw up and do not destroy their brilliancy; a
number of bright colors placed together destroy each other, and leave
no impression upon the mind but glare and vulgarity. Having settled
upon your paper and ceiling, have the woodwork and cornice of the room
painted either a shade lighter or darker than the walls, and shroud up
the mantelpiece with curtains, etc., of satin sheeting embroidered with
crewels, and instead of the usual looking glass over the fire-place,
have a mirror surrounded with brackets holding china; or have a black
wooden mantelpiece made with squares of looking glass set in. The
back-ground of your room being thus completed in a manner really to be
a back-ground, your furniture will look twice as well as if it were
stared out of countenance by the walls, and one need hardly add that
all your friends will delight in a room that throws up and brings out
their dresses and faces, instead of killing them by its glaring tints.
=Operations.=--To prepare the walls, make a size of glue and water,
then give the walls a coat of a very weak solution of the same. To
make a paste, take two pounds of fine flour, put in a pail; add cold
water, and stir it up together in a thick paste. Take a piece of alum
about the size of a small chestnut, pound it fine and throw it into the
paste; mix well. Then provide about six quarts of boiling water and
mix while hot with the paste until the whole is brought to a proper
consistency. This makes an excellent paste, and fit for use when cold.
=Cleaning Paper-Hangings.=--A very good method to clean paper-hangings
is that used oftentimes in cleaning the margins of prints. Cut into
eight pieces a quartern loaf two days old, and after having swept all
the dust from the paper-hangings, commence from the ceiling downward,
and somewhat lightly rub the paper with a downward stroke with one of
the pieces of bread. Continue this round the room, and then commence
lower down in the same way till the whole of the surface of the paper
has been gone over. The bread will from time to time get dirty, and
it should be cut off as often as required. Care should be exercised
not to rub the paper with a cross or horizontal stroke, only with the
perpendicular movement of the hand or the paper may peel off the walls
from the joints. With careful manipulation, paper will look almost as
good as new.
=Varnishing Paper-hangings.=--When papers are hung in places where
there is much passing, they are subject to greater wear than in an
ordinary room, and varnishing is resorted to, to make them more
durable, as it prevents soiling; they may also be cleaned with a damp
cloth, and are not in wear so likely to be damaged by rubbing off the
wall. Halls, lobbies, staircases, and offices are sometimes varnished
for durability, but as a rule the appearance is not improved. The paper
must be sized twice, the first being dry before the next is applied,
when the varnish is laid evenly on. It is necessary to size the paper
twice, as the first time may not effectually cover it, when the varnish
would stain the paper as badly as if oil had been applied. The size
necessary for sizing the paper before varnishing should be clean and
transparent. Parchment cuttings boiled down in water and strained will
make excellent size for this purpose. Before it is cold it should be
either strained through calico, or poured off, leaving the bits at the
bottom. A patent size is sold for this purpose, but parchment size is
the most reliable. Use clean brushes for size and varnish.
=A Paste that will Keep Well.=--A correspondent writes to a journal
this formula for a non-poisonous paste that will keep well in hot
weather: Wheat flour, 1 ounce; powdered alum, ¹⁄₂ drachm; water,
sufficient, or 8 ounces; oil of clove, or wintergreen, 3 or 4 drops.
Rub the flour and the alum with the water to the consistency of milk;
place this over a moderate fire, and stir constantly, until the
paste drops from the wooden paddle in jelly-like flakes, and has the
appearance of glycerite of starch. While the mass is still hot, add the
essential oil, and pour the paste into an earthenware pot or open jar.
In the course of about an hour a crust forms on the top; pour gently on
this an inch of water, more or less. When some paste is wanted, decant
the water, take out the quantity needed, and put some water again on
the remainder, repeating the operation each time. Paste may be kept in
this way for months, and will never be troubled with flies.
USEFUL HINTS FOR ESTIMATING COST OF WORK AND MATERIALS.
All surface painting is measured by the superficial yard, girting every
part of the work covered, always making allowance for the deep cuttings
in mouldings, carved work, railings or other work that is difficult to
get at.
Where work is very high and scaffolding or ladders have to be employed,
allowances must be made.
The following rules are generally adopted in this country in the
measurement of work. Surfaces under six inches in width or girt are
called 6 inches; from six to 12 inches, 12 inches; over 12 inches
measured superficial. Openings are deducted, but all jambs, reveals or
casings are measured girt.
Sashes are measured solid if more than two lights. Doors, shutters and
paneling are measured by the girt, running the tape in all quirks,
angles or corners. Sash doors measure solid. Glazing in both windows
and doors is always extra. The tape should be run close in over the
battens, on batten doors, and if the stuff is beaded, add one inch in
width for each bead.