THE INTERIOR--PLASTERING AND PAPER-HANGING.
As men rise above the rude condition of uncivilized nations, they are
not satisfied with the mere _necessaries_ of life. Their standard
of comfort becomes elevated. Those things which are luxuries to the
lowest class are comforts to the next higher class, and necessaries
to the class which is higher still in the social scale; so that
the interpretation given to the words, “luxuries,” “comforts,” and
“necessaries,” becomes a sort of index whereby to mark the grade which
an individual occupies. A roof to cover the dwelling, a glass window
which may exclude the wind and the rain, while it admits light,--a
fire-place, with appliances for carrying off smoke and the products of
combustion--however far above the standard of the uncivilized man--are
not sufficient for the Englishman of middle station. He must have his
rooms nicely squared and neatly fitted; the roof must be concealed from
view by a smooth white ceiling; the rough brick walls must be covered
not only with plaster, but with an ornamental covering of paper or
paint. Hence arises occupation for many artisans whose sole business is
to make the dwelling agreeable to the eye, after the more necessary and
indispensable parts of the structure have been finished.
Plastering Walls and Ceilings.
The occupation of the plasterer is generally united with that of the
bricklayer. The business of the plasterer, as such, is to cover over
the rough walls and ceilings of a building with _plaster_, which is the
name given to a better kind of mortar, made of lime only. When this
plaster is of the coarser kind for the under or first coating, cow-hair
is mixed with it to make it bind better. When a plain brick wall is
to be plastered, the surface is at once covered with the plaster,
this adhering readily to the rough brick-work: but for ceilings or
partitions, a groundwork of laths is required to receive the first
coating.
Laths are of different sizes and qualities, according to the various
work for which they are intended. Those used by the plasterer are
termed _single_, and are about from two to three feet long, an inch
broad, and a quarter of an inch thick. They are split out of a coarse
kind of deal. _Double_ laths are considerably longer and thicker, and
are sawn out: they are therefore regular in their size. They are used
for better work in plastering, but chiefly by tilers or slaters.
The single laths are nailed up to the joists of the ceiling, or to the
_quartering_ of partitions, with but a small interval between each, so
as entirely to cover the surface. The workmen then proceed to cover
the lathing with coarse plaster, a labourer supplying them with a
small quantity at a time on a square board, held in the plasterer’s
left hand by means of a short thick handle stuck upright into the back
of the board. The man uses a rectangular flat wooden trowel, with a
bridge-shaped handle, to transfer the _stuff_ from the board to the
wall, and to spread it evenly over the surface. When the room of
which the walls are being plastered is of a better description, the
work is _floated_, that is, a regular surface is obtained by drawing
a long straight-edge over the wet plaster, so as to scrape off the
inequalities and reduce the whole to a plane surface.
A thinner coating of finer plaster is spread over the first to finish
the plastering, and this is again floated in drawing-rooms, and so on.
Plaster and Papier-Maché Ornaments for Rooms.
The mouldings of cornices in rooms are formed by a wooden mould drawn
along a straight-edge to guide the mould, acting like the carpenter’s
plane, when forming analogous mouldings in wood. When such cornices are
of sufficient size and depth to require it, wooden brackets, shaped
something like the profile of the cornice, are fixed up against the
wall, and laths are nailed on these brackets, to serve as a foundation
for the mouldings. By this means the necessity for a heavy mass of
plaster, to get the requisite projection in the cornice is avoided;
which mass would be unwieldly to manage, and liable to fall down by its
weight.
Foliage and ornamental work in plaster is made by _modelling_ the
ornaments by hand, in a proper kind of clay, worked by steel or wooden
tools, resembling small spatulas in form. To do this requires a taste
and skill in drawing or designing in the workman, which raises him to
the rank of an artist. When the model is finished and dry, the surface
of it is covered with a thin coat of oil, and a mould of fine plaster
is taken from it in separate pieces. To allow of the plaster mould
being taken off the model, the edges of these separate pieces of the
mould are made smooth so as to fit accurately together. From this mould
any number of _casts_ may be taken by pouring fluid plaster into the
mould when it is put together; and as soon as each cast has _set_, or
become hard, the mould is taken off it, to be put together again for
a new cast. There has been recently an improvement introduced, which
leads to a diminution of the use of plaster for ornaments; this is by
the substitution of _papier-maché_. The material so named is formed
chiefly of paper, brought to the state of a paste, and then compressed
in moulds. There is to every ornament so made a counter-mould,
following the general contour of the ornament, so that the piece is
made about equally thick in every part. The resulting ornament is very
much less ponderous than those made of plaster, and much less liable to
fracture. The interior decorations of many buildings are now made of
this material.
Whitewashing and Stuccoing.
Old plaster ceilings, walls, &c., are cleaned by being _whitewashed_.
The plaster is first washed over with clean water, by means of broad
flat brushes, to remove the dirt. All cracks and defects in the plaster
are then _stopped_ by filling them up with new plaster, and it is
frequently necessary to cut away the plaster in such places to obtain a
clean new surface to enable the new plaster to adhere. When the surface
is dry, the whitewash, made of whiting mixed up in water, is laid on
with the same form of brushes, and two or three times gone over, so as
effectually to cover all stains and marks on the surface. Instead of
being whitewashed, walls are frequently coloured by mixing ochre, of
the proper tint, in the water along with the whiting.
The outside of walls of houses, &c., are now frequently covered with
stucco, a kind of plaster made with a lime that resists the action of
water, when set, and which, if well managed, causes the wall to look as
if built of stone. The mode of stuccoing walls is exactly the same as
that of covering them with common plaster.
Origin of Paper-hangings.
In early times, wealthy people were accustomed to have the walls of
their rooms covered with _tapestry_, which was a combination of woven
cloth and needlework, somewhat mid-way between the _sampler_ work
and the _carpet_ work of our own day. These specimens of tapestry
frequently represented some historical events, and were often worked
by the hands of the lady of the mansion and her maids; but at other
times were the work of men following that line of occupation. The walls
of those rooms which were not thus covered, were usually of panelled
wainscot, or oak.
But when tapestry went out of fashion, and a more lively covering for
a wall than oak was wished for, a custom arose of printing or stamping
certain coloured devices on sheets of paper, and of pasting those
sheets against the wall. We believe that it is in England more than in
any other country that this covering for walls is employed; and since
the removal of the duty which was formerly laid on paper-hangings,
they have become so very cheap as to be almost universally employed in
houses of every class; indeed, it may be regarded as a circumstance not
a little conducive to the comfort and neatness of humble dwellings,
that a yard of printed wall-paper can now be purchased for _one
halfpenny_. From this trifling price up to five or even ten shillings
per yard, paper-hangings are now manufactured; so great are the
improvements gradually made in the modes of manufacture.
The Manufacture of Paper-hangings.
It will be interesting to give a brief description of the mode of
making, or rather printing, paper-hangings, before we speak of the
employment of the paper-hanger; for all that devolves upon him is to
fix up the paper when printed.
The paper employed is a sort of cartoon or cartridge paper manufactured
for the purpose,--rough, but strong. Until recently, every piece of
such paper was stamped, and the excise duty paid on it, before the
process of printing commenced.
In general, the paper is printed in “distemper,” that is, in
colours mixed with melted size, but sometimes in varnish. The
pigments or colouring substances employed, are principally
these:--_Red_ or _crimson_,--lake, vermilion, rose-pink, and red
ochre:--_Blue_,--Prussian blue, verditer, and indigo:--_Yellow_,--Dutch
pink, yellow ochre, and chrome yellow:--_Green_,--verdigris,
and various mixtures of the blues and yellows just
mentioned:--_Orange_,--vermilion, or red lake, mixed with Dutch
pink:--_Purple_,--a wash made of logwood, and various mixtures of lake
with Prussian blue, or with indigo:--_Black_,--ivory black and lamp
black:--_White_,--whiting and white lead. There are other substances
occasionally used, according as improvements or discoveries are made in
the manufacture of colours; but various combinations of those which we
have mentioned will yield almost every tint that can be desired.
These colours are mixed with water, together with a little size or gum,
by which the colours are made adhesive without being too stiff for
working. If the paper is to be glossy when completed, or if any one
of the colours with which it is printed is desired to be glossy, the
pigment for that colour is mixed with oil of turpentine and certain
gums and resins which will give a glossy surface to the paint when
dry. Before the printing commences, the piece of paper (which is about
twelve yards long) is coated all over with that colour which is to form
the _ground_. Powdered whiting is mixed with melted size to a proper
consistence, and laid on with a large brush, in the same manner as a
ceiling is whitewashed: the piece of paper is then left to dry. If the
ground is to be white, nothing more is required before the printing;
but if it is to be coloured, a second ground is laid on, made of melted
size, and of such colouring substances as will give the required tint:
this, when dry, is the ground which is to receive the ornamental
pattern. If the ground is to be glossy, the colouring substance is
mixed with varnish, gum, resin, &c., instead of size and water.
When the ground is thoroughly dried, the device is laid upon it, and
this is, in most cases, done by a process almost exactly corresponding
with wood-cut printing, in the fine arts. An impression is taken from
wooden blocks, which are cut in such a manner that the figure to be
expressed is made to project from the surface, by cutting away all the
other parts. But this raised device only represents that portion of the
whole figure which is to be of _one_ colour; so that if the pattern
is to be ultimately represented in four colours, as is frequently
the case, there must be four differently-carved blocks or stamps to
represent these, and the blocks must be so carefully carved with
reference to one another, that though the sizes of them are all exactly
alike, the devices occupy different parts, and do not interfere with
one another: the whole beauty and correctness of the figures depend on
the accuracy with which the blocks are carved.
Suppose, now, that the paper is properly painted with the ground
colour, dried and spread out on a flat board,--the carved blocks ready
for use,--and the colours mixed and melted in a warm state,--the
process is then conducted as follows. A piece of leather or of oilskin
is stretched over a flat block, and a boy lays a coating of one of the
colours to be used--say green--on the leather, with a brush. A man
then takes that one of the carved blocks which is to stamp the green
part of the device, and lays it down flat on the wet colour, by which
a coating is transferred to all the raised parts of the block. This
is then stamped down, with a firm and steady pressure, upon the piece
of paper, by which the green device is permanently impressed. As the
carved block is only large enough to stamp a small portion at a time,
an adjoining portion of the long piece of paper is taken,--a fresh
coating of colour laid on the leather by the boy,--this coating again
transferred to the carved block,--and again from thence to the paper.
This continues until the whole length of the paper is printed with the
green device, care being taken that the different impressions shall
accurately join one another at the proper parts.
The paper is then laid aside to dry, and preparations are made for
printing the second colour upon it.
Let us suppose this colour to be _pink_. The proper ingredients are
mixed with size, and melted, and a coating of this laid on a block
covered with leather, as in the former case. The proper carved block
is then taken, and an impression stamped by its means in precisely
the same manner as before, with the exception of the colour being
pink instead of green. But in laying the wet stamp on the piece of
paper, great care is requisite in adjusting the two colours so that
they shall not interfere with each other:--for instance, if the green
represents leaves and the pink represents flowers, it is important that
the pink should not, by a misadjustment of the second stamp, go over
a part already occupied by green, so as to give a confused mixture of
green leaf and pink flower at the same spot. If we closely examine
the pattern of paper-hangings on the walls of our rooms, particularly
the inferior papers, we shall frequently see instances of the bad
adjustment to which we here allude.
The pink stamping proceeds from end to end of the piece of paper, until
the whole is done; after which it is laid aside to dry. A process
precisely similar in every respect is followed with all the subsequent
colours, be they few or many. The more complicated the figure is, or
the greater the number of colours it contains, the greater is the
degree of care required in impressing the successive colours on the
papers. In order that no time should be lost, directly the workman
has taken a supply of colour on to his block, the boy lays on another
coating on the leather. Indeed, the whole process very much resembles
the rudest kind of _printing_, with the exception of the use of
different colours.
The description we have here given is such as will afford a general
idea of the nature of the process. Various improvements have been from
time to time introduced for facilitating the printing; but it is hardly
necessary to dwell upon them.
Stencil, Washable, and Flock Paper-hangings.
In some of the cheaper papers, the preparation of the carved wooden
block, and the time and attention necessary in using them, would
be incompatible with the charge made for the finished article: an
alteration is therefore made in the mode of proceeding. The principal
outline is printed on the paper by means of a carved block in the
usual way; but the remaining colours are put in by _stencilling_. A
stencil, or stencil-plate, is a piece of leather, oil-cloth, or thin
sheet metal, with any required device cut in it. Such a stencil is laid
down flat on the paper, and is covered with the required colour by
means of a brush. This colour of course passes through the holes in the
stencil, and falls on the paper, while the uncut parts of the stencil
prevent the colour from falling on any other part of the paper. A
device is thus painted on the paper in a much easier manner than by the
use of a carved block. But from the nature of the process it is found
that the delicate parts of the pattern cannot be represented by this
means, as it is difficult to ensure the passage of the colour through
small perforations. But for the purposes to which stencilling is
applied--viz., the preparation of cheap paper-hangings, this delicacy
is not required. One or more carved blocks are used with the stencil
plates according to circumstances, the choice between blocks and
stencils depending both on the nature of the pattern, and on the value
of the paper when finished.
Some of the more costly kinds of paper-hangings have gold as one of the
materials forming the device. This is effected by using a wash of gold
powder, instead of a pigment, on one of the carved blocks. There are
also _washable_ paper-hangings, in which the surface is of a glossy or
varnished nature, by which it may be washed free from dirt and grease
without removing the colours with which the paper is printed. There is
likewise a kind of paper-hangings called _flock_ paper, which has been
much in use, and of which the following description has been given.
The flock is woollen cloth reduced to great fineness, and laid on
with varnish. After the coloured portions of the paper are finished,
a carved block representing the device which is to be flocked, is
laid down on a flat place coated with wet varnish, and an impression
of the varnish is transferred to the paper, just as if it had been a
coloured pigment. A quantity of the powdered flock is then strewed over
the whole paper, and pressed on it by a flat board, a roller, or some
other convenient means. The paper is then left to dry, after which the
dry flock is brushed off from those parts where no varnish had been
applied, leaving an appearance much resembling that of coarse woollen
cloth, which our readers may frequently have noticed. The flock is
prepared in various ways. Sometimes pieces of woollen cloth of the
proper colour are taken, and chopped up by means of a bill or knife;
but this is a rude and imperfect way, now probably out of use. Another
mode is, to place the pieces of cloth in a flat box, and cause a sharp
knife, moved by machinery, to pass rapidly, with a chopping motion in
every direction over the various pieces of cloth. In some cases, also,
the cloth is reduced to flock by a kind of grinding process.
The Process of Paper-hanging.
This, then, is an outline of the mode by which paper-hangings are
prepared; and we must next speak of the method of pasting them against
the walls of a room. As the long pieces or strips of paper do not
average more than two feet in width, it is obvious that a great many
joints must be made in covering the side of a room with paper. These
joints proceed not crosswise, but perpendicularly from the ceiling
downwards; and considerable care is necessary to insure the continuance
of the pattern on the two sides of a joint: it is in this that the
principal art of the paper-hanger consists.
A strip of printed paper twelve yards long is called technically _a
piece_. This piece has ragged unfinished edges, and the edges are to be
cut away in a straight even line until a proper part of the pattern is
reached; for the blocks are so carved, that one edge always corresponds
exactly with the opposite edge. The wall, which is generally plastered,
is washed or sized, and made fit to receive the paper. The cement with
which the paper is fixed up is thin paste; and when that paste is
ready, the paper-hanger proceeds as follows. Supposing the height of
the papered part of a room to be twelve feet, he cuts on four yards
from his piece of paper, with the two ends accurately at right angles
to the long edges. He then lays it down on a flat board or bench, face
downwards, and coats the whole of the back of the paper with liquid
paste, by means of a brush. He then slightly folds the paper over, so
as to prevent it from dragging on the ground, and, mounting a ladder
or a pair of steps, applies one end of the paper to the upper part
of the wall, close to the cornice: then, by letting the paper unfold
itself, it falls to its full length, and extends down to the bottom of
the room, close to the wall. The workman has now to judge, by the eye,
whether the edges of the paper are perfectly vertical, for the whole
beauty of the work depends in a great measure on this circumstance.
When he has ascertained that the paper hangs perpendicularly, he
proceeds to press it firmly to the wall, by means of cloths; and the
paste has so far softened the paper, that wrinkles of every kind
disappear. This done, he cuts off another piece twelve feet, or four
yards long, and pastes it against the wall in precisely the same
manner. But here great precautions are necessary; for the workman has
to attend to three particulars in fixing the second piece by the side
of the first:--to cause it to hang vertically,--to make an accurate
joining of the pattern,--and to refrain from soiling the surface of the
first piece by the paste of the second. All these are precautions which
can only be properly attended to after considerable practice.
When the workman is approaching an angle or corner of the room, he
must cut his paper to such a width as will just reach the corner, for
it is generally difficult to bring the paper round both sides of the
angle. In the case which we have supposed, the height of the room is
just one-third the length of the piece of paper, so that there need be
no joints at any intermediate part of the height. But if the height
were any other amount,--say ten feet--three pieces of that length would
leave a fourth only six feet long; and as such a piece is not likely to
be wasted, it follows that there must be a joint at some intermediate
point between the floor and the ceiling. Such a joint requires especial
care, as the pattern has to be attended to both in a vertical and a
horizontal direction.
When the side of a room is broken by recesses, projections, &c., a good
workman will so arrange his pieces of paper as to give a symmetrical
appearance to the two sides of a projection of a recess, so that the
same part of the pattern which comes to the right hand edge shall also
be seen at the left hand. In papering a staircase, when the upper and
lower edges are oblique and not horizontal, it is of course necessary
that the ends of the paper should be cut in a corresponding manner, in
order that the long joints should be vertical.
As it is difficult to bring the ends of the paper precisely to the
cornice at the top and to the skirting-board at the bottom, it is usual
to hide those ends by pasting a narrow strip of paper along the top
and bottom of a room, which gives a neat finish to them. This strip of
paper is printed in colours with some pleasing device; and as a broad
piece is printed as quickly as one two or three inches wide, it is
customary to carve a block with twelve or twenty repetitions of the
same narrow pattern, side by side; so that the whole are printed on one
sheet. The paper-hanger has therefore carefully to cut the strips one
from another, and paste them round the wall at the parts which we have
mentioned, and sometimes up the corners of the room likewise.
It is sometimes preferred, instead of papering the walls of a room,
to _stencil_ them. In this case the plaster of the wall is prepared in
a smooth manner to receive the distemper colour, and the pattern is
stamped or printed on the wall in a manner almost exactly the same as
that which we have described respecting stencilling paper-hangings.
This mode is not susceptible of so much neatness as the use of printed
or stamped paper, and is only employed for common apartments.
There is occasionally a kind of work which falls into the hands of the
paper-hanger very different from those we have mentioned--viz., fixing
gilt wood mouldings round the top and bottom of a room, instead of
pasting a paper bordering in the same place. What little we shall have
to say on this subject will be contained in the following chapter.