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The Standard Grainer 
 Stainer and Marbler 
 
 A New and Complete Exposition of the 
 Art and Practice of Imitating Various 
 Fine Woods with Paints and Stains 
 
 AND OF 
 
 Imitating the Common and Rare 
 Marbles, with Numerous Illustrations 
 in Black and Color 
 
 By 
 A. ASHMUN KELLY 
 
 _ AUTHOR OF THE EXPERT SERIES OF BOOKS FOR HOUSE AND SIGN 
 
 PAINTERS, INTERIOR DECORATORS, WOOD FINISHERS, PAPER HANGERS, 
 ETC.. ALSO OF “THE DOMESTIC PAINT BOOK” AND THE “EXPERT 
 PAINT MIXER” 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 DAVID McKAY COMPANY, Publishers 
 604-608 South Washington Square 
 
ae 
 
 Davm McKay Compa: 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 MOTTON i. od hoc cc ee eee 7 
 PART I 
 THE IMITATION OF Woops BY GRAINING 
 rere OvER OLD PAINT..>................ 17 
 SPONDING AND | IUBBING IN................. 24 
 Peete IN DISTEMPER......°.......0c-022. 28 
 i nme AIN OVIAPIE..............---22.,. 41 
 Siieeiitavien OF OAK WOODS.............. 51 
 THE IMITATION OF MAHOGANY Woobp......... 69 
 How To GRAIN WALNUT WoOoD.. paver tee LO 
 IMITATION OF DIFFERENT inte Reser 85 
 THE GROUND COLORS, GRAINING Coron AND 
 THEE -LOOLS USED .. aay: eer 5 
 NOTES ON VARIOUS heate OF pare 103 
 BoM RACTICAL GRAINING NOTES............ 115 
 PAR EAT 
 ART OF Woop STAINING 
 THE IMITATION OF WOODS WITH STAINS...... 123 
 PART III 
 
 THE ART OF IMITATING MARBLE 
 DESCRIPTION OF TOOLS AND MATERIALS, ETC.. 151 
 
eg 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Ir is one of the pleasing signs of these modern times 
 that the art of imitating woods and marbles with 
 paint is enjoying a deserved revival, and, as a conse- 
 quence, there is an ever-increasing demand for expert 
 workmen to execute such work. There are a few 
 remaining grainers of the not so distant past still 
 following their art, and it is to such that we are 
 indebted for whatever practical knowledge we may 
 have regarding this kind of workmanship. This 
 present work is intended to impart practical istruc- 
 tion to those who cannot avail themselves of direct 
 teaching from masters of the art, but who desire to 
 become proficient, and we may be pardoned for think- 
 ing that it will fulfil its mission with perfect satisfac- 
 tion. At any rate, the author has done his best to 
 make it a dependable guide and instructor. He has 
 had at his command all the various books and articles 
 that deal with the subject, and in this way has been 
 able to compare and balance the various methods 
 employed by different workmen, being also helped 
 by his own experience in the art, very limited though 
 it has been, and his intense love for it, a love that 
 dates back from the time he was a mere lad, new in 
 the school of painting. 
 
8 Introduction 
 
 As may be conjectured by any one interested in 
 this art, present or modern methods are somewhat 
 different from those of by-gone days, while at the 
 same time we should not flatter ourselves that we 
 have, in consequence, greatly improved upon the art 
 of those times. What we have accomplished, indeed, 
 has been a greater facility for executing work of this 
 kind, and we have also greatly improved the tools 
 of the trade, so that it is now possible to do quite 
 excellent work quickly and easily; so that the inexpert 
 is enabled to do pleasing things in this line. Of these 
 appliances the writer will speak further on. Just 
 now a word concerning the old-time grainer and his 
 work, not merely for its historic interest, but to com- 
 pare with present-day advantages. Years ago the 
 grainer was obliged to make his own graining combs, 
 using cork, India-rubber, or leather, etc. His tools 
 were few and simple, and if he was under necessity of 
 making his tools, it is certain that he found them 
 useful in enabling him to do work that was strictly 
 individual, for he formed his tools with that purpose 
 in view, or that is what it amounted to. Each man 
 could have his own ideas as to what a piece of graining 
 should look like, and in this way no two grainers 
 would be turning out work so similar that few could 
 tell anything as to its author. It is, of course, very 
 desirable to have such variety of workmanship, all 
 excellent, yet all different, like the work of the famous 
 master in portrait painting, for instance. — 
 
 The preparation of a graining ground then was a 
 
Introduction 9 
 
 work of love as well as of perfectly good workmanship, 
 consisting, as it did, of several coats of specially pre- 
 pared paint, each coat having plenty of time for 
 drying, and each coat made smooth and even or 
 level. This is always important in good work, as 
 much so today as a century ago, and no perfect job 
 can be done without such preparation. Now we 
 will do much of our work on ill-prepared grounds. 
 
 We read in an ancient book of instruction how a 
 job of oak graining was then done. Here is a formula, 
 for instance, for making megilp: Take 8 ounces of 
 sugar of lead and 8 ounces of pulverized rottenstone, 
 which grind as stiff as possible in linseed oil. Then 
 take 16 ounces of white wax and melt it gradually in 
 an earthen vessel, and, when fluid, pour in 8 ounces 
 of turpentine. Mix this well with the wax, and then 
 pour the contents on the grinding stone to get cold. 
 When cold, grind the rottenstone and sugar of lead 
 with the wax and turpentine.’ It is no wonder that 
 such graining endured for many years; forty, some 
 say. I have seen some that I think had stood that 
 long, and was still a beautiful piece of workmanship, 
 much better than any specimens of modern times 
 that I have seen, though we have a few now who are 
 executing very handsome work. 
 
 Our English brethren claim that the art of graining 
 originated in their country more than a century ago. 
 This is, doubtless, very true. William E. Wall, one 
 of our oldest and most expert grainers, and whose 
 
 1 Whittock, Painter and Glaziers’ Guide, London, 1832. 
 
10 Introduction 
 
 book on the art has never been excelled in any point 
 to the contrary, notwithstanding, tells us that the 
 ancient Greeks were expert in imitating woods and 
 stones. He also quotes from a recent work (1882) 
 that describes inlaying of doors and other objects 
 with rare woods, veneering, and the coating of woods 
 with thin stucco to represent the growths of woods. 
 This would appear to indicate that the grainer was 
 at work three thousand years ago. But his graining, 
 I conceive, was quite different from the art as we 
 know it. 
 
 Ruskin, in his day, condemned the practice of 
 imitating woods and marbles, declaring that there 
 was no ‘meaner occupation for the human mind.” 
 A dictum of this kind from such high authority could 
 not fail to influence the public mind against the art, 
 and that is what it did, to the almost sheer extinc- 
 tion of graining in Great Britain, and to a lesser 
 extent, perhaps, in our own country. But in course 
 of time the ban was raised by public opinion, and 
 the beautiful and useful art again assumed its right- 
 ful place in the circle of the useful arts. Then in the 
 course of time circumstances occasioned another 
 relegation of the art to the limbo of the undervalued. 
 This was caused by the advent of wood finishing, by 
 which interiors were fitted out with the natural 
 woods, filled, stained, and varnished. Now such 
 wood is extremely costly and scarce, and growing 
 scarcer, so that its imitation is becoming necessary. 
 By painting common woods and graining them we 
 
Introduction II 
 
 get a very handsome approximation of real wood 
 at a cost much less than fine woods, at least, can 
 be obtained. Moreover, there is the old and sure 
 argument that any old painted surface, given proper 
 preparation, may be made to appear very attractive 
 and at the same time most durable. 
 
 And, finally, a word to the man who intends 
 making graining his regular occupation. If it were 
 possible for him to study under a competent master 
 of the art nothing else could be as good. In such 
 case he would have to spend some time, years of 
 course, in order to master the art. But he would 
 make sure and steady progress, and if possessed of 
 talent he would become an expert. Without some 
 talent I would not venture to say what the end would 
 be. Now, talent is not genius; talent is a natural 
 liking, and this can be cultivated and made perfect, 
 though by slow process and patient, hard labors, 
 while genius would mount to the summit at one 
 bound, as it were. 
 
 But, without the master? Yes, I believe he can 
 master the art by studying this book and carefully 
 following its directions, though it will be even a less 
 easy or quick process than where the master mind 
 directs his efforts. But it can be done, and he can 
 become a very creditable workman. Of at least one 
 thing I would bid him beware, not to attempt too 
 great a thing at first. Be content to spend a very 
 long time practising plain combing. A long time 
 practising rubbing in color, and so on through the 
 
12 Introduction 
 
 various parts of the work, from the laying of the 
 ground color on up to the graining. Oak presents 
 the most difficulty owing to its variegated growths, 
 and while it offers the best field for doing attractive 
 work of great mechanical skill, yet I would not do 
 much with it at first. Rather, I should prefer doing 
 some of the plainer woods, those having least growth 
 markings, such as plain mahogany, cherry, maple, 
 etc. Some woods have very plain markings, and 
 these may be made with the fitch tool, or overgrainer, 
 etc. Also some very fine effects can be secured with 
 the rubbing-in brush alone. The idea is to secure 
 pleasing effects, achieving these with proper color and 
 shading, carefully used, and noting where the shade 
 may be either too light or too dark, or the growth too 
 broad or pronounced, or too weak and insufficient. 
 The two principal elements in the work are color and 
 - shading. If a man were to do nothing more than 
 apply the graining color evenly all over a door, for 
 instance, with shaded panels and rails, he would have 
 a very pretty piece of work. Neatness counts for so 
 much; where stiles and rails meet cut in the color so 
 neatly that one might think it two separate pieces of 
 wood, or parts of different woods. Nothing can 
 appear worse in graining than slovenliness. Rub 
 out your color thin and even, so that there will not 
 be a speck of cloud on its whole surface, and half the 
 job will be done. 
 
 It is obvious that if we are to make a oe wood 
 effect with colors we must have the real wood in mind, 
 
Introduction 13 
 
 and as an amateur we must have a specimen of the 
 wood before us. There are veneers of many sorts of 
 fine woods that can be made use of as the artist uses 
 his “casts,” and where these cannot be had, samples 
 of the wood in heavier form can always be obtained 
 from some wood-working mill. To bring out the 
 growths it is well to fill and finish such samples, which 
 will show both form and finish color, and make it 
 much easier to imitate the wood as it will be when 
 finished, or when grained and varnished. You can 
 take a piece of oak board, and by repeated shavings 
 new features of the wood will constantly appear, and 
 in which case it will be necessary only to oil the fresh 
 surface. 
 
 This work consists of three parts, namely, graining, 
 staining, and marbling. The grainer is usually 
 looked to to do the marbling, and marbling is often 
 spoken of as graining by experts. But staining is 
 within the house-painters’ and wood-finishers’ prov- 
 ince alone. Yet it bears such relation to graining 
 that we cannot avoid placing it with graining in a 
 work of this kind. Graining is the imitating of woods 
 by means of paints, while staining improves or alters 
 the appearance of woods, and in some cases is used to 
 do what graining does, causing them to appear other 
 than the actual wood itself. For instance, with some 
 mahogany stain we cause birch to look like mahogany. 
 
 There is no doubt, therefore, that the grainer will 
 find the part devoted to stains and staining of prac- 
 tical value in his general run of work. 
 
14 Introduction 
 
 In the preparation of the work on marbling I have 
 made use of several experts’ accounts of methods, 
 and by carefully editing these and weaving the good 
 and dependable together have succeeded in my earnest 
 wish to give full and clear, understandable instruc- 
 tions to the learner, the one who cannot study under 
 a master of the art. If he will begin with the simplest 
 marbles and try to master them, he may with con- 
 fidence proceed with the more elaborate ones with ~ 
 equal chances of succeeding. Every grainer should 
 know how to marble and also how to stain woods. 
 And if the plain house painter will try, he too may 
 become proficient enough to do the odd job that comes 
 his way, besides which there is genuine pleasure in 
 imitating both wood and marbles, that alone should 
 justify the time and trouble spent in learning. 3 
 
 The author thanks the E. I. Du Pont De Nemours 
 & Company for the privilege of using colored plates 
 in this book. Plates are selected from the E. I. Du 
 Pont De Nemours & Company’s booklet, “Modern 
 Wood Finishing,’ which gives a concise yet compre- 
 hensive account of all the various woods used in 
 house construction and finishing. : 
 
The Standard Grainer, 
 Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Peele thie FIRST 
 
 THE IMITATION OF WOODS BY GRAINING 
 Chapter I 
 
 GRAINING OVER OLD PAINT 
 
 WHERE graining is to be done over old paint, or 
 on work that has been previously grained, the surface 
 will have to be made solid and smooth. Sometimes 
 graining is done over a surface that has had several 
 coats of white paint, and when the graining is damaged 
 and some of it flakes off, as it will from hard use, the 
 white will show through and look very unsightly. 
 To secure the best possible ground for graining it is 
 well to remove the old paint by burning off with the 
 gasoline torch clear down to the primed wood. Then 
 build up the foundation for graining with as many 
 coats of ground color as may be necessary. As a 
 rule, a few coats are to be preferred to many, and on 
 new work grainers insist that two coats, primer and 
 ground coat, only are necessary. ‘The idea is, that 
 
 17 
 
18 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 with little paint under it the graining will not be so 
 liable to chipping and cracking. 
 
 A strictly first-class job of graining means a lot of 
 preparatory work, and it may be of interest to know 
 how the English grainer did it years ago. He may 
 do it the same now, though I suppose times have 
 changed with his trade as it has with ours. From an 
 interesting article on the subject of graining an old 
 drawing room I cull the following: 
 
 “In the first place, you must burn off all the old 
 paint. Then get some pumicestone and a bucket of 
 water. Wet the woodwork with water, applied with 
 a flat brush. Rub the painted surfaces down with 
 the pumicestone (lump) until you have a smooth, 
 even surface. If the pumicestone becomes clogged 
 with old paint, rub it and another lump together, 
 using water freely. Do the moldings with sandpaper. 
 When dry and clean, the paint is applied. The 
 paint must be applied very carefully in order to avoid 
 brush marks and to get the surface perfectly smooth. 
 When dry, putty all holes and other imperfections, 
 using hard-drying putty. When the putty is hard 
 dry it must be sandpapered smooth. Then the floor 
 is swept, all wood work is dusted off, and finally the 
 floor is washed.”” The idea is to have no dust to mar 
 the work, while the author of the article suggests 
 that it is desirable to have a tidy, clean room to work 
 in, and also to look inviting to a stranger. A second 
 coat of paint is next applied, the first coat being white, 
 though for what reason we are not informed. This 
 
Graining Over Old Paint 19 
 
 coat is rubbed with “spent”? or worn sandpaper. 
 Again the work is dusted off and the floor swept 
 clean. The work is then ready for the graining. 
 
 The grainer quoted was preparing for maple grain- 
 ing, and hence the white ground, though a ground 
 tinted to match the graining ground would seem to be 
 better. 
 
 The ground color on old work should be thinned 
 with equal parts of raw oil and turpentine, with a 
 little driers. This thinning liquid may be mixed 
 and kept in a vessel, well corked, for ready use. On 
 jobs having two-coat work and where the wood is 
 sappy, and maybe the work rough from the painter 
 having used too much driers in his priming coat, this 
 form of thinning gives good results. The work will 
 not look cloudy or spotty when rubbed in to grain. 
 Two-coat work on new wood often does this. 
 
 Sandpapering between coats makes a great differ- 
 ence in the finish of a job as to its appearance. And 
 the groundwork should always be sandpapered before 
 it is rubbed in for the grainer. ‘This, of course, means 
 a light sandpapering with fine or old paper. 
 
 For mixing the ground color for graining it is well 
 to get the finest colors ground in oil. Otherwise you 
 will have a gritty ground that will require more sand- 
 papering than where fine colors are used. Also it is 
 advised to strain the paint before using it. 
 
 One of our experts tells us that he uses dry colors 
 for making his graining colors, explaining his prefer- 
 ence for these over the ground-in-oil color by saying 
 
20 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 that it is impossible to get as satisfactory oil colors as 
 dry. The latter are not so easily adulterated. He 
 excepts from his list of banned pigments burnt sienna, 
 Vandyke brown, and black. ‘Then there is the advan- 
 tage of having the one kind of pigment suitable for 
 both water and oil graining, which is true enough. 
 
 There is a difference of opinion regarding the color 
 of the graining ground for oak. Some grainers con- 
 tend for a dark ground, as giving a truer woody 
 appearance. ‘They say that if the ground is light and 
 the graining color dark and thick there will be a muddy 
 effect. On the other side, it is held that the ground 
 should be made a little lighter than the lightest part 
 of the wood; that it is better to have the ground too 
 light than too dark. You can shade over a light piece 
 of work, but cannot do much with a ground that is 
 too dark. By repeated glazing it is possible to make 
 walnut on a white ground. At any rate, it is true 
 that the ground must be right, whatever that may be, 
 in order to get good work. Personally, I prefer the 
 lighter ground, and also prefer to make the ground 
 color from the same colors used in making the graining 
 color. I do not know that this plan has been used 
 by others, but it is worth trying; take some of your 
 graining color, let us say it is oak, and color the paint 
 for the ground. This seems to be the natural way 
 to get a harmonious blending of color. 
 
 As to whether the ground should be flat, semiflat, 
 or gloss, it would perhaps be best to have it rather 
 flat, therefore hard, than too flat. In the latter case 
 
Graining Over Old Paint 21 
 
 the ground would be too absorptive. But much will 
 depend upon the kind of graining that is to be done. 
 One authority says that it is a matter of individual 
 preference, some liking it mixed with 3 parts of oil 
 to 1 part of turpentine, while others may prefer half- 
 and-half. The former gives a hard gloss suitable 
 for oil graining color and steel combs. For water or 
 distemper color graining, he adds, a dull gloss, made 
 by using rather more turpentine than in the foregoing 
 formula, is better, as two coats of varnish are required 
 on such work, while, if the ground is rather oily and 
 yet hard enough, one coat of varnish will do, as the 
 varnish binds the pigment when the water has evaro- 
 rated. A good ground cannot be had from a dead- 
 flat paint. There must always be some oil in it. 
 
 An old grainer once suggested to us that perhaps 
 the reason why varnished graining sometimes cracks 
 is because a brittle varnish has been applied over a 
 ground that was not made flat enough. That has 
 been his observation and experience, and he now makes 
 his grounds as flat with turpentine as possible, with 
 the shading color the same. It is, of course, rather 
 difficult to do a nice job of shading with a very flat 
 color, and in oak work we cannot possibly do fine 
 work without some wax in the color to make it stand 
 up or remain set when the comb is drawn over it. 
 This is the purpose of a megilp, described in another 
 part of this work. 
 
 One grainer wrote us about trouble he was having 
 with his graining: ‘I take pains,” he said, “but in 
 
22 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 spite of it my graining does not look right some time 
 after it has been done. The work is what might be 
 called fairly done, so far as mere imitation goes, but 
 the work does not wear well, and I would like to 
 know why.” ‘Trouble often comes from using too 
 much oil in the graining ground; instead of oil use 
 some varnish containing oil enough to be elastic. If 
 on new wood, let two coats do, the primer coat to be 
 as heavy as the second and last. A hard as well as 
 a solid ground is needed. Rubbing on too much 
 graining color also is bad. White pine with much 
 sap should be shellacked, and one coat of ground 
 color on that. Use turpentine, but no oil in the var- 
 nish. Asarule itis unsafe to varnish a grained surface 
 too soon after the graining is done. The work will 
 wear ever so much better if several days elapse before 
 the varinshing is done. 
 
 A grained front door may be left without a coat of 
 varnish if the graining color is made with plenty of 
 oil in it. Perhaps a little elastic varnish with the 
 graining color may be better still, giving a hard, 
 glossy surface that will resist the weather well. 
 Varnish is liable to crack over grained work outdoors, 
 and is especially liable to fail under a strong sun. 
 Some grainers advise a coat of raw oil over the grain- 
 ing, with a little turpentine and drier added, rubbing 
 it in well, and not allowing much on the surface, or 
 at least not enough to cause runs. Others apply the 
 oil as one would a coat of varnish, with the brush, but 
 rubbing it out so it will not run. But if varnish is 
 
Graining Over Old Paint oe 
 
 _used, then it is better to apply it very thin, and after 
 that it may be oiled at intervals. It is a good idea to 
 oil and rub a grained front door occasionally, as this 
 renews its freshness and adds to its life. 
 
 When you have an old door to grain over, and are 
 not to remove the old paint, and especially where the 
 old paint is “hard and slick,” as painters call it, it is 
 well to apply a wash of lye water, or paint: remover, 
 as this will remove the outer coat and give a good 
 surface to ground for the graining. Rinse the surface 
 well with clear water after the lye, and wash or rub 
 off with benzine and a tag if you have used paint 
 remover. Then rub down with steel wool of the 
 proper number, to get a nice, smooth surface. Benzol 
 is still another wash that would be useful in this case. 
 
Chapter IT 
 
 GROUNDING AND RUBBING IN 
 
 ONCE, when a young man at the painting trade, we 
 asked our grainer, who had not long been with us, 
 what color he would prefer for his ground—it was for 
 a job of chestnut, if memory is not at fault; we were 
 to do the grounding for him. His reply was rather 
 surprising, as our idea was that the grounding was 
 about as important as the color of his graining. 
 “Any color will do me.” 
 
 As a matter of fact, each wood requires its own 
 particular colored groundwork, though, of course, 
 there are some grounds that will do very well for 
 two or more different woods. We might pull through 
 with the one ground for mahogany and cherry, or 
 the one for very pale oak and yellow pine, and so on. 
 Still, each one of these woods should have its own 
 colored ground. 
 
 The best expert grainers agree that the ground 
 color should agree with the color of the lightest part 
 of the wood that is to be imitated, for it is easier to 
 tone up a light effect with darker color than to do 
 the reverse of this. Grainers often complain that 
 when they are called to do a job they find the ground 
 entirely wrong, so that it is impossible for them to 
 do their best with the work. Then grainers have 
 their particular ideas regarding what the color should 
 
 24 
 
Grounding and Rubbing In 25 
 
 be, though holding in the main to the principle laid 
 down and concerning the relation of color and wood. 
 Let it be said here that it is not the raw wood that is 
 to be matched for the groundwork, but the wood as 
 it will appear after it has been finished, and which 
 will, of course, be darker and richer than the raw 
 wood. ‘This is why it is necessary when you have 
 doors to do in a room that has been finished in the 
 natural wood to do that work before doing the doors, 
 as then you can match up to the finished natural 
 wood, something quite impossible otherwise. Again, 
 as the natural wood finish grows darker with time, it 
 is well to make the graining darker than the natural 
 finish, just a shade or so, which will not look at all 
 inharmonious. 
 
 Graining is done in two different mediums—oil and 
 water; to this might be added a third—spirit—this is 
 rarely done, and then only in case of quick work. 
 The ground for water or distemper graining should 
 de flatter than that for oil graining, as water color 
 does not take to an oily ground, but does very readily 
 toaflat ground. This fact must be remembered when 
 about to lay a ground for a job of graining. Exterior 
 work, such as a front door, should be done in water- 
 color graining, while on the inside either oil or water 
 may be used, as preferred. Some woods look best 
 when done in distemper colors, while others appear 
 best when done in oil. This will be described later 
 on, in appropriate places. In some cases both oil and 
 distemper colors are used, as when overgraining. 
 
26 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Some grainers have a method of laying the ground 
 for light-colored graining on white pine or spruce, or 
 white wood, by giving the raw wood surface two coats 
 of white shellac, applied very thin. Others use and 
 recommend a coating of white glue, which does very 
 well under oil graining, but not so well under dis- 
 temper color, as the water or mixture of water and 
 vinegar will soften up the glue. It might be well to 
 apply a coat of white glue, and over this lay a coat of 
 white shellac varnish, saving a coat of varnish, and 
 getting just as good a result. This, of course, where 
 dampness cannot injure the giue size. 
 
 It was stated in the preceding chapter that the 
 ground should always be made as smooth and level, 
 or even as possible in order to get the best effects. 
 ‘This cannot be too often repeated, because while the 
 expert may do very well with an indifferent ground, 
 you who are not expert will be greatly handicapped 
 by such a ground; in other words, the task will be 
 rendered much easier for you if you have the right 
 ground, smooth and having the right color. Graining 
 is not simply the forming of certain features seen in 
 the planed and finished wood, but more the placing of 
 transparent colors over a colored ground. Graining 
 could not be accomplished with other than transparent 
 colors. It would be simply painting, opaque, not 
 transparent. 
 
 Sometimes the ground does not take the graining 
 color properly, the color creeps, and even when the 
 graining color is in oil, water color, of course, being 
 
Grounding and Rubbing In 27 
 
 the worst offender of the two. To prevent this, or 
 to cure it when it occurs, we have recourse to rubbing 
 a little whiting over the surface with a piece of wet 
 rag; or gasoline will do very well. If whiting is used, 
 see that it is brushed away after it has been rubbed 
 on well. ‘There is no objection to a little gloss in the 
 ground if the ground will take the color right. 
 
 If the ground is to be lightly sandpapered before 
 the graining color is rubbed in, be careful not to make 
 any scratches, as they will show through the work. 
 This is especially hable to occur with light colored 
 woods. Grainers usually like to sandpaper the work 
 before graining, but they are very careful in doing it. 
 
 The English grainer uses red lead in his grounds, 
 and this is especially good in the case of old work, 
 as it helps bind the new paint to the old. They use 
 one-third red lead to two-thirds of white lead. The 
 red lead is also a drier, hence little japan is required 
 when red lead is used. This is thinned out with 3 
 parts of raw linseed oil and 1 part of turpentine. This 
 is for the priming coat on old work or new. 
 
 There is nothing so good for a graining ground as 
 lead paint, and though some grainers profess to have 
 had satisfactory results with certain waterproof 
 distemper coatings, it seems unreasonable that such 
 should be the case, as such grounds cannot be durable, 
 and also they usually contain some form of lime, 
 which, of course, is inimical to the oil colors. 
 
Chapter III 
 
 GRAINING IN DISTEMPER 
 
 OPINIONS regarding the durability of distemper 
 color graining vary among experts, who should know 
 their subject thoroughly, and whose opinions are 
 worthy of serious consideration. Just why experts 
 should differ it is hard to explain, but we know that 
 in no line of work, art or industrial, is there perfect 
 unanimity of opinion. Regarding its wearing quali- 
 ties, one expert, an English workman, did two panels 
 in water color, and gave them one coat of varnish, his 
 contention being that one coat of varnish was equally 
 as good as more than one coat; the job was in oak. 
 After two or three years he asked the party he sent 
 the two panels to how they did, and the reply was 
 that they were “holding their own quite satisfac- 
 torily.”’ | 
 
 The question in this case was not whether water- 
 color work was durable, but whether more than one 
 coat of varnish was necessary. But it did show that 
 the work stood well, likely as well as an oil-color job. 
 One significant remark the same workman made was 
 that, to his mind, there was nothing as good for doing 
 oak graining as the distemper method, if done well 
 and clean. A work on graining issued by an English 
 
 firm states that oak graining in distemper is in little 
 28 
 
Graining in Distemper 20 
 
 demand, and the idea seems to be that it is not very 
 well done that way. Here we see how experts differ. 
 A London grainer, in a paper read before a convention 
 of painters, states that there are in his city samples 
 of work done in distemper, both interior and exterior, 
 done thirty years, that are still in a good state of 
 preservation. He added: “In our work this season, 
 outside, we have been obliged to burn off and regrain 
 eight doors. All these doors were done in oil color 
 graining, and only one door was found in good 
 preservation, and that had been done in distemper 
 nine years before.’ He further informs us that “‘it 
 is his understanding that in some places most of the 
 graining is done in oil but in London we are enjoying, 
 or suffering, a ‘renaissance’ of the art of water-color 
 graining—which may be the result, to some extent 
 at least, of a tendency on the part of some to break 
 away from old forms and traditions.” 
 
 I think it is not a question of mere durability, for 
 in that case nothing can excel oil color, but a question 
 of method for producing the best effects. We know 
 that in graining maple, for instance, we can get finer 
 effects with water color than with oil, and so, too, 
 with some other woods, such, for instance, as those 
 having very faint and modest figuring, or where, on 
 the other hand, the figuring is involved or fantastic, 
 as in crotch mahogany or walnut burl. It is true, of 
 course, that we can and do produce these unique 
 effects with oil color, but not so readily or so per- 
 fectly, J.,think, as with water color. 
 
30 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Quoting again from our London grainer, regarding 
 the relative merits of water color and oil color, this 
 is his conclusion: , 
 
 “There is no doubt that water color has many 
 advantages over oil. The ground, being flat, is easily: 
 and quickly prepared, it rubs smooth, and can be 
 grained on two coats. Work can be grained and 
 varnished the same day. ‘This is not advisable, of 
 course. It can be given two coats, if necessary, and 
 be grained and varnished in one day. ‘There is no 
 doubt that a first-class job can be done in about half 
 the time required for oil. It can be rubbed in and 
 grained more quickly and with a better effect for the 
 amount of labor required, while it is cleaner to handle. 
 
 ‘“‘However, it is only fair to give some of its dis- 
 advantages. Ona hot, dry day the color dries before 
 it can be worked. Then, if the weather be very cold, 
 and the work is outside, the color may freeze as fast 
 as applied. Without varnish it would not stand 
 outside as well as oil color, and it must be kept 
 varnished. But the fact that it will not crack will 
 offset all its disadvantages, I believe. 
 
 “T have found the water-color method a great bless- 
 ing; I regard the oil-color method as I do the old horse 
 and vehicle as a conveyance, and if I had to go back 
 to it I should want to retire from business.”’ 
 
 A pretty strong advocate for water or distemper 
 graining, and his talk is given here for the benefit of 
 those beginning the work of graining, though it will 
 be of interest to many experts as well. He wants his 
 
Graining In Distemper aT 
 
 brother grainers to try it, but advises them not to 
 abandon the oil-color method of graining, but to use 
 both systems side by side. 
 
 GRAINING MAPLE AND OAK IN DISTEMPER 
 
 Rubbing in water color may be done with a brush 
 or sponge, and if the color creeps or cisses, as it is 
 variously called, a little whiting rubbed over the 
 surface will make it right. Some use soap, but this 
 we do not think as safe as whiting. The beginner 
 must get in the habit of working fast, for the water 
 color dries rapidly, especially in a warm room. Of 
 course, if the work is unsatisfactory he can wash it 
 off and begin over again, and this, indeed, is what he 
 will likely have to do in practice work. ‘The idea is 
 to get the habit of quick working. It is advised that 
 you do parts at a time; thus the panels may first be 
 done, wiping all color away that does not belong to the 
 panel, and thus doing every one. Then stiles and 
 rails, cutting off square at tops and sides, /using a 
 stiff piece of paper, shellacked, to make a clear cut. 
 Leave the long rails to the last. ‘To remove the color 
 have a wet sponge. 
 
 Distemper colors come in 1-pound jars, and need 
 only to be thinned with water, to which add a little 
 cider vinegar, as acetic acid vinegar does not have 
 the necessary glutinous substance that makes vinegar 
 so useful in graining; it is a “‘binder’’ to the water 
 color. Mix some in a suitable vessel, one large 
 
32 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 enough to render the use of a wide brush or sponge 
 feasible. Mix the color thin. Lay a paper on the 
 floor at your right-hand side, and on it place the color 
 and tools. Have also a basin or bucket of clean water. 
 Dip the sash tool into the color, then rub in the top 
 panel. If the tool is too small, use a mottler of 
 sufficient size to spread the color evenly and smooth. 
 Brushing the rubbed-in*surface now with the badger 
 blender will greatly improve it. We are doing a door, 
 of course, which is the best object in a room that we can 
 practice on. And we will suppose a job of maple is on. 
 
 With a mottler in the right hand, and a damp cham- 
 ois or leather in the other, we are ready. The leather, 
 by the way, has to be dipped into the water frequently 
 and be well wrung out. With color on the large 
 mottler run it along the right-hand side of the panel— 
 assuming vertical panels—and gradually thin it off 
 in breadth as you approach the middle of the panel, 
 then broaden out again as you approach the other 
 side. Now cross-mottling comes in. They follow 
 pretty much on the same lines as those just described. 
 To do this cross-mottling you must push the ends of 
 your fingers into the hair of the mottler, which will 
 give the irregular and broken lines seen in maple 
 wood; see that neither the first nor second mottling 
 is straight, and be careful that the cross-mottlings 
 are not so thick or broad as those first put in. 
 
 It is important that the brushes used in this work 
 are kept clean, especially the mottlers, for they get 
 full of color as the work proceeds. To clean them 
 
Graining in Distemper 33 
 
 wipe the ends of the mottler on the leather, held in 
 the left hand. The leather is cleaned by dipping in 
 the clear water and wringing it out. In this way 
 both mottler and leather are kept clean and in work- 
 able condition. 
 
 Now take a 1-inch cutter brush and here and there 
 wipe off a bit of the color, thus leaving the mottles 
 bright in places, and take: the badger brush and 
 soften the raw edges left by the mottler. This 
 softening with the badger must be done across the 
 panel, using the tip ends of the hairs. 
 
 Now have a piece of round stick, one about 1/8- or 
 3/16-inch thick, and lap a piece of chamois around it. 
 This gives you a tool something like the end of a 
 pipe, its purpose being to make the eyes or knots of 
 the work; it is dipped in color, then printed on the 
 surface of the work, on the lighter parts of the mot- 
 tlings to the darker; place little groups of dots in 
 some places, practice eventually showing where they 
 look the best and most natural. By examining a 
 piece of maple that has smoothed up you will notice 
 on both sides of the eyes or tiny knots bright lights 
 or shadows. ‘These are put in by taking a piece of 
 leather, wet with water, upon the end of thumb or 
 finger and wiping out the bright lights or shadows 
 about the eyes. 
 
 Now we come to the overgraining; the color for 
 this work must be quite thin, and be made from burnt 
 sienna. This overgraining must not be too pro- 
 nounced, but be sufficient only to be visible. Take a 
 
34 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 sable pencil and dip it in the color; begin penciling 
 lines about the center of the panel, and go around 
 the groups of eyes, extending the lines from one group 
 of eyes to another, until you have filled up the center 
 from top to bottom. Next, take the pencil over- 
 grainer, using the same color, and draw it down the 
 panel, running it in and out, to follow the lines of 
 the parts already penciled in, gradually fining down 
 until there is nearly a straight set of veins. 
 
 Other panels may be done in the same manner, but 
 the mottling should be changed, and also the over- 
 graining, in order to afford variety and avoid mo- 
 notony. 
 
 Now we will assume that the panels are done, and 
 that we are ready to proceed with the rest of the door. 
 First, clean off the molding with a wet sponge. ‘Then 
 take a large sash tool and rub in the middles, one at a 
 time. Mottle these, here and there, but not too 
 much; then use the badger brush on it, as previcusly 
 described. Then go over the work with the pencil 
 “overgrainer, shaking your hand at the same time, 
 which will give to the penciling a waving appearance. 
 which, of course, adds greatly to the attractiveness 
 of the work, making it look more natural. ‘This is 
 done only here and there and follows the line of the 
 grain. When this is dry, place the straight-edge on 
 the joints and wipe off the color from the cross-rails 
 with the leather. The straight-edge is the shellacked 
 paper, or whatever you peel. use for the purpose of 
 cutting in. | 
 
Graining in Distemper 35 
 
 Now grain the cross-rails much as you have done 
 the panels, but making a contrast by means of color; 
 or, if preferred, the cross-rails may be done more 
 like the stiles, always cutting the joints clean. Very 
 much of the success of a good job of graining, whether 
 done in oil or water color, comes from even coloring 
 and clean-cut divisions where the different parts of 
 the door are joined. The grainer has an advantage 
 over the wood-worker in this matter, for the former 
 may make all his work perfectly harmonious in color, 
 whereas the wood-worker must use what comes to 
 hand, though he too may select carefully and place 
 woods together so as to give harmony of color and 
 figure. In certain kinds or grades of work, however, 
 he does not have this option. 
 
 The outside or long stiles may be done in the same 
 manner as the inside or short stiles, only observe to 
 take the overgraining straight down, without waving 
 of the hand and tool. Now clean off the moldings. 
 In graining the moldings be careful not to get any 
 color on the finished parts of stiles, rails, and panels,- 
 and see that the color is rubbed on even and clean. 
 Take the inch mottler and place it on the molding, 
 and while running it along give your hand a shake, 
 just a little, which gives it a fine mottling, and assists 
 you in keeping the mottling clean. The door is 
 done. 
 
 Now look over the job and see whether there are 
 any little specks on it, and if so, remove same with 
 the damp leather. Maple graining especially de- 
 
36 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 mands clean work. Clean work and _ indifferent 
 graining will sometimes win out, where better graining 
 and dirty work loses. Cleanliness and neatness are 
 parts of good graining. . 
 
 After doing the door we are to do the windows and 
 sashes, the latter being done the same as directed for 
 moldings. If there are paneled windows then do 
 the panels, etc., the same as directed for the door. 
 In doing subbases or washboards, as variously known, 
 do the moldings the same as the door moldings, and 
 when dry the color is wiped from the flat parts, while 
 in the flat part of the board some contrast is made 
 with mottling here and there, and which is then to be 
 softened with the blender. 
 
 “Softening down” is practised by some grainers, 
 and with very good results. This consists in lightly 
 rubbing over the grained surfaces with the palm of 
 the hand. This must be deftly performed, and it 
 will give it the smooth appearance of the natural 
 _ wood finish. 
 
 Directly over distemper graining apply a coat of 
 a mixture of 2 parts of pale drying japan and 1 part 
 each of raw linseed oil and turpentine. This is a 
 glaze. Use a badger-hair brush to apply it with. 
 This glaze coating serves to hold the graining in place, 
 and upon it the varnish rests. 
 
 For all small surfaces and fine surfaces peat 
 distemper graining is advised. 
 
 If combing is wanted in distemper graining some- 
 thing must be added to the graining color in the form 
 
Graining in Distemper a7 
 
 of a megilp, as it is called, or a substance that will 
 enable the color to stand up after being combed. 
 This is usually beeswax, which is melted and added in 
 a very small quantity to warm color, which must be 
 kept warm; the wax is boiled in: the water. The 
 addition of a little turpentine is useful in keeping 
 the wax from getting too stiff. Wall recommends 
 alcohol. The combs used in oil graining may be used 
 here, as they are in oil graining, on oak, ash, and all 
 woods with like grain. But a soft comb will work 
 better than the metal, and the pencil better than 
 either. Wall speaks of making combs for water- 
 color graining from a potato or turnip, as well as 
 from rubber. | 
 
 As oak may be done in water color, it may be well 
 for the beginner to try it with that medium, as it is 
 easily washed off, and a panel or other part can be 
 done over and over again until you are quite satisfied 
 with your effort. 
 
 After you have rubbed in a panel with the water 
 color, take a damp sponge and wipe out the lights 
 up and down. In place of combed work take the 
 stippler or your dry duster brush and go evenly up 
 and down the panel, doing this rapidly with the tip 
 ends of the brush. Note, in stippling always work 
 from the bottom up, which gives the smoothest and 
 most even work. Wipe out the flakes or other mark- 
 ings with a wet leather over the right thumb, same 
 as will be explained under the head of doing oak in 
 oil. After these figures are dry take a camel’s hau 
 
38 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 brush and dip it in the graining color you are working 
 with, and darken the work here and there, which 
 will give greater effect to your thumb work. Use 
 a shield for cutting in color or to prevent it from 
 encroaching on an adjoining part, and where some 
 color has got where it should not be, it may be wiped 
 off with the wet sponge. Do all the panels, then the 
 molding around same, then the middle upper stile, 
 next the lock rail, then the bottom rail and lower 
 middle stile, and finally the outer stiles. After all 
 is thus done and the work is dry, you may further 
 improve the appearance of the work by darkening 
 here and there, as your judgment may dictate. After 
 this is dry the whole may be fixed by coating it with 
 a thin mixture of varnish and turpentine. Now you 
 may take your flat bristle brush and dip it in the 
 graining color, made a little darkcr with burnt umber, 
 and draw it over the work up and down. The brush 
 may be slightly twisted here and there to produce 
 certain wavy effects often seen in oak. When this 
 is dry the figures may be made with a fitch or camel’s 
 hair pencil, dipped in water, which will soften the 
 color, which, in turn, may be wiped away with a 
 clean dry rag. Some use the dry duster to brush 
 away the loose color, and this gives a different effect 
 than when the rag is used. 
 
 In oak there are light and dark figures, the one 
 being imitated by wiping out, the other by means 
 of pencil or brush. The figures in oak cross the 
 grain of the wood, and they are softened on one edge 
 
Graining in Distemper 39 
 
 by a rag or sometimes by means of the side of a finger. 
 Overgraining runs across or with the grain of the 
 wood, variously. 
 
 To prevent the water color from drying too quickly 
 recourse is had to a medium called megi!p or magilp, 
 both spellings being correct. There is megilp for 
 both oil and water colors. This megilp is also used 
 for slightly thickening graining color so that the grain 
 will stand up, as previously explained. For slowing 
 water color soap seems to be the thing, together with 
 a little wax. Equal parts of soap and wax may be 
 melted in hot water and be added to the graining 
 color in very small amounts. Practice will be the 
 best teacher as to quantity to use. We do not advise 
 the use of this except in the case of a learner, as it 
 has disadvantages in expert work. If you practice 
 
 where the atmosphere is not too warm the color will 
 not dry so rapidly. A little glycerine is sometimes 
 used to retard the drying, but it, of course, does not 
 dry itself, but remains moist, hence is not to be 
 recommended for permanent work. But such things 
 are necessary when we comb distemper work, using 
 even the steel combs, as well as rubber and leather 
 combs. With the long bristle stippler we can get an 
 excellent ground to work on, and then the over- 
 grainer and the graining wheel, or set of disks, illus- 
 trated in another part of this work, gives perfect 
 effects, combined with the wet rag or leather and 
 thumb, etc. The graining check roller is a great 
 help in graining, though it has but a limited use, as — 
 
4o Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 in the heart growths; you will notice the little check 
 marks on the natural wood, and see where they appear. 
 A brush goes with the check roller, it being filled 
 with color, thus ensuring an even distribution of the 
 color. 
 
Chapter IV 
 
 HOW TO GRAIN MAPLE 
 
 A DESCRIPTION of graining maple in water color 
 was given in the preceding chapter, and in this we 
 will continue the subject, with additional instruc- 
 tions. 
 
 The ground color for maple is a rather pale cream, 
 made from a little raw sienna or orange chrome, 
 using white lead, in oil for the base. Thin with 1 
 part of raw oil to 2 parts of turpentine, with a little 
 drying japan. For practice work you can use the 
 plain white ground. Some grainers say that a white 
 ground is sufficient, as the graining color and varnish 
 produces the natural yellow appearance which is 
 desired; this is especially true when two coats of 
 varnish are applied. As has already been pointed 
 out, the varnish becomes darker with age, hence will 
 give the proper color tone to the work, no matter 
 how light the ground, all of which is left to the judg- 
 ment of the workman. 
 
 One argument in favor of the white ground is based 
 on the fact that grainers are apt to get their ground 
 too yellow, which is against the appearance of the 
 work in the finish and after the varnish coat has been 
 applied. 
 
 The graining color may be made from Vandyke 
 
 41 
 
42 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 brown alone or with the addition of burnt sienna. 
 Some grainers prefer burnt umber with a little raw 
 sienna. Others use Vandyke brown alone. Wall 
 gives as his formula’crimson lake and drop black 
 with raw sienna, or raw sienna and raw or burnt 
 umber, the overgraining to be done with thin burnt 
 sienna. 
 
 However, for practice work, the plain Vandyke 
 brown will do very well; to get the right color with 
 two or more pigments is difficult, with the learner 
 at least, and he may well postpone the matter until 
 he is more proficient. Then, too, samples of maple 
 differ in color tone, as there are different kinds of 
 maple. A cool effect in graining can be had best with 
 Vandyke brown, of course, while a warmer effect 
 would require the sienna. It is for this reason, too, 
 that the ground color should not be too yellow, for 
 if we are to get a cool effect, then the ground must be 
 rather on the gray order. But the eyes or little 
 knots, and the fine overgrain, are done in a slightly 
 red color or cast. | 
 
 The tools required are a brush to apply and rub in 
 the color, a mottler of hog bristles, about 3 inches 
 wide, and one 1 inch wide, the former having thick 
 hair or bristles, and the latter a thin brush. The 
 mottler is a very important brush in water-color 
 maple graining, but it must be used right. This 
 tool removes parts of the color and leaves the rest 
 in a mottled condition, full of faint shadows. ‘Then 
 you will need a sable hair overgrainer, 2 inches wide, — 
 
How to Grain Maple 43 
 
 a badger hair blender, a sable pencil brush, a maple 
 eye former and shader, and a clean piece of wash 
 leather, also a bit of soft sponge. A vessel with 
 clean water must also be provided. 
 
 Another way for making the mottles or cloud effects 
 seen in curly maple is by taking a wash leather and 
 wringing it out of water, roll it along the rubbed-in 
 
 = == < 
 === =, | va 
 —_——— SS } Y: — B 
 = as HN © — — = 
 See || I" = 
 S| = 
 | es 
 
 aS 
 —= 
 
 Fig. 1—The mottler. adger blender. 
 
 ground, the result of which will be seen in mottles. 
 Or a wet rag folded up will do it. Cross-blend this 
 at once with the badger blender. This mottling 
 should be done carefully, as the eyes are to go into it, 
 and the lights of the eyes and their shadows are 
 influenced by the number and position of the mottles. 
 As to the eyes, in the previous chapter was given a 
 method of making a little device for printing in the 
 
44 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 eyes, or a Stick with rag wrapped about it, but there is 
 another tool for the purpose that some prefer to the 
 other, and which, indeed, may be said to supersede 
 the other, namely, a camel’s hair pencil with its 
 middle hairs cut out, leaving a rim of short hairs on 
 the outer edge, which when dipped in color may be 
 used as the stick device, by dipping in the color and 
 imprinting it on the work. A cruder way, often 
 employed by amateurs without any instruction, is to 
 press the tip of a finger on to the wet groundwork. 
 Others again have used a hair pencil and formed the 
 little round eyes. The centers of these are in all 
 cases wiped out in order to show a bright light. A 
 pointed piece of soft pine, with a bit of rag or chamois 
 leather, will doit. The small lights seen on the outer 
 sides of the eye are also to be made by wiping out the 
 color. The work, as indeed all the work connected 
 with a good job of maple graining, more particularly 
 the bird’s-eye maple, requires time and patient labor, 
 without which the work will not be good. 
 
 Now the eyes and lights must, if possible, be done 
 while the color on the surface remains wet, and this 
 sometimes is rather difficult. When the work does 
 get dry before you are done, simply wet it all over, 
 using a clean large mottler. Here there is danger of 
 disturbing the ground color unless it has been well 
 bound with the vinegar-water fluid, and to yates has 
 been added a trifle of sugar. 
 
 The overgraining is done while the work is still 
 wet, being blended softly outward. These fine 
 
How to Grain Maple 45 
 
 irregular markings are put in with a pencil dipped in 
 color, which is burnt sienna, and they are drawn 
 around the eyes or little knots in an irregular manner, 
 as may be seen in a piece of real wood. The middle 
 heart grain is penciled from top to bottom of the 
 panel, saying the panel is a vertical one; then the 
 sides are done with the sable overgrainer, following 
 the lines made by the pencil around the eyes, finally 
 and gradually working into straight lines. Then 
 little touches of sienna are put under the knots, and 
 softened downward. In all this work be careful not 
 to get any part too pronounced, but keep all in a 
 soft and quiet harmony, just as you will find it in 
 natural wood. 
 
 The crayon is found useful in distemper maple 
 graining, for overgraining bird’s-eye work, but they 
 do not make as soft a job as pencil and color unless 
 very nicely softened, for they are apt otherwise to 
 produce hard lines. ‘They should be of a burnt sienna 
 color, and those with a wood casing, like ordinary 
 lead pencils, are best, if you can get them. Wall 
 says that they are of most use in making dark and 
 heart veins in oak, the quartered variety, and button- 
 wood or sycamore. More will be said about graining 
 crayons in another place. 
 
 After the laying in of the groundwork, the next 
 step is the mottling, about which we have already 
 spoken. The mottles may be produced in various 
 ways. To do this work take the large mottler and 
 dip it in water, remove its surplus water with the 
 
46 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 sponge, and then dab the brush on the work, by 
 which parts of the water color will be removed, leav- 
 ing the desired effect. This is called straight mot- 
 tlng. Double mottling effect is accomplished by 
 holding the mottler at an inclination, first down one 
 side, then down the other side. Then it is softly 
 blended. Such mottling as this is useful on base- 
 boards, frames, etc., where other figuring is not re- 
 quired, it serving as combed work serves in oil grain- 
 ing on such surfaces. A broken mottle is useful for 
 making a variation in mass work. It will be ob- 
 served that part of the ground color is not mottled. 
 The edge must not be too regular, and must be 
 blended into the dark color. This may be done in 
 various ways, right and left, horizontal or inclined, 
 regular or irregular, or coarse and fine. It is rather 
 difficult, and should not be tried until the other three 
 are done. 
 
 The handling of the badger blender is important, 
 as with it you get a softened effect that is impossible 
 to get without it; but one must do this very carefully, 
 gently blending crosswise, then even more lightly up 
 and down, so making the whole uniformly blended. 
 This must, of course, be done on the wet color. If 
 the color is partly dry, the blending will result in a 
 patchy effect. When using the large mottler you 
 should reverse the edge each time it is dampened, 
 thereby breaking it in equally. Hold it rather 
 upright, yet not at right angles with the panel. 
 
 It will be found difficult to get over the panel with 
 
How to Grain Maple 47 
 
 mottler and blender before the color becomes more 
 or less dry, and hiding the joints in mottling. For 
 the beginner it is advised that only a part of a panel 
 be mottled at a time, say the upper fourth of it, or 
 if practising on a board, take, say, 10 inches of it. 
 The trouble with doing a larger surface is in the fact 
 that the light edges of the mottles dry very quickly, 
 owing to having so little wet color, hence if you take 
 a small space, seeing that you are simply practising, 
 you will have it easier and get a better effect. When 
 you become more expert you will have no such 
 difficulty. Or take the panel down one side, having 
 three vertical rows of mottles, and take down one 
 side at a time, or, say, one-third way down at a 
 time. In these cases the mottler should overlap 
 the contiguous mottles, and whenever an _ edge 
 shows signs of drying, pass the wet mottler lightly 
 over it. 
 
 Following the mottling comes the forming of the 
 eyes. This we have described, but take occasion 
 here to add another plan for making those little 
 objects. There is no uniform method of doing grain- 
 ing, as each expert has adopted what to him seems 
 to be the best way, and for him it is undoubtedly the 
 most convenient way. But the beginner has no way, 
 which gives him the choice of selection and the adop- 
 tion of what occurs to him to be a good way. So 
 that several ways are here given. We have spoken 
 of making eyes with the rounded stick, a small skewer 
 doing nicely, around which a bit of rag is folded; 
 
48 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 another way was to take a small camel’s hair pencil, 
 cut off its hairs so that only about 1/4 inch is left, and 
 in the center burn a hole with a hot wire, and so on. 
 Still another plan is to take a small piece of sponge, 
 say 3/4 inch square, and select an opening in it that is 
 about 3/16 inch wide, and with scissors cut away 
 the part surrounding the hole on the outer side; this 
 should be done so as to leave the shape slightly oval 
 by holding the scissors at a slight angle. Fill this 
 with the sienna color, and place it between the thumb 
 and index-finger, allowing it to merely touch the 
 work. By. having this tool full of color it may be 
 sufficient to do a panel without recharging by squeez- 
 ing the sponge when its marks become light. Press 
 it very lightly against the work at first, increasing the 
 pressure as the color grows fainter. 
 
 I have spoken of doing the baseboards, frames, 
 etc., with the mottler. You may also overgrain such 
 parts, using the large overgrainer, using a little 
 darker color than the groundwork. The hair of the 
 overgrainer may be slightly separated with the fingers 
 or by means of a coarse hair comb. In this case you 
 do not have to mottle the work; it is a variation that 
 may be used in different rooms, but not in the same 
 room. 
 
 Mention has been made of using the pencil for 
 making veins, or pencil overgrainer; but the difficulty 
 with such tools is the irregular work they make, owing 
 to the irregular flow of the color. A crayon would, of 
 course, make regular lines. It is a matter of expe- 
 
How to Grain Maple 49 
 
 rience vs. inexperience, and the only thing to do is 
 to practice until perfect. 
 
 Two illustrations are here given for practice work 
 in penciling, and it may be done either in water color, 
 on a panel, or with a crayon on a blackboard. The 
 object is to acquire facility in making these for- 
 mations. Or you can dot it with white chalk on dark 
 paper, or with a black lead pencil on white paper. 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 In doing Fig. 3 you may start at the middle and 
 curve around and around, until all but the direct 
 up-and-down lines are reached, when they may be 
 done by taking one side at a time. Then you may 
 form the pencil designs in many different ways, thus 
 perfecting yourself in this particular line of the art. 
 Starting-points are made in different places, and one 
 or two such, according to the size of the panel. 
 Figure 4 illustrates the general run of veining in the 
 
50 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 middle of the panel above and below the starting- 
 points. It is an irregular circular veining, open in 
 the center, and gradually diminishing in curves as 
 the sides of the panel are approached. You will 
 find this work very interesting and useful. 
 
 In pencil work sometimes the line is taken nght 
 up to an eye and broken off there, to be resumed on 
 the opposite side, or it may be run around the eye. 
 
 Concluding our remarks on maple graining, we will 
 add that there are several kinds of maple that is 
 imitated by graining, such as curly maple, bird’s-eye 
 maple, and silver maple. Of these, silver maple 
 alone differs in the character of its required ground 
 for the graining, and in another place this will be 
 explained. Upon the whole, however, not much 
 variety can be had with maple in ground or color. 
 In a mass of work a little may be made by differently 
 tinted grounds, or the graining color may be made 
 slightly darker, redder, or blacker in parts. One 
 good effect is had by graining with drop black, on 
 which varnish gives a fine pale green tint, suitable 
 for certain decoration schemes. Raw sienna and 
 black also are good, but Vandyke brown is the best 
 of any. 
 
me me Laer 
 Z pee ‘“t) 
 
Plain Red Oak. 
 
Chapter V 
 
 THE IMITATION OF OAK WOODS 
 
 Oak is the most difficult of all the woods that we 
 try to imitate with color and craftsmanship, and an 
 artist indeed is he who can match nature in her own 
 marvelously beautiful work of figuring the trees she 
 grows. ‘True, if we take some of the plain straight- 
 grained oak, it is not hard to make a very clever 
 imitation, both as to figuring and color. But when 
 we come to the heart growths and flakes we have a 
 task fit for an artist. However, we have had and 
 still have grainers who can and do execute most 
 perfect work, true to nature in every way. It is 
 from these expert workmen that we obtain our 
 instructions when we desire to become equally suc- 
 cessful in mastering the art of wood imitation. 
 
 The beginner is usually advised to take a board 
 of about 2 feet in length to practice on, but it is my 
 judgment that better progress will be made by taking 
 a door, which is an object that will be met with in 
 regular practice once the trade has been mastered, 
 besides which it affords the beginner the inspiration 
 that comes from doing a real work, and the panels, 
 stiles, and rails require treatment that is common to 
 almost any work you will meet with when you become 
 a grainer. | 
 
 51 
 
52 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 It is worth while to master graining oak, for this 
 is the most popular of all the woods, and the most 
 generally used in house fitting and in furniture. 
 There have been some beautiful jobs of oak done, and 
 these have been transferred to paper by means of the 
 camera, after which the engraver and color printer 
 have given it to us in faithful line and coloring. 
 But do not tie to such specimens when you start to 
 learn graining. They will, of course, appeal to you, 
 and they are so handy to copy from, but get the real 
 wood, in its various forms of plain, flaked, quartered, 
 or other form, and study it and copy from it. You 
 will be original, and not an imitator of an imitation. 
 This is the advice given by almost every expert grainer, 
 and even when one has an apprentice he tells him not 
 to copy his master, but to get a style of his own. 
 The raw wood will, in some cases at least, show more 
 clearly its markings if a coat of oil is given it, though 
 you should not apply a stain. It is to be said on this 
 point that stain never improves a wood, as it des- 
 troys its natural beauty of color and form. The 
 coloring of oak in particular has been carried to excess 
 in the craze for strange effects. There is hardly a 
 color under the sun that has not been applied to oak 
 and the finish called by some fancy name. It is all 
 wrong. Sometimes a little stain is necessary to bring 
 up an unevenly colored wood, but such wood is not 
 of the best quality, or it would not require any such 
 help. 
 
 What has been said in a previous chapter about 
 
The Imitation of Oak Woods Ba 
 
 having the ground smooth and level will apply to oak 
 graining, and to all forms of graining, so that we need 
 not mention it again. — 
 
 As this is assumed to be a job in light oak, the 
 ground will have to be quite light also, as well as 
 the graining color. In another chapter formulas are 
 given for making both grounds and colors for the 
 various woods treated in this work. This saves 
 repetition, and will prove more useful than the old 
 method of giving such information with each wood 
 treated. The English grainer delights in a much 
 darker oak than we do, though in filling and staining 
 oak we do finish in some near-black stains, but this 
 in deference to popular demand. Personally I prefer 
 the dark grained effect, as when done with umber, 
 instead of with umber and raw sienna. Raw umber 
 is usually preferred by the British workman, though 
 he will also use the burnt variety. He also adds an 
 excess of driers to his oil graining color, to take the 
 place of a megilp. This results in rapid drying, and 
 if the temperature is high the color will dry entirely 
 too quickly in some cases. Umber is itself a strong 
 drier, hence the excess of japan would seem to be 
 needless. Some grainers use boiled oil, in which case 
 there will be no need of japan at all, where umber is 
 used. Sienna is a pigment that requires assistance 
 in drying, as also does Vandyke brown and black, 
 drop- or lamp-. 
 
 Before beginning to rub in, a word or two about 
 the rubbing part. Keep your brush full of color; 
 
54 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 dip the brush deep into the color, so that the fresh color 
 may continually get up into the butt of the brush, 
 otherwise the color there will dry and the brush will 
 become stiff and inefficient. The beginner invariably 
 uses a dry brush, not because he wishes to, but he 
 doesn’t know any better. He is afraid of getting 
 too much color on the work, and does not know how 
 to rub it out. Also, don’t use a stubby brush for 
 rubbing in with; it is not necessary to have short, 
 stiff bristles, for it isn’t necessary to rub the color so 
 much. Have it properly thin, and spread it thin, 
 using mostly the side of the brush, and never the tips 
 of the bristles. When the color is too heavy you 
 have to rub hard to spread it, and that is, of course, 
 a mistake, as you will learn through experience. 
 
 Lay the color off in the direction of the grain. To 
 remove any objectionable brush marks use the 
 badger blender. Stipple and blend both with this 
 brush. 
 
 It will be observed that a panel of oak will have 
 coarse lines on one side, and that these gradually 
 become finer as they approach the opposite side. To 
 make these growths use a 3-inch leather coarse comb 
 to begin with, and follow with steel combs of requisite 
 fineness to about the middle of the panel, or a little 
 beyond, according to the character of the wood sam- 
 ple you are imitating. The side opposite to the 
 coarse grain may be done with the rubbing-in brush, 
 in some cases, by drawing the side of the brush down- 
 ward. Over these lines or grains run a steel comb 
 
The Imitation of Oak Woods 55 
 
 in a wavy manner, to produce the pores; use combs 
 of sizes corresponding to the grain. The panels in 
 the door shown do not have this form of grain work, 
 but can have without rendering the effect any less 
 desirable. It all depends on the character of the 
 wood. Whatever sample panel you have for study 
 and practice, that imitate as faithfully as you can. 
 Good combing is a very important part of the work, 
 and should be done carefully, taking pains to make 
 the growths even and natural. On top of this comb- 
 ing the figures are made. With a dry rag held tight 
 over the right thumb-nail and with the loose end 
 thereof held in the left hand proceed to wipe out the 
 heart growth; some call it the sap. This will be 
 found the most difficult part of the job, and it will 
 take many a day’s practice to become expert at it; 
 nevertheless, the best grainers have had to do the same 
 thing, for they were not born artists. 
 
 This graining rag is used in several folds, and some- 
 times, in place of the thumb, a piece of bone is used, 
 it being flat and about the width of the thumb-nail, 
 which it is to replace, the left hand keeping the loose 
 end of the rag away from the work. Begin at the 
 top of the panel, and work down to the bottom; also 
 begin with the coarse part of the figuring at the right- 
 hand side, and form the smaller figures as you get 
 to the middle. The illustration shows this work 
 very clearly. 
 
 Note that the heart growth is not rounded, as is 
 the case with some woods, and this must be guarded 
 
56 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 against, making the oak hearts with a serrated or 
 saw-tooth formation. The lock rail of the door is 
 usually the most embellished with the sap or heart 
 growth, though a moderate amount of it may also be 
 placed on the other rails, using judgment in this. 
 While the panels are usually done with the flake 
 growths, and the lock rail with the heart, yet both 
 may be done with the heart growth and give a very 
 attractive effect. It is simply a matter of choice. 
 
 The wood worker in constructing a door from oak 
 would likely place the choice figured parts in the 
 panels, regarding the rest of the structure as a mere 
 frame. But the lock rail always looks better for 
 being well decorated with fine figured work. If the 
 top and bottom rails are given any growth work, 
 very little will be done to the top one, and more, but 
 still a moderate, amount to the bottom. Where the 
 job is not so exacting as to artistic effects it is custom- 
 
The Imitation of Oak Woods Cy, 
 
 ary to simply comb all rails but the lock rail, and 
 this can be done quickly and make a very nice job. 
 First draw the coarse steel comb in a straight way, 
 and over it run a finer comb in a wavy manner. 
 
 Note, when using the graining combs frequently 
 wipe them off with a dry clean rag. 
 
 Another effect often made with the combs is had 
 by placing a piece of cheese-cloth over them, changing 
 
 the cloth by drawing it with the left hand as you 
 work; this gives a softer grain effect than where the 
 plain combs are used. It is particularly good next 
 to a wiped-out part, where the clear-cut comb marks 
 would be too harsh. It produces a more woody 
 appearance. 
 
 Before combing a rail hold the straight-edge on 
 the line separating the rail and stile, and wipe off 
 
58 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 the surplus color; this is better than combing and — 
 then wiping off. 
 
 After doing the wiping-out work it only remains to 
 do the overgraining. Overshading is also a feature 
 on this part of the work. The purpose of both is to 
 furnish a natural variety of shade and light, and 
 should not be overdone. The color for the purpose 
 must be mixed specially, using distemper color, with 
 
 Fig, 7; 
 
 burnt umber as the pigment. Lines are put in with 
 the bristle liner and then blended with the badger 
 brush. This work requires care, as it is liable to” 
 soften up the undercoating of stippling, which is 
 usually done. 
 
 I have usually laid a glaze of the graining color 
 over the work when done and dry, for this takes 
 
The Imitation of Oak Woods 59 
 
 off the raw mechanical look of the job, and also 
 makes it more uniform of texture and color. Wall 
 advises a thin wash of the overgraining color over 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 the heart grain, saying it gives it a more woody 
 effect, but we may go farther and do it all over, thus: 
 
60 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 In running the overgrainer the hairs will naturally 
 separate, and, if it does not, then separate them with 
 a coarse comb, or with the finger of the hand that 
 handles the brush. Fill the brush with a weak color 
 and draw it the way of the natural grain of the wood. 
 The overgraining should be lighter where the figures 
 have been made. Then, before the work is dry, 
 draw the overgrainer lightly and with a wavy motion 
 across the grain. 
 
 For the heart work on the lock rail we shall need 
 a few little knots, and these may be put in with the 
 sponge, dabbing at the center of the heart growth, 
 after which manage with the badger to make dark and 
 light parts, with the dark over the knots, and the 
 rest may be blended softly away. Knots and other 
 parts requiring it may be touched up with the sable 
 pencil and flat fitch, in company with the overgrainer. 
 Keep the work softened as you proceed, and see that 
 the overgraining and other surface work is blended 
 together to look solid. As to the knot, so often seen 
 in the heart wood, and the joy of the ambitious 
 grainer, as it is the despair of the amateur, it should 
 have two parts of its shade wiped away, using a wet 
 leather over the thumb. Soften it up with the 
 badger blender. 
 
 Vandyke brown is a useful color for glazing with, 
 owing to its richness of tone and its transparency, 
 but for a warm effect it is toned with burnt sienna, 
 while for a cool effect a little blue-black is added. 
 
The Imitation of Oak Woods 61 
 
 Quartered Oak.—While Wall gives some dozen or 
 more ways for doing quarter-oak graining, there is 
 only one way in general use, and that is by wiping 
 out the markings with the rag over thumb, or with 
 the bone, as previously described. The ground 
 color is rubbed in and combed with a medium steel 
 comb, over which graining a split steel comb is passed, 
 thus cutting up the grain and making an imitation 
 of the pores of the wood. A study of either the 
 natural wood or a good sample of quarter-oak graining 
 will show how the combs must be handled to produce 
 the desired effect. "Then the flakes are wiped out, 
 and the spaces between these markings are softened 
 with a steel comb covered with rag. When this work 
 is done and dry, overgraining is done, using either oil 
 or water color, and, if the former, then take some of 
 the graining color and ‘hin it with turpentine, and 
 cover the surface with a thin glaze; this is left to 
 ~ become slightly set, and then a medium rubber comb 
 is passed over the veins, splitting up this work with 
 the split steel comb. 
 
 Oak Graining in S pirit Color.—This form of graining 
 is seldom called for, its purpose being to enable a 
 job to be done in short order, as in public places 
 where time cannot be allowed for the usual process 
 and its time requirement of drying. The method is 
 described as follows: Take some Paris whiting and 
 mix it with turpentine to a stiff paste, and add to 
 it some burnt sienna and burnt umber, both in oil, 
 
62 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 or raw sienna in place of the burnt, adding a trifle 
 of drop black. ‘The whiting is the base, to hold the 
 colors, and it should be stained according to the tone 
 of color desired for the job, whether light, medium, or 
 dark. Strain it, and thin to a working consistency 
 with turpentine, binding it with a turpentine varnish. 
 Add also japan drier and a very little raw linseed oil. 
 Before beginning the job try some of the color. It 
 should work freely, and not have too much varnish 
 in it, which will be evident when it works thick. In 
 this case add a little more turpentine. It is a color 
 that must be worked rapidly. Comb it as soon as 
 you have rubbed it in. ‘The rubbing in is done in the 
 usual manner, making it as even and uniform as 
 possible. Then draw it down the panel or stile with 
 a flat duster, by which simple means you can get a 
 variety of effects. Follow with a firm steel comb, 
 which will give the broken appearance of the grain. 
 The panels of a door are done first, then the stiles and 
 rails, and lastly the moldings. If any color got on 
 the moldings, it may be removed with a rag and some 
 turpentine. The moldings are best kept to a fairly 
 even color by stippling them, as they thus clean up 
 both stiles and panels. 
 
 When working the stile of a door the expert always 
 starts with the two stiles between the panels, top 
 and bottom; then, after doing the cross rails, he 
 finishes with the two long stiles, one on each side. 
 That is his regular procedure, and which one of them 
 calls “‘the natural way of working.” 
 
The Imitation of Oak Woods 63 
 
 Make all joints sharp and clean cut, using whatever 
 may serve your purpose, though some use a wooden 
 straight-edge, like a desk ruler, for instance. Or 
 the shellacked sandpaper, as previously suggested; 
 the sanded part prevents slipping of the paper under 
 your hand. Neatness and cleanliness add 50 per 
 cent. to the appearance of the job. 
 
 The quantity of varnish to use in this process, for 
 mixing with the turpentine, is not over one-fourth, 
 or 1 quart of varnish to 3 quarts of turpentine. The 
 varnish should be rather quick drying, as the work is 
 generally finished in a day. Mix the paste color 
 with the varnish, then add the turpentine, mixing 
 the mass well together. 
 
 The work of graining in spirit color is the same 
 as with oil or water color; or perhaps we may say 
 it is more like overgraining in water color, but the 
 veining is different from oil-color work. You do 
 not wipe out the color with the thumb and rag, but 
 use a veining fitch, while the lights are made by 
 means of soda-water, stained a little with color, which 
 enables the grainer to follow the brush markings as 
 they are made. All the marks that are made. by 
 wiping out with a rag in the oil process may be done 
 in this quick process with a veining fitch, a brush 
 with a thin edge. Use the soda-water very sparingly, 
 so that it will not run down the work. After you 
 have thus made the lights, the work may be washed 
 down with clear water, followed by drying with a 
 chamois or leather. 
 
64 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Sometimes, in place of soda-water, turpentine is 
 used for marking the lights, and when this is done 
 the practice is to make a few veins or marks with 
 this solvent; then remove the turpentine by means 
 of a pad of flannel; this gives a softer effect than 
 where soda-water is used. The turpentine must be 
 stained a little, as with soda-water, and for the same 
 reason. 
 
 The overgraining being done with water color, 
 there may be difficulty in getting it to stay on the 
 work, in which case treat the surface as indicated in 
 a previous part of this work to prevent cissing. 
 Then the shading and other work may be put in, and 
 in a little while the work is ready for varnishing. 
 
 To conclude, don’t rub in more of the job at a time 
 than you can do before it dries. The veining tool 
 is a hog-hair fitch brush about 1/2 inch wide, with 
 which both veins and flakes, etc., may be formed; 
 not at first very well, but with time and practice 
 excellent effects. Dip the tool in the soda-water or 
 turpentine, as the case may be, and hold it lightly 
 between thumb and forefinger, and do not press too 
 hard, as that will put on too much color; hold the 
 tool rather flat. 
 
 Pollard Oak.—This wood is remarkable for the 
 figure of its grain, which consists of a series of con- 
 centric formations or’ knots, intermingled with plain 
 growths of grain, as seen in ordinary oaks, the pen- 
 cilings or lines and twists or curls presenting a very 
 
The Imitation of Oak Woods 65 
 
 unusual but handsome appearance that is very sure 
 to inspire in the novice a desire to imitate its appar- 
 ently copied features. While the work is mostly 
 done in oil, yet water-color work is very effective and 
 often done by experts. The curious: markings of 
 this wood are caused by dwarfing the tree, when it 
 is young, by lopping off its branches at intervals of 
 a few years. ‘This causes the growth to be diverted 
 from a straight course to one that is pursued around 
 the obstructions offered by the dehorned parts, as 
 we may say. The wood is useful for veneering, and 
 as such belongs to the same class as burl walnut, etc. 
 
 A rather dark graining color is required, one that 
 is formed from raw sienna for the base, with burnt 
 umber and drop black, or Vandyke brown as the 
 darkening colors. The ground is a strong, bright 
 buff. The tools consist of a rubbing-in brush, a 
 heavy mottler, large sash tool, badger blender, a 
 piece of old open-pored sponge, chamois or wash- 
 leather, medium and small round fitches, sable pencil, 
 and sable overgrainer in tubes. This is for distemper 
 graining. For oil graining we do not require all these 
 tools, but simply such as are used in ordinary oak in 
 oil. 
 
 While pollard oak is done in either water or oil 
 colors, another method is to do the foundation in oil 
 color, and finishing in water color, which gives 
 excellent results. 
 
 It is difficult to give a word-picture of this wood, 
 and illustrations are hardly more satisfactory, so that 
 
66 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 it is advised that the beginner get sample veneers of 
 it, a variety to show the many different forms and 
 groupings as they appear in the natural wood. The 
 color used is dark, as stated, and the small knots and 
 the dots that show in their centers may be made 
 from the graining color to which is added some burnt 
 umber, darkened a little with Vandyke brown, and 
 this also is applied in patches with the sash tool, here 
 and there, after which the markings are made by 
 means of a rag to wipe out here and there, forming the 
 clusters that contain the little knots. There are also 
 heart grains and other figurings seen in ordinary 
 quartered oak. The foregoing refers to work in oil. 
 
 There are several methods of producing pollard oak 
 graining. Take a rich, warm buff ground, and rub 
 it in with burnt sienna, in distemper. Dab your 
 sponge in some Vandyke brown, thinned with water, — 
 etc., and with it form the dark masses of knots. The 
 sponge dabs make fair knots, but much more than 
 this is necessary to make the knots and lights correct. 
 The mottler is then worked with the knot growths 
 in one direction only. Hold the brush at right angles 
 with the work, and run it from group to group of 
 knots. The graining is done around the knots with 
 a round fitch, following the curves made by the mot- 
 tler. The plain parts may be mottled. After you 
 have done all this, and the work is dry, wet it with 
 the water and vinegar thinners, and overgrain it. 
 Use the small overgrainer, filled with the Vandyke 
 graining color, and separate the bristles with a comb. 
 
The Imitaticn of Oak Woods 67 
 
 Soften the grain to a dark edge, then form the mark- 
 ings which cross the grain with the pencil dipped in 
 the dark color made from Vandyke or black and 
 Vandyke. When all is done and dry, a thin coat of 
 varnish and turpentine is applied, after which a 
 glaze coat of Vandyke is given. As the work is done 
 in water color, it may be wetted at any time and the 
 true color thus be shown as it will be when varnished, 
 So that any parts that do not seem dark enough may 
 be darkened, and light parts be toned properly. 
 
 The work in oil is similar. The graining color is 
 made from burnt umber, raw sienna, and Vandyke. 
 Some add drop black, but the Vandyke would appear 
 to be quite dark enough. These colors are to be 
 kept separate, and thinned as required for use, with 
 turpentine, the colors themselves being ground in oil. 
 A thin coat of burnt sienna is applied to the surface 
 of the work, using a large sash tool or a sponge. 
 Before this is dry dapple it over in various directions 
 with the colors mentioned above, applying the color 
 most liberally where the masses of knot growths are 
 to appear. Use a well-worn mottler for this work, 
 and if it has a thin, uneven row of hairs, so much the 
 better. Dip it first in one color, then in another. 
 The knots are formed by dipping the brush in the 
 burnt umber, which must be thin, using turpentine, 
 also add some Vandyke brown in places. It is here 
 that drop-black is used. Later on, when you become 
 more proficient, you can try the black. Then the 
 lights must be taken out by means of a small fitch, 
 
68 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 dipped in turpentine, but not having too much of the 
 liquid on your fitch. Let this work set, then give 
 it a thin glaze of burnt umber, working it in wavy 
 or curly-manner. While the color is thinned with 
 turpentine, see that it has also enough oil in it to 
 bind the color and render it easy to work. Use the 
 blender often. Some use a cork in making the knots 
 on the dark parts of the knots, twisting it with the 
 finger and thumb so as to form the light and shade. 
 Take the heart and sap out with a fitch as for light 
 oak; there is very little of the ordinary oak figure, 
 however, in pollard oak. 
 
 A flat graining brush, well filled with thin Vandyke 
 or drop-black, will give the top grain in a curly form. 
 Then glaze the work with Vandyke. The knots and 
 dark parts may be done with the camel’s-hair pencil. 
 The glazing may be done with either oil or water 
 color; if with oil, then the lights may be wiped out 
 with a rag. The glaze is formed from Vandyke with 
 a little burnt sienna or black, according to the tones 
 required, warm or cool. 
 
Mahogany. 
 
 American Walnut. 
 
Chapter VI 
 
 THE IMITATION OF MAHOGANY WOOD 
 
 Wuat kind of mahogany are we toimitate? There 
 are several varieties, coming from different parts 
 of the earth, and both color and figure may be differ- 
 ent in each kind. ‘That from the West Indies, for 
 example, is a hard wood and very dark in color, the 
 hardest and darkest of all mahoganies. It has a good 
 figure, but the logs are small and present no great 
 surface figuring. Mexican mahogany is not as hard 
 or dense as the West Indian, but it has a firmer grain 
 and a more even texture. It is harder and more 
 dense than the African mahogany. When fresh 
 from the saw its color is creamy, but it soon darkens 
 on exposure to the air. As to figuring, the wood 
 varies much from the character of the soil in which it 
 grows, also as to elevation and other factors. 
 
 Colors of the mahoganies run from a straw color 
 to light red, brick color, and deep red or reddish 
 brown, with a tinge of yellow. African mahogany 
 has a very attractive figure; in addition to its striped 
 effects it has also a mottled and curly figure, and one 
 especially fine, called the fiddle-back, for that is 
 what the figure looks like. 
 
 The illustrations here shown give the general 
 features of both African and Mexican mahoganies, 
 
 69 
 
70 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 and will be found useful when trying to do mahogany 
 graining. Figure 9 shows African striped wood, and 
 Fig. 10 a typical Mexican striped wood. You will 
 
 Fig. 9.—African striped mahogany. 
 
 note some difference of grain. Figure 11 shows 
 African broken stripe and mottle, while Fig. 12 
 
 Fig. 10.—Typical Mexican mahogany. — 
 
 gives the mottle and fiddle-back figures of the same 
 wood 
 
The Imitaticn cf Mahogany Wocd ay 
 
 In addition, there is the crotch or feather figure, 
 which is almost always seen in mahogany veneered 
 
 Fig. 12.—African mottle and fiddle-back. 
 
 work of former days. Most beginners like to do 
 crotch work because, as they think, it is so easily 
 
72 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 done. But what should interest you most at the 
 start is getting the right color. If you examine a 
 
 Fig. 13.—Mahogany feathered. 
 
 sample of finished mahogany you will perceive that 
 it has a ground of a bright, warm, reddish tone, sug- 
 
The Imitation of Mahogany Wood ie 
 
 gesting that the graining ground must be such as will 
 tend to give a suitable color tone to the finish. The 
 grainers do not have any standard formula for making 
 the ground, some using white lead for the base, while 
 others may prefer yellow ochre, and I think ochre 
 the best, for what you want is the reddish-yellow 
 tone, though a little white lead might do no harm, 
 even though it can easily be dispensed with. It has 
 a better body than ochre. Some take equal parts of 
 French yellow ochre and orange chrome yellow, with 
 a little Venetian red. This is then to be thinned with 
 a little raw oil and mostly with turpentine, with 
 driers also. This will give a rather flat ground, yet 
 not dead, for the oil colors, with the little oil added, 
 prevent that. Too much oil is avoided on account 
 of the work having to be varnished when done, and 
 cracking might follow if the ground was too oily. 
 For a bright ground take white lead and color it with 
 Venetian red and a little orange chrome yellow. A 
 magazine writer says that the ground for mahogany 
 should be about the same as for medium oak, “with 
 a little more lead and a lot more umber.”” Some of 
 us would think this hardly the best ground, but, as 
 we have already stated, workmen differ in their 
 practices, as well they should, for that means breaking 
 away from the mere copyist to independent workman- 
 ship. Then it is to be remembered that mahogany 
 finish may be done in various colors and with different 
 figures. If we had some old mahogany to match we 
 should find that it was very dark, due to age, and in 
 
74 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 trying to match it we should have to make both 
 ground and graining color darker than usual. ‘The 
 ground ordinarily employed may be said to be a rich 
 yellowish brown. 
 
 The ground matter settled, the color laid and made 
 smooth, the next step is to stipple it with water color, 
 using distemper Vandyke brown, as we are doing 
 this job in oil colors. Thin some Vandyke with the 
 water and vinegar medium, and with the large 
 stippler flog the groundwork after having coated it 
 over evenly with the water color. This will give the 
 work the appearance of the natural wood, which shows 
 the dark small grains under and with the figures. 
 Don’t let the color get dry before you are done stip- 
 pling it. Always stipple from the bottom upward, 
 using the flat of the brush for coarse grains, or the 
 tips for a finer growth, while still finer may be made 
 with the small stippler, as on moldings and other 
 small parts. This stippling is done on walnut also, 
 in the same manner, as will be described under the 
 proper head. If doing a door, and this is the best 
 object to practice on, do the panels first, as directed 
 for oak. By using the straight-edge and wiping off 
 surplus color you can keep the work neat and make a 
 better ground for the graining. Now that the 
 stippling is done, we will commence graining. The 
 graining color may be made from burnt sienna, 
 darkened with Vandyke brown and enlivened with 
 rose lake. You will have to experiment a little in 
 order to get the right shade of color, but that is part 
 
The Imitation of Mahogany Wood 75 
 
 of your graining lesson. Mahogany’s natural color, 
 after exposure and before being finished with stain or 
 varnish, is rather light, and not at all what we see in 
 an old piece of mahogany furniture, for instance. 
 However, we prefer the rich dark red tone rather than 
 the pale brown, and even when we finish cherry we 
 like to give it a much deeper tone than it has in the 
 natural finish. For a mahogany graining effect some 
 take equal parts of the three colors mentioned, but 
 you may vary these proportions as you please. 
 
 Thin the color with half as much turpentine as 
 raw linseed oil, adding also some driers. Some use 
 boiled oil in graining color. It gives a color with 
 rather more body, stands up better than raw oil 
 color, and dries quicker. Strain the color through 
 cheese-cloth. Brush this thin graining color over 
 the surface you are about to grain, using a rather 
 soft brush, and get it on very even and solid. Then 
 let the work stand a little while, so that the color will 
 set just a little, and prepare some color to form the 
 dark veins. Take some of the graining color and 
 thicken it a little with Vandyke and rose pink. Take 
 a small fitch and dip it into the color and form the 
 veins. This done, take the rubbing-in brush, having 
 freed it from all color, and draw it in the direction 
 of the veins, and then across them, very lightly. 
 Then blend lightly with the badger blender. This 
 will make the work quite smooth. You will note 
 that one edge of the vein is darker than its other 
 edge, hence use the brush or tool to make this effect. 
 
76 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 You will observe in the illustrations of mahogany 
 given herewith that the wood is full of shades and 
 lights, which must be formed in the graining. Take 
 the small fitch and with color place such streaks as 
 will, when blended out, show the shades, and with a 
 brush the lights may be made by brushing out some 
 color. Always use the blender after such operations, 
 so that the work will appear solid and natural. 
 After the work is done and dry, overgraining may 
 be done. This may be done with the graining color, 
 made thinner, using it as a glaze. My preference is 
 for rose lake, instead of graining color, for this glazing; 
 for a brighter effect use crimson lake. There are 
 three colors that appear most prominently in ma- 
 hogany graining, namely, burnt sienna and Vandyke 
 brown, and the rose lake or rose pink. ‘That is, a 
 red, a dark that is nearly black, and the wine color. 
 Get these three colors in mind and they will serve 
 you when mixing and using the graining color. 
 Feathered mahogany is done in water colors. It is 
 rather difficult to describe the process, but we shall 
 try to doit. Taking the same ground as for ordinary 
 mahogany, rub the water color in quickly, as it soon 
 sets, and then with a large flat fitch put in the dark 
 parts of the center, from which the feathers spring 
 toward the sides. Begin at the bottom and use the 
 brush to form a curve, or the feather. Do this right 
 and left, to the top. The bottom figures will be 
 darker than the top ones, which is the natural effect, 
 the brush gradually losing color, and so the feathers 
 
The Imitation of Mahogany Wood ae 
 
 become more and more less dark. Also form the 
 feathers somewhat smaller as you go upward. If 
 you have a sample of feathered mahogany, as on a 
 veneered panel of a sideboard or bureau, that will be 
 a good lesson figure. Then the hog-hair mottler is 
 used to cut out the lights seen in the feathers, while 
 the lights which radiate from the center are put in 
 with a camel’s-hair mottler. Graining tools, brushes 
 in particular, need to be washed out in clear water 
 _ occasionally to free them of surplus color. Now wet 
 the work by taking a mottler, dipped in water, and 
 drawing it down over the panel, after which lights 
 and shades may be modified or touched up so as to 
 give better contrasts. Also some dark touches may 
 be made with the sable pencil. 
 
 Another way to do the feather work is by applying 
 Vandyke brown to the center of the panel, and using 
 a sponge for removing color here and there. After 
 which work in the feathered work as already indicated 
 and blend the edges of the darker veins. 
 
 Whenever the water color on the work becomes 
 dry, run a wet overgrainer over it. Keep it wet 
 until you are done. 
 
 Now the overgraining is to be done. The work is 
 left to dry in the meantime. Use the thin hog-hair 
 brush to form the grain that conforms to the feathered 
 work, giving it a slightly twisted or wavy motion, 
 starting from one side and drawing the brush across 
 the center and down the opposite side. After each 
 such movement with the brush softly blend the work 
 
78 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 upward. When this is done and the color dry, apply 
 a thin coat of varnish to hold the water color, and 
 when that is dry, glaze it with oil color, using the oil 
 graining color with some rose lake or crimson lake. 
 This oil color must not be oily, but be thinned with 
 turpentine. Now you may touch up any parts where 
 they do not seem as dark as desired, and in any other 
 way try to improve the figures. 
 
 If you use oil color, and wish merely to do a plain 
 job, it is a simple matter to rub in the door, and with 
 a brush (your rubbing-in brush will do) run it side- 
 wise along the panel or other straight part of the door, 
 and so form the grain. Or take a rag and wipe it 
 out, forming streaks. The blender will be found 
 useful here. Use a good strong color. 
 
Chapter VII 
 
 HOW TO GRAIN WALNUT WOOD 
 
 THERE are several distinct kinds of walnut, such 
 as the black or American, the only specimens of 
 which are to be found growing in our own country; 
 and the Italian walnut, which looks much like Cir- 
 cassian walnut. Then there are burl walnuts, which 
 give very handsome panel effects, and are to be found 
 in both American and European walnut, the result 
 of growths found on the sides of trees. They are 
 sawn into veneers. The black walnut gives a curly 
 wood, and it is usually found only in old trees, though 
 a similar figuring may be and is obtained by a certain 
 manner of cutting the logs into veneers. 
 
 The ground for black walnut is something similar 
 to that used for mahogany, only it is slightly darker 
 by the use of umber, and less bright by the omission 
 of chrome yellow. The base color is yellow ochre, 
 to which is added some white lead, Venetian red, and 
 burnt umber. In some kinds of walnut the chrome 
 yellow is used, and some use white lead base, with 
 ochre, etc. The graining color is made from burnt 
 umber, darkened a little with Vandyke brown, or drop- 
 black. Many use the burnt umber alone. It de- 
 pends on the color you wish, whether dark or light 
 colored walnut. The ground for American or black 
 
 79 
 
80 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 walnut should be stippled, as indicated for mahogany. 
 The stipple color may be burnt umber or some 
 
 Fig. 14.—Burl walnut. ; 
 
 Vandyke with it. Upon the stippling the figures may 
 be put in with the fitch and overgrainer, or the oil- 
 
How to Grain Walnut Wood 81 
 
 graining color may be applied in the usual manner, 
 and the graining done with fitch tool and overgrainer, 
 with the comb also, wiping out with a rag. Study 
 the real walnut wood, and note how modest and 
 unobtrusive it is. Avoid glaring displays, make no 
 little knots, keep your work simple and plain, and it 
 will be more pleasing and gain you more credit. 
 Growths may be made on panels and lock rail, with 
 a little on the stiles and other rails, but even this 
 should not be overdone. Walnut is an easy and 
 attractive wood to practice on, and if not too much 
 is attempted the result will be satisfactory. Rub 
 the color out well, and see that the joints are clean 
 cut, as directed for oak. 
 
 Walnut may be imitated with crayons. The 
 ground is stippled in the usual manner, and when dry 
 it is ready for the crayon. Form the heart growths 
 with the crayon, and with a piece of rag gently soften 
 the crayon marks. The growth lines seen on both 
 sides of the heart growth may be formed with an 
 overgrainer, using water color and separating the 
 bristles with a comb. After which coat the work 
 over with a liquid such as that used in thinning out 
 oil-graining color, adding a trifle of umber to it. 
 Crayons may be used also in doing oil-color graining. 
 The ground is made rather flat and is rubbed in with 
 oil-graining color mixed very thin. Then the growths 
 are formed with the crayon. After which the sides 
 are overgrained with oil color or color applied and 
 combed out with the graining combs. Let it become 
 
82 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 dry, then glaze it over with oil color, which will be 
 the finish. 
 
 The curly and burl walnut require the same 
 ground as black walnut, and also the same graining 
 color. It is hardly possible to describe the figure of 
 this wood, hence it is suggested that the beginner 
 secure a sample veneer of both the curly and burl 
 woods, and then try to imitate the designs exhibited. 
 Expert workmen do these woods in water color, and 
 the beginner will find it the best way, too, for he 
 will be able to get more natural effects with water 
 color by means of the sponge, together with the other 
 graining tools, than with oil color, though this method 
 also should be tried. Avoid careless work, however, 
 and seek rather to perfect yourself in the art than to 
 finish the lesson quickly. See that the various forms 
 of the growths are made with the natural turns of 
 the wood, and with proper shades and lights; finally, 
 make the work to blend together so that it will have 
 the solid appearance seen in the real work of nature. 
 In the water-color method make the dark parts with 
 a fitch dipped in Vandyke or burnt umber water 
 color, and form the lights with the sponge by wiping | 
 out. Then mottle it and blend together lightly. 
 On the mottled work lay the grain with the over- 
 grainer. When dry, apply a thin coat of varnish, 
 on which when dry the overgrainer is to be passed. 
 
 The Italian walnut is a very handsome wood and 
 not very difficult to imitate. It does not have the 
 regular grain seen in American or black walnut, but 
 
How to Grain Walnut Wood 83 
 
 one having a slight wave effect. It should be done 
 in water colors, using the same colors and ground and 
 tools as given for the other walnuts. You will 
 notice by the run of its growths that the sponge and 
 fitch tool are important tools in its imitation. The 
 mottler also is much used and the work is to be 
 softly blended. When this has dried, it may be 
 overgrained and softly blended. 
 
 The English grainer will want burnt sienna, drop- 
 black, Vandyke brown, and a trifle of Prussian blue, 
 though he admits that the blue can be dispensed 
 with. His Italian walnut will show bunches of small 
 . knots, around which the growths circle, with the 
 balance composed of plain and mottled work. It 
 depends upon the specimen you are using for practice. 
 It is to be noted that the grain is not of one uniform 
 dark color, for some parts are darker than others, 
 some even inclining to a warm walnut tone. These 
 marks or velns must not stand out, but be made as 
 though a part of the wood, as you will see in the 
 natural wood; this is to be effected by means of the 
 blender after making the veins properly. Then take 
 the large mottler and wet the face of the work with 
 the thinning liquid, after which overgrain it with the 
 overgrainer dipped in dark color, Vandyke, or burnt 
 .umber. Separate the overgrainer so that it will give 
 more variety to the work. If any twists and small 
 knots are to be put in, the work may be done with the 
 pencil dipped in Vandyke brown. Blend across the 
 growths thus made, which will give a pleasing softness 
 
84 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 to the work and give light and dark edges to the 
 veins. 
 
 If you care to add a few more touches to the work 
 after the overgraining, wet it, for if attempted while 
 the ground is dry there will be danger of the under- 
 lying growths. Now you can coat the dry work 
 with a thin varnish, and after this has dried, further 
 work may be done by rubbing it over with water 
 color, dark color for the knots and other dark parts, 
 with burnt sienna for the lighter parts, to warm it 
 up. By rolling a damp chamois over the work you 
 will get a mottle effect, after which wipe out the 
 bright parts across the knots. The thin coat of 
 varnish size brings out the work plainer, enabling 
 you to see just how it looks. Then you can improve 
 as it may seem to you to need it. 
 
 In doing a door, whatever the wood, it is not 
 advised that you make the panels the distinctive 
 features of the work, as some grainers choose to do, 
 but while doing the panels rather more ornate than 
 the rest of the work, endeavor to maintain a due 
 regard for harmony between the different parts of 
 the structure, no part overbalancing any other part. 
 This applies to the use of color as well as of form. 
 The artistic sense is offended by the sight of a street 
 door exhibiting the eccentric fancies of some ambi- 
 tious grainer who desires that people shall know what 
 a great grainer he is. 
 
Chestnut. 
 
Chapter VIII 
 IMITATION OF DIFFERENT WOODS 
 
 IMITATION OF CHESTNUT 
 
 Tue ground color for this wood is the same as for 
 dark oak, it being compounded from white lead, 
 French yellow ochre, raw Italian sienna, and burnt 
 Turkey umber. The graining color is made from 
 raw and burnt sienna and Vandyke brown. The 
 grain and heart growth is very coarse, and the wood 
 does not give a very attractive finish. If done in 
 distemper color the ground should be stippled neatly, 
 making the growths with a rag and bristle fitch or 
 liner. Then blend them at once, before they dry, 
 using the badger blender. The plain grain may be 
 done with the overgrainer. Done in oil color the 
 process is little different from that of water color. 
 Wipe out the growths with a rag, but do not wipe 
 too dry. The work is much like that on ash, using 
 the combs for making the grain; the grain is coarse. 
 
 IMITATION OF ASIII 
 
 This wood has a straight grain, and in the heart 
 growths the points are not acute as we see in chestnut 
 and other woods, but are blunt. The wood is light 
 in color, and hence the ground is made accordingly. 
 Take white lead and tinge it with yellow ochre, then 
 
 85 
 
86 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 slightly darken it with raw umber. The graining 
 color is composed of raw umber, raw sienna, and a 
 little Vandyke brown or drop-black. The color is 
 much like that used for some kinds of oak, while the 
 same tools can be used as are used for oak. Ash 
 may be done in water color as well as in oil. In 
 distemper work the heart growth may be done with 
 the bristle fitch, the rag not being used to any great 
 extent. Blend the work when done. It is usual to 
 stipple the color when it has been rubbed on, using 
 the large stippler; do this stippling lightly. If the 
 work is rather light, the stippling will not be re- 
 quired. Heart growths are sometimes made with the 
 crayon, but mostly are put in with the bristle fitch. 
 Use the short hair overgrainer to produce the lines 
 seen on either side of the heart. This work can be 
 overgrained with oil color, using very thin color. 
 
 To do the work in oil color have a ground made 
 smooth and with a semigloss. Rub in the graining 
 color. Let it stand until set a little. Graining color 
 in oil always works better, where combing or fine 
 veins are to be made, by letting it stand until set 
 just a little, for then the color will not flatten out as 
 when fresh. Use the comb on those parts that are 
 to be plain; place a rag on the comb. Make the 
 streaks or veins with the fitch or small sash tool, 
 using a dark color, black or Vandyke. Wipe out the 
 heart with a rag on the thumb, as in oak graining, and 
 lightly stipple the work. The grain may be made 
 either by wiping out or with the fitch, or with a 
 
Imitation of Different Woods 87 
 
 crayon. Dark streaks can be put in when desired by 
 means of the fitch, while the work is wet. Over- 
 graining improves ash, using the graining color for 
 this, though it may be darkened a little with black, 
 thinning with turpentine and a little japan. 
 
 Curly or so-called Hungarian ash may be imitated 
 with water or oil color. Where the wood has been 
 cut into veneers the growth is very different from 
 ordinary ash, being more broken and mottled. It 
 is of a deeper yellow color than the other. To make 
 its figures, wipe out with the rag, though this is 
 a tedious process; penciling in the figures is easier 
 and gives finer results, we think. In this case, after 
 having rubbed in the color, mottle it with a soft 
 rag, then blend it lightly with your rubbing-in brush. 
 Then make the figure with the pencil brush, using a 
 color a little darker than the rubbed-in color, but not 
 too much so. Blend lightly. When dry it may be 
 overgrained either with oil or water color. 
 
 IMITATION OF YELLOW PINE 
 
 The ground color for yellow pine is much the same 
 as for light oak, a pale yellow, made by tinting white 
 lead with medium yellow chrome. The graining 
 color is made from yellow ochre, burnt and raw 
 sienna, and rose pink. To get this color right it 
 will be best to have a good piece of well-prepared 
 yellow pine board to study from. Oil it, which will 
 make color and grain more pronounced. Either oil 
 or water colors may be used in the imitation of this 
 
88 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 wood. After having rubbed in the graining color 
 the grain may be made, using a soft-hair pencil. 
 The color for the grain should be darker than the 
 graining color, but not too pronounced. Straight 
 grain may be made with the overgrainer. Some of 
 the work is done with the rubber comb. This is an 
 easy wood for the beginner to work on. 
 
 Pitch pine is a darker wood, and the ground is 
 deepened with Venetian red added to the yellow pine 
 ground color. Some grainers use the same ground 
 as that used in light oak graining, and while good work 
 may be done on such ground, yet it is better to make 
 one specially adapted to pine. It is better to have 
 a buff with a slight reddish tone. The graining color 
 is made from raw and burnt sienna, some using a 
 little burnt umber to subdue the red tone a little. 
 Equal parts of the colors used in the graining color is 
 the regular formula. The color is made very thin, 
 and the thinners, the regular formula of turpentine, 
 oil, and japan, is given a small quantity of oil. Rub 
 the color in very thin. The grain is much more 
 pronounced than that of yellow pine, hence the 
 penciling of the growths must be done with a darker 
 color. Then blend the work lightly with the rubbing- 
 in brush. As most of the rubbed-in color must be 
 removed in the forming of the figures before penciling, 
 some grainers prefer to first do the penciling on the 
 painted ground and let it dry; then the rubbing in 
 may be done, also the mottling and combed work. 
 Overgraining is useful on this work. 
 
Imitation of Different Woods 89 
 
 IMITATION OF CYPRESS 
 
 This wood has come into use in recent years as a 
 successor to white pine, and while it is not so desirable 
 a wood for a house finish, its grain being faulty in 
 that it often separates from the wood of which it is 
 a part, yet it possesses a very nice grain, and is well 
 worth imitating with paint. The ground color is 
 made with white lead colored with equal parts of 
 raw and burnt sienna, with the same colors for the 
 graining, with the addition of drop-black, to tone 
 down the red of the siennas. The grain is a little 
 similar to that of pine, and the graining of the work is 
 also similar; the heart growths are wiped out and 
 penciled, followed by blending gently. The rubber 
 and steel combs may be used on parts of the work. 
 No shading is required. 
 
 IMITATION OF CHERRY 
 
 The ground for this handsome wood is made from 
 white lead and yellow ochre, tinged with Venetian 
 red. The color is a strong buff. The graining color 
 consists of raw and burnt sienna, burnt umber, and 
 a little drop-black. The cherry finish usually met 
 with suggests mahogany rather than the wood it 
 really is, for people prefer the stained to the natural 
 finish, and while the mahogany stain does make a 
 very pleasing and handsome job, it is no less true that 
 the wood in its natural finish is beautiful. 
 
 Cherry may be done in either water or oil color. 
 
90 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Like hard pine, cherry needs little color rubbed in, 
 as the growths are done with the pencil. In oil 
 color work, after the color has been rubbed in, the 
 mottles are made with the fitch, using the graining or 
 rubbing-in color, darkened a little with burnt umber. 
 These mottles are across the wood, and after they 
 have been made take the blender or rubbing-in 
 brush and blend across them. Note that the mottles 
 are not horizontal exactly, but more or less curved, 
 though very little at the most. The penciled work 
 is then done over the mottles, at right angles, but 
 are to be blended in the same direction as the mottles. 
 Let the color set a little before doing either the 
 mottles or pencilings, but do not let it set too much. 
 
 After the mottles have been formed you may use 
 a piped overgrainer instead of the pencil, and then 
 blend at once with the rubbing-in brush. 
 
 The process with distemper color is somewhat 
 different from oil-color work. First rub the surface 
 with the medium that you thin the colors with, then 
 rub in the graining color, very thin; at once make the 
 mottles, with the fitch and some darkened color; 
 the mottles may also be formed by means of the 
 mottler brush, which removes some of the color, and 
 then the work may be blended lightly. After this 
 the growths of the wood may be put in with the fitch 
 and piped overgrainer. Blend the work at once, and 
 it is done. | 
 
 Cherry always looks best when overgrained, and 
 by carefully studying a sample of the real wood much 
 
Imitation of Different Woods QI 
 
 more will be learned concerning its features than can 
 be told in print. 
 
 IMITATION OF CURLY BIRCH 
 
 Birch, red and white, is made to imitate mahogany 
 by staining, and whenever it is intended to look like 
 another wood the curly red variety is preferred. 
 Both the white and red birch look well in a natural 
 finish, and many finishers think the wood is spoiled 
 by staining. With these facts in mind the learner 
 will want to imitate the curly red wood as it appears 
 when finished natural, and not stained. For this 
 purpose the ground color is somewhat the same as 
 that for cherry, and the graining color is likewise as 
 for cherry, except that it is not so red a cast, the 
 ~siennas being more subdued with burnt umber. 
 Raw sienna modified with the umber will give the 
 best color for imitating the natural, unstained wood. 
 Rub the color in, and let the ground be a mere glaze. 
 The mottles seen on the natural wood are slightly 
 darker than the ground, and these may be laid in with 
 the fitch, using the graining color, modified with 
 burnt umber. Blend the mottles lightly across, and 
 then put in the grain with the small bristle pencil, 
 while the rest of the grain may be done with the comb 
 or the overgrainer. Take a rag and wipe out the 
 lights as they appear in the real wood, and then 
 pencil in the heart growths. 
 
 This wood may also be imitated with water colors, 
 
92 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 the procedure being pretty much the same as with 
 oil color. In either case, oil or water color, apply a 
 glaze at the end of the job. 
 
 You will notice in the natural wood that the 
 mottles are irregular in form and position, hence they 
 must appear in that way in graining. 
 
 IMITATION OF ROSEWOOD 
 
 Red orange to black are the predominant colors 
 seen in this remarkable hardwood. The ground color 
 is orange red, made from orange chrome and red lead, 
 with some white lead. The graining color is composed 
 of Vandyke brown and drop-black, with rose pink. 
 The graining color is rubbed out pretty thin, the work 
 being done in distemper colors. If you have a 
 sample of the real wood to work from you will see 
 that the ground shows up in large areas, and that the 
 grain is very dark, and yet so blended with the lighter 
 color that the effect is that of solidity and uniformity. 
 The sponge is good here for wiping out the light parts, 
 while the dark parts may be put in by means of the 
 pencil. This is then blended. As the wood some- 
 times shows rather pink in places the fitching in of 
 some rose pink is advised. When this has been done 
 the overgrainer may be used, but not until the pre- 
 vious work has become dry. Use drop-black for the 
 overgraining, using it thin, and then blend with the 
 badger blender. 
 
Imitation of Different Woods 03 
 
 IMITATION OF BUTTERNUT 
 
 Sometimes called white walnut, for it resembles 
 black walnut a little in its growths, but it has no 
 
 . 
 
 Fig. 15.—Rosewood. 
 
 mottles, and less color and character. When the 
 
94 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 natural wood is nicely finished, as it is in the cabinet 
 shop, or stained, there is no finer effect seen in any: 
 other wood. ‘The ground color is made from white 
 lead, colored with raw umber and raw sienna. ‘This 
 color is quite pale, as the finish must be. It may be 
 done in either water or oil color. For the latter 
 process mix equal parts of the colors named, and 
 have the color thin, rubbing it out toa glaze. Stipple 
 this lightly with the rubbing-in brush. Put in the 
 lines and heart growths with the fitch or pencil, after 
 which lightly blend with the rubbing-in brush. Comb 
 out the finer grains and stipple. 
 
 In distemper the graining color is rubbed in, 
 leaving a mere glaze, followed at once by stipple. 
 Then put in the heart growths with the fitch or with 
 a crayon. The short-hair overgrainer is useful too 
 for putting in the straight grain work. Some say 
 that the crayon is better than the fitch. 
 
Chapter IX 
 
 THE GROUND COLORS, GRAINING COLORS, 
 AND THE TOOLS USED 
 
 THE ground for imitating a wood should approach 
 in effect the general color tone of the natural un- 
 finished wood, and if a little lighter than this it will 
 be well enough, for we can work up the darker tone 
 from the lighter. Not too light, though, and not too 
 dark. Experience and careful study of the natural 
 woods will result in giving you the proper color the 
 ground should be. 
 
 The ground should be made as smooth as possible, 
 and level also, for this will enable you to do much 
 better work than otherwise could be done. It is 
 well to strain the paint for the groundwork, and to 
 use the best lead and pigments. A little varnish in 
 the ground color is advisable, for it gives a hard and 
 smooth finish. If you are not careful when sand- 
 papering the ground color you may scratch it, and 
 these will show up under the graining. Use old worn 
 or very fine sandpaper, or fine steel wool. Little 
 sandpapering will be required where the paint has 
 been carefully prepared and strained, and carefully 
 applied, leaving no marks. 
 
 Select the finest pigments for making the graining 
 color with; some grainers take the dry pigments and 
 
 95 
 
96 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 prefer them to the best prepared colors. ‘This is 
 not well for the beginner, however, who will find the 
 high-grade oil colors on the market quite satisfactory 
 in every way. The most commonly used pigments 
 in graining are the umbers and siennas, and as there 
 are inferior grades of these pigments it is well to 
 mention the fact here; while the American umbers, 
 ochres, and siennas are stronger in tinting power than 
 the imported, they do not have as fine a color tone as 
 the latter. Buy the Italian siennas and the Turkey 
 umbers, and French yellow ochre. Either drop-black or 
 lampblack may be used in graining, but the former is 
 most generally used, as lampblack is greasy. Where 
 rose lake or rose pink are used, remember that the 
 former is weaker than the latter color, it being simply 
 a white base tinctured with the lake color; the lake 
 gives a far richer effect. But the rose lake, so called, 
 is useful in some kinds of graining, which will be found 
 explained in another part of this work. 
 
 For oil-color graining we have a standard for 
 mixing the thinning liquid, namely, 2 parts of raw 
 linseed oil and 3 parts of turpentine; to this add $ 
 pint of japan drier. Some add a little beeswax to the 
 thinners for the purpose of preventing the grained 
 work from falling flat, the wax holding it up. A little 
 less than one ounce of shredded beeswax to the above 
 formula may be used. Melt it and thin it out with 
 a pint of turpentine, shake well, then add to the 
 thinners, and again shake. ‘Turpentine dissolves wax 
 and keeps it in solution. Some grainers, perhaps 
 
Ground and Graining Colors; Tools Used 97 
 
 the most of them, do not use wax in the graining 
 color. You are advised to try it for yourself, and 
 thereby prove its value. Wax is not well under 
 varnish, and that is a reason for its rejection by some. 
 
 The wax acts as a megilp, which means a prepara- 
 tion intended to be added to paint or color, and to 
 do what we have just noted. If you try the wax or 
 megilp, do not use much at first, as little as you 
 think will do; if not enough, the quantity may be 
 gradually increased until you get the right admixture. 
 Wall advises not more than one ounce to the gallon 
 of graining color, dissolving it in turpentine and 
 stirring it in the graining color while warm. Japan 
 driers act as a meglip when too much is used. It 
 thickens and soon dries the color, so that it does not 
 have time to fall down. 
 
 Water-graining color also may be megilped with 
 soap and wax, mixed with the thinning color of water 
 and vinegar (it used to be beer and water). The 
 formula calls for } ounce of soap, cut or shredded, 
 and melted in 4 pint of hot water; also 4 ounce of 
 wax, shredded and melted in 4 pint of hot water, and 
 1 gill of strong vinegar. The whole is to be mixed 
 together and heated and shaken until perfect mixture 
 occurs. 
 
 The tools necessary to do a job of graining are 
 not many, and may be listed as follows: A set of 
 English steel graining combs, some of which should 
 have every alternate two teeth removed; a stippler 
 brush, both narrow and wide; large and small over- 
 
98 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 grainer brush; large and small mottler brush; a 
 badger hair blender; a piped overgrainer; a wide flat 
 rubbing-in brush; small flat bristle fitch or liner 
 brushes; sash tool; sponge; check roller, and some 
 clean soft cotton rags. The steel combs with teeth 
 removed are made by the grainer, who takes a coarse 
 and light comb and breaks off every other two teeth. 
 We should not omit mention of the duster brush for 
 cleaning off sanded work, etc. 
 
 Perhaps the most useful of tools to the grainer is 
 his set of steel combs, with the supplementary combs 
 
 Fig. 16. 
 
 of leather and rubber. The English steel combs - 
 remain, as they have been for many years, the best of 
 the kind. They are made from what is called blue 
 steel, the American combs being made from a softer 
 metal, and, of course, easily bent. These combs 
 
Ground and Graining Colors; Tools Used 99 
 
 consist of sets of 30 inches, assorted, 6, 9, and 12 
 teeth per inch, and 1, 2, 3, and 4 inches wide. The 
 
 combs are in a neat 
 and convenient steel 
 case, and when done 
 using combs they 
 should be cleaned 
 and returned to 
 their proper places 
 in the case. There 
 is a pliable leather 
 comb that comes in 
 sets of five combs, 
 assorted, 20 inches. 
 Another comb is 
 made from a fine 
 quality of rubber, 
 firmly set in wood 
 handles, as shown 
 in the illustration. 
 They are 3 inches 
 in length, with fine, 
 medium, and coarse 
 teeth. When order- 
 ing these combs it 
 should be stated 
 what kind of teeth 
 
 Fig. 17.—Rubber combs. 
 
 is desired, the medium being the most generally 
 used, though a full set of the sizes would be best. 
 A set comprises 12 combs, making 30 inches. 
 
too Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Then there is a very heavy rubber-toothed comb 
 with long teeth and with a bevel on them. This 
 comb, you will notice, has the teeth graduated from 
 coarse to very fine, by which you can produce a good 
 open-grain effect. They come in two sizes, 5 and 
 
 1 inches in length. There is still another rubber 
 comb which contains three sizes of teeth, fine, medium, - 
 and coarse, set in one handle, a very useful and 
 convenient set of combs. 
 
 The check roller prints in the fine little dashes seen 
 in some samples of oak, and it is one of the best of 
 
 Fig. 18. 
 
 modern tools. It is made of zinc disks 1% inches in 
 diameter. ‘The disks revolve on an axle, and receive 
 color from a brush, as shown in the cut. In width 
 these rollers run from 2 to 34 and 45 inches. The 
 roller may be bought with or without the brush, but 
 as the disks may be furnished with color from the 
 graining color brush it may not be considered neces- 
 sary to have one. 7 
 
 Now we come to the graining tools made of flexible 
 rubber, tools that would cause an ancient times 
 
Ground and Graining Colors; Tools Used 1o1 
 
 grainer, could he rise up and see them, gasp. But 
 they are useful, just the same. Made for household 
 use primarily, many amateur grainers find them a 
 boon in getting through with their task. The first 
 illustration herewith shows a handful of these tools, 
 a full set. The small cuts with the large one show 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 the concave and convex forms, designed for certain 
 parts of the work. These tools are made of a special 
 rubber composition which combines toughness with 
 great elasticity. The handles are of spring steel. 
 With this tool you can work with one hand, anywhere 
 that you can reach, and is said to be the only one 
 
1o2 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 that does. It is also flexible, as others are usually 
 not. This makes it conform readily to any uneven- 
 ness in the work, whether that of uneven parts, or 
 moldings, etc. Wherever you can get with a paint 
 brush you can get with this tool. The tools come 
 in sets of five, as shown in the illustration. No. 1 is 
 3 inches long, 15 inches in diameter, and corrugated. 
 No. 2 is 5 inthes long, 15 inches in diameter, and 
 corrugated. No. 3 is 3 inches long, 14 inches in 
 diameter, for veins. No. 4 is 5 inches long, 15 inches 
 in diameter, for veins. No. 5 is 5 inches long, 15 
 inches in diameter, for quartered oak. 
 
Chapter X 
 
 NOTES ON VARIOUS FORMS OF GRAINING 
 
 Owinc to the difficulty and expense in doing 
 graining by hand various devices have come into use 
 during the past and present time for doing this work 
 more expeditiously and at less cost in time and money. 
 It is only just to the practical grainer to say that he 
 still retains his ancient prestige in being the only 
 satisfactory machine on the market. Yet some very 
 good work can be done with the devices alluded to, 
 and particularly in the hands of expert grainers. 
 On large jobs and low-cost work they ought to help 
 him out. All graining devices have the objectionable 
 feature of want of variety, or fault of monotonous 
 repet tion. Moreover, with most of them one cannot 
 get into corners or other parts, in which case the 
 grainer has to finish out by hand, and that is not 
 satisfactory. But where the object is flat and without 
 obstructions there is little or no difficulty of this kind. 
 For example, the roller is very satisfactory on casket 
 work and on panels raised above the surface of the 
 work. In fact, a vast amount of such work is now 
 done with such devices. The most satisfactory de- 
 vice that the present writer has ever used is Cal- 
 low’s stencil plates, and of which there are a sufficient 
 
 number of designs as to almost if not entirely remove 
 103 
 
1o4 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 the objection of repetition. They are (or were, for I 
 hear nothing of them in recent years) made from thin 
 flexible copper plates, finely tempered, cut out in 
 stencil manner. One side of the plate is made so 
 that it does not touch every part of the ground work, 
 being slightly corrugated, which prevents it from 
 taking up any of the rubbed-in color, besides admit- 
 ting air between plate and surface of work. 
 
 After rubbing in the work in the usual manner the 
 plate is placed in position and then a coarse steel 
 comb, having every other tooth removed, and with a 
 piece of soft rag placed over it, is drawn over the 
 stencil, thus removing color from the openings, 
 making the desired growths. It should have been 
 said that before stenciling you should comb the 
 rubbed-in color. Now there is a way of varying the 
 figuring by either moving the stencil a little way up 
 or down, moving it gradually, the way you are wiping 
 out the grain, or in same direction; this gives a larger 
 growth; by reversing this operation, or moving the 
 stencil against the way you are wiping out the grain, 
 you get a smaller grain effect. The check roller is 
 useful in this work, as it is in most all oak work. I 
 am describing oak graining now. I never had stencil 
 plates for doing any other form of wood. A little 
 expert head work is a help; after all is done softly 
 blend against the heart growths. 
 
 The roller process was one of the earliest attempts 
 to do machine graining, and various forms of this 
 device have been constructed and used with more or 
 
Notes on Various Forms of Graining 105 
 
 less success. The one which we are about to des- 
 cribe is the best of any. It may be called a method 
 of printing on wood to represent natural wood growths. 
 
 The roller is made from strong, light, and well- 
 seasoned wood. It may be formed as a segment of a 
 circle, in rocker shape, or be made in this manner: 
 There is a shaft of wood that extends about 4 inches 
 beyond either side of the rocker, and in this shaft are 
 placed about a dozen $-inch spokes and around which 
 is bent a strip of g-inch of thin gum wood, which 
 forms the roller or rocker. The shaft is also the 
 handle on either side, for the two hands, and should 
 be made smooth. Fora large roller provide a circular 
 head of 1-inch board, which must be a little larger 
 in diameter than the roller. Cut the edges of the 
 heads true, and fasten down close to the roller; secure 
 the same firmly with bolts made to hook over the 
 spokes of the roller. Fasten the head down true, so 
 that it will form a flange of equal depth all around 
 the roller. Now turn the roller over and stop all 
 holes with plaster of Paris; the best way to do this is 
 to run the plaster all around the inside of the roller; 
 there must be no leaks. In the head of the roller, as 
 it stands upright, cut out three or four holes along 
 the edge of the head, about 1 by 2 inches, to admit the 
 composition and allow the air to escape. 
 
 Now take a long and smooth strip of zinc that will 
 be sufficient to enclose the roller, rub it well with 
 grease or oil, then place it around the roller, the 
 greased side in. Be sure to have the zinc well greased 
 
106. Standard Grainer, Stainer, and. Marbler 
 
 so that none of the composition will stick to it; apply 
 plenty of it,.and remove surplus with a rag. A very 
 large roller must have the zinc fastened with collar 
 bands. Draw the zinc around the heads of the 
 roller, and then pour in the composition through a 
 strainer. Let it stand twelve hours before removing 
 the zinc. 
 
 For doing small parts, as window sash, etc., make 
 the roller a little more in circumference -than the 
 length of the surface that is to be grained. This 
 roller may be the segment of a circle of wood, in 
 rocker form. A good plan for small rocker or roller 
 is to make a light wooden frame of the required size, 
 as a mold, set in plaster of Paris on a piece of zinc or 
 glass. Into this mold pour the composition, and on 
 top of the composition lay a piece of canvas. When 
 cool attach to roller or rocker, fastening the edges 
 and ends of the canvas with tacks. 
 
 The composition is made by taking 12 ounces of 
 raw linseed oil and heating to near the boiling-point; 
 ‘then add 1 ounce of chloride of sulphur; in another 
 vessel melt 2 pounds of the best white glue and add 
 to it 8 ounces of commercial glycerine. In dis- 
 solving the glue use as little water as possible. Now 
 mix well together by stirring. Another method: 
 Melt 27 parts of the best white glue, and add to it 12 
 parts of the best commercial glycerine; add also a 
 small quantity of molasses, and raw linseed oil. For 
 a roller weighing from 10 to 15 pounds use $ pint of 
 molasses and the same of oil. To test the composi- 
 
Notes on Various Forms of Graining 107 
 
 tion for consistency, cool a little of it; if it proves to 
 be too hard, add a little more glycerine; if too soft, 
 add a little more glue. Keep the composition hot, 
 and if it boils it will be the better for it. 
 
 To use the roller, prepare a sample board of the 
 wood you wish to imitate and print from, selecting as 
 good a sample as possible, with good margins. Oak 
 is, of course, the best wood for the purpose, though 
 any other wood having a deep pore can be success- 
 fully used. ‘The board should be 6 inches wider and 
 1 foot longer than the circumference of the roller. 
 Dress the wood carefully. Fasten thin strips all 
 around the board and extending an inch above the 
 board. Bore a 4-inch hole in one corner for use when 
 cleaning off the board. Now take a half-box of 
 concentrated lye and dissolve it in water, hot water 
 being best. Then pour it out on the board and let 
 it remain there about twenty minutes, after which 
 run it off and wash the board in clear water until not 
 a trace of lye remains. When the board is perfectly 
 dry smooth it with fine sandpaper. Then try the 
 board, applying color to ascertain whether the grain 
 is eaten out enough for the printing. If not, it will 
 have to be given the lye bath again. The lye eats 
 away all the softer parts of the wood, leaving only 
 the hard, which forms the grain and heart growths. 
 The printing board, when done, is like an etching. 
 
 The next thing to provide is a scraper, and it can 
 be made in the following manner: Take a piece of 
 clear white pine board, $-inch thick, 4 inches wide, 
 
108 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 and 12 inches long. In one edge of this board cut 
 an inch-deep groove. Set in this groove, with glue, 
 a firm piece of sole leather 15 inches wide and as long 
 as the board. Plane off the edge of the wood clear 
 down to the leather to a rather blunt, but perfectly 
 true, edge. With this tool you can remove the 
 surplus color from the roller-printing device. 
 
 Next is the printing or graining color. Water 
 colors cannot be used, the colors must be those that 
 are ground in japan. Let the printing color be a 
 little thicker than ordinary paint, strain it on to the 
 board, and spread it out evenly with the scraper, 
 with both hands pushing the scraper forward and 
 pressing down hard on it. A new board is difficult 
 to get a clean impression from, hence it is advised to 
 run it a few times before starting it on the real work 
 in hand. The pores of the wood should be level full 
 and the surface should be free of color; this will give 
 the best and clearest impression. After the board 
 has been in use for some time it will clean off nicely 
 by running over it once with color. Thin the japan 
 colors with turpentine, to form a paste, then add a 
 little boiled linseed oil to prevent the color from 
 becoming too dry on the board. 
 
 Having coated the impression board with the color, 
 take the roller in both hands; choose a point on the 
 roller to start from, then put the roller down on the 
 board; press evenly and firmly and roll it along the 
 board until a full revolution has been made, being 
 careful not to go beyond that point, for that would 
 
Notes on Various Forms of Graining 109 
 
 cause a lap on the roller. Now pick up the roller 
 without letting it slip on the board and place it care- 
 fully on the surface that is to be printed, beginning 
 with the same point of the roller that you began with 
 on the impression board. Roll firmly, evenly, stead- 
 ily, and don’t let the roller slip. This should give on 
 the prepared surface a perfect copy of the impression 
 board, in the same manner that printers get impres- 
 sions from wood-cuts or zinc etchings. 
 
 After making the impression required, clean off the 
 roller with a cloth made damp with benzine, then run 
 the board as before, taking another impression, and 
 so continue until you are done printing. Then clean 
 off the board with some benzine and a scrub-brush, to 
 remove every vestige of the printing color. If the 
 board is clogged with color you will have to soften it 
 with some lye, but don’t allow it to eat too long, for 
 that would do injury to the print. Finally, clean 
 off with water, let the board dry, then put it away 
 until wanted for use again. Clean the roller care- 
 fully with benzine and keep it in a cool place, for if 
 too warm the composition would soften. Otherwise 
 the composition will keep for a long time unim- 
 paired. 
 
 Transfer graining paper has long been in use, and 
 has some advantages over the more rigid forms of 
 grainers in that the paper can be placed in any part 
 of the work, no matter how small. The designs 
 shown on such paper are hardly such as the real wood 
 possesses, and are usually if not always coarse and 
 
110 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Se 
 
 ———— 2 
 
 SSS = ES 
 SS ee ieee oe 
 
 —— 
 
 = 
 ————— = <= : 
 SS ES LS ee 
 = met sg = 3 = SS 2 a 
 $35 Pees eS, = x 
 os = SS é SIS AS Se 5 
 = = LEAS’, é eS = aS 
 EMS ba ee 7 as = 
 =e AS ee, Z Soe NY 
 SS SS SSE ee SS 
 = = —— < = ZZ = | 
 = a 
 
 == 
 
 a 
 
 SS 
 
 = 
 
 = sat, = 
 SSS SSS SSS 
 SS = 
 
 == == 
 
 amet 
 
 <== 
 —=— 
 
 — = ss 
 
 j 
 Wh i 'y s, Mm 
 Nh fees j faescey, % WA 
 : Me ah 
 yay I; Yad A 4 
 ai fd 
 
 Wey Les 
 H(Cye AN 
 
Notes on Various Forms of Graining 111 
 
 unattractive. This paper is made in Germany, at 
 least all that I have ever seen bore that mark. 
 
 The directions for using this paper are as follows: 
 Cut the paper a little larger than the size required. 
 Place it face down on a clean surface and dampen the 
 back of it with a partly wet sponge in order to dampen 
 the water colors on the face of it. After soaking 
 thus for a few minutes it is ready to be transferred to 
 the surface that is to be done. The ground is the 
 usual prepared graining ground, and before printing 
 the design on it from the paper it is to be made moist 
 evenly all over; it must not be too wet. Place the 
 transfer downward on its face, against the moist 
 ground, just as in hanging wall-paper, and be careful 
 not to get any creases in it. Smooth the paper out, 
 rubbing it all over, then take off the paper, and softly 
 blend with the badger or other soft brush. Do this 
 at once after removing the wet paper. It is claimed 
 by the makers that one sheet of this paper will give 
 several printed copies, but this is doubtful. 
 
 The transfer paper is made to imitate marbles as 
 well as woods. That the work done by these transfers 
 can scarcely be distinguished from real wood or 
 marble may well be taken with a grain or two of salt. 
 The graining paper comes in lengths of a little more 
 than 8 yards, and in width a little over 2 feet. After 
 the transfers have been put on and have become dry 
 the surface of the work is to be smoothed lightly with 
 fine sandpaper, dusted off, and to insure greater 
 curability a coat of oil graining color should 
 
112 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 be glazed over it, followed by a coat or two of 
 varnish. 
 
 A painter correspondent of a trade journal speaks 
 of it as “‘the now universally used graining paper,” 
 and gives some instructions for using it on the raw 
 or bare wood. He says: 
 
 “On new clean pine finish for inside work put your 
 transfer paper on the bare wood, cut the paper the 
 proper size to fit the panels and stiles of doors or what- 
 ever your work may be and wet the paper on the 
 wrong side, let it soak for a while and press the paper 
 with the figured side on the surface of the wood you 
 wish to grain (you can take at least two transfers from 
 each paper) and when you have covered all the wood 
 work to be grained, go over the surface of all the wood 
 with light oak or dark oak stain, but this must be 
 very thin, as the pine wood takes up more stain than 
 any other wood used for inside finish. 
 
 ‘After your graining and staining, putty up with 
 well-matched putty and put on your shellac, then 
 one or two coats of varnish.” 
 
 The rubber graining roller first appeared a few 
 years ago, but the idea has been considerably elabo- 
 rated since then, until there now are several different 
 forms of them, capable of imitating many, if not all, 
 the different growths of natural woods. Like all 
 similar devices, the expert workman will be able to 
 do much better work with these than the housewife 
 or her man. A handful of these tools is given in the 
 annexed illustration. Specimens of the work they 
 
Notes on Various Forms of Graining 112 
 
 are capable of doing are shown in another illustration, 
 the numbers thereon relating to the tools similarly 
 numbered. Still another illustration shows the man- 
 ner of working the tool and the work it can do. 
 
 What is known as brush-graining is a cheap and 
 easy form of work that is useful where the woodwork 
 is old and in poor condition as to its surfaces. Such 
 buildings as residences, stores, public halls, schools, 
 etc., offer good fields for such work. The following 
 is the method of procedure: 
 
 Make the work as good as possible with a little 
 cleaning off and sandpapering, with whatever repairs 
 may be necessary. Then give it a coat of paint, or 
 two if necessary, though where there is plenty of 
 paint on the work, no matter what color, one coat 
 will do. This coat should be mixed from white lead 
 thinned with 1 part raw oil and 3 parts of turpentine, 
 which will give a rather flat surface, or egg-shell 
 gloss. The paint must be light in color, tinting the 
 lead with yellow ochre to a cream tint will do. When 
 dry, the graining color may be applied; this may be 
 a light oak or any color you choose. After the 
 graining color has been applied let it stand a little 
 while to become slightly set. Driers, of course, have 
 been added to the ground and graining colors. Then 
 grain the work. This is very simple and rather 
 primitive. You are advised to get an old whisk 
 broom and draw it down the surface like a comb, but 
 there is no intention to make the work look like any 
 wood. ‘The markings are to be straight or with very 
 
114 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 little wave. Always brush with the grain of the wood. 
 This is all there is to this form of graining. When 
 done and dry the finish may be with varnish or wax, 
 as desired. The following table gives suitable color 
 combinations for this kind of graining: 
 
 Ground. Graining Color. 
 Créanr Ot avorvine set some Raw sienna 
 Crean OC Ivory 27 eae Burnt sienna 
 Creani OrivOry scien Burnt umber 
 Cream or Whites, oy ure Dark chrome green 
 
 Whitev ut oaNace aoe oe Blue black 
 
Chapter XI 
 
 SOME PRACTICAL GRAINING NOTES 
 
 How to Make Crayons.—Ordinary crayons are a 
 commercial product, and such as can be used for 
 graining or marbling should be purchased. Usually 
 these crayons are made on a whiting base, colored 
 with certain dry pigments and bound with some form 
 of glutinant. It is difficult to make a good lake or 
 carmine crayon, the lake inclining to a carmine tint, 
 and carmine to a vermilion tint. Prussian blue 
 causes the whiting to pack too hard, hence it is 
 difficult to make a blue crayon soft enough; spirits, 
 instead of water, is used for this crayon. For brown 
 crayons, brown ochre, either alone or mixed with 
 carmine, is good. The siennas and umbers are 
 useful also for graining and marbling. Prussian 
 blue, ground in spirit, and mixed with pulverized 
 lake, gives a good purple. For a black crayon lamp- 
 black is the best pigment, as all other blacks are 
 liable to mildew. Good combinations are carmine 
 and lamp-black, vermilion and black, and Prussian 
 blue and black. Whiting and lampblack give gray 
 tints. 
 
 The grainer and marbler should have a box about 
 12 inches square, containing nine compartments, to 
 hold the crayons. In one have the black and gray 
 
 115 
 
116 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 crayons; these being the least frequently used; in the 
 next have the blues; in the third place the greens 
 and browns; and so on, with carmines, lakes, ver- 
 milions, deep reds, yellow, and orange, etc. 
 
 To make graining and marbling crayons take pipe 
 clay and the color and mix both together; then have 
 ready some strong hot soapsuds, and mix with the 
 clay and color until like putty in consistency; roll it 
 out on a board to a thickness of about % inch; with a 
 broad-bladed knife cut it into strips of about % inch, 
 making the crayon a little less than 4 inch square 
 when dry. 
 
 For oak graining the crayon should be made with 
 such colors as are used in graining, say, raw sienna 
 and a little umber, and so on with the rest. 
 
 Graining Piano Stools——In the piano factories 
 these stools are made in large numbers, and to grain 
 them in the usual manner, by hand work, involves 
 too much time, which means expense. The stool is 
 made to match the piano casein color or wood. ‘Thus, 
 to match walnut burl veneer apply a liquid made 
 from burnt umber, dry, for the color, and thin with 
 vinegar to which add some sugar as binder; an ounce 
 of sugar to the pint of vinegar will do. This liquid 
 is to stand a day before using. When ready to go 
 to work provide yourself with a pail of water and a 
 soft coarse sponge, the water to wash out the sponge 
 occasionally. First wet the sponge in clear water 
 and wring it out as dry as you can, then dip it into 
 
Some Practical Graining Notes 117 
 
 the graining color, when it is ready for the work of 
 dabbing it on, to make the mottled appearance of 
 the burl. This is all that is to be done in the way of 
 graining; when dry the stool is dipped in a mixture 
 composed of 1 part each of varnish and brown japan, 
 2 parts of turpentine. The next day apply a coat of a 
 surfacer made as follows: A gallon each of varnish 
 and brown japan, 1 quart of turpentine, } pint of 
 asphaltum, and 10 pounds of powdered silica. Do 
 not make this too dark; it is to coat the white wood 
 between the grained figures. The next day the 
 stools are dipped in varnish, this one coat being 
 sufficient finish. 
 
 The foregoing applies only to the part below the 
 seat, but the seats were done in pretty much the same 
 manner, only that the varnish was applied by a brush, 
 with a coat of shellac in place of the dip coat after 
 the graining. The legs and under parts of the piano 
 made to match the veneered top by means of the 
 printing roll, already described. 
 
 Graiming Teak.—This fine wood is done in water 
 color, the ground color being composed of white lead,. 
 Venetian red, and yellow ochre, some adding a little 
 chrome yellow. An expert advises a little burnt 
 umber also, not enough to darken the color, but to 
 modify the red and yellow. The color will be rather 
 dull when mixed, but it will show up bright enough 
 under the graining. Mix with equal amounts of oil 
 and turpentine. The graining color may be mixed 
 
118 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 on a board or palette, making it rather stiff, thinning 
 with the usual water-color thinners. The ground is 
 stippled, using a thin wash of Vandyke brown, making 
 a fine stipple. The growths are very plain and simple, 
 and are made with the fitch, while the plain lines on 
 the sides are made by drawing the badger blender, 
 using the flat part, hard against the work, dragging 
 it down sharp; or use the overgrainer. Blend at once. 
 Some stipple the work after the growths have been 
 put in, beginning at the bottom and working up. Or 
 stipple with the badger brush. When this method 
 is used the work should then be softly blended up- 
 ward. After this the heart is put in with the pencil. 
 We have given two methods, and would add that the 
 work may be done in oil, but the stipple will have to 
 be done in water color. 
 
 Circassian Walnut.—The ground color for this wood 
 is drabby, to match the lightest color of the wood. 
 It is best done in water colors. Use thin color, and 
 use the sponge for making the open places. The 
 dark parts seen in the wood may be formed with a 
 part-worn sash tool. The graining color is made 
 from raw umber and drop-black, used in varying 
 proportions to match the variety of shades and 
 shadows seen. 
 
 Graining a Maple Door.—There is not much variety 
 to be obtained in either the ground or color of maple. 
 In a mass of work a little may be made by means of 
 
Some Practical Graining Notes 119 
 
 different tinted grounds, or the graining color may 
 be made a little darker, redder, or blacker in parts. 
 A good effect can be secured by graining in black. 
 The varnish over this shows a very attractive greenish 
 tint, which may be suited to certain schemes of 
 decoration. Raw sienna and black offer another 
 change of color, but the most useful color is Vandyke 
 brown. An ordinary four-panel door may be set 
 out and grained in the following manner: Make the 
 ground white and the graining color Vandyke brown; 
 penciling and eyes in burnt sienna; overgraining in 
 Vandyke. Work on the four panels to be figured, 
 with single or treble lights. Eyes to be put in with 
 burnt sienna and veined with a red crayon or pencil. 
 Lock rail, figured, double lights, and veined like the 
 panels. Top rail, plain mottling; bottom rail, irregu- 
 lar or broken mottling; middle and outer side rails, 
 with a few eyes at top or bottom and broken away 
 into plain mottling. Run the 4-inch overgrainer 
 over all the stiles, but pencil in the lock rail. Do the 
 rails, except the lock rail, same as the stiles. 
 
 SOME GRAINING NOTES 
 
 Don’t use a stub brush for rubbing in. 
 
 Use a flat, rather than a round, brush for rubbing 
 in with. 
 
 Keep everything clean, pots and tools. 
 
 Make your ground color egg-shell gloss. 
 
 The colors used in graining should be ground | as 
 fine and smooth as butter. 
 
120 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Three thin coats of paint for the ground are better 
 than two heavy coats. 
 
 Brush out the ground color evenly and leave no 
 brush marks on it. 
 
 Boiled oil is preferred by some to the raw in making 
 the graining color. 
 
 Graining color should always be strained before 
 using, and the same with the paint for the ground. 
 
 Before graining sandpaper the ground lightly with 
 fine or worn sandpaper, but be careful not to make 
 any scratch-marks, which will show through. 
 
 Let the grained work stand at least three days 
 before varnishing it, and a longer time will do 
 better. 
 
 The same with the graining ground, let it stand a 
 few days before graining on it. 
 
 Make the ground as light as the lightest part of the 
 wood you are going to imitate. 
 
 Use a little megilp in the graining color; some use 
 wax, others prefer whiting. 
 
 Whiting affects certain pigments, hence cannot 
 always be used as a megilp. Soap does very well. 
 
 For thinning graining color use turpentine 4 gallon, 
 boiled oil 2} quarts, and driers about 4 pint. 
 
 When the graining color creeps in cold weather, add 
 a little alcohol to the pot of graining color. Stir it 
 well and add a little drier. 
 
 When varnish creeps in cold weather on the surface 
 of the grained work, coat it over with benzine, and 
 the varnish will flow and stay put. 
 
Some Practical Graining Notes 121 
 
 Some expert grainers prefer an old kalsomine brush 
 for rubbing in color. 
 
 When making up the liquid for water-color grain- 
 ing, using vinegar and water, add some sugar to it. 
 
 The best finish on an outside door, exposed to 
 ‘the weather, and grained, is raw oil with a little drier 
 in it; apply freely and rub it well into the ground work, 
 and leave no surplus on the surface. Some add a 
 little turpentine to the oil and driers. 
 
PART THE SECOND 
 
 ART OF WOOD STAINING 
 Chapter XII 
 
 THE IMITATION OF WOODS WITH STAINS 
 
 Woop staining dates farther back into the historic 
 past than graining, and today has a much greater 
 vogue, especially in manufacturing fields, where 
 - graining never has had a prominent part, and today 
 ‘less than ever. Back in the early seventies, or 
 earlier, painted and grained furniture had quite a 
 vogue, and in our present day it has been revived 
 to some extent. Such vogues are to be attributed 
 to the desire of people to have change, which is, of 
 course, at the bottom of all changes and fashions. 
 
 It must be remembered, however, that in former 
 days there were but few woods used in making furni- 
 ture and for house finishing, as compared with the 
 present, nor was the art of wood finishing so well 
 known. As for staining of wood, it was little done. 
 Wood filling and staining dates back about fifty 
 years only, or within memory of living workmen. 
 
 In the meantime great improvements have been made 
 123 
 
124 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 both in methods and materials used, and a greater 
 variety of woods are being used for finishing by filling 
 and staining. 
 
 Staining may be considered as a brother to the art 
 of graining, so that a part of this book will be devoted 
 to that subject, but filling and varnishing will not 
 be considered, nor anything but the mere use and 
 nature of stains. The other subjects more properly 
 belong to wood finishing, concerning which subject. 
 there is an excellent work now in print. 
 
 Wood stains may be derived from both the vegetable 
 and mineral kingdoms. Certain barks, roots, woods, 
 and plants furnish coloring-matters of great beauty 
 and value, the latter because of great stability, a 
 quality lacking in many colors that are otherwise 
 obtained, but the most used of colors, from the. 
 stainer’s standpoint, as well as from that of the 
 grainer and house painter, are the mineral colors, 
 such as sienna, umber, Vandyke brown, etc. Then 
 there are the chemically prepared colors, such as 
 green, yellow, Prussian blue, etc., with lampblack 
 and drop-black. Then science has given us an 
 endless variety of colors from coal-tar, now known as 
 aniline dyes, which, very beautiful indeed, are lacking 
 in stability. 
 
 In the preparation of any of these pigments we 
 must use a liquid to mix them with. Some of them 
 are best adapted to water as a thinner, or as ap- 
 plicable to the wood. Others are more useful when 
 mixed with oil or turpentine, or one of several other 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 125 
 
 liquids. We find that the umbers and siennas and 
 Vandyke brown do better when mixed with oil. 
 The vegetable stains, little used, are generally mixed 
 in water. Water stain is more penetrating than oil 
 stain, but has the serious fault of raising the grain 
 of the wood. It gives a more solid coloring because 
 it carries the pigment into the wood, whereas oil 
 stain does not act so, but holds some of the pigment 
 on the surface. Oil stain brushes out well on soft 
 woods, while water stains do not. Turpentine stain 
 is absorbed by the wood too quickly to give an equal 
 distribution of the color. Oil stain does not penetrate 
 well on hard woods. Water stain does much better. 
 Turpentine stain carries the pigment well into the 
 wood, but is more costly than water. 
 
 The aniline stains used in wood staining are known 
 as water soluble; the oil-soluble stains are not so 
 used. There are water-soluble, oil-soluble, and alco- 
 hol-soluble anilines. The usual formula for a water 
 stain is an ounce of the aniline to the quart of hot 
 water. Pour the water over the aniline, and stir it 
 with a wooden paddle. Do not place the stain in a 
 metal vessel; use glass, porcelain, or glazed vessel. 
 To prepare alcohol aniline stain place the dye in a 
 vessel and pour over it a quart of alcohol. Shake it 
 now and then for a few hours, then filter it into a 
 bottle. When filtering it place a saucer over it to 
 retard evaporation. 
 
 In using aniline stains they must be applied quickly 
 and deftly in order to cover the object you are 
 
126 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 staining uniformly and avoid a cloudy effect. The 
 larger the surface, the more difficult to do this. Spirit 
 stain is more difficult to spread than water stain. 
 A small sponge is useful in applying such stains, 
 though a wide, flat, soft hair brush is mostly used. 
 Immediately after applying the Stain wipe it off with 
 a rag in order to show the figures of the wood more 
 distinctly. 
 
 The stain may be made lighter in tone by dilution 
 with water or alcohol, as the case may be, and darker 
 by applying two coats. Certain woods require two 
 coats to give the best effect. Before staining on 
 soft, spongy wood, or wood with soft places in it, 
 give it a thin coat of shellac. Some woods need to 
 be bleached to look right. This is done by mixing a 
 wash as follows: 
 
 Tin chloride: 2... 2 8 ounces 
 soda crystals). uae 1 ounee 
 Water... Sin oar eee 5 pints 
 
 Apply this, and in a few minutes apply a wash of 
 dilute sulphuric acid, follow this with washing off 
 with clear water, let dry, then apply the stain. 
 
 In using water stains on raw wood the grain of the 
 wood will rise unless it is a hard, compact wood, and 
 when this occurs, let it dry, then lightly rub off with 
 fine sandpaper. Or first wet the wood, let it dry, 
 then sandpaper it. In the first case there is danger 
 of spoiling the staining with the sandpaper unless 
 very deftly done. An expert tells us that his plan is 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 127 
 
 to coat first with benzine 5 parts and raw linseed oil 
 1 part. Some add a little glycerine or castor oil to 
 alcohol stains. This will retard the drying of the 
 stain a little, and may prove a trouble in the shel- 
 lacking and varnishing. A tablespoonful of castor 
 oil to the quart of stain is the rule. Allow extra time 
 for the drying of a stain containing these retardants. 
 A finish like Flemish oak, for instance, will do very 
 well with stains containing the oil or glycerine, as it 
 does not have to be filled or varnished. A table- 
 spoonful of Venice turpentine would be less objection- 
 able; a tablespoonful to the pint of stain. 
 
 The woods differ in the matter of taking stain. 
 For instance, maple can easily be stained gray. Oak 
 will not give the right gray color with stain, as its 
 natural color tends to give the gray stain a greenish 
 tone under the wax. Light gray stain on oak is 
 liable to yellow, this is especially true where aniline 
 dye is used. All woods stained with such metallic 
 salts as potassium chromate, copper sulphate, etc., 
 assume a brownish tone in time. 
 
 Some anilines are more or less light-proof, and 
 when mixing a stain try to secure such. When two 
 or more aniline colors are to be mixed together have 
 all as near light-proof as possible. To illustrate, if a 
 brown stain is mixed from black, yellow and red, 
 and the red is less light-proof than the other two 
 colors, the stained wood will gradually assume a much 
 lighter shade than desirable. It all depends on the 
 preponderance of some color in the dye whether the 
 
128 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 finish will show one shade or some other. If in a 
 brown color red is in excess, the final shade will be 
 reddish brown. ‘The modern greenish-brown shades 
 similar to the fumed finish are usually mixed with 
 green, and green deadens all colors. If too much of 
 it is used the shade will have too deep a greenish hue, 
 and the red may be used to offset the green. 
 
 Most colors may be made by using the primaries— 
 red, yellow, and blue. Since the blues are, however, 
 less light-proof than the others, they are avoided 
 wherever possible, other colors being substituted. 
 
 It is impossible to get exactly the same color on a 
 wood with the same stain. A piece. of furniture will 
 show considerable differences in shades in the various 
 parts, though the fact is not so very apparent in the 
 finished product. You would easily see them if you 
 could place the different parts side by side. The 
 reason for such difference lies in the wood itself. 
 Boards from the one log will show this difference, and 
 it is impossible to get the same shade over the entire 
 surface. This fact is stated for the benefit of stainers 
 who may feel inclined to blame the stain, when it is 
 more likely to be due to the wood. ; 
 
 Aniline stains leave the pores of the wood lighter 
 than the rest of the wood; remedy this by waxing 
 the stained surface, but do not apply too much wax; 
 as that will make the pores too dark, and the surface 
 of the work will assume a dirty brown effect... 2015 
 
 fan Sik 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 129 
 
 VARIOUS STAINS 
 
 Brown Stains.—Strong acids act upon wood as fire, 
 burning it, and the resultant stain is a brown. ‘Thus, 
 with diluted sulphuric acid, the amount of dilution 
 regulating the depth of the brown color. After it 
 has been applied, watch its action, and when it has 
 produced the desired shade of color wanted, arrest 
 its action by an application of ammonia-water. Use 
 a hog bristle brush in applying the acid. 
 
 Various browns may be produced by mordanting 
 the wood with bichromate of potash; the stain is 
 made from fustic or logwood solution. 
 
 Alcohol stains are usually fugitive. Here is a 
 formula for making such a stain: Take 1 ounce each 
 of aloes and dragon’s blood and § ounce of alkanet 
 root; let these digest in 1 pint of alcohol: The wood 
 must first be coated (mordanted) with an acid. 
 
 Tincture of iodine gives a fine brown stain on wood, 
 but the color is not permanent. A coat of varnish, 
 however, tends to preserve the color from fading. 
 This stain is feasible only where some small object 
 is to be colored. 
 
 Benzo-brown aniline, 3 parts, and table salt, 10 
 parts, gives a good brown stain. As also Bismarck 
 brown 1 part, sulphate of soda 18 parts, and nigrosine 
 + part (the latter may be omitted if preferred), dis- 
 solved in hot water to the desired strength. 
 
 A good cheap brown stain that will be found useful 
 for staining floors may be made by dissolving 7 ounce 
 
130 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 of permanganate of potash in 1 quart of water; the 
 water must be hot when mixing and when applying 
 it. Apply it liberally. At first the color is a bright 
 magenta red, but it soon changes to a brown. Two 
 coats will give a darker tone. When it is dry finish 
 with wax or boiled linseed oil. 
 
 Put a pound of Vandyke brown in a gallon of hot 
 water and boil it until the quantity has been reduced 
 to two-thirds. Mix 2 ounces of potash in hot water 
 enough to melt it, then mix it with the stain. Two 
 or more coats, as desired, to give deeper color. 
 
 Sulphate of iron in solution with water gives a 
 yellowish brown. 
 
 Boil 1 ounce of catechu with 30 parts of water, and 
 add a little bicarbonate of soda. Apply the stain, 
 and when dry apply 1 part of bichromate of soda in 
 30 parts of water-wash. By a little difference in the 
 method of treatment, and by varying the strength of 
 the solution, this will give various shades of brown. 
 This stain is permanent and also tends to preserve 
 the wood. 
 
 Black Stains.—The following stain may be applied 
 to almost any wood: Boil 1 ounce of logwood extract 
 in 3{ pints of water, and when the dye has been 
 entirely boiled out of the extract take the liquid and 
 add to it 1 dram of yellow chromate of potash, and 
 then shake the mixture. The color at first will be 
 purple, but it quickly becomes black. This stain 
 also makes a fairly good writing ink. 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 131 
 
 Brazil wood 1 part and water 5 parts, boiled with 
 15 per cent. of alum, gives a good black. For a very 
 deep black, first mordant the wood with iron solution, 
 then apply the stain. 
 
 Take nigrosine black aniline 4 ounces and dissolve 
 in boiling water. A denser solution will give a deeper 
 black, or even jet black. 
 
 Apply a coat of hot logwood solution, let it dry, 
 then give it another coat of the dye. When this is 
 dry, apply an iron solution, which will act upon the 
 logwood stain and yield a dense black. It may be 
 finished with wax, rubbing the wax with raw linseed 
 oil, or it may be left as stained. 
 
 Boil together powdered nutgalls and Brazil wood 
 in soft water until the liquid becomes black, then 
 filter it, and apply it hot to the wood. Give the wood 
 as many coats as will be necessary to produce a good 
 black; then apply a coat of acetate of iron solution. 
 Then if to this is added a solution of nitric acid 
 solution, with a little verdigris, the durability of the 
 stain will be improved. Finally, apply a decoction 
 of nutgalls and logwood. 
 
 Break up 1 ounce of nutgalls and pour over them 
 + pint of strong vinegar; after this has stood thirty 
 minutes add 1 ounce of iron filings which will cause 
 the vinegar to effervesce. Cover it, but do not 
 exclude all air. Let it stand about thirty minutes 
 and it will be ready for use. Apply as many coats as 
 necessary to give the depth of color desired. Keep 
 it in a tightly stoppered bottle. 
 
132 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Black Stains for New Furniture.—Of all the various 
 methods for producing a black stain on wood perhaps 
 the best chemical substance to use is sulphide of 
 soda, or of potash, in the lump. It gives a fast 
 black, one ‘that is superior to that produced with 
 acetate of iron or tannic acid. ‘The first application 
 of sulphide of soda or potash must be left to dry about | 
 two days before applying the second coat. It gives 
 an intense black. 
 
 Boil 1 pound of logwood chips in 2 quarts of water 
 for one hour, and use by applying it while hot; when 
 dry, repeat the application. Then dissolve 1 ounce 
 of copperas in 1 quart of water, or make it stronger 
 if you wish, and then apply it. Exposure to air will 
 deepen the black, which will be intense. For the 
 finish make a size with dry lampblack and glue, 
 melting the glue in water, and making the black size 
 very thin. Smooth with fine or worn sandpaper, 
 then take some thin shellac varnish and add some 
 black to it, slightly darkening it, and using alcohol to 
 thin it out. Another way is to add drop-black to 
 copal varnish, applying two coats. The finish may 
 be either dull or gloss. 
 
 Ebony Stain.—For hardwood apply two coats of 
 nigrosine black stain, and fill the wood with black 
 filler; smooth with fine sandpaper, then apply a coat 
 of ivory drop-black, ground in japan, and thin with 
 turpentine; when dry apply varnish, which polish. 
 
 Two pounds of logwood chips, $ pound of copperas, 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 133 
 
 4 ounces of dry drop-black, and 1 pound of logwood 
 extract; boil four hours in 2 quarts of water; strain, 
 and add 1 ounce of powdered nutgalls. 
 
 Nutgalls 14 ounces, ground logwood 33 ounces, and 
 verdigris 1% ounces. Apply one coat and let it dry. 
 Then apply two or three coats of iron acetate, in 
 solution. 
 
 Lignum Vite.——The best woods for staining to 
 match this wood are sycamore and beech. Apply a 
 hot decoction of madder, let it dry, then give it a wash 
 of sulphuric acid, diluted, and then when the desired 
 depth of color has arrived, wash off with clear water. 
 
 Red Ebony.—Sycamore first, then beech, as the 
 best woods for staining red ebony. Mordant the 
 wood with alum in solution; apply it hot. When 
 dry, apply a hot solution of Brazil wood. When dry, 
 apply a cold solution of iron acetate. 
 
 The best woods for ebonizing are such as have a 
 fine grain, close, dense, and hard. Many esteem pear 
 wood as the best, but apple, sycamore, and hazelwood 
 are very suitable too. 
 
 Walnut Siains.—Mix together equal parts of raw 
 umber and Vandyke brown to a paste with ammonia- 
 water. Reduce with water to the usual staining 
 consistency. Burnt umber with a portion of drop- 
 black also gives a good walnut color, or burnt umber 
 alone. 
 
134 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler. 
 
 Make up a mordant of permanganate of potash, 
 1 ounce, in 1 quart of water. Apply,.and when dry 
 apply a coat of solution made from 1 ounce of pow- 
 dered nutgalls mixed with 4 ounces of potash and a 
 little Vandyke brown for color, so that there will be 
 altogether 1 quart of stain. 
 
 Mix together 2 quarts of boiled linseed oil, 1 quart 
 of best brown japan, and 2 quarts of turpentine; 
 add 2 pounds of burnt umber, ground in oil. A 
 deeper color may be obtained by adding 3 pound of 
 either drop-black or Vandyke. Get a lighter color 
 by adding 8 ounces of burnt sienna to the first formula. 
 
 A light walnut stain may be made with 1 ounce of 
 permanganate of potash dissolved in 30 ounces of 
 soft water; apply two coats at intervals of five 
 minutes. Wash off with clear water, and when dry, 
 oil and polish. 
 
 A dark walnut stain may be had by following the 
 above formula, and after washing with clear water 
 make dark veins in the wood with iron acetate in 
 solution, using a soft-hair pencil. 
 
 A cheap walnut stain may be made by dissolving 
 dry burnt umber in vinegar; then mix a pound of 
 dry Venetian red with a pint of asphaltum varnish 
 and a quart of turpentine, adding this to the vinegar 
 and iron solution. 
 
 White pine or any white wood will take walnut 
 stain well. Permanganate of potash gives a good 
 walnut on such woods, while the grain seen in the 
 real walnut may be nicely imitated with a soft hair 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 135 
 
 pencil and acetate of iron in a vinegar solution. 
 Privit berries, 2 ounces in a pint of water, } pint, 
 give a good walnut. Walnut hulls also yield a fine 
 walnut stain. 
 
 To a gallon of shellac varnish a pound of dry burnt 
 umber and 4 ounces of dry lamp-black. Sift these 
 together, then stir into the thin shellac. Apply 
 one coat, let it dry, sandpaper lightly, and finish with 
 shellac or copal varnish. It is useful for many 
 purposes, and largely used for doing the backs of 
 mirrors. 
 
 Cherry Stains.—Bismarck brown gives a fine warm 
 cherry; 1 ounce in 2 quarts of boiling water, to which 
 add § gill of strong vinegar. Apply it freely, and if 
 too dark, thin it with water. 
 
 A cheap cherry stain may be made from a pound of 
 burnt sienna, dry, mixed with 1 pint of vinegar. 
 Apply freely and wipe off when done. 
 
 Mix 2 pounds of burnt sienna and 1 pound of raw 
 sienna, ground in oil, in 2 quarts of boiled oil, and a 
 quart each of brown japan and turpentine. 
 
 NOTES ON STAINING PIGMENTS 
 
 For the best results, where siennas and umbars are 
 mentioned in formulas, use the imported, Italian 
 sienna and Turkey umber. For certain cheap stains 
 the American siennas and umbers can be used. ‘They 
 cost less, and are very strong in coloring power, but 
 have a less brilliant color tone. 
 
136 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Even imported siennas and umbers will vary, so 
 that there can be no standard for color tone. Some 
 siennas in particular are either darker or lighter 
 than others. But all should be ground very fine. 
 
 The following table gives the equivalents of water 
 colors in aniline stains or dyes: 
 
 Water Colors. Aniline Colors. 
 Sap Green olivine aro ee Naphthol Green 
 Emerald Green sists > beeen Emerald and Malachite 
 Scarlet: seo Fer eee Eosin and Bierich Scarlet 
 Wioletcke. 3 Ua. wlth Cee Methyl Violet and Gallein 
 Burnt Siena. sae Bismarck Brown 
 Ultramerine.]- 1. eee Cotton Blue, Alkali Blue 
 SkysBlue 25. sett eee Methylene-blue 
 Lemon “Yellowwge eae Picric Acid 
 Golden *Yellaw 2.-22s .4 ae Naphthol Yellow 
 Wagentate eer ec eee Magenta 
 Cadmium’ Orange... 42.02 Phosphine, Aurantia 
 Crinison dakess en cee Congo Red 
 
 STAINING OAK Woops 
 
 Matching Brown Oak.—When common oak is to be 
 made to look like brown or pollarded oak use a stain 
 made from 1 ounce of bichromate of potash dissolved 
 in 5 pints of soft water; this gives a weak stain, but 
 it is strong enough for the purpose; if not, then use 
 more potash. Use a soft sponge to apply it. 
 
 Weathered Oak.—Make a solution of equal parts of 
 water and iron sulphate or iron acetate. Or, dis- 
 solve an ounce of bichromate of potash in a pint of 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 137 
 
 water, and apply alternately with the other solution. 
 Each coat should be dry before applying the next. 
 
 Or, dissolve 2 ounces each of potash and pearlash 
 in 1 quart of water; use alternately with a solution 
 of either iron acetate or iron sulphate. 
 
 Take of powdered ivory drop-black and Vandyke 
 brown equal parts and make into paste with alcohol; 
 make it a stiff mass, after which add a little shellac 
 varnish, then it will be ready for thinning. 
 
 Add a little Bismarck brown to nigrosine black, 
 and add water to reduce to a stain. Or use alcohol 
 in place of water, if you wish, for this will prevent 
 raising of grain. The shellac is a binder for the 
 stain and also gives a semidead finish without further 
 finish. For red oak make a stain more on the blue- 
 black order. An oilstain may be made from Vandyke 
 and drop-black in oil, thinned with equal parts of oil 
 and turpentine, or with only turpentine, or with 
 benzine and driers. 
 
 Bog Oak.—Dissolve 2 ounces of permanganate of 
 potash in 1 quart of boiling water; when cold add 
 to it 1 ounce of verdigris that has been dissolved in 
 vinegar or acetic acid. To deepen the color add 
 more verdigris; to lighten, add potash solution. 
 
 To make bog oak on white oak, dissolve an ounce 
 of verdigris in a pint of ammonia-water. 
 
 Mix a pound of burnt umber, dry, and 2 ounces of 
 chemically pure chrome green, light shade, dry, 
 with a gallon of 95 per cent. alcohol, and shake 
 
138 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 occasionally; after standing twenty-four hours add 
 a pint of shellac varnish, and strain through a fine- 
 meshed sieve. 
 
 Mission Oak.—Break up 2 pounds of drop-black, 
 ground in oil, and add an ounce of rose pink, in oil, 
 with 4 pint of the best brown japan, thinning the 
 mass with 3 pints of turpentine, and then straining 
 it through cheese-cloth. Colors ground in japan 
 give a quicker drying stain, but in such case omit 
 the brown japan and use instead a little varnish for 
 a binder. A gill of copal will do. 
 
 Here is a similar process: Mix together boiled oil 
 and asphaltum varnish in equal proportions. It is 
 applied with a brush, as a stain. In a few minutes 
 rub it off with a cloth, removing surplus stain, and 
 then, when dry, it may be varnished. 
 
 Flemish Oak.—The wood is not to be filled, and 
 the stain is black. Nigrosine black makes the stain, 
 and for quick work, as for picture-frame makers, 
 alcohol may be used to thin with. Two coats can 
 then be applied within an hour. 
 
 Or thin up some japan black with turpentine, with 
 a little coach varnish for a binder. Or, dissolve 
 4 ounces of seal brown aniline in 1 gallon of boiling 
 water, and when cold add 4 ounces of strong vinegar. 
 It requires several coats of this to give a black of 
 some depth. Nigrosine black may be used in place 
 of seal brown. 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 139 
 
 Light and Dark Oaks.—A light oak stain may be 
 made with 2 pounds of raw sienna and 4 pound of 
 raw umber. Both to be ground in oil. Thin with 
 2 quarts each of boiled oil and turpentine, with also 
 1 quart of japan. 
 
 Dark oak may be made from burnt umber alone, or 
 with raw umber, or with burnt umber and raw sienna. 
 
 Golden Oak.—One of the best golden oak stains 
 may be made from equal parts of gold size Japan and 
 best asphaltum varnish, thinning with turpentine. 
 This stain will not raise the grain of the wood, and 
 it dries hard. Wipe off stain soon after application. 
 
 Asphaltum itself is the best of golden or dark oak 
 stains, as far as color goes, but it does not act well 
 under the varnish finish. 
 
 A spirit stain may be made by steeping an ounce 
 of powdered nutgalls in a pint of alcohol; cork it and 
 let stand three days.. Then strain it. It should 
 be quite black. Now dissolve $ ounce of Bismarck 
 brown in 3 pint of alcohol and add it to the first 
 solution; then add a teaspoonful of tin chloride to it, 
 and enough alcohol to make it amount to 1 quart. 
 If the Bismarck brown makes the color too red, use 
 a solution of saffron in alcohol instead. 
 
 A water-stain golden oak may be made with 1 
 pound of burnt umber and 3 pound of raw sienna, 
 both in powder form or dry. Mix with a gallon of 
 water, then add a gill of strong ammonia-water, of 
 about 28 degrees strength. 
 
140 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Antwerp Oak.—Dissolve nigrosine black in water, 
 and add a little Bismarck brown. ‘The flakes should 
 show a coffee color or brown, with the grain black. 
 
 Gray Oak.—Silver-gray is a well-liked color in the 
 mission finishes, and here is about the best formula 
 for making it: Dissolve 4 ounces of copperas and 
 the same of nutgalls, powdered, in 1 quart of hot 
 water; then add enough cold water to make 2 gallons 
 of stain. If the wood is a poor grade, add a little 
 glycerine to keep down the grain. Then sandpaper 
 lightly, and apply a thin coat of white shellac, and 
 fill with a filler made from white lead thinned a little 
 with turpentine. Before the filler becomes dry, 
 wipe off across the grain and get as much filler into 
 the pores of the wood as possible. Here is a method 
 that was followed in a public institution: The raw 
 wood was stained with a thin solution made from 
 equal parts of raw oil and turpentine, staining this 
 with a little raw sienna and raw umber. It was ap- 
 plied very thin, and at once wiped off. When it was 
 dry the pores of the wood were filled with a grayish- 
 white filler or heavy white lead paint, thinned with tur- 
 pentine, and when nearly dry, or set, it was rubbed 
 off with excelsior or cotton waste. The white-filled 
 pores gave to the work the silvery appearance of oak. 
 
 A very fine bluish-gray stain may be made from 
 a solution of iron sulphate, the color depending on 
 the strength of the solution and the tannin content 
 of the wood. : 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 141 
 
 Close-grained hard woods do not require the paste 
 filler for getting the silver-gray effect, and, moreover, 
 as the woods of this class are mostly maple and white 
 birch, they are white enough to take acid stain and 
 produce the delicate silvery effect desired. Further, 
 it may be accepted that as a rule only the hard woods 
 are suitable for this effect. Yet we get some fine 
 results on gum wood using the white filler and stain, 
 only the stain is applied first, before the filler, without 
 a coat of shellac between. The idea is to have the 
 stain and filler to meet. Do not get the filler too 
 thin, as you would do with an open-pore wood. Gum 
 does not ridge up like yellow pine when acid stain is 
 applied, at least not to any appreciable extent. 
 What is said here of yellow pine may also be said of 
 other soft woods. The effect is that of a silvery 
 marbled gray, which is even more distinctive than 
 the same effect seen on some of the woods usually 
 employed in silver-gray staining. 
 
 STAINING WICKERWARE AND WILLOW FURNITURE 
 
 The maker of such goods steeps the willows several 
 hours in lime-water, after which he dries them in a 
 heat up to 100° F. After this and before they become 
 cold they are steeped in a stain, brown being the 
 most commonly used, though many other stains also 
 are employed. 
 
 Brown Stain.—Dissolve 1 ounce of permanganate 
 of potash in 5 pints of water, using this proportion 
 
142 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 for greater quantities, and dip the willows in it, lift 
 them out at once, and let them drain off. This 
 stain is a pale brown, but the color may be had much 
 darker by allowing the willows to remain longer in 
 . the stain. 
 
 Or, dissolve 35 ounces of catechu and the same 
 amount of soda crystals in 5 pints of boiling water; 
 steep the wickerware in this fluid for three or four 
 hours; take out and let dry; then steep it in a solution 
 of 5 ounces of bichromate of potash in 5 pints of 
 water. 
 
 Or, dissolve 45 ounces of potash in 5 pints of water; 
 steep the willows or wickerware in the fluid for two 
 hours, then boil for two hours in a boiling solution 
 of pyrogallic acid made by dissolving 25 ounces of 
 the acid in 5 pints of water. 
 
 Blue: Dissolve 2 ounces of indigo-carmine in 1 
 quart of water; soak the ware in the fluid for five or 
 six hours. 
 
 Green: Dissolve 2 ounces of indigo sulphate and 
 1 ounce of picric acid in 50 ounces of boiling water. 
 Steep the ware in this fluid for several hours. Differ- 
 ent tones of green may be obtained by altering the 
 relative proportions of the coloring matters. 
 
 Yellow: Dissolve 1 ounce of picric acid in 5 
 quarts of boiling water, and steep the ware in it for 
 two hours. : 
 
 The above bright colors may be obtained on clean 
 new stock, the wood being white. Old wickerware 
 can be done as described below. 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 143 
 
 Gray: In the case of new wickerware it will be 
 found that by coloring it a gray the dirt and grime 
 will not show so readily as where the wood is left 
 unstained. A good gray may be obtained by dis- 
 solving 45 ounces of iron sulphate in 74 pints of cold 
 water; steep the ware in this for from two to six 
 hours, and then, after drying, steep in a solution of 
 15 pounds of pyrogallic acid in 5 pints of water. 
 
 Staining Old Wickerware.—Dissolve 15 pounds of 
 aniline nitrate and 1 ounce of copper chloride in 
 95 gallons of water. Boil the ware in this fluid for 
 an hour, then. place it in a boiling hot solution of 
 bichromate of potash for one-half hour, using 84 
 ounces of bichromate to the gallon of water. Or 
 this: Boil 25 ounces of logwood extract in 123 pints 
 of water containing 1/5 ounce’ of alum. Filter or 
 strain the fluid, and steep the wicker in it for from 
 two to six hours. Keep the liquid at the boiling- 
 point all the time, then remove the ware and let it 
 dry. Then steep it in a boiling hot solution of 15 
 ounces of iron sulphate in 74 pints of water for from 
 two to four hours, which will give a more or less 
 bluish-black with a gray cast; but by steeping it in 
 a decoction of 13 ounces of copper sulphate in 1% 
 gallons of water a deeper black will result. 
 
 Aniline Dyes—These are much more effective 
 than the mineral colors, for they do not require 
 steeping. They dye the wood at once. And they 
 
144 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 may be applied with a sponge or brush. For very 
 bright colors the anilines are far superior. The 
 wood should be mordanted with a solution of 6 ounces 
 of Castile soap, or any good white soap, in 123 pints 
 -of water; let the wood soak in this. Remove and 
 dry. Use water-soluble anilines, with water not less 
 than 86° F., and not above 140° F. Stir the dye well, 
 and dip the ware in it until you get the desired depth 
 of color. As the dye becomes weaker strengthen it 
 with some fresh-made dye. | 
 
 Dark Blue: Dissolve 3 ounces of Bengal blue in 
 35 pints of boiling water, and stir and filter the fluid 
 in ten minutes’ time. 
 
 Light Blue: Dissolve 3 ounces of Bleu de Lumiere 
 in 4 gallon of boiling water. 
 
 Sky Blue: Dissolve 3 ounces of Bleu de Ceil in 
 + gallon of water. 
 
 Greenish Blue: Dissolve 3 ounces of Bleu de 
 Vert in a gallon of water. 
 
 Dark Green: Dissolve 3 ounces of methyl green 
 and = ounce of Bleu de Lumiere in $ gallon of hot 
 water. 
 
 Light Green: Dissolve an ounce of methyl green 
 in 1 pint of boiling water. 
 
 Red: Dissolve 3 ounces of coral red in 5 pints of 
 water. 
 
 Dark Red: Dissolve 3 ounces of fuchsine and 
 1 ounce of orange in 3 pints of water. 
 
 Rose Red: Dissolve 3 ounces of rose Bengal in 
 5 pints of water. 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 145 
 
 Violet: Dissolve 3 ounces of methyl violet in 
 + gallon of water. 
 
 Reddish Violet: Dissolve 3 ounces of methyl 
 violet and 1 ounce of fuchsine in 2 quarts of water. 
 
 Golden Yellow: Dissolve 3 ounces of naphthaline 
 yellow in 2 quarts of water. 
 
 Brown: Dissolve 3 ounces of Bismarck brown in 
 + gallon of water. 
 
 Chestnut Brown: Dissolve an ounce of maroon in 
 1 pint of water. 
 
 The quantities mentioned in these formulas give 
 a very strong stain, and if more is used than that 
 indicated the result will be a bronzing. As the 
 stains are used for successive dippings they become 
 weaker, and must be renewed by fresh dye. 
 
 The stained wickerware is finished with a coat of 
 lacquer, made and fused as follows: First dip the 
 article in a thin size of glue or gelatin, which must 
 be kept hot. This will close the pores of the ware 
 and give a foundation for the lacquer. For white 
 stock use white shellac; for dark, a mixture of white 
 and orange shellac. Some use copal varnish, but 
 shellac is better, as it is more flexible and less inclined 
 to crack; the addition of a little Venice turpentine 
 to it will increase the flexibility. For black work the 
 dark shellac is used. 
 
 Staining Willowware Furniture—The stain will 
 take more uniformly if the goods are mordanted with 
 this preparation: Take 9 ounces of chloride of lime 
 
146 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 and 1 ounce of soda crystals and dissolve in 5 pints 
 of water. Several coats of this will be necessary, 
 allowing each coat to dry before the next is given. 
 Then apply a weak solution of sulphuric acid and 
 “rinse at once with water. Let it dry. Use an 
 alcohol aniline stain, but water stain may also be 
 used, in which case apply it hot. 
 
 Experience alone can make one successful in stain- 
 ing wickerware successfully. So do not despair if 
 you are not entirely successful at first. 
 
 VARIOUS STAINING NOTES 
 
 There are many color effects in woods still popular, 
 while many others have fallen by the wayside. Of 
 the former there are the following: 
 
 Oak: Natural finish, light and dark antique, 
 golden oak in various shades, forest green, Flemish, 
 weathered, cathedral, fumed, Antwerp, brown, etc. 
 
 Ash: Natural, light and dark antique, golden oak 
 or brown and black tones, and all colors that are used 
 on oak. 3 
 
 Birch: Natural, mahogany, forest green, and 
 silver gray. 
 
 Mahogany: Tuna, light and dark effects, all 
 shades, and old mahogany. 
 
 Walnut: Natural and dark. 
 
 Cherry: Similar to birch finishes. 
 
 Chestnut: Similar to oak finishes. 
 
 Maple: Natural, pearl gray, silver gray, and all 
 shades of mahogany. - 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 147 
 
 Cypress, Pine, and White Wood: Natural, oak, 
 mahogany liquid filler, golden oak, Flemish and 
 Antwerp shades, brown oak, forest green, green 
 weathered, etc. 
 
 California Redwood: Similar to pine finishes. 
 
 The Grays in Oaks.—Oak grays are not new, of 
 course, though still popular. They appear to have 
 originated with the St. Louis Exposition of several 
 years ago, the German section there having exhibited 
 a good deal of it. Apparently this coloring did not 
 prove successful, but finally it caught the popular 
 fancy. It was first used most on maple wood, and 
 there were silver-gray finishes prior to the St. Louis 
 Exposition, and it is likely that it has been in use a 
 good many years. Gray is a cold color and, of 
 course, is not a winter color, but does best in connec- 
 tion with summer furnishings. 
 
 To Ebonize Piano Keys.—The keys should be 
 stained clear through, and only steam pressure or by 
 boiling, using extract of logwood and bichromate of 
 potash, if the wood is birch, for it does not seem to be 
 satisfactory on other kinds of wood. Hard maple 
 polishes better than birch, and is a better wood for 
 keys, but for some reason it does not take the stain 
 well. In boiling the wood it must first be soaked in 
 cold water for several hours, as by this method it 
 takes the stain better and does not split. 
 
148 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Finishing Birch Veneers—TYhey should first be 
 sponged, to raise the grain, and when dry be sand- 
 papered lightly. This will have removed most of 
 _the grain liable to rise. Then apply a coat of stain 
 that is a little lighter than the tone the finish will be. 
 If any rise of grain shows on this, again lightly sand- 
 paper, after which it may be coated with the final 
 stain. When birch has been stained it should be 
 filled, to avoid pinholes, using a light filler. 
 
 Bleaching Wood.—When it is necessary to bleach 
 wood for staining purposes prepare oxalic solution for 
 the purpose in the following manner: Dissolve oxalic 
 acid in hot water, making the solution strong, and 
 apply it at once, or while hot. The addition of 
 acetic or strong vinegar improves its bleaching 
 properties. Be careful with it, as oxalic acid is rank 
 poison. If you save any of the solution, put it in 
 a bottle, stopper it tight, and lable it, Oxatic Aclb— 
 POISON. 
 
 To Make Brown Mahogany.—Make the stain light 
 enough to give a clear, transparent color; do not 
 get it too dark. The stain may be prepared by 
 dissolving walnut crystals in hot water, about 150° F. 
 Place the crystals in hot water and stir well, as the 
 crystals are liable to melt into a gummy mass, making 
 it difficult to get it dissolved properly. The stain is 
 to be used cold only. 
 
 The usual way of preparing stain is to pour the 
 hot water on the stain, but it is different with walnut 
 
The Imitation of Woods with Stains 149 
 
 crystals. There is a shade of brown mahogany on 
 the market that has met with favor; it is rather 
 duller than that produced by walnut crystals, but 
 for that reason seems to be more admired. It is 
 more difficult to make, however. First dissolve 6 
 ounces of bichromate of potash in 6 quarts of water. 
 With this solution coat the wood and let it stand 
 until dry. Then take 8 ounces of English oak powder, 
 5 ounces of brown mahogany powder, and 25 ounces 
 of nigrosine black; dissolve these in 6 quarts of water. 
 First sandpaper the wood lightly, to remove the fuzz 
 made by the first stain, then apply an even coat of 
 the latter stain. 
 
 Staining Mahogany.—Practically all mahogany 
 that is used in furniture, etc., is stained. Many 
 admire the rich color of the natural wood effect, and 
 which grows darker and richer with passing time; it 
 is the same with walnut wood. Sometimes mahogany 
 is stained in such a manner that it is not recognizable 
 except by its characteristic grain, and in some cases 
 it is darkened to a fair resemblance to the natural 
 
 dark color of black walnut; at other times it is given 
 a strong green tint. Such treatment of such a fine 
 wood is savage, nothing less. Fads, that is all; they 
 run a short course and we get back again to normal. 
 Properly done, mahogany is stained to deepen and 
 bring out artificially and in a brief time the natural 
 beauty of the wood, and which develops still further 
 with the lapse of time. 
 
150 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Stuining Curly Woods.—In former times the object 
 in staining the curly woods was to give them a bright 
 color; beech, sycamore, and birch were stained to 
 imitate mahogany, or to give them a reddish tone. 
 This high coloring was used on poplar also. The 
 practice today is productive of more pleasing effects, 
 as it tends to the brown tones, or walnut colors, which 
 are far more satisfactory than the flashy colors. As 
 to the curly woods, we should try to develop their 
 natural beauty, and to use only such stains as will 
 bring out and emphasize, not make obscure, those 
 natural beauties of wood. 
 
 The lighter woods, like magnolia, poplar, and 
 gum, have been in the past used more for staining to 
 secure effects than any other way. It would seem, 
 too, that there has been too much staining to get 
 one wood to look like another, instead of trying to 
 emphasize and bring out the natural beauty of each. 
 Maple seems to have escaped the fate of the others, 
 as it has always been duly appreciated for its natural 
 beauty of creamy white, and the curly maple, like 
 the bird’s-eye, has suffered less from excess of staining 
 than any other of the light colored woods. 
 
Peon THE THIRD 
 
 THE ART OF IMITATING MARBLE 
 Chapter XIII 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF TOOLS AND MATERIALS 
 
 To become a success at marbling one must first of 
 all be a painter, then a grainer, for there is both 
 painting and graining to be done in this fine art. 
 This is why both graining and marbling usually, and 
 justly enough, come together in a book of instructions 
 like this. While both grainer and marbler may be 
 excellent workmen at those arts, without ever having 
 laid a brushful of paint on the groundwork, yet it is 
 better that he should be an expert painter, and be 
 able to lay his own grounds, or at least know what they 
 should be in the finish. 
 
 As with graining, it is essential to good work that 
 the ground be of the proper color and texture, that 
 it be level or even and smooth. Certain kinds of 
 wood, white pine, for instance, have knots and dark 
 streaks, and these must be prevented from ever 
 showing through, to spoil the marbled work. Shellac 
 may be used to kill the knots, and also some of the 
 streaks, sap, etc., while certain dark parts, seen in 
 
 I5I 
 
152 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 some other woods, may be removed with acid. In 
 fine, the idea is to make a sure foundation for the 
 grained or marbled, or marbleized, as some say, 
 grounds. Upon this, then, is to be applied sufficient 
 white lead paint to form a good surface. All white 
 lead used in marbling must be the very finest and best 
 grade. Sometimes other surfaces than wood are 
 used for marbling on, and in such cases the surface 
 must be properly filled; plaster with any suitable 
 size, aS used under ordinary painting, and such as 
 varnish, etc. 
 
 It may as well be said at the start that marbling 
 cannot be learned from reading books of instruction. 
 But the book will give you the essential facts that 
 you need in order to make any sort of start and head- 
 way. It will tell you how to prepare the work, what 
 colors to use for each kind of marble, what tools to 
 use, how to use them, how to mix the colors, and 
 so on, but, on the other hand, you must have samples 
 of the work you are to do, prepared by an expert, 
 or samples of the marble itself, and which is the 
 better plan. This latter is, of course, not easy to do, 
 but it can be done. It is easy enough to get samples 
 of wood for graining from, but not impossible to study 
 natural specimens of many kinds of beautiful mar- 
 bles and granites. Many public buildings have 
 both these as a part of their construction or decoration, 
 and a few hours spent in an occasional study thereof 
 will repay the time and labor involved. You will 
 not be expected in any case to make an absolutely 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 153 
 
 exact copy of a marble, either in color, texture, or 
 markings. If you succeed in producing a copy that 
 anybody would pronounce a fair imitation that will. 
 suffice. | 
 
 Marbling is done in oil colors, seldom in water 
 colors, because the effect sought is that of solidity 
 and opaqueness. There must be depth and translu- 
 cency effected by means of glazes. 
 
 The tools required for marbling are blenders of 
 both bristle and soft hair, flat camel’s hair brushes 
 in several sizes, fitches, goose-wing feathers, sponges, 
 and some sash tools. 
 
 The colors used come in tubes, and the following 
 is a complete list of them, enough of a variety to do 
 about every marble or granite in common use: 
 
 Black, blue-black, Prussian blue, Vandyke brown, 
 Indian red, Brunswick green, raw and burnt umber, 
 raw and burnt sienna, King’s yellow, yellow ochre, 
 Venetian red, ultramarine blue, vermilion, purple 
 lake, carmine, crimson lake, and the chrome yellows. 
 This gives a wide range of colors. Then the various 
 mixed colors or tints, etc., may be made from them 
 by adding one to another. Also by adding certain 
 colors together he can get certain other colors that 
 are on his list and which he may therefore do without, 
 However, it is better for the beginner to have all the 
 tube colors ready for use rather than to attempt to 
 make any himself. But it should be told here how 
 certain colors may be made by admixture, for use 
 when the learner has got so far: 
 
154 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Original color 
 
 Yellow 
 Yellow 
 Carmine 
 
 Carmine 
 Yellow 
 Carmine 
 Azure Blue 
 Violet 
 
 Chinese Blue 
 Chinese Blue 
 
 Burnt Umber 
 Burnt Sienna 
 
 Mixed with 
 Carmine 
 Dark Red 
 Blue 
 
 Yellow and Black 
 Black 
 
 White 
 
 White and Carmine 
 White 
 
 White 
 
 Indigo and Orange 
 Yellow 
 
 Scarlet Lake 
 
 Shaded with Lake 
 
 Produces 
 Scarlet 
 Vermilion 
 Deep Lilac 
 Violet 
 Purple 
 Rich Brown 
 Bronze Green 
 Pink Shades 
 Deep Lilac Tones 
 Pale Lilac or Lav- 
 
 ender 
 Pale Blue 
 Tones of Emerald 
 
 Green 
 Red Brown 
 Light Brown 
 
 Crayons are useful in this work, and in Chapter XI 
 you will find directions for making them. ‘The 
 crayons are useful in making the veins, and the 
 colors most useful are gray and red. However, the 
 beginner will find the brush tools sufficient for all his 
 purposes for a while at least. 
 
 The first study you will take up will be regarding 
 the general color of the marble you are to imitate, 
 then its character, and transparency. In other 
 words, you are to know the marble as a marble, and 
 not simply as an artistic quality. It is not so easy 
 to get the right color of a marble with oil color, for 
 when you place your mixing near the marble you 
 find such a difference of effect, the oily sheen of the 
 one, and the dead appearance of the other, will be 
 entirely different, though, in reality, they should be 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 155 
 
 the same, the colors you have used being approxi- 
 mately the colors that nature put into the stone. 
 Experience alone will give you the power to match the 
 marbles in color, and one of the best ways for the 
 inexperienced is to paint a piece of wood or oilcloth, 
 or whatever may serve, and hold it on a plane with 
 the marble, this being the idea of an expert. 
 
 As to the colors, the best effects are to be gained 
 by glazing, not by mixing color with lead. Glazing 
 is a very important thing in graining and marbling, 
 as you will soon discover. Try to mix a rich lake or 
 brilliant blue with white lead and note the result— 
 the colors are killed. Then it is to be noted that 
 the staining powers of colors vary; some, like the 
 blacks, Prussian blue and burnt sienna, are very 
 strong; while Naples yellow and a few other colors 
 found on the marbler’s palette are very weak. 
 
 In giving directions for marbling the terms “‘scumb- 
 ling” and “glazing”? must be used, and it is well at 
 the beginning to explain the meaning of the words. 
 The term “glazing” is better known to the painter 
 and grainer than that of “scumbling.” Glazing is 
 done with a clear, transparent liquid, applied very 
 thin and capable of showing the figures beneath, and 
 the colors to less extent. Obviously, only trans- 
 parent colors can be used for glazing with. Scumbling 
 consists in the application of color that is rather thick 
 or stiff, after which it is brushed out unevenly so as 
 to show. variety of surface, in some places being al- 
 most entirely removed, in others partially removed, 
 
156 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 and in still other parts being left heavy and dense. 
 This produces a mottled effect, called scumbling. 
 Artists use the process sometimes, the term applying 
 also to the softening of crayon lines, where blending 
 may be done by the finger or with a brush. 
 
 Sienna Marble.—This is one of the favorite marbles 
 - for imitating, and comes from Italy. It is found in 
 light and medium dark shades. Its general color 
 is on a buff order and the color occurs in patches over 
 the surface of the marble; these patches are marked 
 by veins of purplish color, some inclining to a red 
 purple. Some specimens have veins that are quite 
 black, while others have a rather reddish tone. The 
 rule is, the richer the color of the ground, the less 
 pronounced the veins are. It is well to remember 
 this. 
 
 In making the ground for this marble experts do 
 not follow the same formulas, some preparing a 
 ground from white lead 6 parts and raw sienna 2 
 parts; or for a darker marble 3 parts of sienna. Some 
 prefer a ground of white, made from white lead 
 thinned with raw oil 2 parts and turpentine 1 part, 
 with driers sufficient to dry properly. Raw sienna 
 is a poor self-drier. Others use a light buff ground, 
 made from white lead, yellow ochre, and a very 
 little vermilion. The purpose of the white ground 
 is to provide the white that is necessary to form parts 
 of the marble, which show white, other parts being 
 of the buff order. 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 157 
 
 In the thinning also there are differences, some 
 using two-thirds turpentine to one of oil, while others 
 use half and half. 
 
 After getting your ground done and dry, allowing 
 a few days for this, proceed to the work of marbling. 
 
 Taking the white ground, put in irregular dabs or 
 patches of a color made from white lead tinted with 
 raw sienna, making various light and medium shades 
 of the color. The veins may then be put in with 
 charcoal or with a black crayon. I forgot to say 
 that after dabbing in the yellow patches they should 
 be lightly blended together. 
 
 The black veins must then be blended in with the 
 badger blender, to soften them into the ground. 
 _ Instead of the yellow patches of color in some speci- 
 mens of Sienna marble there will be dark patches, 
 and in such case a lighter vein must be used. Then 
 glazes or raw or burnt sienna may be used over the 
 yellow patches, then touch up the black veins with a 
 little black or blue. Now run some white veins, 
 and small spots may be put in over all the work, 
 blending, of course, for all the work must be made 
 solid looking, as seen in the real marble. 
 
 There is another way: Put in patches of various 
 tones of buff color, making them rather angular than 
 irregular, and making some of the patches quite a 
 buff, showing a tinge of red. Such colors as these 
 can be made from yellow ochre and Venetian red. 
 The parts outside of the buffish patches may be done 
 with blue-black and Indian red, after which the 
 
158 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 work may be blended. Let it dry, then glaze with 
 raw or burnt sienna, or raw sienna and yellow ochre. 
 Broad veins occur, of course, and these may be put 
 in with the fitch bristle brush. Blend, of course. 
 Veins that are not sufficiently distinct must be touched 
 up, flake white on the white veins, and blue-black or 
 Prussian blue on the black veins; blend. 
 
 It should be stated that marbles of the same name 
 differ greatly according to place of origin, or the 
 quarry whence taken, hence in laying down instruc- 
 tions this fact reminds us that to cover the ground 
 of the subject one would have to give directions 
 applicable to each variety; moreover, the character 
 and figuring of a marble will vary according to the 
 way it is split or sawn. However, directions given 
 in this work will be found sufficient for the purpose, 
 for when you meet with sienna marble differing from 
 that which you have been imitating you will know at 
 once what colors to use in order to match them. 
 The directions given in this work are from other 
 works and articles written by experts in the line, and 
 all have been carefully edited and, when necessary, 
 corrected. This gives a better understanding of the 
 subject than anything that one man alone could give; 
 for, as we have already seen, workmen differ in 
 method and color ideas. 
 
 Here is a method that is from an expert grainer 
 and marbler, little known, but his tiny book gives 
 much practical instruction. In practising it is 
 advised that the learner try each of the methods 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 159 
 
 given, for in this manner he will learn various useful 
 things and also form an individual manner of doing 
 the work, composite work, let us call it. 
 
 He makes his ground from white lead 6 parts and 
 raw sienna 2 parts, thinning with equal parts of raw 
 oil and turpentine, with a little drier. For tools he 
 uses a piped overgrainer (no other authority seems 
 to advise this tool) with some small pencil brushes, 
 lettering sable brushes the best for the purpose, and 
 a blender. His colors he places on a board palette; 
 they are oil colors. They are as follows: Burnt 
 and raw sienna, raw umber, green and blue. The 
 green, blue, and raw sienna he uses sparingly. The 
 thinners are composed of 1 part of a quick-drying 
 varnish and 3 parts of turpentine. Remembcring 
 that the ground is white, he dips the piped over- 
 grainer in the green and raw sienna, first, however, 
 having dipped the overgrainer in the thinners, and 
 then puts the colors on the ground, then brushes 
 tiem out to a mere glaze. The color is placed 
 diagonally, not straight up and down. The colors 
 may be varied with a little blue or umber. While 
 the color is still wet, touch the work with a pencil 
 or over-grainer with the design of forming dots 
 or pebbles, but this must not be overdone. Around 
 the pebbled parts of the work, especially the large 
 parts, do the veins, around the pebbles, and over 
 the work that is done with intersecting lines or 
 veins. 
 
 - Another method is given by another expert: The 
 
160 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 ground is white, and two colors are used, one being 
 mixed with white lead and yellow ochre, and the 
 other with white lead tinted with vermilion, both 
 being light in tone. Use two brushes, one to a color. 
 While the white paint is wet, dab on these two pale 
 colors, and blend at once. Vein the wet colors at 
 once, using the pencil, which dip in turpentine and 
 the black or blue-black. ‘The color for the veins is 
 to be used thin, and then to be softened with the 
 badger; then another penciling with the black, thin 
 as before, which will then emphasize the veins. Then 
 take a camel’s-hair fitch and dip into a thin mixture 
 of purple lake, blue-black, and turpentine. With this 
 give some of the open spaces a wash of color, then 
 blend softly. When this is dry take a sable pencil 
 and form white lines, using white lead thinned with 
 turpentine; then blend. When the work is dry enough 
 it may be given a coat of varnish. 
 
 In the case of the buff colored ground an irregular 
 vein is placed across the work, using a feather, dipped 
 in turpentine and then in a mixed color of Indian red 
 and ivory drop-black, shading here and there with 
 white. Fine veins run from these main veins, and 
 others also are made with Indian red and Prussian 
 blue, mixed with white, using the feather, as before. 
 Blend softly, and let it dry. Then rub the work over 
 with a rag wet with raw oil. Then touch up with 
 white on the feather, blend, and finally glaze, using 
 one made from raw sienna and yellow ochre, with a 
 touch of crimson lake here and there. The principal 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 161 
 
 veins may be touched with ivory drop-black, using 
 a hair pencil. 
 
 As illustrating the differences of both color and 
 formation seen among various samples of Sienna 
 marble, the annexed cuts are offered, both being photo 
 reproductions of imitations that were copies of the 
 real marbles. The two might easily be taken for 
 distinct kinds. Figure 22 has a white ground or 
 pale straw color, as preferred. On this ground is 
 
 Fig. 21.—Sienna marble. 
 
 scumbled a color made from white lead and raw 
 sienna, and a deeper color, buff, made from yellow 
 ochre and Venetian red. ‘The colors are used rather 
 thin, so as to scumble well, and a brush or sash tool 
 is used to spread them about, making a cloudy effect, 
 but a very pale effect. The illustration shows 
 scarcely any scumbling, but it is there. Then the 
 feather is dipped in turpentine and worked among 
 these colors, to break them up and make a ground 
 for the veins, which are made with Indian red, white, 
 
162 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 and slate color. Some of the open spaces shown 
 are done in the light thin color, and some with the 
 darker color. The illustration shows how the veins 
 run and are arranged. i 
 
 A very good piece of advice has been given by an 
 expert regarding the formation of the veins and 
 masses seen in Sienna, as well as other marbles. 
 
 Fig. 22.—Sienna marble. 
 
 Large spaces should be left with a few fine veins and 
 distribute the cloudy parts in irregular masses. Avoid 
 formal figures; natural marble seldom shows circular, 
 square, or straight veins. Avoid geometric forms. 
 
 Carrara or White Marble-—Carrara marble, famous 
 as a statuary marble, does not show any veins in its 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 163 
 
 finest specimens, but some does show veins, with 
 faint, delicate markings, some varieties showing 
 delicate veins of a reddish-gray tint. These veins 
 result from the presence of mica in the marble, and 
 are imitated with similar markings, faint veins crossed 
 by deeper veins. To get the desired depth and 
 transparency it is generally the custom to lay one 
 color over another, sort of glazing. But the better 
 way is to remove the coating of the veins without 
 disturbing the surrounding color, and this may be 
 done with a soap composition, a little oil or fat mixed 
 with the soap, and laid on the veins, first adding a 
 little color to the mixture so as to indicate place, and 
 in such manner that with a feather or pencil go over 
 the ground where the veins are to go. Then the 
 body color is laid over this, and when it is dry and 
 hard the soap pencilings are removed by rubbing the 
 ground with a rag and turpentine. ‘This is considered 
 an excellent means for getting depth and transparency. 
 
 A common and easy method of making white 
 marble imitations is as follows: Make the ground 
 white, as has been previously explained, and when 
 dry apply a coating of zinc white ground in oil; this 
 coat is made quite thin, and driers added sufficiently 
 to dry it in reasonable time; zinc is very hard to dry. 
 Then while the zinc paint is wet make the fainter 
 veins and markings with a warm gray crayon, the 
 larger and darker ones with a black crayon. Then 
 blend the crayon work softly into the white ground, 
 and it is done. A nice variation may be made by 
 
164 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 lightly tinting the spaces between the veins with 
 gray and green, with also a few touches of yellowish 
 gray, after which use the blender. Apply the color 
 sparingly. 
 
 Here is a better method than the one just given, 
 as it will give greater appearance of depth, etc. The 
 ground is white, with perhaps a mere speck of blue 
 to make it appear whiter. Use ultramarine blue and 
 be careful to not get too much in. Perhaps it would 
 be better for the beginner to avoid it. The ground 
 is left then to become dry. Observe the tint of the 
 marble, and with white, black, and Indian red make 
 a color that will agree with the natural color seen in 
 the marble. Take the sable pencil now and put in 
 the broad veins, scumbling the color very thinly in 
 the form the vein should be. There are other veins 
 that appear above the one just done, and these must 
 be made to appear near the surface, the lines being 
 made very thin, and as they are a little darker than 
 the first or deeper vein they must be made so with a 
 little drop-black added to the other color. Still 
 another vein is to be drawn, running in the same 
 direction that the other runs, and must be made 
 darker, with black and a little blue. All veins are 
 made while the veins are all still wet, and are blended 
 together with the badger blender. 
 
 Black and Gold Marble.—This should be a very easy 
 marble for the beginner to imitate, and if he will 
 give it the proper time and study he will soon be able 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 165 
 
 to turn out some good work, better most likely than 
 some specimens seen at exhibits of such work. As 
 with all other marbles, the learner should see some 
 good specimens of the real marble, which he can do 
 in almost any city. The real marble will show very 
 fine veins connecting the various splotches of yellow, 
 
 lhe, PRP 
 
 and the whole work is quite delicate. An expert 
 tells us that he prefers this black and gold marble 
 to any other that he has to do. He says also that it 
 should be called black and yellow, as there is no gold 
 seen in it. The bright golden yellow veins seen in 
 it gave rise to its name. But gold veins can be put 
 in, and some do use them. One way is to lay the 
 gold leaf and paint over it, and when the paint has 
 
166 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 set to take a whittled piece of wood—the end of a 
 sash tool handle will do—and scratch out the desired 
 lines, the gold showing through. But it is a rather 
 troublesome job, and beginners are advised to not 
 try it. Gold-leaf might be used in this way on small 
 panels, and when.dry and hard the whole may be 
 coated with a slow-drying black, after which the veins 
 may be formed by pieces of rubber or the edge of 
 wood, as previously stated. 
 
 This marble has a black ground, and yellow spots 
 are formed here and there, the yellow being a buff 
 made from white lead, ochre, and burnt and raw 
 sienna. ‘The real marble shows large masses of color, 
 and these are connected together with delicately 
 penciled lines. The patches of color are put on with 
 the sash tool, and their placing is done rather care- 
 lessly like, or not studied. While the general charac- 
 ter of the ground is a dense black, yet there are parts 
 made to have a slate color, choosing a dark slate, so 
 that the difference may not seem so great between 
 the black and it. This slate color may be made by 
 working in a trifle of white on the black ground, here 
 and there, and blending together. You will also 
 find in the real marble white veins that cross the 
 yellow patches, and that they are very fine, mere 
 threads of color. As to the lead color spots, it should. 
 be said, while I think of it, that not too many of them 
 should be made. 
 
 A variegated ground gives very good results too. 
 This ground is laid with patches of yellow and white. 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 167 
 
 When dry it is coated over with the black, taking 
 out the veins with stick or rubber; for the large 
 masses the rubber is best. When this has become 
 dry, parts of the work are glazed with a very thin 
 wash of burnt sienna. The expert giving this plan 
 says of it that “the finest possible work and most 
 nearly imitating nature’s best, may be obtained by 
 this method.” In fact, there are several ways of 
 imitating this marble. 
 
 A simple method is to lay the ground with drop- 
 black, let it dry, then make the veins with a color 
 made from white lead, yellow ochre, raw and burnt 
 sienna, using a camel’s-hair brush to apply it. Then 
 glaze the spaces between the veins with white or 
 gray, using the color quite thin. Then put in the 
 white veins, running over all. 
 
 Another method: Make the ground black. The 
 colors are yellow ochre and Venetian red, both light- 
 ened a little with white lead and white. Mix the 
 color with more turpentine than oil. A large feather 
 is a good tool for the purpose of veining, but a large 
 sable hair pencil also does well. The feather makes 
 work that is less stiff than that done with a brush. 
 Do not make the veins to cross each other at nght 
 angles; study the natural specimen, where it will be 
 seen that the veins grow out of each other. 
 
 When the marble is done it should be varnished. 
 If a dark varnish is applied it will cause the work to 
 assume a greenish cast. Use a light colored varnish, 
 like pale copal, and three coats would be best, the 
 
168 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 first two being rubbed down with powdered pumice- 
 stone and water, with felt rubber. The last coat 
 would look best if after being rubbed down it should 
 be hand polished. 
 
 There is a blue-and-gold marble also. Its ground 
 is a light blue color, and has patches of light blue, 
 white lead, and Prussian blue, some parts of the 
 ground being left uncoated by these colors. These 
 patches of color are softly blended together. Then 
 white veins are made to run over the work in ali 
 directions; some of the open places are filled in with 
 a pale or bright yellow. To finish, the white veins 
 are touched up with white. 
 
 Italian Pink Marble——This is simply a variety of 
 Italian Sienna marble, has about the same depth of 
 tone, but its white markings are stronger. In general 
 characteristics it is different from the Sienna only in 
 color. The ground is either buff or white, while the 
 colors used for the markings are the same as given 
 for Sienna. Though so nearly the same as Sienna, 
 yet it is well to give a formula for its imitation. The 
 ground is white, and when dry it is coated with a 
 white lead paint mixed with equal parts of oil and 
 turpentine. _Mix separately white lead and ultra- 
 marine, and white lead and vermilion. Thin with 
 equal parts of oil and turpentine; dab these two 
 colors on the wet white ground, using separate 
 brushes. Soften with the badger. The markings 
 should be copied from the natural marble, and should 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 169 
 
 be put on with a feather wet in turpentine and 
 dipped in Indian red. Blend, and when dry glaze 
 with white lead and turpentine, mixed thin. Then 
 dip the feather in turpentine and put in white mark- 
 ings wherever required. 
 
 Or, upon a white ground apply a thin coating of 
 zinc white, which is scumbled over with pinkish 
 colors made from yellow ochre and Venetian red, 
 and yellow ochre and vermilion. Shade with gray 
 tints, put in some purplish-red veins, and finally blend 
 all together softly with the badger. Then lay a few 
 white veins to cross the deep ones, put some white 
 blotches on, with here and there a glaze of rose pink. 
 
 Verde Antique—This fine marble is scarce and 
 expensive, being held in high esteem in Italy, and 
 was much prized by the ancient Romans and their 
 successors of Byzantium. ‘There are several green 
 marbles, all worthy of use and imitation. Copper, 
 in the form of an oxide or a sulphate, is widely dif- 
 fused in the mineral kingdom, and wherever it is 
 found in conjunction with the sedimentary rocks it 
 imparts a brilliant green coloring to the mineral 
 constituents with which it is temporarily amalgam- 
 ated. ‘But though such marbles have a prevailing 
 tint of green, and are called green marbles, they have 
 generally a surface much varied by darker markings, 
 and differ much among themselves. Verde antique, 
 Egyptian marbles, serpentine, and malachite are the 
 principal species. 
 
170 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 The grainer is fortunate if he has a small sample 
 of this marble to work from. And if he comes in 
 contact with the marble in public buildings, for 
 instance, it would be advisable for him to sketch 
 some of the fossil remains which are found in abun- 
 dance in it, and also the large and small veins. For 
 this purpose he should have a small pocket blank 
 book. So varied and so fine are the markings of this 
 marble that only by patient study and copying can 
 the imitator succeed. | 
 
 Verde antique has a dark green ground with patches 
 of white, and sometimes also of black and red. It 
 is a species of hard breccia. The first coat of paint 
 is to be dark lead, and this, when dry, is to be sand- 
 papered smoothly. This is for new wood. On old 
 work the first coat, dark lead color, may be dispensed 
 with. The first coat, and on which the marbling is 
 to begin, is black, which is left to dry. The next 
 coat is white, using white lead or flake white, which 
 is simply a finer form of white lead. This white is 
 water color, mixed with the usual graining thinners, 
 vinegar and water, and a little sugar for binder. ‘The 
 white is scumbled on thinly, and in doing this you 
 must try to copy nature as close as possible. In 
 some places the color should be so thin as to be 
 scarcely perceptible, and in others nearly opaque in 
 the lighter parts. The ground should not, however, 
 be entirely covered by the white, which may be laid 
 on with a sash tool, forming streaks. Now take some 
 lamp black in water color and apply it to all the parts 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 171 
 
 not covered with white. Certainly, all these parts 
 are already covered with black, because the coats of 
 black spread over the whole show where the white 
 has not been laid on. The purpose of this coating of 
 black on the same surface is to give a soft and perfect 
 blending. The blending is done with the badger 
 while the paint is still wet, blending the edges of the 
 color all together, and causing the veins to run into 
 each other as seen in nature. 
 
 We should now produce imitations of the fossils, 
 which, as a rule, are white in those parts of the stone 
 that are black, and black in those parts which are 
 white. While the white paint is still wet make the 
 black fossils in the white parts by means of a piece 
 of wash leather, and removing the color in the from 
 you wish the shells or fossils to assume. By this 
 means you will leave a thickness of color at the edges 
 which will, of course, show, when varnished, much 
 lighter than any other portions, and make both the 
 light and the dark parts appear more brilliant by the 
 contrast. Other shells can be formed, resembling 
 circles in convolutions, which are very natural and 
 effective. They may be taken out of the white mass 
 by cutting a square piece of cork and notching it in 
 two or three places. This then should be pressed 
 hard upon the surface of the work, at the same time 
 rotating it between the finger and the thumb; and 
 it will make the circles as natural as if drawn by a 
 pencil, or even more so, requiring but a small part 
 of the time for the doing. 
 
172 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Reference to a specimen of the marble will show 
 you the best way of wiping out the white paint so 
 as to show the various markings in black. Use for 
 doing this a goose feather, with most of the feather 
 removed so as to leave some at equal distances. 
 Pass this tool over the wet white, and it will take it 
 out in irregular waves over the black; and by suddenly 
 checking the hand and making it take an irregular 
 direction the veins will break and curl as they do in 
 nature, appearing with more freedom, fineness, and 
 variety than they would in some lines painted with 
 the sable brush, the usual method of drawing veins 
 in this marble. 
 
 Having made the black fossils found in the white 
 parts, next do the white fossils found in the black. 
 When the work is dry these may be produced by 
 dipping a large hair pencil in the white and carelessly 
 dabbing it in various forms and sizes. The white 
 which has just been described is water color, but 
 some marblers prefer white lead in oil, made very 
 thin with turpentine. When the work is sufficiently 
 veined and figured it must be left to become dry, 
 when it may be glazed. This is usually done with 
 water colors—in some places with Prussian blue, in 
 others with raw sienna—and part is still left un- 
 glazed and merely black and white. Some, if they 
 heighten the effect at all, glaze with oil color; but in 
 this case the work must be left another day to dry, 
 whereas, as in distemper glazing, the colors may be 
 varied in any tint and be dry and fit to work in a 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 172 
 
 few minutes. When the water color is dry the 
 feather, prepared as before, may be dipped in whiting 
 mixed fine in milk, and the light veins may be carried 
 over the water color. The thicker veins may be 
 marked with a sable pencil, and likewise a few veins 
 of Prussian blue may be made to curl delicately over 
 the strong lights. 
 
 All this, done as directed, is the work of a few 
 minutes, and, as it dries at once, it is ready for the 
 glazing, which is the final. The glaze consists of 
 Prussian blue and raw sienna, mixed together, the 
 sienna predominating, and when this is applied to the 
 white it will appear a fine warm green. Glaze the 
 whole of the work with these colors ground in oil, 
 and the white, black, and other colors previously 
 laid on will appear tinctured with a beautiful green. 
 
 To do this work in water color begin by glazing 
 with lampblack, distemper color, using a large 
 brush. Cover the ground entirely, put it in boldly 
 in large veins or streaks. Then, having ready an- 
 other brush with whiting, dash in the white between 
 the spaces left by the black. With a duster brush 
 blend the white and black together, making the veins 
 imperceptibly to run into each other. Next take a 
 small sash tool and dip into the black, and on the 
 lightest part of the white carelessly dab the black 
 in spots of various sizes to represent shells, etc. 
 With another brush, with white, dab likewise in the 
 black. A flat bristle brush with the hairs separated 
 may be dipped in the white and drawn in some 
 
174 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 irregular veins over the black. As the work is drying 
 a vein of pure black may be laid over that part which 
 has become gray from its incorporation with the 
 white. This should be formed in a very zig-zag 
 manner. Let the work now dry. Then apply a thin 
 glaze of King’s yellow, in water size, laying it on 
 quickly with a light hand. This will prevent the 
 water color from absorbing the varnish. The varnish 
 may be shellac, pale, add a little Prussian blue and 
 raw sienna, forming a green glaze. When the work 
 is dry and varnished it will look nearly as well as 
 oil-color work, but will not, of course, be as durable, 
 especially if not protected. 
 
 The following is a cheap method of imitating Verde 
 Antique, useful for cheap purposes: The ground is ~ 
 prepared as for oil color, black, and when this is 
 dry it is ready to work on. Have some white and 
 black prepared in water color, and with sash tools, 
 one for each color, lay the white .on in streaks, bold 
 and large, leaving spaces between; on these spaces 
 the black should be similarly applied, then with the 
 badger and before the paint sets soften the work 
 together, so that the veins almost imperceptibly run 
 into each other. Go over the entire surface in this 
 manner. ‘Take a large hair pencil and dip it in the 
 white and carelessly dab and dash on the black 
 streaks, to imitate, in a rough manner, the fossils. 
 With another pencil dipped in the black similar 
 markings are made on the white streaks. Then, 
 with a thin mottler, or with a feather dipped in the 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 175 
 
 white, and waved carelessly over the black, the small 
 zig-zag’ veins, characteristic of the marble, are put 
 in; also some dark blue veins of the same irregular 
 character may be added, in a diagonal direction. 
 When entirely dry the surface should be gone over 
 with a thin glaze of Prussian blue and raw sienna 
 mixed in turpentine and some varnish. 
 
 Egyptian Green.—In color this marble closely 
 resembles Verde Antique, for which it is often mis- 
 
 Fig. 24.—Egyptian green. 
 
 taken. It is a superior serpentine, comprising 
 several varieties, distinquished by different names, 
 though the generic title “Egyptian green” is usually 
 held to comprehend them all. It differs from Verde 
 Antique in the form of its veins, which run in a more 
 horizontal direction, having numerous small fossils 
 
176 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 mixed with them, and also dark veins running in 
 streaks, which appear as if broken off in violence. 
 
 Some varieties show gray and some white spots, 
 while another will show a reddish ground with clear 
 dark veins and a network of white lines. However, 
 the methods used in doing one may well be used with 
 the other. The method commonly employed to do 
 this marble is to scumble chrome yellow, Prussian 
 blue, and white lead over the black ground, leaving 
 spaces of the black. Fossil spots and rings are then 
 added in white, plain or slightly tinted. Glaze as 
 indicated for Verde Antique. 
 
 Serpentine—There are two serpentines, one a 
 stone or rock, the other, the “‘precious,” so-called, or 
 serpentine marble, and the latter has nearly the 
 same appearance as the Egyptian green marble. 
 The green is generally the color of onion tops, or of 
 leeks, but the color varies in shades, some the deepest 
 olive color. The veins, which appear black, some- 
 times run in a horizontal direction, then break and 
 appear nearly upright. In other cases they seem 
 to have undergone violent concussion and become 
 broken into small pieces. Precious serpentine has 
 some transparency and is frequently traversed by 
 veins of steatite, which add to its attractiveness, 
 making it one of the finest of marbles when polished. 
 
 The method of doing the imitation serpentine 
 marble is the same as given for Verde Antique. 
 The ground is always black, and the various shades 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 177 
 
 of green are made by scumbling over the black, more 
 or less opaque, according to the color required. 
 When all is done, glaze with green, according to the 
 tint of the marble. 
 
 Malachite-—This is a carbonate of copper stone. 
 It has a fine green color, with variegated radiations 
 and zones, these being so banded and arranged that 
 the mineral, which takes a bright polish, has a great 
 merit for decorative purposes. 
 
 In order to successfully imitate this fine marble 
 the learner should study specimens of it, and if he 
 can possess a specimen, so much the better. In 
 general, the imitation of Malachite may be done as 
 - advised for Verde Antique, both as to oil or water- 
 color work. In all cases the black should first be 
 applied, then the green, which should be bright, 
 and be applied either in variegated streaks, or by 
 coating the whole of the black surface and combing 
 it vertically, while wet, with a wash leather or a 
 rubber comb irregularly cut, and having several 
 large and bold vacancies. This will leave a surface 
 of alternate black and green strips of varied breadths. 
 The work is then glazed with green. 
 
 Dove-colored Marble——It closely resembles the 
 color of a dove or wood pigeon, hence its name. It 
 is rather difficult to imitate, and it is necessary to 
 copy from a specimen. The ground is a lead color 
 and made very smooth. Apply two or three coats of 
 
178 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 the paint, smoothing each coat. For the marbling, 
 take some of the lead color used on the ground work, 
 and thin it with turpentine. Lay some of it on a 
 small part of the surface; then with a suitable tool 
 stipple over this, to form the fossils seen in the real 
 marble. The entire surface must be gone over in 
 this manner, and while moist should be blended. 
 Next, with the thinned color, used on the ground, 
 and a small fitch, put in broad, faint veins and an 
 abundant reticulation of fine veins, so that the whole 
 surface appears covered with a network of them. 
 When this is done add some white lead to the lead 
 color, and with a feather dipped in it go over the 
 broad veins in the same direction, forming streams 
 of threads. Go over this again with thin white 
 paint applied with short, thick touches, so as to 
 simulate broad but broken veins. When done and 
 hard dry, smooth with fine sandpaper, and finish 
 by giving it a coat of varnish. 
 
 Jasper Marble-—The ground may be made from 
 Venetain red, red lead, and a little chrome yellow, 
 ground and thinned with turpentine and raw linseed 
 oil equal parts. If greater brilliancy is desired, 
 substitute vermilion for the Venetian red. Spread 
 the paint evenly and while still wet daub the surface 
 over with a bit of sponge dipped in white, so as to 
 cover the red surface with white spots, and then blend 
 the colors while wet with the badger. Brown, blue, 
 or yellow may be applied and be sponged in the same 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 1709 
 
 manner, and blended while still wet. The work may 
 be left at this point, or, when nearly dry, large and 
 small white veins and threads may be formed over 
 it with a fitch brush or feather. Jasper is found 
 both with and without these white veins, so their 
 adoption or omission is left to the taste of the painter. 
 
 Italian Jasper.—The ground is a light green drab; 
 apply a thin coating of oil cn this, and then rub in 
 oval or circular patches of Indian red and Victoria 
 lake, mixed together. Between these with a feather 
 wetted with turpentine successive tints of olive green 
 and gray, after which blend the entire surface. The 
 olive green is made with white, raw sienna, and blue- 
 _ black; the gray is made with white, Prussian blue, 
 and ivory drop-black. Glaze the two tints with a 
 thin wash of white, and the darker tints with crimson 
 lake. -Finally, touch up with a very thin white, 
 put on with the feather. 
 
 Porphyry Marble—This is not a true marble, 
 though generally referred to as such. Egyptian 
 porphyry, antique red or purple, has a dark crimson 
 or chocolate ground, sprinkled with minute crystals. 
 Black antique porphyry has a black ground and large 
 white crystals. The very rare green variety has a 
 dark olive green ground, tending to a blackish-green, 
 with whitish-green crystals and occasional bluish- 
 gray agates. Brown porphyry has a liver-brown 
 ground and greenish-white large spots. 
 
 For the first-named porphyry make the ground 
 
180 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 with purple, brown, and rose pink. The graining 
 colors are vermilion and white lead, ground separately 
 in turpentine, with a little gold size as binder; more 
 turpentine must be added before the color is applied. 
 When the ground is dry, fill a large brush with the 
 vermilion, and remove nearly all of it by scraping it 
 off with a palette knife over the edge of a paint pot. 
 Then, holding a short iron rod, or a piece of broom- 
 handle firmly in the left hand, strike the brush 
 smartly upon it, which will cause a shower of particles 
 of color. These spots must appear very fine on the 
 surface of the work. Now repeat the operation with 
 the red, then lighten the color a little with white lead, 
 and sprinkle again. Finally, give it a shower of white 
 lead spots. When the work is dry, place a few white 
 veins across it. Some put in the fine spots with a 
 graining disk wheel, and such work has greater 
 regularity of form than that done by sprinkling. 
 Any parts that are not to be spotted will have to be 
 protected by paper. This marble may also be done 
 in water color, with a coat of varnish for protection; 
 it is very good for interior work. 
 
 Some varieties of this marble have a narrow, 
 opaque white vein running among the spots. It 
 cannot be put in until the spots are dry. These 
 veins are made with a sable pencil, while the threads 
 are drawn out afterward with the feather. - 
 
 Granite—This is an igneous rock, its three con- 
 stituents—quartz, mica, and feldspar—having en- 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 181 
 
 - tered into a state of cohesion while in a fused con- 
 dition. It is the original, the most ancient rock. 
 The union of these constituents is mechanical, hence 
 the conglomeration of particles of small size, though 
 with considerable variation in the matter of mag- 
 nitude in different varieties. The general tone 
 of color differs much. Gray is the most usual 
 hue, varying through drab and salmon color to a 
 rosy pink. 
 
 To imitate granite the ground color will be made 
 according to the character of granite to be imitated. 
 For a gray granite, make the ground a bluish-gray, 
 rather light of tone. For a red granite, a ground of 
 _ pinkish blue with just a dash of deep red in it. The 
 graining on this ground, which must first be dry, 
 consists of small spots of black and white thickly 
 sprinkled or spattered over the whole surface of the 
 work. The black spots are first put on. This may 
 be done with a stiff hair mottler, stippling the entire 
 surface, then with another mottler stipple on the 
 white spots. Another way is to use a sponge of 
 large pore, dipped in color and dabbed over the work. 
 This, of course, makes a coarser grain, and while it 
 does for coarse granite, it will not do for the fine 
 grained. 
 
 In some granites the particles of black feldspar 
 are not only very small, but are rather thinly dis- 
 tributed. In other granites, again, the black par- 
 ticles are so large and numerous as to cause the 
 granite to appear nearly black. 
 
182 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 
 
 Imitation of Tortoise Shell—TYwo methods for this 
 work are here given: First method: Upon a ground 
 a few shades lighter than the lightest tone in the 
 tortoise shell glaze with raw sienna for yellow tor-. 
 toise, and with burnt sienna with a little Vandyke 
 brown for red tortoise shell. When the glaze is 
 dry, paint the dark spots with Vandyke brown 
 and the finest black, using a pencil brush, sponge, 
 or rag. When this is dry, glaze the whole again ~ 
 with the first glazing color. This manner of tor- | 
 toise shell imitation may also be done with water 
 colors. But it is most convenient to use oil colors, 
 which are mixed in the same manner as in wood 
 graining. 
 
 Second method: The surface to be grained is 
 painted with red lead, which serves as the ground for 
 the tortoise shell. When this is dry enough for 
 graining, the surface is moistened with water and 
 dabbed irregularly with dry lampblack, in water. 
 Vandyke brown and raw sienna, each ground sepa- 
 rately in vinegar, is also dabbed on, using a flat paint 
 brush; then blend, conforming to the structure of 
 the tortoise shell. The fact that the work has pre- 
 viously been moistened with water will facilitate 
 the work. After drying for twenty-four hours the 
 surface is glazed with red lake, a water color. Then 
 take a soft, rather moist piece of sponge and roll it 
 over the surface just glazed, whereby the light parts 
 will be produced. ‘Then the surface is to be blended, 
 and finally varnished. 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 183 
 
 Marbled Background on Glass or Wood.—Have a 
 pan that will take in a sheet of glass or wood of the 
 size you wish, pour into it an inch or so of water, 
 and then pour on to the water any oil colors that 
 you wish, red, blue, or what not; take a stick and stir 
 around the oil colors, to form them into shapes more 
 or less curly; then allow the water to become quiet. 
 Now take the glass or board that is to be marbled 
 and dip it carefully, face down, on to the surface of 
 toewwater, then hit it: out carefully, turn it over 
 quickly, and lay it down flat to dry. When it is 
 nearly dry take a brush and blend the colors. If 
 you wish you can dip the plate again, but not blend 
 the colors. 
 
 In dipping glass some of the colors may run to 
 the other side, but this can easily be cleaned off. 
 When you use a board the ground color should be 
 painted first, but in the case where glass is done the 
 ground color is put on after the marbleizing is dry. 
 
 Devon Marble.—There is a very fine reddish marble 
 by this name, much in favor for pilasters and mantel- 
 pieces. Its ground is white, and the marbling is 
 done on the wet white oil-painted ground with a 
 light’ slate color scumbled over part of the ground 
 with a sash tool, after which the work is softened 
 together with the blender. When this work is dry 
 the predominant coloring of the marble is worked 
 over the surface with a broad fitch and a feather. 
 Make the red with Venetian red 4 parts, burnt 
 
184 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler~ 
 
 umber 1 part, and white lead 2 parts. The broad 
 white veins are put in last and lightly blended. It 
 will be necessary to go over the white veins and patches 
 a second time in order to get them pure white. 
 
 In color marble ranges from pure white through 
 all shades of gray to black. Yellow, pink, red, 
 
 Fig. 25.—Italian Griotte. 
 
 violet, and green are common. The grays and 
 blacks are due to carbonaceous matter, the others 
 mainly to iron oxides. Color and adaptibility to 
 polishing are the chief features desired in marbles for 
 decorative purposes. Marbles of this kind are more 
 or less metamorphosed limestones. As to the names 
 given to marbles, there are those given in this work, 
 and, in addition, Brocatelle, Bird’s-eye, Landscape, 
 
Description of Tools and Materials 185 
 
 Saccharoidal, which has the texture of loaf-sugar, 
 Shell, such as the Red Devon Coral, and the Sep- 
 . terium, Rouge, of Belgium, St. Anne, Italian Griotte, 
 Irish Green, and Tennessee, with others, unnecessary 
 to enumerate, though fine marbles. 
 
GETTY CENTER LIBRARY 
 
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