THE ART OF LETTERING, AND A COMPLETE AND PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION OF THE ART OF SIGN WRITING. I&sr -A. IE 3 . BOYCE, AUTHOB OB’ “THE MODERN ORNAMENTER AND INTERIOR DECORATOR,” .r79* 7T < n+s Boston Full Roman. Boston Straight Roman. Boston Round Egyptian. Boston Octagon Egyptian. New York Roman. New York Octagon Block. New York Round Block. New York Condensed Block. Medieval. DIRECTIONS TO DRAW AN OVAL. To draw an oval of any given proportions, with string and tacks. Suppose it desirable to pass an oval through the four points A B C D: first draw the horizontal line ABC, then at a point just midway between the points A and C erect the line BED, exactly perpendicular to it; next set the dividers the distance E C, place one leg on the point B and describe the arc F H G; the two points on the horizontal line where this arc intersects are where the tacks are to"be put; around these two tacks a string is to be tied so loosely that a pencil put in the loop will just reach the point B, then by passing the pencil completely around, while guided by the string, the result will be the oval A B C D. BOSTON ROMAN NUMERALS. 1233456Z890 BOSTON ROUND EGYPTIAN NUMERALS. 3456Z8 BOSTON FULL BLOCK NUMERALS. 123456Z890 OLD ENGLISH NUMERALS. 123456T890 ITALIC NUMERALS. 1234567890 22 t ABCDEFGHIJK LMNOPQBSTU V WX YZ & abedefgh ijklm n op qrstuvicxyz 23 BULLETIN SCRIPT. &\> t&(A ^\\V\W\WW^V %\UW&yL IONIC ITALIC. A B CDEFGHIJKLMNOPQB STU V WXTZ. &.1234567890 24 CLARENDON EXTENDED. ABCDEFGHIJELMII OPQRSTUVWXYZA 1234567890 TUSCAN EXTENDED. TUSCAN LOWER CASE EXTENDED. li c d c f g h i j lx X. m n. opq r s t u. v w xy z 25 I ,; - : - ■ _;_ / :; : : i-t- FANCY GRADED SHADE LETTERS. The above letters may be worked up with any colors to suit the taste. The shades of the I and S are usually different tints of the same colors. The management of the Egyptian S is that usually adopted with burnish gilt letters on glass. The outline of the letters is burnish gilt, which is filled in with any brilliant color graded to different tints. The darkest line on the shading is black, and marks the limit of the shade, while the fainter line outside is of Umber or Sienna; between these lines and the letter is the fancy graded shade, of any bright color harmonizing with the other colors used on the letter. The study of this style of shaded letter offers a fine opportunity for the display of taste in colors. An article on shading may be found in another place. £&>$■, - -.• ff&sgr&gpt ORNAMENTED DESIGNS. 1 's, PRESERVES, Neatly Packed EXPORTATION The first space is for J, the second for H, the third for S, etc. It makes no difference what kind of letter is required, whether it be Roman, Straight Roman, Egyptian, or Block. All the letters of the name must go in their corresponding spaces, the only difficulty being as to the size of the letters. The following is the rule for the size of the different styles of letters : The height of the Full Roman is two thirds of the space, but if it be desired to make the letter as large as possible, it can be made to go three fourths ; that is, if the space be found to be twelve inches, the full Roman will go eight inches high, or nine inches, if it be required to make a large letter. In the same twelve-inch space the Straight Roman will go ten and one half inches, although it looks well when made as small as three fourths of the space ; but it is usually made seven eighths. The Full Block will go about the same as the Full Roman, although it is often compressed and made to go as high as the space itself; that is, twelve inches high in a twelve-inch space. The height of the Egyptian is greater than the space, being generally made one sixth greater; that is, in a TWELVE-inch space, the Egyptian looks best fourteen inches high; but it can be made, if desired, eighteen, twenty, or even twenty-two inches high, or one half, two ihirds, 01 five sixths higher than the space. It is on this account a very popular letter, and very frequently made use ot by sign-painters. The sizes mentioned above refer to the ordinary letters; that is, in the name of J. H. Smith, the above rule gives the size of the letters “mith,” and not the J. H. S., which are usually made higher than the other letters of the name, and are called leading letters, or capitals. The leading letters are made sometimes one fifth and sometimes one fourth higher than the ordinary letters. When the ordinary letters are eighteen inches high, or more, the leading letters need not be more than one fifth higher; but when they are small, the leading letters will be found to look better one fourth higher. These remarks on leading letters do not apply to lower-case letters, which have some peculiarities of their own, and aie distinctly different from the other alphabets. Some of the lower-case letters extend above the line of the ordinary let¬ ters, thus : The b, d, f, h, k, etc., extend above the a, c, e, etc. Now the effect of limiting the extent of the b, d, f, h, etc., to one fifth, or one fourth above the ordinary letters, would be to give the letter a stunted, crowded, and very ungainly appearance; if the leading letters, and b, d, f, h, etc., be made about one half higher than the ordinary letters, the effect will be about right. The thickness of the lower-case is the regular two ninths of the ordinary letter; that is, a, c, e, etc., and the b, d, f, h, and other letters which extend above and below the line, are also of this same thickness; the capi¬ tals or leading letters, however, are two ninths of their own height. In spacing lower-case, the space is allowed for a, b, c > d, e, g, h, k, n, o, p, q, s, u, v, x, y, and z; one half space for i, 1, t, a little more than a half space for f, j, r, and a little more than a whole space for m, w, and all capitals. A great advantage of the lower-case is, that by its use in proximity with a line of large, heavy letters, the latter are made, by contrast, to appear very much more bold and distinct than would result from the use of another style in place of the lower-case. Thus, if it were required to put on a sign the following; Brown & Black, Wholesale Dealers in Fish, and important that the word Fish should be made as distinct as possible, by putting Brown & Black in Roman letter, wholesale dealers in lower-case, and fish in large Egyptian, the word fish would look more prominent than any other line on the sign, and would be the first to catch the eye. There are two lower-case alphabets — the Roman and the Egyptian. The Roman is the prettier of the two, and more often made use of; it is only necessary to remark of the Egyptian, that it has no spurs or short hair-lines, and can there¬ fore be made a little larger in the same space than the Roman. The Old English is very similar to the lower-case, may be made about the same use of, and its rules in regard to spacing are the same; while its fine hair-lines and the regular angle of the short lines give it a slight advantage in neatness over the Lower-Case. In spacing out a sign with several lines of letters, there is sometimes a difficulty in making the spaces between the lines equal without considerable rubbing out and marking over, and an expenditure of much time and more patience. The following example will show the quickest and surest way of meeting this difficulty. Suppose the sign to be painted is two feet wide and six feet high, and five lines of letters are to be put on. First, decide which lines are to be Roman letter, which Egyptian, which Block, etc.; then find the size of the first line of letters (see page 40), and mark it at the top of the sign; next find the size of the second line, and mark it immediately under the first, and so on through all the five lines. The sign will then resemble the following diagram : 1 The space from the bottom of the fifth line to the bottom of the sign is to be divided into equal spaces, 2 to go between the lines. On a sign with one line of letters there is, of course, one space above and one be¬ low the line; where there are two lines, there is a space above and below, and one between the lines; that is, there is always one more space than lines of letters. In the example under consideration there are five 4 lines, and therefore six spaces, so that by dividing the space below the fifth line in the diagram in six equal 5 spaces, the exact distance between each line will be found, and the sign can then be marked out without trouble or loss of time. A single remark more is all that is necessary to complete the hints on the spacing of lines of letters, and that is, in regard to short lines, such as and, of, for, etc. If such short lines were spaced exactly according to the above instructions, the spaces they occupied would appear to be much larger than the or- dmary spaces between the lines : it is therefore necessary to make the spaces above and below all short words a little less than the ordinary space; and the quickest wav is to allow two spaces between the lines where such a word comes, and put the word in the midd le of this double space. Thus : suppose the sign to be like the following diagram : Space out the sign as though there were four lines, and the and were out of the account entirely, except , that instead of allowing five spaces, six must be allowed, and two spaces placed under the line Jobbers: in the middle of this double space the and is to be put; a short dash on each side will geneially prove an addition, and the spaces will then appear about even between all of the lines. IMPORTERS, JOBBERS, COMMISSION JMer chants. The above instructions on spacing apply to all kinds of signs, tablets, tins, door-posts, &c., but there are sometimes signs to be painted in places where it is impossible to space in the ordinary wa I’ such as lettering upon buildings, brick walls, and other high places impossible to get at except upon ladders or swing-stages. There are several ways of obtaining the exact space, size of letters, so that a painter can commence with his work and go right along without spacing, ac¬ cording to the method above described. The most common method is to find the length of the whole space to be lettered; then, knowing the number of letters, the number of spaces between the words, and the space to be left at the commencement and end of the lettering, it becomes a very easy matter to figure out the exact size of the lettering, spaces, &c. For instance: suppose the building which is to be lettered to be twenty-five feet long, and the words to be painted, “Cracker Bakery,” in which there are thirteen letters; if it were thought best to make the spaces one foot each, allowing one space for each letter, and one half-space between the words, of course thirteen and one half feet would be occupied, leaving the difference between that and twenty-five feet to be divided equally for the ends; so that, if the lettering were commenced five feet and nine inches from the end, one foot allowed for each letter, and six inches between the words, the work would be found to be correctly spaced. After finding the space and deciding which style of letter is to be used, Roman, Egyptian, Block, &c., — the onlj' thing to be done is to mark out the height of the letter-the rule for finding which has been given on page 40. If it be desirable to make the space eighteen inches, instead of one foot, the lettering would commence two feet four and one fourth inches from the end; if the space were to be fifteen inches, the work would begin four feet and one inch from the end. In fact, careful figuring and careful measure¬ ment are all that is required to space correctly by this method. A better way than the above is to sketch out carefully on a piece of paper the line of letters to be put on, then di¬ vide the length of the paper into as many equal parts as there are feet in length on the place to be lettered. For instance ; suppose the paper to be six inches long, the lettering is to be marked out carefully, in good proportion, with a suitable space at each end, so that it will not appear crowded, after which, if the building on which the lettering is to be put be twenty-five feet long, the paper is to be carefully divided into twenty-five equal parts; then, by marking off on the building spaces of one foot each, it becomes a simple matter to place the letters in the positions corresponding to those on the pa¬ per. The best way, however, is to mark out the work by an exact scale of so much to the foot; a half inch to the foot will be found as convenient as any. After selecting a suitable sized paper, or a piece of smooth board, which is much bet¬ ter, since it can be handled on a staging without difficulty, and will not blow away or get rumpled or torn, — a space is to be marked out twelve and one half inches, if the building be twenty-five feet, or, in other words, twenty-five half inches; the lettering is then to be marked out exactly as it is desired to look on the building, after which no difficulty will be found in proceeding with the work, as every half-inch in the plan is equivalent to one foot on the building; one fourth of an inch is equivalent to six inches on the building, one eighth is equivalent to three inches; so that by this method it is impossible to go wrong if the measurement be correct in the first place. A great advantage of this method is, that it enables the artist to show to the person having the work done, an exact copy of the sign as it is to be, the size of the letters, and the arrangement, so that any alterations can be easily made if desired, and satisfaction thus guaranteed in advance. In making letters on a circle they should be straight across the top and bottom, and the same width should be observed at the bottom as at the top, as a rule. In case there is little space between the letters, their bases can be slightly contracted and the tops and bottoms on a line with the curves, as in fig. 1. Numbers 2 and 3 are, however, the correct methods. iAttl SKINS. The amount of pitch in the best lumber used for signs is such that the beauty and durability of the painting is very often marred; in fact, frequently completely ruined; a very ordinary heat being sufficient to start the pitch to run¬ ning out over the surface of the sign. Shellac varnish being the only known article which will dry hard over it, and prevent its boiling or stewing through the paint, its use is unavoidable, notwithstanding the belief that the work is less liable to wear well when it is used. The general practice is to put on the shellac first, but there has been some doubt in the minds of painters whether it should be applied immediately to the bare board, or a coat of priming color first applied, and the shellac spread on after the priming has become dry. There is this reason in favor of putting on the priming color first, that it can strike into and dry into the pores of the wood, thereby rendering the durability of the painting more probable; but theie is this decided reason in favor ol applying the shellac first, that, when it is put over the priming coat all subsequent coats of paint are very liable to peel oft, there being so little affinity between the paint and shellac; it is therefore safer to apply the shellac first, and the priming-coat may be put over it as soon as it becomes hard. When this has become diy, the sign should be thoroughly puttied wherever required, and carefully sand-papered, after which the second coating can be put on ; when this is dry, the sign is ready to be marked out. After carefully marking out the let¬ tering, if it is to be a white letter, all superfluous pencil-marks are to be cleaned off the surface of the letter with a clean cloth and a little spirits of turpentine, when the finishing-coat should be spread on carefully and neatly, and when dry the pencil-marks will be found to show through sufficiently to work by. . If the letter is to be black, the color used should be mixed with boiled oil and a little japan : by adding to it a little fat-oil or varnish, the drying property will not be inter¬ fered with, and the color will be more certain to dry with a good gloss; should it crawl or fret, the difficulty can be rem¬ edied by rubbing over the surface of the sign with soap and water, or a little spirits of turpentine. If the letter, instead of being black, is white, the work is to be cut in ; that is, the black, or whatever color is to constitute the ground-work, is to be painted round the letter, and all parts of the face of the sign, except the letter itself, to be covered with this ground¬ work color. If the ground-work is to be sanded, after being certain that every spot is properly covered, the entire surface of the sign may be scattered over with the sand as evenly as possible, through a sieve; and when all is covered, the super¬ fluous sand may be turned off on a cloth or paper. This finishes the sign, except blacking out the mouldings, unless the letters are to be shaded, which is done when the ground-work color becomes dry. Sometimes the shading is done before the sign is cut in, as in the case of white letter with gold thickness; where, alter the sign is prepared as above directed, the shade or thickness is sized and gilded , and afterwards toned or graded down with siennas; when sufficiently dry the letter and thickness are both cut in and the sign sanded. The letter may be afterward shaded with any color over the sand. A letter is shaded, with the addition of another color, generally to its right side, and under parts at an angle usually about forty-five degrees to the letter itself. This shade may be made at any angle, may be put on the right side or the left, at the bottom or the top; but the usual custom is like the illustration, page 39. Properly this addition is not a shade, but a thickness; because when treated in this manner, it resembles a letter cut out of a block of wood, this shade showing the thickness of the block. There is still another shade which may be added to the letter — a shade, in fact, of the letter and thickness of the block. There is, besides, a back or second shade (see illustration, B and D, page 12). If a letter cut out of a block of wood were laid on a table near a strong light, the shadow cast on the table would be this back or second shade; the thickness of wood would be the first, or thickness, and the top surface would be the original letter. If the pupil keep this in mind, he will be immensely more successful than if he goes on with the shading without knowing what he is trying to represent. The first shade or thickness is sometimes made to join the letter, and sometimes is placed a little distance from it, leaving a narrow line between it and the letter; the first is called a close shade, the other a free shade. (See illustration, page 11. G and L are close shades; H, J, K, free shades.) As a general rule, the close shade will answer in all cases; but the taste of the painter will discover some occasions where the free shade is preferable. The shade may be made of every conceivable color, but should always be in harmony with the letter; and since it is the letter which is to be read, and not the shade, the two should be managed in such a way as to make the letter prominent and dis¬ tinct, and the shade sombre. The Ornamental letter may be made entirely according to the fancy of the painter, although the most successful ornamental alphabets are those where the original form of the letter is most perfectly retained. The best method to fol¬ low is to draw the letter distinctly in the first place, work the ornaments on to it, taking care to alter the form as little as possible. Points, pearls, eccentric lines, leaves, and vines may be added, according to the character of the design or the taste ol the painter, 01 the letter may be made to consist of one complete scroll; or some of the ornaments may be of one color and some ot another, while the letter itself may be made of still a different color, and so on, with as infinitely different forms and colors as the imagination may suggest; in fact, any person with a taste in this direction will find the study of orna¬ mental letters a most beautiful pastime. The Medieval alphabet is seldom made use of. It might, perhaps, be employed for an old established bookstore, antiquarian society, library, &c. ; but it is principally used for monograms and on church walls and tablets. This style of letter has come to be quite popular of late years, being a plain and distinct alphabet, easily read — having some of the characteristics of both the New York and Boston Roman, and yet being so decidedly different from either as to make its occasional use quite acceptable. It seems to be the one style which looks well anywhere, appearing to good advantage over a merchant’s door or on a church tablet, and has the additional advantage, notwithstanding its odd look, to be quite easily understood. It has not the bold look of the block-letter; and it would not be advisable to make use of it where a large and heavy style seems best suited — such as on high brick walls, &c.; but may be introduced wherever a neat and pretty letter would be appropriate. The Script letter is never employed for boldness, nor in any case where it is desirable that the sign should be quickly read. It cannot be called plain and distinct in the same sense that other alphabets can; but the Script is unquestionably the most beautiful of them all. The capital letters are composed, in very many cases, of what is known as “ Hogarth’s line of beauty,” a line involving two slightly opposite curves; and the beauty of the letter may be said to depend almost entirely upon the grace of this line. Great care should be taken to make all the letters slope at the same angle, which should be forty-eight degrees. The curves should all maintain the same oval character, and the slope of this oval should be the same as the slope of the letter. The pupil will find this alphabet to require close study, and much difficulty will be found in mastering it. But whoever can paint a beautiful Script sign will not be long in making a reputation as a sign-painter. On pages 33 and 34 will be found several designs intended to convey an idea of the form and arrangement of fancy signs. In signs of this kind it is best to avoid straight lines as much as possible, especially of those words required to be made prominent. Easy, graceful curves and sweeping lines are most desirable, particularly when a good variety can be introduced. The cheap kind of board sign is a white ground-work and black letter. This style is the plainest and cheapest looking, and is sometimes thought to be the strongest contrast to be made with paint; but it will be found, by comparison, that a sign with black sand ground and white letter is a stronger contrast, and makes a much neater sign. It is, perhaps, a little more costly style than the white ground, because more time is required to cut in a letter than to paint it on; and there is also the expense of the black sand. But the sign looks more than enough better to balance the difference in cost, for which reason this style has become the most popular of the cheap signs, and is almost sure to give satisfaction. A blue sand-ground and white letter with black shade is a neat and quite a showy style, a little more costly than black and white, not only on account of the shaded letter but of the blue sand, which is a little more expensive than the black, lhe blue sand, or smalts, holds its colors longer than the other fancy sands, and is generally considered to have a more lively look. The blue, green, brown, purple, and other fancy-colored sands will be found to give the sign an unfinished look, unless the letter be shaded. The quickest and cheapest shade on a sand ground-work is black, and this coloi is most commonly employed. These fancy-colored sand-grounds are sometimes very much improved by putting a white stripe, an inch or two from the moulding, around the face of the sign, and filling the margin with light vermilion, or any bright color, either of paint or sand, which affords a good contrast. Sometimes the ground-work is ornamented with black and other colois, and made to resemble showy pattern of cloth; and, although this style is not employed of late, it shows to good advantage on signs for dealers in cloth. A gold letter and black shade on any of the fancy-colored sands makes a very neat and tasty sign; the effect of the gold against the colored sand is agreeable, and such a sign, while being very modest, is decidedly attractive. A very showy sign is a white letter with a gold thickness, the under parts being graded down with siennas, and a black or Prussian blue-black shade on a blue sand-ground, with a white line around the sign, and the margin filled with vei milion. This is one of the most bold and showy styles in use, and is very popular. But the painter need not confine him¬ self to blue, as nearly all the other fancy sands may be treated in a similar manner, and with very nearly as brilliant an effect. But when it comes to paint ground-works, an unlimited field is opened; for there is no imaginable color which cannot be imitated and made use of; in fact, a prettier study cannot be devised than to make up a number of beautiful ground-works, and ornament them with brilliantly-colored shaded letters. The reader may get some hints from the following styles : On Chocolate ground light-blue letter, white light, vermilion thickness graded down with carmine, black back-shade. Gold letters straw-colored light, Paris green thickness graded down with dark-green, black back-shade. Light French gray letter with white light and any of the above styles of shading, and light pea-green letter and tight purple letter, may be shaded the same way. Purple grounds may be treated in a similar manner; but of course no purple can be used on the letter or shade; and so, by avoiding the ground-work color in the letter and shade, the whole range of ground-work colors can be gone through with. Paris green, ultra-marine blue, all the reds, drabs, browns — in fact, all the colors which the imagination can conceive. Black ground-works also may be made use of, and on them may be put the letter of gold, white, yellow, and the light tints of all colors ; and in the shading, any of the brilliant colors may be employed, which do not too much resemble the letter. A white letter, with vermilion thickness graded down with carmine, gives a brilliant effect. A Paris green letter and white light, with vermilion thickness graded down with carmine, makes a gay appearance. A gold letter with Paris green thickness, graded down with dark green, looks very well; so also does a very light pea-green or purple letter, with light blue thickness, graded down with ultra-marine. White ground-works are not often employed with fancy shade; when they are, dark colors generally, sometimes ver¬ milion, occasionally gold, but usually black, are the colors used for the letters, while the shades are mostly grays and drabs. Black letters, with vermilion thickness graded down with carmine, and gray back-shade, makes a good appearance. Vermilion letter with gray thickness looks pretty, and so also a letter of Paris green or ultra-marine blue. But the light ground-works are more commonly made of the lightest tints of various colors in preference to white, and on these almost every possible variety of color can be introduced; and excellent effects are often obtained. These light ground-works admit of experiment without end : all the colors of the rainbow maybe used for the letter or shade; but the experimenter will find his best successes in keeping the brilliant and strong colors in the letter, and the soft and delicate tints in the shade. Graded ground-works are made by using the lightest tint of a color for one part of a sign, and grading it down to its darkest for the other part; or, for instance, to make it more clear: if we have a tablet sign on which we wish to put a graded ground-work of red, we commence at the top with orange-red, and work down, carefully blending the colors as we go into light English vermilion, Chinese ditto, India red, which will, perhaps, bring us to the bottom of the sign, or chocolate color, if we wish to make it still darker, giving the sign the appearance of being one part in the light and the other in the shadow, with no break between the light and dark shades. Either the top or bottom of the sign may be the lighter; or the lightest tint is sometimes in the centre, and the darker tint worked round it, according to the fancy of the painter. The success of graded grounds has not been marked enough to make them popular, and they are seldom used. An expensive venture has been made, in gold ground-works. They look costly and pretty, but are not showy enough to balance their extra cost. The letter on gold ground-works is usually black and sanded, and frequently shaded up with brilliant color; and the ground-works themselves are often ornamented by painting and sanding some pretty design on the face of the sign before the gold is put on. Two coats of paint are put over this design after it has become dry, and the whole surface of the sign is then carefully sized and gilded; this leaves the ornaments rough and the other parts of the surface smooth, giving the effect of a gold ornament on a gold surface. By lettering the sign at the same time of putting on the ornaments, the foim of the letter can be seen under the gold sufficiently to work by, without making a mark on the gold, or the letter may be cut in and not gilded. The style of the ornaments can be varied to suit any taste, as also can the style of the lettering and shading. The sizing , when applied, should not be so fat as to prevent its working easily, should be free from skins or motes, and be put on evenly, and will work best if allowed to dry in a moderately warm room. Before proceeding with the gilding, the sizing should be carefully examined, as its condition makes or mars the beauty of the work. Experience will best enable a person to decide when the size is in the best condition for the gold; but as a rule it should be dry enough to beai considerable pressure ot the knuckle (which must be clean) without leaving any mark, while at the same time being slightly tacky. When the size is in just the right condition, the gilding has a beautiful lustre; but when too tacky it has no lustie at all, and, if exposed to the air for any length of time, will be very liable to turn a rusty color. When the woik is leady for the gold, the leaf should be handled in such a way as to place it on with as few wrinkles as possible, covering the large places first, and afterwards the smaller places and whatever breaks occur. After the sizing is entirely covered, it should be patted down and carefully rubbed smooth with a bit of cotton, or a badger-hair brush. The superfluous gold may be collected with an old stocking-leg, slightly moistened with oil, and lightly passed round wherever the loose gold lies. Tlreie are many different styles of gilding, but the above is the only one having any relation to lettering, except burnish gilding on glass, which will be spoken of in another place. On japanned tins and irons, and other smoothly finished surfaces, where it is impossible or unadvisable to make a mark by the ordinary means, the marking out may be transferred from paper. The siuface is fiist carefully cleaned by being wiped with a chamois-skin; a little powdered rotten-stone is then scattered over it, and carefully dusted off with a soft duster; this is to prevent the gold from adhering to the surface, which it is sometimes liable to do. A piece of blank paper is then placed over the surface, and the work marked out on it with chalk or lead-pencil, after which it is taken off and its reverse side rubbed over with chalk and afterwards well dusted off, when the papei is again placed over the surface, and the pencil-marks traced over with a metallic point. On removing the paper, the marks will be found to be transferred to the surface, with a chalk-mark as fine as the metallic point used. This process can be used on any work where a clean, fine line is important. The following is the method pursued with the brilliant burnish gilding and fancy shading on glass seen in all the large cities. The work is first carefully marked out on a paper, and these marks are all pricked through with a pin or needle, and the roughness of the holes carefully sand-papered down. This pattern is laid on the outside of the glass in the desired position, and a pounce (Note. — A pounce is a soft cloth \ I bag, containing any colored powder, a little of which escapes through the bag on being rubbed over a pattern or any other surface,) rubbed over it, when the pattern will be found to be transferred to the glass. The remainder of the work is all done on the back side of the glass. First, the glass is to be thoroughly cleaned where the lettering is to go, then the sizing (a rule for making this sizing will be found on p. 46) may be applied freely with a soft brush, and the gold laid immediately on the wet size , covering generously all the letters to be gilded. When the size is dry and all the moisture evaporated, the gold may be rubbed down with soft cotton, and a second coat of gold applied. In applying the sizing a second time, the operator must pass the brush lightly over the gold, as it is liable to start up if rubbed too hard. After the letters are all solidly covered, the pattern is put over it the reverse way and pounced, thus leaving a distinct line to work by; the letters are then painted or backed over with asphaltum varnish, which will soon dry, when all the useless gold can be cleaned off with cotton, wet with a little water or spittle. The solid part of the letter being now finished, a straw-colored line may be put on the upper and left-hand sides for a light* and a black line, about half an inch wide, drawn as far outside the letter on the right hand and lower sides as it is desired the fancy-colored thickness or shade should be made, and outside of this black line and adjoining it, may be put still another of raw sienna or burnt umber. When these become dry, the space between the black line and the letter may be filled with whatever color may suit the taste, and carefully graded, the darkest tints being on the under parts of the letter, and the lightest at the sides. By referring to the Egyptian S, on page 29, the pupil may understand the matter better than by the written description. The plain part of the letter, that is, the letter itself, is what is to be gold; the darkest mark outside the shade represents the black line, and the fainter line outside that the raw sienna or umber line. Between the black line, the letter is the fancy-graded shade, which may be red, green, blue, or any color to suit the taste. Sometimes, instead of making the letter completely solid, only an outline of the letter is made, and the parts of the letter left vacant filled with any brilliant color contrasting well with the shade. By this means quite an array of magnificent colors may be brought together in one job. After all the colors are dry, they should be backed over, each part of the shade with about the same color as before, and the whole varnished over, the varnish lapping slightly over the letter on the glass, to prevent moisture from getting under the work, and the job is finished. Two kinds of gilding are sometimes introduced on this work; thus, instead of filling the outline letter spoken of with paint, the open parts are to be sized with any quick-drying and transparent sizing, — clear japan, for instance, —and, after coming to a proper tack, carefully gilded. The effect will be a brilliant outline and dull centre parts, but all of gold, similar to what the gilders call matt. A short paragraph on punctuation would be of service to all sign-painters, since their ideas on this subject are original, and not according to any fixed rules ; but as no particular difficulty is met with except in the use of the possessive case, it will perhaps be as well to confine these remarks to that topic. The most common form of the possessive is the addition of an apostrophe and s to the word : as, Wright’s Pills; and if this rule were always followed, it would convey with sufficient distinctness the idea of the possessive. But grammarians have established certain exceptions which public opinion has indorsed and adopted, and these exceptions, therefore, must be respected. The following observations on the possessive, by Peter Bullions, will be found to meet most of the difficulties • 1. —When several nouns come together in the possessive case, implying common possession, the sign of the pos¬ sessive (’s) is annexed to the last, and understood to the rest; as, “Jane and Lucy’s books,” i. e., books, the common property of Jane and Lucy. But if common possession is not implied, or if several words intervene, the sign of the possessive should be annexed to each; as, “Jane’s and Lucy’s books,” i. e ., books, some of which are Jane’s and others Lucy’s. “This gained the king’s, as well as the people’s, approbation.” 2. — When a name is complex, consisting of more terms than one, the sign of the possessive is annexed to the last only; as, “Julius Csesar’s Commentaries,” “John the Baptist’s head,” “ His brother Philip’s wife,” “ The Bishop of London’s charge.” 3. — When a short explanatory term is joined to a name, the sign of the possessive may be annexed to either; as, “ I called at Smith’s the bookseller,” or, “ at Smith the bookseller’s.” But if, to such a phrase, the governing substantive is added, the sign of the possessive must be annexed to the last; as, “ I called at Smith the bookseller’s shop.” 4. —If the explanatory circumstance be complex, or consisting of more terms than one, the sign of the possessive must be annexed to the name or first substantive; as, “This psalm is David’s, the king, priest, and prophet of the people.” “That book is Smith’s, the bookseller in Maiden Lane.” * An illustration of a “ light ” on a letter may be found on the letter I, on page n. 5 - When two nouns in the possessive are governed by different words, the sign of the possessive must be annexed to each; as, lie took refuge at the governor’s, the kings representative,” i. e., at the governor’s house. 6- Ihe ^ after the apostrophe is omitted when the first noun has the sound of .s in each of its two last syllables, and the second noun begins with s ; as, “ For Righteousness’ sake,” etc. In other cases such an omission would generally be improper; as, “James’ book,” instead of “James’s book.” The following correctly punctuated sentences occur frequently in sign-painting: — “ Men’s and Boys’Clothing.” “Gent’s and Youth’s Clothing.” “Gentlemen and Ladies’ Saloon.” “Ladies’ and Gent’s Saloon.” “Johnson and Young’s Store.” “ Curtis’s Shoe Store.” “At Manufacturers’ Prices.” “Jones & Co.’s Store.” “ Morris Bros. & Co.’s Store.” The point to be gained in preparing this sizing is sufficient adhesiveness to hold the gold, but not enough to interfere with a biilliant polish. Several different articles are in use for this purpose, but the most popular, and perhaps the surest, is Russian fish glue. Take of this glue a bit about the size of a pea, put it into a clean vessel with a half pint of water, and boil for two or three minutes, after which it should be carefully strained, and the result will be a sizing of about the right strength. But as the beauty of the work depends almost entirely on the sizing, it should never be commenced until the sizing has been thoroughly tested; for this purpose, any piece of clean glass will answer: flow on a little of the size, and put on a leaf of gold. After it has become dry, rub it carefully with a bit of cotton, and if it present a clear, brilliant look, the size is about right; if it appear dull and dingy, with streaks and spots, it is too strong and needs reducing with water; if the gold rub oft', it is too weak and requires a little more glue. These changes can be easily made; but after any alteration the size should be allowed to boil half a minute or so. The ordinary gold sizing is usually made with oil which has been allowed to stand until it has acquired a sticky property, or become fat. What is needed is, of course, an oil which will give the best lustre to the gilding, and still take the gold readily and without trouble. The following is an excellent method of fattening oil: — Pour some very nice boiled linseed oil into a shallow tin pan, stir into it a little red lead; put a sheet of glass over the pan, and set it in the sun; the lead will soon be found settled to the bottom of the pan, and it should be stirred every day for two or three weeks; after it has become sufficiently fat, it may be poured oft into bottles for use, leaving the red lead on the bottom of the pan. The advantages of this method are, the red lead imparts a drying property to the oil; most of the impurities in the oil will settle with the lead, leaving it clear and beautiful lor use, and, being presented to the sun in a shallow vessel, it fats much more readily than it otherwise would. I his oil will be found to dry in about forty-eight hours, but can be made to dry more quickly by the addition of japan. If it should prove too stiff to work well, it may be thinned with boiled oil. It is rather a difficult mattei to prepare a quick size which will work well from the brush and bear out a good polish when the gold is put on. Ihe great difficulty with articles which dry quickly being, that they dry up hard, and leave no tack to hold the gold. It is of prime importance, in making use of quick size, to watch it closely, and put on the gold when it is in just the right condition. The following receipts for quick size are in common use with sign-painters: Take the common oil-sizing, and add plenty of japan, and a little quick-drying varnish; if too thin for use, it may be thickened with a little dry chrome yellow. This size will dry in five or six hours. Number one coach varnish and japan, thickened with dry chrome yellow, makes a size which will usually dry in a warm shop in four or five hours. Quick-drying furniture varnish and japan and a drop or two of fat oil, thickened with dry chrome yellow, makes a size which will dry in two or three hours. Asphaltum varnish and dry white lead, with a drop or two of japan, thoroughly mixed , make a size which will dry in ten or fitteeh minutes, but must be very closely watched, as after commencing to dry it hardens with great rapidity. Minot’s japan gold size, which may be had of any paint-dealer, thickened with a little dry chrome yellow, will dry in about three minutes, but may be made to dry more slowly by adding a little boiled oil, and is, perhaps, the best article to use for quick size. To such as find trouble in cleaning the paint and sand off old signs, the following mixture will be of great service: — Two pounds sal soda, one fourth of a pound of unslacked lime, and one gallon of warm water. The warm water is to aid in dissolving the soda and lime, which being accomplished, the mixture can be used cold by spreading it over the surface of a sign, which will soon yield to its influence, and can be easily scraped oft' and washed. The paint afterwards applied will not be affected by its use. *