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HOUSE-PAINTING, 
 
 OARRIAGE-PAINTING 
 
 AND 
 
 GRAINING. 
 
 WITAT TO BO, AND HO W TO DO IT. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN W. MASURY. 
 
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 ^''^^ OF WASHIV^3^ 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 D. APPLETO:^^ AND COMPANY, 
 
 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STEEET. 
 
 1881. 
 
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 COPYRIGHT BY 
 
 JCIIN W. MASURY, 
 
 1881. 
 
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PEEFACE 
 
 The use of i)aints throughout the older and more civil- 
 ized portions of our country is almost as common as is the 
 use of sheltering roofs and windowed dwellings. Of the 
 chemical properties and composition of these paints as little 
 is known — as a rule — ^by those whose special calling and 
 trade it is to apply the same, as is known of the doctrines 
 of Confucius or of Scandinavian mythology. Nor, except 
 to gratify or satisfy a thirst for knowledge, is it necessary 
 that the painter who applies the successive coats of paint 
 should be acquainted with the processes whereby animal, 
 mineral, and vegetable substances are converted into pig- 
 ments ; but it is a matter of prime importance that the 
 painter and his employer both shall know what materials 
 and what processes will bring about the best results with 
 a given expenditure of time and money. 
 
 There are certain axioms pertaining to paints and their 
 uses which can or may be easily learned ; and which 
 should be taken to heart by all who have houses to be 
 painted, as well as by those whose business or occupation it 
 is to procure, or recoramend, or apply the paint. 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 The task of presenting this matter, so as to bring its 
 teachings within the comprehension of all, is beset with 
 serious difficulties. To treat a technical subject without 
 the help of the technicalities thereto belonging, is a task 
 the difficulties of which can be appreciated only by those 
 who have attempted it. To make plain our meaning, the 
 following example is offered : Speaking of the different 
 superficial appearances produced by the various modes or 
 processes common in house-jDainting, we speak of a flat 
 surface in contradistinction to a glossy or shiny surface. 
 Now, to the average reader this word flat has no such sig- 
 nificance, and will not, per se, convey the idea sought to 
 be impressed. To the most ignorant painter-by-trade, 
 however, the word in question is the one of all most fit to 
 be used. This word, so simple to the initiated, is ^^ Greek" 
 to the learned and unlearned alike. Addressing the edu- 
 cated, we make ourselves to be understood by the use of 
 scientific terms, which convey the same ideas to all learned 
 people, of whatever nation, or tribe, or kindred. We speak 
 to the scholar of chloride of sodium ; and the words call to 
 his mind a wonderful combination and condensation of 
 chlorine gas with its metallic base. Its uses he knows from 
 every-day experience. Its composition, because he com- 
 mands the language of chemical science. To the unlearned 
 the word '' salt " has no other significance than its applica- 
 tion to culinary purposes and the preservation of viands. 
 To the learned this simple word suggests ten thousand 
 compounds, resulting from the chemical combination of 
 gases and other elementary substances. Addressing an 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 audience so mixed and inclusive, we are at a loss to know 
 what signs to use which shall not appear simple to the 
 learned, and puerile and contemptible to the initiated. Tlie 
 learned may say: *^ While confessing entire ignorance of 
 the technicalities of your subject, we would nevertheless be 
 taught in language suited to our scholarly comprehen- 
 sion. It is an insult to our intelligence to address us in 
 terms suited to the capacity of children or the ignorant vul- 
 gar." These remarks are made in excuse of any short- 
 coming in this respect, which may appear in the volume to 
 which this is the preface. We propose to make this book 
 entirely practical — so plain, indeed, ^Hhat the wayfaring 
 man, though a fool, need not err therein " ; so comprehen- 
 sive that the householder having in hand the smallest — or 
 the largest — job of painting, may so proceed in the initiatory 
 steps as to secure in the end the best results with the least 
 expenditure of means. When we subject ourselves to the 
 inconveniences of a repainting of our domiciles, with all 
 the attendant discomforts, we ought to be assured that the 
 result will be all that can possibly be included in the opera- 
 tion. We should be assured of beauty, economy, durabil- 
 ity, and health, so far as painting can include these most 
 desirable objects. 
 
 That there exists a desire for knowledge in the matter 
 of house-painting, we know from the fact that our little 
 volume entitled " How shall we Paint ? " and published in 
 1868, has passed through many editions, and is yet in de- 
 mand. Experience has shown that the volume alluded to 
 was written.under a«mistaken assumption. It assumed too 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 mucli knowledge on the part of the reader, and was there- 
 fore not sufficiently practical. It taught, indeed ; but it 
 taught theories rather than processes. 
 
 It is a misfortune that the names of colors are to such 
 an extent arbitrary, indefinite. The employment of signs 
 so indeterminate as are the names of colors and tints, en- 
 hances the difficulties of imparting information, and renders 
 necessary the use of words which have too often only local 
 meanings. The word red, for exami^le, signifies to one mind 
 old red sandstone ; to another, the color of bricks ; and so 
 on, through the whole range of tones wherein the red ray of 
 light is in any degree perceptible. The attempt will be 
 made in the following treatise to associate the names of 
 colors with such flowers, fruits, and other familiar objects 
 as are supposed to present the best examples of the purest 
 tones of the various respective colors. 
 
 The subject is one which comes home to us all, and on 
 which, in no small degree, depend our comfort, our pleas- 
 ure, and our health. If house-painting consisted of merely 
 covering the wood- work of a dwelling with one or more 
 coats of white paint, to speak of it as a fine art would 
 hardly be justifiable ; but, so far is such from being the 
 case, that, to conduct successfully the business of painting 
 in our cities and larger towns, requires the exercise of those 
 faculties which, in general acceptation, are supposed to dis- 
 tinguish the artist from the mechanic. An eye prompt by 
 nature and education to distinguish the nice gradations of 
 colors and tints — and the faculty so to arrange and dispose 
 them as shall best harmonize them with each other, and 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 with the surroundings — are indispensable requisites in the 
 house-painter of the present day. Happily, the day of dead 
 whites for the interiors of our dwellings has passed by — let 
 us hope, not to return. It was a kind of Puritanism in 
 painting, for which there was no warrant in Nature, which, 
 in such matters, should in a measure be our teacher and 
 guide. But the subject must not be studied only in its 
 aesthetic aspect ; not alone as adding beauty and comeliness 
 to our homes ; but in its economical features, as most im- 
 portant in preserving wood from the action of the weather 
 forces — in excluding dampness and arresting moldiness 
 and decay. It is, too, highly promotive of cleanliness, 
 which has been said by good authority to be next to godli- 
 ness, and to many it affords the best outward sign of the 
 advance of the people in the path of civilization ; for, just 
 in proportion as the houses, fences, and out-buildings of 
 a community are painted, will be inferred the advance of 
 that people in wealth, literature, home comforts ; in short, 
 all the consequences and refining influences of a high civ- 
 ilization. That this is true, of our own country at leasfc, 
 appeal is made to those who have traveled much, and have 
 thereby acquired the experience necessary to the forming 
 of a correct conclusion. Indeed, one feels as he leaves be- 
 hind him the freshly painted houses and lattice fences of 
 the older and more thrifty portions of our land, and finds 
 himself surrounded by the evidences of a ruder cultivation, 
 that this condition is owing in a greater or less degree to 
 the absence of the house-painter and his stock of paints. 
 A knowledge of thd materials employed in the prosecution 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 of any trade, profession, or calling, their source, origin, na- 
 ture, effects, and properties, and the mode and manner in 
 which they are influenced by the invisible forces of Nature, 
 ever active in the great law of change, would seem to be a 
 necessary concomitant of success. The materials used by 
 the painter and colorist are more directly the result of 
 chemical research and discovery than are those of other 
 trades and callings ; and no amount of observation and 
 study, without the assistance of written explanations, will 
 give the clew to their composition and mode of production. 
 The wood which the carpenter fashions into shapes of util- 
 ity and beauty, bears in its grain the story of its growth. 
 The nails which he uses are as familiar as household words, 
 and of themselves suggest the mechanical force which fash- 
 ioned them. But the materials which reflect to the eye the 
 thousand tints and colors which the painter disposes with 
 cunning hand give no sign of the secret of their origin. 
 They may be simple or compound substances wrought out 
 in Nature's vast laboratory, or the result of the highest 
 scientific skill. The aim of the writer has been to give, in 
 as brief a form as possible, the mode of operation in the 
 production of the factitious pigments used in house-paint- 
 ing, and to explain the origin and properties of those which 
 are of Nature's own production. There is nothing in do- 
 mestic or out-door life so common, so constantly before our 
 eyes, as painted surfaces ; yet, outside the ranks of those 
 who profess the art of painting, there prevails a general 
 ignorance of the nature and composition of paints, and of 
 the proper and economical use of the same. Owing to what 
 
PREFACE. 9 
 
 the writer must call a defect in our system of education, 
 not only in our common schools, but in the higher institu- 
 tions of learning, no effort is made to educate the percep- 
 tive faculties in the discrimination of colors, or in their 
 harmonious combination and arrangement. Such teaching 
 is certainly worthy the attention of those to whom we com- 
 mit the instruction of our children, and the neglect of it is 
 a national misfortune. Hoping to create an interest in 
 this important subject, the writer is induced to offer this 
 little book to the public, and would modestly commend it 
 not only to the trade, but also to the general reader, with 
 the belief that there are but few who may not find some 
 instruction in its pages. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. — ColOes and their TJsEa . . , .13 
 
 II. — Light and Color ..... 18 
 
 III. — Ornamenting with Colors . . . .23 
 
 IV. — Paints: Their Origin and Sources . . 81 
 
 V. — Mixing Paints and Colors . . . .35 
 
 VI. — Mixing Paints and Colors (Continued) . 40 
 
 VII. — Paint as affected by Atmospheric Agencies . 48 
 
 VIII. — Exterior House -Painting ... 52 
 
 IX. — New System of Interior House-Painting . . 71 
 
 X. — Whitewashing, or coloring Walls and Ceilings 
 
 — CALLED KaLSOMINING .... 83 
 
 XI. — Paris-Green as a Pigment . . . .96 
 XII. — Graining as a Fine Art. . . . 113 
 XIII. — Painted Imitation of Colored Woods, techni- 
 cally CALLED Graining . . . .116 
 XIV. — Ground and Graining Colors . . . 123 
 XV. — Tools required for Graining . . .125 
 XVI.— Light-Oak Graining . . . . 129 
 XVIL— Dark-Oak Graining . . . . .143 
 XVIIL— Black-Walnut Graining. . . .147 
 XIX. — Ash Graining . . . , . .154 
 XX. — Chestnut Graining .... 157 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XXI. — New System of Geainino on Unpainted 
 
 Pine-Wood Suefaces .... 159 
 
 XXII. — Distempee-Geaining . . . .163 
 
 XXIII.— Bied's-E YE Maple . . . . .165 
 
 XXiy. — Mahogany Geaining . . . .169 
 
 XXV.— Rosewood Geaining . . . .172 
 
 XXVI. — Satinwood Geaining . . . . 174 
 
 XXVII. — Black- Walnut Geaining in Distempee. . 176 
 
 XXVIII. — Light-Oak Geaining in Distempee . . 179 
 
 XXIX.— Vaenisuing . . . . .181 
 
 XXX. — Geneeal Eemaeks . . . .185 
 
 XXXI. — How to Paint a Caeeiage . . .195 
 
 XXXII. — Peepaeation of the Sueface . . 198 
 
 XXXIII. — Caeeiage- Vaenishing .... 205 
 
 XXXIV.— The New Method . . . .211 
 
 XXXV. — Painting and Vaenishing . . .217 
 
 XXXVI. — Evils and theie Remedies . . . 220 
 
 XXXVII. — Cleaving of Vaenish feom the Coloe . . 224 
 
 XXXVIII. — How to get the Best Results . . 229 
 
 XXXIX. — Adulteeation and Waste . . . 235 
 
 XL. — The Use of Ready-Geound Coloes . . 238 
 
 XLI. — How to make the Best Job in Black . . 242 
 
HOUSE-PAINTING, CARRIAGE-PAINTING, 
 AND GRAINING. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 COLOKS AKD THEIR USES. 
 
 The use of colors for decoratiA^e and ornamental pur- 
 poses antedates written history, and tliey Avere possibly em- 
 ployed by aboriginal man in or for the adornment of his per- 
 son. To trace the progress of this fine art from its incip- 
 iency were an impossible task, because of the non-existence 
 of historic records. Milton, the blind poet, with fine poetic 
 frenzy, describes the gorgeous flower mosaics which glori- 
 fied the nuptial bower in Eden's garden. So-called sacred 
 books— according to Moses — tell us that long ago Tyre was 
 famed among the nations of the earth for the skill of her 
 workmen in gold and colors and broidery ; and that Huram, 
 the King of Tyre, did send to Solomon, the ncw-macle King 
 of Israel (even as beforetime he had sent to David cedar 
 wood, or trees, whereof and wherewith the said David did 
 build him a dwelliiig-house), a son of a woman of the 
 
14 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE FAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 daughters of -Dan, whose father was a Tyrian man, skillful 
 in decorating in gold and silver and brass and iron, and in 
 crimson and purple and gold, as also in embroidery and in 
 fine linen. An accomplished artist was this man of Tyre ! 
 
 We may suppose that during the earlier i^eriod of man's 
 development the employment of color for decorative and 
 ornamental purposes was confined mostly to the temples of 
 worship and to the palaces and tombs of kings ; and, more- 
 over, that colors had a significance beyond mere harmonious 
 arrangement, and were used emblematically in the Egyp- 
 tian, Jewish, and other pagan modes of worship. The en- 
 during materials which monumentally record the glory of 
 Egyptian civilization were, we suppose, colored to symbol- 
 ize the mysteries of their strange and, to us, incomprehen- 
 sible religion. And so through — as we know them — all 
 succeeding forms and changes and religious inventions, 
 until the use of color for sacred and sacerdotal purposes 
 seemed to have attained its highest reach with the culmi- 
 nating temporal power of the Komish Church. We may 
 suppose that there was a period in man's history when the 
 average mind was educated in a knowledge of color-har- 
 mony. We know there was and is a time where in our 
 civilization there exists an almost entire ignorance of and 
 indifference to this subject, and a prevailing inability to 
 discern harmony and distinguish discords in compositions 
 of color. 
 
 The protest of Luther and his compeers against what 
 they deemed errors in the Church, included more than the 
 diversion of a portion of the religious thought of the so- 
 
, COLORS AND THEIR USES. 15 
 
 called Christian world from the channel through which it 
 had been accustomed to flow. The change in the spirit of 
 those who followed in the footsteps of the protesters was 
 radical and entire. The institution, founded by St. Peter, 
 the repository of God's power on earth, the object of ex- 
 tremest veneration theretofore, on the part of those truly 
 religious, who folloAved Luther out, became the thing ab- 
 horrent, the standing offense against the God of Abraham, 
 the Antichrist, the devil's engine for the perversion of hu- 
 man souls. 
 
 All of art in painting, and sculpture, and architecture, 
 which the Church had gathered and almost monopolized — 
 the emblem of the cross, the Virgin Mother, the stained 
 windows, the softened light of cathedral and minster — 
 were become idols in the new light of Luther and his 
 friends, and everything which savored of the Church was 
 banished and put far away. Out of this, we may assume, 
 grew that indisposition to, and consequent ignorance of, 
 color-harmony, which has ever been the a<3Companiment of 
 Protestant Puritanism. 
 
 Coming down to our own time, and looking back to the 
 Massachusetts Bay Colony, we may find the cause of our 
 own want of taste and our indifference to the use of colors 
 for decorative and ornamental purposes. The rigid teach- 
 ings of the semi-theocracy of the Puritan Commonwealth 
 were far-reaching in extent, wonderful in influence, and 
 are most difficult to trace. They crop out to-day among 
 all the forms and features of our diversified society and 
 civilization. Modified by the influx of immigration, by 
 
16 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 eyer-increasing contact with tlie world, by accumulation of 
 wealth and its consequent refinement and luxurious ten- 
 dencies, they yet bear more or less of the rigidity and se- 
 verity of their original features. To these teachings may 
 be traced the entire indifference to the use of colors for 
 decorative and ornamental purposes, and the inability to 
 distinguish color-harmony, which has heretofore univer- 
 sally prevailed, and which may be said now generally to 
 prevail, among us as a people. With those Puritan Fathers 
 a knowledge of the simple names of colors was a frivolity, 
 if not a sin, and the use of colors for church purposes 
 would have been looked upon as a crime little less heinous 
 than image-worship. Scarlet with them was significant of 
 the *^ woman of Babylon" — she who sat upon the seven 
 hills, drunken with the blood of saints. Purple suggested 
 pagan idolatry, and red the right hand of wrath ! Colors, 
 either as ornaments or emblems, could have no place in 
 their purely intellectual and ideal faith. To have rendered 
 their places of worship attractive by ornamentation would 
 have given the lie to their whole profession. The rigid 
 morality of those God-fearing ascetics found proper and 
 fitting expression in the rectangular shelters, under the 
 wooden roofs of which they assembled to worship ^Mn spirit 
 and in truth," so far as they were conscious of their own 
 spiritual impulses. May we not rejoice that the materials 
 which architecturally symbolized the simplicity of their re- 
 ligion were not enduring as monumental brass or marble ? 
 In tracing backward the cause of our want of taste and our 
 indifference to the use of colors, it seems not necessary to 
 
COLORS AND THEIR USES. I7 
 
 go beyond the period of that settlement and that civiliza- 
 tion which has given the key-note to the moral and intel- 
 lectual tone of succeeding generations. 
 
 Be it a matter to deplore, or to rejoice at, it is not to be 
 denied that Puritanism, as a system, with its severe morals 
 and its simple tastes, has become a thing of the past. We 
 find ourselves now npon the other road. The paintless 
 structures which were the vanity of our severe predeces- 
 sors, gave place to the diluted Puritanism of white and 
 green. Let us congratulate ourselves that the latter dis- 
 cordant combination has run its course, and has given 
 place to a disposition, at least, to color the exteriors of our 
 dwelling-places with some regard to harmony and the gen- 
 eral fitness of things. Encouraging as is the partial re- 
 covery from the white-and-green mania, there is much yet 
 to be done in educating the people as to what colors and 
 tones of color, what tints and shades, may properly be 
 displayed in the coloristic decoration of domestic archi- 
 tecture. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 LIGHT AND. COLOR. 
 
 Color is an attribute of light. In other phrase, color 
 belongs to light, and in the absence of light all objects are 
 black. The mind becomes conscious of color because of 
 the eye, and without that organ there can be no intelligent 
 comprehension of the sensation which color causes. To 
 assert that light was made for the eye, or that the eye was 
 made for light, might possibly give rise to cavil ; but the 
 ultra-caviler will hardly deny the adaptability of each to 
 the other. 
 
 As no two material objects can occupy the same space 
 at the same time, so no two persons can view the same 
 object under exactly similar conditions at the same mo- 
 ment ; and it is doubtful if an object is ever seen twice by 
 any one beholder under exactly like conditions of time, 
 place, and circumstance. This construction may cause us 
 to take a charitable view of many differences of opinion as 
 to the merits or demerits of works of art or of impressions 
 produced by natural phenomena, which would otherwise be 
 
LIGHT AND COLOR. 19 
 
 charged to stubbornness, or captiousness, or perhaps to 
 willful blindness. This diversity, however, must not lead 
 us to the conclusion that we can arrive at no positive 
 knowledge of the effects produced on the general mind by 
 certain combinations and contrasts of colors and of light 
 and shade. Notwithstanding the fact that the visual or- 
 gans of many people are so imperfect that the possessors 
 can not distinguish green from red, it can not reasonably 
 be denied that the sensation produced by the sight of these 
 colors is, as a rule, identical among all whose perceptive 
 faculties are ordinarily susceptible to color impressions. 
 Chevreul, in his work on ^^Laws of Contrast of Colors" 
 (page 198, English translation), says : *^ As soon as I felt the 
 necessity of this study, my first care was to discover whether 
 I saw colors as the generality of persons see them. I was 
 soon perfectly convinced that I did." This, it will be seen, 
 was a very important matter about which to come to a de- 
 cision, for the reason that time spent in teaching the laws 
 which govern color contrasts, and discords and harmony, 
 would be worse than wasted if, in such matters, every man 
 was to be '^a law unto himself." There have been, and 
 are, and always will be, perhaps, individuals who claim that 
 in all questions of taste there is no room for dispute, and 
 that in such matters nobody has the right or the calling to 
 propound laws for others. Such protesters are, fortunately, 
 not the rule but the exception, and the fact still remains 
 that the generality of persons see colors as Chevreul says 
 he saw them. Upon this assumption, laws have been pro- 
 pounded, from time to time, which are supposed to be in 
 
20 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 accordance with Nature's requirements in tlie disposition of 
 colors in coloristic decoration and ornamentation. 
 
 In treating the question of color-harmony, formidable 
 difficulties are met with, and are hard to oyercome, for the 
 reason that all the natural laws relating thereto are so altered 
 and modified by conditions and circumstances that they be- 
 come liable to endless interpretations. It is a fixed and arbi- 
 trary natural law in color-harmony that gold harmonizes 
 with and is pleasing to the eye in combination or contrast 
 with all colors and tints positive and neutral. Not equally 
 so with all : gold is better with scarlet, or crimson, or pur- 
 ple, than with olive-green or greenish-drab, but it can not 
 be made to discord with any color. Proportion and place, 
 too, are powerful influences in the combination of colors : 
 a color used in a composition in certain proportions will be 
 disagreeable, and decrease the good efl'ect of all ; whereas, 
 had the same color been in proper proportion to its neigh- 
 bors, it would have heightened the good effect of all. So 
 much, indeed, depends upon proportion, that disagreeable 
 results will follow from any offense against these conditions. 
 Rules may be given for putting together certain colors, so 
 as to produce harmony and avoid discords, but no rule can 
 be given for the relative proportions which these colors 
 must bear to each other. A few general rules, indeed, may 
 be laid down, such as follow : With blue and white, the 
 white should be in excess, as a white ground with blue 
 spots would have a more pleasing effect than a blue ground 
 with white spots. So with red and white ; the white 
 should be in excess, and the remarks as to blue and white 
 
LIGHT AND COLOR. 21 
 
 are equally pertinent as to red and white. Blue and red 
 and yellow make perfect harmony in combination ; yet 
 they are not as pleasing when the yellow shows in the same 
 quantity as the other colors. When these colors are pre- 
 sented together, the blue should be first in quantity, the 
 red next, and lastly the yellow. Of course, it is difficult to 
 determine the exact quantity of each, and hence arises the 
 hopelessness of the task of educating one in this art whose 
 perceptive faculties are naturally deficient in this most 
 important requirement ; and one may almost as well be 
 color-blind as to be without the ability to distinguish in- 
 tuitively what are and what are not proper proportions. 
 Few persons are color-blind to the extent of not experi- 
 encing the disagreeable effect of placing side by side, in 
 direct contact, alternate stripes of red and green, or olive- 
 green and brown. But this is not all that is required. 
 Discords in two colors may be changed to concords by the 
 addition of a third ; or, a discord — in two colors which can 
 not be made to harmonize — may be toned down and ren- 
 dered less disagreeable by the introduction of a third ; but, 
 when and where and how this may be done, can not be 
 taught by written rules, from the fact that the eye can not 
 be educated in color-harmony through the ear, any better 
 than the latter organ can be taught harmony of sounds 
 through the medium of the eye. "We say a black next a 
 green, or between red and green, becomes dull and rusty, 
 and both the other colors lose by the arrangement. Intro- 
 duce a white or yellow next the black, and it at once shows 
 its own color. Suoh rules as these, however, can not prop- 
 
22 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTINa, AND GRAINING. 
 
 erly be called instructive, for the reason that such knowl- 
 edge should come by intuition ; otherwise it would seem to 
 be of no particular value to its possessor. It is easy to say 
 that notes three and four in the musical scale struck to- 
 gether give forth discordant sounds ; but to the ear which 
 does not know this by intuition, the fact taught through 
 written rules would be as seed sown on stony ground. The 
 writer moralizes a little here, because he knows some reader 
 will expect to find full and complete directions for the com- 
 bination of colors in color compositions, which will be ap- 
 plicable under any and all conditions. As said before, this 
 knowledge comes only through the eye by practice, and by 
 the study of good examples. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 OEN"AMEKTIKG WITH COLORS. 
 
 l2^ view of the fact tliat tlie sole object in ornamenting 
 with color is to please the eye, that organ alone must be 
 consulted as to what is good. We haye now to deal with 
 art, not science ; with what is empirical and not what is 
 rational. We propose to furnish rules, not reasons. 
 
 That two or more colors bear to each other certain rela- 
 tions, when chemically or scientifically considered, is not, 
 of itself, a good reason why, in color ornamentation, these 
 colors may be displayed in juxtaposition with good effect. 
 Chemistry is interesting in this connection, not because of 
 its processes, but its results. The theory of color is inter- 
 esting, as a fact ; but it interests the intellectual, not the 
 perceptive, faculties. A knowledge of color-harmony is in- 
 tuitive, not acquired. The faculty, where it exists, may 
 be improved by the study of good examples ; but where the 
 natural faculty is wanting it can not be acquired. With 
 the man who dogmatically asserts that a thing is good be- 
 cause it suits his tast^, or want of taste, there is an end to 
 
24 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 argument. To discuss the question of color-harmony with 
 the stone-blind or color-blind were altogether vanity. Such 
 have no part or lot in this matter, only to accept the rules 
 laid down by those who possess the natural gift of distin- 
 guishing harmony in color, improved by the study of good 
 examples. 
 
 Undue importance has been given to the place and pro- 
 portion of colors as displayed in Nature ; but Nature's ex- 
 amples are worthy of imitation only so far as they conform 
 to the rules of harmonious combination. To assert that the 
 combinations and contrasts of colors as displayed in natu- 
 ral objects must necessarily be harmonious and pleasing to 
 tlie eye, were as absurd as to declare that all natural sounds 
 must necessarily be pleasing to the ear, or all natural odors 
 grateful to the nostrils, or natural tastes to the palate. 
 Again : a house, or other modern building, is not in any 
 sense a natural object ; but, with its formal lines and angles, 
 is artificial to the last degree ; and any attempt to give it 
 the appearance of a natural object, by coloring it with those 
 colors which Nature most largely displays, would be simply 
 absurd. Nature, too, exhibits her colors and her color 
 combinations, many of which are highly pleasing and de- 
 lightful, while others are equally violent and incongruous 
 in contrast, by the light of day ; while colors used in inte- 
 rior decoration are intended to have their best effect, neces- 
 sarily, under subdued light, and frequently under artifi- 
 cial light. Now, certain colors appear very different, when 
 viewed by artificial light, than when seen by daylight ; and, 
 in ornamenting with colors, provision must be made for 
 
ORNAMEKTIXG WITH COLORS. 25 
 
 this difference. For example : yellow light lends to red, 
 and causes it to approach to scarlet, and crimson looks 
 brighter than by day. Blue — that is, the darker tones of 
 this color — loses by the absorption of too much light, and 
 appears almost black ; and light blues and greens are apt to 
 be confounded. Therefore, blue intended for exhibition 
 by gaslight should be of a bright tone, and, if dark blue 
 be indispensable, it should be lightened with white, or a 
 brighter tone of the same. 
 
 The writer would impress most strongly the importance 
 of a full and complete concej)tion of the effect before taking 
 the initial step in decorating with colors. There should be 
 extended surfaces of a uniform tint for the eye to rest upon, 
 and the colors used in ornamentation should be decided 
 and contrasting. Cold gray tones and flowing lines and 
 perspective drawing are not in harmony with the formal 
 lines of our domestic architecture. With a true artist the 
 work is complete before the brush is applied, even as in 
 sculpture the ideal statue is the inspiration, the marble 
 form the exposition only. The plastic clay, under the hands 
 of the sculptor, enables the author to make patent his in- 
 vention. So with the true artist in coloristic decoration. 
 The colored pigments are the signs whereby others versed 
 in the language may read his inspirations. If a design 
 be faulty in conception, no amount of elaboration or per- 
 fectness in detail will remedy the defect. The result 
 only is important, the process and the parts are insig- 
 nificant. Undue attention to detail, and a fondness for 
 
 copying natural objects and forms, show a barrenness of 
 
 2 
 
20 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 invention and a sad want of appreciation of wliat is genu- 
 ine in art. 
 
 In color ornamentation care must be taken, not only in 
 the selection of tlie colors, but in the relative quantities or 
 proportions which each shall bear to the other ; the latter 
 requirement being almost equally important with the first. 
 
 In the house of the writer is a chamber set apart for 
 state purposes. Its ample ceiling is ornamented in water- 
 colors, the work of a so-called fresco-painter who possessed 
 correct taste in color-harmony (all of them do not), and a 
 hand most cunning and skillful in execution. This cham- 
 ber becomes a common room when the invalid wife and 
 mother is prostrated by one of those peculiar attacks which 
 the doctors say require in curative treatment that the body 
 must lie supinely. This position would of course bring the 
 ceiling in the direct scope of the patient's vision. My 
 reader will, if he can, imagine the satisfaction of the writer 
 and his gratitude toward the artist when the patient sufferer 
 exclaimed, in a period of convalescence : " Oh, what a lux- 
 ury to be sick in this room ! How many hours of dull 
 pain have been brightened and made endurable by the deli- 
 cacy of those lines and the sweet harmonies of those color 
 blendings and contrasts— those exquisite shadings, which 
 keep the mind ever in a pleasant doubt as to whether the 
 figures be the work of the pencil or the chisel ! In all the 
 many hours of my painful illness this ceiling has been an 
 unfailing source of joy, and I have come to know how 
 beautiful it is only by studying its lines and tracings and 
 colors a thousand and a thousand times again ! It has 
 
ORNAMENTING WITH COLORS. 27 
 
 made more than tolerable the otherwise weary hours of my 
 past sickness, and robs the anticipated future hours of ill- 
 ness of half their terrors." 
 
 Think of this in comparison with cold, plain ceilings in 
 Puritan whiteness ! ^^ Oh, what a luxury to be sick in 
 such a room ! " Is there any medicament, any sirup of 
 drowsy poppy or mandragora, to challenge comparison in 
 healing power with the work of the artist-painter ? The 
 great terror, in bodily sickness which prostrates, is the 
 want of mental occupation. Given agreeable mental occu- 
 pation, and bodily prostration becomes easy to bear. 
 
 Suppose a case. Eeading of books is for sanitary rea- 
 sons, or in the nature of things, forbidden. The exercise 
 of the industrial faculties is equally out of the question ; 
 the great Desert of Sahara does not suggest so fearful a 
 blank as protracted sickness under such circumstances ; 
 and where look for hope ? Eeading is forbidden ; employ- 
 ment of the industrial faculties is out of the question ; 
 music and mirth are not in harmony with the sick-cham- 
 ber. Where look for hope ? Kind reader, the Bountiful 
 Giver has bestowed on us perceptive faculties, and color 
 whereupon to exercise those faculties. Therein lies hope ! 
 There is not a shadow of doubt in the mind of the writer 
 that many of the dreary hours of sick-room existence may 
 be rendered hours of joy ; that the long, long, weary days — 
 those days of mental and physical inanition, the very recol- 
 lection of which one would for ever blot from memory — may 
 be made pleasant recollections by a simple display of color, 
 harmonious in tints and proportions. But the design of 
 
28 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTmG, AND GRAINING. 
 
 work must not be intrusted to eyes which see not, nor its 
 execution to unskilled hands. To produce good results, 
 eyen in so small a matter as the coloring of a sleei^ing- 
 room, requires the pencil of an artist just as certainly as 
 did those productions of the great masters, Titian and Tin- 
 toret, which enchant the world. But let us not forget 
 that these same colors, so powerful for good, are not impo- 
 tent for evil ; and that we may, '^ according' as we build," 
 from our painted ceiling, call down curses as from the brow 
 of Ebal, rather than blessings from the heights of Gerizim. 
 Exaggerated outlines, fanciful drawings, wreaths, flow- 
 ers, vines, and all imitations of natural objects, must be 
 strictly avoided. The figures must be purely conventional, 
 and so severely simple that they can not, by the aid of a dis- 
 tempered fancy, take on shapes either grotesque or horri- 
 ble, thereby converting our sick-room into a ^' chamber of 
 horrors." Faces, portraits, Cupids, nor dancing-girls, should 
 look down ujoon us from ceilings in domestic architecture. 
 They are as much out of place there as they would be on 
 the carpet : they are certain to be upside down, or standing 
 on their heads, when we view them, and a sick person has 
 not strength of mind sufficient to set them right. Bou- 
 quets, vines, and other imitations of natural objects, are not 
 good, because they cease to interest when they cease to be 
 objects of wonder or curiosity. However beautiful at first 
 sight, they are in the nature of things inferior to the objects 
 they are intended to imitate, and, what is of most impor- 
 tance, entirely out of place. There can be no sentiment 
 in a painted bunch of flowers on a ceiling, however fault- 
 
ORNAMENTING WITH COLORS. 29 
 
 less the drawing and coloring may be ; and such objects 
 soon become matters of indifference or disgust. On the 
 contrary, purely conventional designs and figures — the same 
 being artistically drawn, and kept subseryient to the main 
 object, which is the display of colors — always present them- 
 selves with a fresh charm, and seem never to lose their at- 
 tractiveness. In tracing the lines and curves, the shad- 
 ings and contrasts, the mind finds agreeable and pleasant 
 occupation when by sickness it is deprived of its usual re- 
 sources. Ifc will hardly be claimed by the most enthusiastic 
 devotee of realistic art that the copying of natural' objects 
 or imitations of nature gives room for play of the imagina- 
 tion, or that such art has the remotest connection with in- 
 spiration. No work of art can move the beholder with any 
 sentiment which did not necessarily belong to its concej)- 
 tion or production. None will deny that the drawing of 
 purely conventional forms and figures affords good scope 
 for the imagination, and for the display of true artistic 
 taste. Therefore, the artist who, with real artistic fervor, 
 changes the dead level of a plain white ceiling into a 
 ^'^ thing of beauty," is practicing art in the better sense of 
 the word, and is reaching out toward its highest signifi- 
 cance. 
 
 This digression is made as a protest against the growing 
 disposition of the times, which seems to be to elevate horse- 
 painting and cow-painting above art as practiced by the 
 masters above named. Landscape and cattle painting, and 
 flower and insect painting, and rabbits and rats and Guinea- 
 pigs and ducks and jiucklings, and chanticleer with all his 
 
30 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 cackling harem, though given on canvas more natural than 
 life, only serve to show how expert and skillful men may 
 become in copying natural forms and imitating natural 
 objects. Talent of this kind of a high order is certainly 
 respectable, and such a display of skill is truly wonderful ; 
 but the practice of it does not necessarily include inspira- 
 tion, invention, or genius, without which fine art can not 
 be said to exist. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PAIKTS : THEIE OKIGIiT AND SOUECES. 
 
 The mineral kingdom yields the great bulk of pig- 
 ments used in plain and decorative house-painting. Na- 
 tive paints are found, in certain geological formations, in 
 inexhaustible and boundless supply. 
 
 These are generally neutral tints or shades, being 
 mostly silica colored with iron oxides. They are useful and 
 durable both in color and substance, and as a rule are not 
 as liable to change as are the colors produced by chemical 
 agency. The animal kingdom furnishes the bright scarlet 
 known as carmine, and crimson and purple lakes, as also 
 Prussian and Antwerp blues. 
 
 Colors extracted from vegetable substances have been 
 mostly discarded in painting, by reason of their fugitive 
 character. Among those retained are the madder-colors, 
 indigo, and gamboge. The important pigment lampblack 
 is also classed among vegetable colors. 
 
 All the metals yield pigments of some sort. 
 
 Lead yields white-lead, and other whites of similar 
 nature and composition, distinguished by various names, as 
 
32 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 silver- white, Krem's wliite, China white, etc. ; also orange 
 mineral, red oxide, called red-lead, and the gray oxide, 
 called litharge. 
 
 Zinc furnishes the beautiful paint known as zinc-white. 
 
 Copper gives verdigris, and, in combination with ar- 
 senic, the unrivaled green known as Paris or emerald 
 green — for a comprehensive and detailed description of 
 which see Chapter XI, entitled '^ Paris Green as a Pig- 
 ment. " 
 
 Iron furnishes Indian red. Mars brown. Mars orange 
 and yellow, and Venetian red. Mercury produces in com- 
 bination with sulphur what is known as true vermilion. 
 
 Arsenicum supplies King's yellow and orpiment. Cobalt- 
 blue and smalt are made from the metal cobalt, and the re- 
 cently-found metals, such as uranium, cadmium, molybde- 
 num, etc. 3 produce colors of peculiar beauty and brilliancy. 
 
 AVhite-lead, the comprehensive term for white pigments, 
 for ages the only substance which includes all the qualities 
 or properties required by the painter, is an oxide of that 
 familiar metal, lead, more popularly known, perhaps, than 
 any except iron. The metal, liquefied by heat, is run into 
 molds forming a circle or ring, with bars across something 
 like a round gridiron ; the object being to present as much 
 surface as possible, conformably to certain other require- 
 ments. These shapes — buckles, as they are technically 
 called — are exposed some weeks, more or less, in covered 
 earthen pots, to the action of vinegar, or other acetic acid, 
 volatilized by gentle heat. Through the action of this va- 
 porized acid, the metal gradually loses its metallic struct- 
 
PAINTS: THEIR ORIGIN AND SOURCES. 33 
 
 lire and character, and takes on the appearance of a 
 whitish, friable substance, which is chemically known as 
 carbonate of lead. This, after being washed and crushed, 
 and ground in oil, is the white-lead paint of the painter. 
 The other white pigment (white oxide of zinc) is produced 
 as follow^s : The ores, crushed to the size of coarse sand, and 
 mixed with fine coal, are spread on the fire, and, when raised 
 to 2,000° Fahrenheit, are deoxidized ; the oxygen of the ore 
 uniting with the coal, forming carbonic-acid gas, the zinc 
 rising as a metallic yapor. The yapor and gases are sucked 
 from the furnace, and conyeyed through iron pipes to a 
 large room into which they are driyen, and out of which 
 the gas escapes. This room is filled with large, stout bags, 
 suspended open-mouthed to catch the zinc, which, in its 
 passage from the furnace to the bags, goes through cham- 
 bers into which air is admitted. In its yaporous form it 
 unites wath the oxygen of the atmosphere, forming the 
 light, flaky substance known as flowers of zinc. The oxide 
 at this stage is extremely light, thirty or forty pounds being 
 sufficient to fill a barrel. It is then compressed to about 
 one fourth of its former bulk, and packed in barrels of two 
 hundred pounds or casks of four hundred pounds, and sold 
 to manufacturers whose business it is to i)repare the same, 
 by mixing and grinding in oil, for the use of the painter. 
 
 Lampblack, drop-black, iyory-black, bone-black, Frank- 
 fort black, are the names applied to the simple substance 
 which affords all the blacks used in painting, and in the 
 manufacture of printer's ink, yiz., carbon. Lampblack, the 
 most important and, useful form of carbon to be considered 
 
34 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 here, is produced from the article known in trade as com- 
 mon rosin, or other bituminous substances. The finer kinds 
 are made from rosin, and the common kinds from coal or 
 gas tar. All resinous, oily, fatty substances produce lamp- 
 black in the process of burning ; it being simply the soot 
 resulting from highly combustible bodies as they are im- 
 perfectly consumed. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 mixi:n^g paints and colors. 
 
 This would seem a facile subject about which to write ; 
 and so it would be, if the names of colors carried with them 
 to every mind the same significance ; but these names are 
 so indeterminate, and convey to the individual hearer, or 
 reader, such entirely differing sensations, that we confess 
 to not a little misgiving as to our ability to so present the 
 subject as to make it fairly intelligible. 
 
 We proposed in the preface to connect the names of the 
 colors with some familiar and well-known specimens of 
 flowers or fruits as examples. This is no easy task, nor 
 does it help us altogether out of our difficulty ; for the rea- 
 son that flowers, particularly those in a state of domestica- 
 tion, present such a variety of tones of the same color under 
 varying conditions and circumstances. 
 
 Another difficulty which presents itself is the wrong, 
 or rather false impressions, existing in the minds of many, 
 maybe a majority, as to the exact meaning which at- 
 taches to the names of colors. When we speak of a tri- 
 angle, every hearer traces on the tablet. of his mind a figure 
 
36 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 having three sides and three corners. When, however, 
 we speak of yellow, the word conveys to the mind of 
 each individual hearer possibly a different sensation. One, 
 hearing the sound of the name, will see, in mental vision, 
 yellow-brown stone ; another, the pale hue of the prim- 
 rose ; another, the deep yellow of the marigold ; and so 
 on through the whole range of the almost endless tones 
 and hues of that color. 
 
 It is easy to say, blue and yellow commingled produce 
 green. Yet if the yellow be the color of yellow-brown 
 stone, and the blue a red-purple, or violet, or indigo, the 
 resulting color will not give to the eye a pure green. There- 
 fore, when in our color nomenclature we use the word yel- 
 low, we would photograph on the mind the reflected color 
 of the buttercup ; not the pale tint of the primrose, not 
 the color of the orange or the lemon. In all the world of 
 flowers, this is the most pertinent example we can offer of 
 a pure yellow ; for the reason, if there were none other, 
 that it is the most familiar. Thus we have for comparison 
 a familiar example, well known to young and old, easily 
 remembered, and presenting in different localities the same 
 color. 
 
 With blue the case is altogether different, and the diffi- 
 culties are almost insurmountable, for the reason that the 
 floral kingdom — so far as the writer's observation has ex- 
 tended — presents no example of a pure blue ; and herein 
 we may accuse Nature of being very niggardly, in view of 
 the lavish abundance of yellows, purples, crimsons, and 
 scarlets, the purples particularly being of gorgeous richness 
 
MIXING PAINTS AND COLORS. 37 
 
 and purity. The flax-flower among blossoms is the best 
 we have to ofier. The poet tells us : 
 
 " Deep in the wave is a coral grove, 
 Where the purple-mullet and gold-fish rove ; 
 Where the sea-flower spreads her leaves of blue, 
 That never are wet with the falling dew." 
 
 Yet, hoYv' ever blue the sea-flower may be, we can not present 
 it as a familiar examjole of a pure blue color. We have in 
 the sky — outside the world, so to speak — the only example 
 of pure blue which the eye of man has ever beheld or ever 
 will probably behold. The reader must not mistake in sup- 
 posing the sky will at any and all times, and in every part 
 of the vaulted arch, offer for his delectation this heavenly 
 azure. It is never seen in a winter sky in our latitude, and 
 in summer only under (over, perhaps, would be the better 
 word) peculiar conditions. It is not seen in a calm nor in 
 a storm ; never in a south wind or an east wind, or when the 
 wind is from the north, for the reason that with none of 
 these winds do we see the sky glorified with those passing, 
 fleecy clouds, with sharply defined outlines, which are indis- 
 pensable in the exhibition of heaven's own blue. If the 
 reader would revel in the joy born of the sight of this color 
 in all its purity, let him watch and wait, for 'tis a rare spec- 
 tacle, and only shown when all the conditions are favorable, 
 and Nature in her best mood. These conditions are as 
 follows : A day in the country, following an afternoon or 
 evening summer thunder-storm, clearing up during the 
 night, and ushered *in by sunrise in an unclouded sky and 
 
38 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 a brisk west or northwest wind. Early' in the forenoon 
 large masses of fleecy clouds, with clearly cut, sharp out- 
 lines, will chase each other across the face of the sky. 
 Then, by close watching, may be seen in the zenith, sur- 
 rounded by those creamy white cloud-masses, a patch of 
 pure blue color, suggesting to the pious mind heayen's 
 own gateway. 
 
 As before said, the flax-flower is the best example we can 
 offer, out of the endless variety of the floral world, to con- 
 vey the idea of what we mean when we speak of blue, the 
 third and last of the primary colors as seen in the spec- 
 trum. 
 
 Red, the first of the primary colors, is that pure red 
 color which is neither scarlet nor crimson, and Nature of- 
 fers but few specimens of it ; indeed, she has confined the 
 use of this most pleasing of all colors to old and young, to 
 the painting of the petals of flowers, the tempting hues of 
 luscious fruits, and the gorgeous plumage of tropical birds. 
 Nowhere is it to be seen in the sky, except in rare sunsets, 
 in the water, or in the earth ; and in the general landscape 
 so small is its proportion, compared with the other primary 
 colors, that it may be said to have no place there. The 
 difficulty in obtaining a pure red is, that the slightest 
 reflection of the yellow ray changes it to scarlet, and the 
 most infinitesimal commingling of blue to crimson. So 
 with pure blue : the faintest suspicion of yellow makes of it 
 a blue-green, and the slightest show of red changes it to 
 purple. We suggest the red Dutch currant as the best 
 familiar example of pure red color, because of its common 
 
MIXING PAINTS AND COLORS. 39 
 
 occurrence in temperate climates, and because no better 
 familiar example is offered. 
 
 We seem now to have a point of departure — not the 
 best, perhaps, but certainly much better than none ; because, 
 when we speak of red after this disquisition, we shall be 
 understood to mean the color of the ripe currant, and not 
 old red sandstone. The name of yellow will suggest the 
 color of the buttercup, not the yellowish-brown of the ochre 
 pigments ; and blue will call to mind the color of heaven. 
 The teaching of the practice of the art of compounding 
 colored pigments will be looked for in the succeeding 
 chapter. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MIXING PAINTS AND COLOES. — (CONTINUED.) 
 
 Beginning with the primary colors, we say : 
 
 Eed with yellow, commingled in varying proportions, 
 produces scarlet, orange, and orange-yellow, in infinitude 
 of tones ; and these are termed secondary colors. 
 
 Red with blue gives the whole range of crimsons and 
 purples, according as the amount of blue is varied. 
 
 Yellow with blue gives all the tones of blue and yellow 
 green, as the blue or yellow in the mixture predominates. 
 These secondary colors will be pure in tone just in degree 
 as the primaries of which they are compounded are pure. 
 
 The other secondary color, pure gray, is derived from 
 the extreme colors, black and white. It is a cold, entirely 
 neutral tint or shade, and will be pure just in proportion as 
 the black is intensely black and the white purely white. 
 
 Red with gray gives first a warm gray, until the contin- 
 ued adding of red carries the color out of the range of grays 
 into brown, and this color so produced would be called 
 warm brown. 
 
MIXING PAINTS AND COLORS. 41 
 
 Yellow with gray gives a yellow gray with a tinge of 
 green. 
 
 Blue with gray gives a cold blue gray. 
 
 Blue and red with gray produce a nice tint, called 
 French gray, and will be dark or light in proportion to the 
 quantity of white present in the mixture, and will be warm 
 or cold as the red or blue predominates. 
 
 Eed tinted with white gives jDink. 
 
 Blue with white gives pale blue of any desired tone. 
 
 Yellow with white gives all the intermediate tints be- 
 tween the lightest, palest straw-color to pure yellow, and, 
 with a slight addition of red, cream-color. 
 
 Eed with black or deep purple, indigo-color, gives the 
 darkest brown, and will be warm in proportion as it reflects 
 the red ray. 
 
 Red witli black or purple, and white, produces brown- 
 stone color, and a little yellow added makes the mixture a 
 better imitation of this popular building-stone. 
 
 Black or purple, with white and yellow, give all the 
 olive-greens. 
 
 Black and red and yellow with white, give all the exten- 
 sive range of drabs, as also fawn-color. 
 
 Black, in mixture, carries all the colors — primary, sec- 
 ondary, and tertiary — into the range of browns or olive- 
 greens. 
 
 Green tinted with white gives apple-green of various 
 tones. 
 
 This seems to include all that can be said instructively 
 as to the mixing of colored paints for the production of the 
 
42 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 possible deriyatives from the primary colors and the ex- 
 treme colors, black and white. Below we give the same in 
 a condensed form, for easier reference : 
 
 Scarlet is derived from red with yellow. 
 
 Orange is derived from red with yellow. 
 
 Orange-yellow is derived from red with yellow. 
 
 Crimson is derived from red with blue. 
 
 Red crimson is derived from red with blue. 
 
 Blue crimson is derived from red with blue. 
 
 Purple is derived from blue with red. 
 
 Red purple is derived from blue with red. 
 
 Blue purple is derived from blue with red. 
 
 Pink is derived from white with red. 
 
 Pure gray is derived from white with black. 
 
 French gray is derived from white, with red and black. 
 
 Blue gray is derived from white with black or blue, and 
 red. 
 
 "Warm gray is derived from white, with black or blue, 
 and red, with preponderance of red. 
 
 Green is derived from blue with yellow. 
 
 Olive-green is derived from blue with yellow and 
 black. 
 
 Apple-green is derived from green and white. 
 
 Silk-green is derived from green and white. 
 
 Pale blue is derived from white and blue. 
 
 Pure brown is derived from black and red. 
 
 Red brown is derived from red and black. 
 
 Brown-stone is derived from red and black and yellow 
 and white. 
 
MIXING PAINTS AND COLORS, 43 
 
 Drab and fawn color are derived from red and white and 
 black and yellow. 
 
 Buff is derived from white and orange-yellow. 
 
 Cream is derived from white and orange-yellow. 
 
 Corn-color is derived from white and orange-yellow. 
 
 Maroon is derived from red and purple and black. 
 
 Chestnut is derived from red and yellow and black. 
 
 Cuir-color is derived from white and yellow and black. 
 
 Tawny color is derived from white and yellow and black. 
 
 We would, from choice, present examples of these tints 
 and broken colors directly to the visual organs of the reader, 
 but it is quite impracticable in a work of this kind, how- 
 ever desirable it may seem. Continuing this subject fur- 
 ther, instructively, we present some facts which may prove 
 valuable to one who may choose to mix colored pigments 
 for his own profit or pleasure. The colors now employed 
 in exterior house-painting being mostly neutral tints — with 
 a bit of positive color shown on the molds and trimmings, 
 according to taste or fancy, as drabs, grays, and fawn-col- 
 ors—it follows, if a material can be found which in itself 
 includes the colors necessary to produce any desired tint in 
 the way of drabs or fawn-colors, to obtain such would be 
 in the direction of economy ; a saving both in time and 
 material. Therefore, we would suggest, in such case, the 
 employment of that very useful pigment known in the 
 trade as umber. This is presented in two forms : first, as 
 crude or native umber, called raw Turkey umber ; and also 
 as burnt umber — the native umber roasted — which process 
 causes it to take on? a very rich, deep brown. These pig- 
 
44 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 ments, used in the production of any tint of drab or fawn- 
 color, are the equivalent of black and red and yellow, and 
 will give clearer tints than can ordinarily be j^roduced by 
 the last-named colors. Burnt Turkey umber will give 
 (mixed with white-lead or zinc-white) any desired tint in 
 the way of warm drabs, and raw umber will give any de- 
 sired shade of yellowish drab. The only caution necessary 
 is care lest too much of the color may be used, the result of 
 w^hich would be a tint darker than might be wanted. In 
 these days, when colored j^aints are offered of almost every 
 possible tone and tint and shade suitable for use in house- 
 painting, there would seem to be no good reason why a 
 householder should subject himself to the trouble and ex- 
 pense of mixing his own colors, especially as a card showing 
 these colored pigments is presented, wherefrom he may 
 select such color as taste or inclination may dictate. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these conveniences, it is possible 
 — maybe probable — that some inquiring reader will pre- 
 fer to make his own color, and look here to learn how to 
 do it. To give rules for the production of every color, hue, 
 tint, or shade, would be as impossible as to write a book 
 which should include every possible combination of the 
 letters which compose our alphabet. 
 
 The list of colored paints offered for sale in the *^ coun- 
 try-store," or in the ordinary paint-shop, is not by any 
 means exhaustive ; and, in giving instruction as to what 
 paints to order for certain purposes, care must be taken to 
 make no mention of those which are not, as a rule, within 
 reach. 
 
MIXING PAINTS AND COLORS. 45 
 
 As before said, white-lead, or zinc-wliite., is the staple 
 of all light-colored oil-paints, and the quantity of color- 
 ing-matter, compared with the base, is as a drop in the 
 bucket — not literally, of course, but comparatively. In 
 this connection attention is called to Chapter VIII, page 
 57, wherein the common and extreme adulteration of 
 paints is set forth ; and for the reason that, in case one 
 should follow the written directions below, and the result 
 should disappoint, an excuse may be at hand for such an 
 unexpected outcome. For example : suppose the would-be 
 color-mixer to have on hand a hundred pounds of pure 
 white-lead for the purpose of making a drab neutral tint 
 for painting the exterior of his dwelling-house. He learns 
 from the book that a single pound of pure burnt umber, or 
 raw umber, as the case may be, will in all probability be 
 sufficient to produce the tint or shade he may require ; the 
 chances are, unfortunately, that the pound of umber he 
 will get will be adulterated to the extent of eighty per 
 cent., and will contain only a fifth part of the coloring- 
 matter he requires, and will, when mixed in with the 
 white, instead of giving the color required, simply change 
 the comparatively pure white of the lead to a dirty white. 
 Yet he has done according to the book, and the result is 
 not as predicted. Who shall bear the blame — the book or 
 the color-maker ? 
 
 The colored pigments used in tinting with white are' 
 burnt Turkey umber, raw Turkey umber, Indian red, Ve- 
 netian red, chrome-yellow and the yellow ochres, ultra- 
 marine blue, Prussian blue (which is a deep purple), burnt 
 
46 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 Italian sienna, and raw Italian sienna. These latter named 
 are transparent colors, so called, as are tlie umbers, Prussian 
 blue, and verdigris. 
 
 Burnt umber, mixed into wliite-lead or zinc-wliite, will 
 give almost any drab tint that can be desired, of a warm 
 tone ; that is, tending to red. By the addition of more 
 umber, one or two or more darker shades may be had for 
 contrast on the molds and cornices and trimmings, which 
 shades will be entirely in harmony with the body-color, by 
 analogy. Not to repeat, the same rule will apply to the 
 use of raw umber, only that yellow drabs, instead of red, 
 will be the result, and the trimming colors so produced 
 will be almost too cold and greenish to please the eye. 
 Good effects are produced by the introduction of some 
 decidedly positive colors in moderate quantity, in contrast 
 with neutral tints — such, for example, as Indian red or 
 some other rich red brown — and this practice is hereby 
 recommended. 
 
 Eaw sienna gives, with white, a soft, clear straw-color 
 or buff. Burnt sienna, with white, produces a pink of an 
 undesirable hue. Yellow ochre, that is, the genuine "Eo- 
 chelle ochre," with white-lead, produces a range of tints 
 most to be desired, and pure and sweet in tone, from the 
 clear yellow-brown of the ochre-pigment up to the palest 
 straw-color used ; the pigments thus produced will prove du- 
 rable, and in color not fugitive. Indian red will give, with 
 white-lead, a peach-blossom color, which was once a favorite 
 color for walls in interior painting. Prussian blue gives 
 all the tones of blue, from purple to the lightest sky-blue. 
 
MIXING PAINTS AND COLORS. 47 
 
 Verdigris gives with white a clear leaf-green, and with 
 white and )'ellow a pea-green, which is a good color for 
 wooden houses in the country. It will be borne in mind 
 that in coloring with verdigris the paint will be very much 
 darker when dried upon the building than when viewed in 
 the mass. Pure French verdigris is blue to the eye, but, 
 when ground in oil and used as a paint, it puts on a dark 
 bronze-green, and deepens in hue for a long time after ex- 
 posure to the light. This pigment is specially adapted for 
 ship and vessel painting, because of its unrivaled water- 
 proof qualities, its tenacity and non-liability to crack and 
 flake off, and its property of drying under salt-water. 
 When used for vessel-work it should be mixed as follows : 
 Ten pounds of pure verdigris, two pounds of pure white- 
 lead, and one pound of chrome-green, light, so called. 
 Venetian red with white produces an impure pink which 
 will fade very quickly when exposed to the sunlight. Ultra- 
 marine blue gives, with white, a range of purer, clearer light 
 blues than does Prussian blue. The carmines and lakes 
 are used mostly as glazing-colors, and their peculiarities 
 and mode of application will be found fully set forth under 
 the head of ^* Carriage-Painting." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IMPORTAKT. — PAINT AS AFFECTED BY ATMOSPHERIC AGEN- 
 CIES. 
 
 Heat would seem to be a power as indispensable in the 
 drying of oil-paints as in the growth of plants. A freshly- 
 painted surface will, under certain atmospheric conditions, 
 remain fresh and soft for a length of time which will put 
 the patience of a Job, even, to the severest trial. Paints 
 which will dry hard in twelve hours under an atmosphere 
 showing 70° of heat, will continue for days and days in 
 the same state as when first applied under a freezing 
 temperature. In short, the time required or necessary for 
 the drying of a coat of oil-paint will be in exact propor- 
 tion to the number of degrees of heat to which it may be 
 exposed. This, within reason and moderation, of course. 
 Because of the foregoing proposition, one must not expect 
 to dry a coat of paint in five minutes by exposing the same 
 to a burning heat. Therefore, the difiiculty of compound- 
 ing and preparing colors which shall, dry qr^ickly enough 
 under a winter atmosphere, and not harden in the con- 
 taining package, or dry too quickly under summer heats. 
 
PAINT AS AFFECTED BY A TMOSPHERIC A GENCIES. 49 
 
 will be understood and appreciated. The sensitiveness of 
 freslily-painted surfaces to the influence of heat, or the 
 absence of heat, is demonstrated by certain experiments 
 conducted by the writer, with a view to ascertain with ex- 
 actness the facts in the case. For this purpose, painted 
 surfaces were exposed, in a steam-heated room, under a 
 temperature of 70° Fahr. These surfaces were placed 
 near an opening through which the unheated or cold 
 air of the adjoining apartment entered, and came in 
 contact with a portion of the painted surface. Examina- 
 tion on the day following the exposure revealed the fact 
 that the portion not exposed to the draft of cold air 
 was quite hard and dry ; whereas the portion which had 
 been under the action of the colder atmosphere was as soft 
 and fresh as when first applied. We desire to make this 
 so plain that any wayfaring man, though a self -constituted 
 painter, may not err therein. Should we attempt to teach 
 the average farming or producing mind of the worse than 
 folly of attempting to raise lettuce or radishes out-o'-doors 
 in our winter climate, we should be hailed with a general 
 shout of derision. Some query as to our grandmother 
 would, no doubt, be heard. Yet, as plants will not grow 
 in the absence of heat, so will paint not dry readily where 
 a certain amount of Iieat is wanting. 
 
 The sportsman, of whom we read, said, in answer to a 
 disgusted and highly-incensed farmer who called him to 
 account for attempting to shoot his prize calf, " You see, 
 Mr. Farmer, I aimed so as to hit it if it were a deer, and 
 miss it if it were a calf ! " Now, we would like to make 
 
50 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 a paint on this same theory, if we could but find the way 
 ''how to do it." Under the heading, " JSTew Method," 
 in the following pages, will be found certain directions 
 for the proper mode of applying liquid colors ; but, in 
 connection therewith, it must be borne in mind that in 
 all house-painting operations, whether out-doors or in- 
 doors, heat is a power which must be taken into account, 
 and it must be remembered that a mode of procedure which 
 will work well in a summer temperature will not give sat- 
 isfactory results in a wintry atmosphere. All oil-paints 
 which dry readily, dry, or coat-oyer, on the surface. The 
 skin, or film, thus formed, covers a mass of soft paint, and 
 is wonderfully sensitive to atmospheric influences. A sud- 
 den lowering of temperature will cause it not only to 
 wrinkle, so that the surface will reflect a different tone of 
 color, but the gloss will disappear, as tender plants shrink 
 and shrivel under the blighting influence of a killing frost. 
 There need not be much fear of this result on a first coat 
 applied to new or unpainted pine-wood, because of the 
 absorbing quality of the same, which will leave no mass 
 outside to skin or film over. 
 
 Having given the facts, it now becomes pertinent to 
 seek a remedy. The only way to avoid such an untoward 
 event — supposing the work must, in tITe nature of things, be 
 completed in winter temperature — is to so extend, rub out 
 under the brush, the finishing coat, that there shall be no 
 mass of soft paint on the surface over which this skin, or 
 film, can form. Every practical painter understands the 
 phenomenon, and can, if he choose, so paint a house in 
 
FA LVT A S AFFECTED BY A TMOSPHERIC A GENCIES. 5 1 
 
 cold weather that alternate weather- or clap-boards shall 
 present the appearance before alluded to, while the inter- 
 vening boards shall be smooth and perfect. Our advice is, 
 that painting should always be performed, if possible, in an 
 atmosphere of 70° of heat, either natural or artificial ; and 
 we have to ask that the paint shall not be made a scape- 
 goat to bear the sins of ignorance, carelessness, or the will- 
 ful neglect of plainly- written directions. To be wise above 
 what is written is, unfortunately, a common sin. 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 EXTERIOK HOUSE-PAINTIIs^G. 
 
 The extreme fondness for white exteriors in discordant 
 contrast with green window-blinds, and for dead white for 
 interior painting, is passing away. A better taste now, to 
 some extent, prevails, and it is devoutly to be wished that 
 the mania for white and green may return no more for ever. 
 Apropos to this subject. Downing, in his "Architecture of 
 Coun try-Houses," says : '' The color of the outside of a 
 country-house is of more importance than is generally sup- 
 posed, since, next to the form itself, the color is the first 
 impression the eye receives on beholding it ; and, in some 
 cases, the color makes its impression even before we fully 
 comprehend the form of the building. The greater num- 
 ber of our country-houses, in all parts of the United States, 
 have hitherto been painted white, partly because white-lead 
 is supposed to be a better preservative than other colors 
 (though the white paint generally used is one of the worst 
 lin this respect), and partly because of its giving an appear- 
 ance of especial newness to a house, which with many per- 
 sons is in itself a recommendation. No person of taste, 
 
EXTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 
 
 b'6 
 
 who gives the subject the least consideration, is, however, 
 guilty of the mistake of painting or coloring country- 
 houses white ; and yet, there are so many who have never 
 given the subject a moment's thought, that we must urge 
 upon them a few arguments against so great a breach of 
 good taste. Our first objection to white is, that it is too 
 glaring and conspicuous. We scarcely know anything more 
 uncomfortable to the eye than to approach the sunny side 
 of a house on one of our brilliant midsummer days when it 
 revels in the fashionable purity of its color. It is absolutely 
 painful. Nature, full of kindness to man, has covered most 
 of the surface that meets his eye in the country with a 
 soft green hue, at once refreshing and most grateful to the 
 eye. Many of our country-houses appear to be colored 
 on the very opposite principle ; and one needs, in broad 
 sunshine, to turn his eyes away from them to relieve them 
 by a glimpse of the soft, refreshing shades that everywhere 
 pervade the trees, the grass, and the surface of the earth. 
 Our second objection to white is, that it does not harmo- 
 nize with the country, and thereby mars the effect of rural 
 landscapes. Nothing tends so much to destroy breadth 
 of tone as any object of considerable size and of brilliant 
 white. It stands harshly apart from all the soft shades 
 of th3 scene. Hence landscape-painters always studiously 
 avoid the introduction of white in their buildings, and give 
 them, instead, some neutral tint — a tint which unites or 
 contrasts equally with the color of the trees and grass, and 
 which seems to blend into other parts of natural landscape, 
 instead of being a discordant note in the general harmony." 
 
54 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTma, AND GRAINING. 
 
 Wordsworth, in a little volume on *' The Scenery of the 
 Lakes," remarks that the objections to white as a color in 
 large spots or masses in landscapes are insurmountable. 
 He says it destroys the gradations of distance, haunts the 
 eye, and disturbs the repose of Nature. The writer, in his 
 book on "House-Painting," says of the use of white for ex- 
 teriors : "It is a kind of Puritanism in painting which has 
 no warrant in Nature, which, in such matters, should meas- 
 urably be our guide and instructor. If we go to her for in- 
 struction, she will point us to the yaulted arch above, fres- 
 coed by day with a thousand shapes and hues of loveliness 
 and beauty, and by night with myriads of stars ; to the 
 cool, gray tints of the morning twilight, and the gorgeous 
 blazoning of the summer sunset. She will show us a land- 
 scape whereon, with lavish hand, she has painted forms of 
 beauty of every color and hue, and tint and shade, and 
 penciled with exquisite touches the tiniest leaf." 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that, in seeking in- 
 struction from Nature, we are to copy the natural disposi- 
 tion of colors in the decoration of our houses, either in kind 
 or proportion. The fact that Nature, in the vernal season, 
 spreads a carpet of living green beneath our feet, and, at all 
 times, a canopy of azure above us, is not of itself good rea- 
 son why the base of a house should be painted green, and 
 the roof sky-blue. In fact, these colors should have little 
 or no place in the external ornamentation of a building, for 
 the reason, if for no other, that Nature exhibits them in 
 abundance, and of a purity that art can hardly hope to 
 rival. It should be remembered that a building is not, as 
 
EXTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 55 
 
 before said, in any sense a natural object, but, with its 
 formal lines and severe angles, is artificial to tlie last de- 
 gree, and must, under all circumstances, be treated as 
 such ; and any attempt to make it appear a natural object, 
 by painting it with such colors as Nature most largely dis- 
 plays, is ridiculous. The true theory in painting a coun- 
 try-house is to render the building conspicuous, but not 
 obtrusive ; to enhance its good features, if it have any, and 
 diminish, or hide, its defects ; to bring it into harmony 
 with its surroundings, and with the general landscape. 
 
 The use of the primary colors, red, blue, and yellow, and 
 the extreme colors, black and white — excepting the latter 
 in small quantity — is not admissible in exterior house-paint- 
 ing. The advocate of white may ask, exultingly, '^ What 
 looks better in a country landscape than a white house 
 peeping out from a mass of green foliage ? " which means, 
 simply, AVhat looks better than white when it is covered, or 
 hidden from view ? For present purposes, the question of 
 ^Miow not to paint" may be considered as settled; and it 
 becomes important to ask. How shall we paint, and what 
 colors are fitted and most suitable for exterior house-paint- 
 ing ? The economical view of the case will remain in abey- 
 ance, as appearances only are now important. 
 
 The tints or tones of color called neutral, or semi-neu- 
 tral, as drabs, fawn, stone-colors, grays, buffs, cream and 
 clay colors, are most suitable for exterior painting, as also 
 olive-drabs and greenish-browns. Two or three tones of 
 color which harmonize, either by contrast or analogy, may 
 be exhibited in juxtaposition with good effect; and this 
 
56 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 style of painting is, happily, now the fashion — the custom 
 of coloring exteriors with one uniform, unvarying tint, 
 being among the by-gones. 
 
 The art of combining colors with each other, and with 
 black and white, to produce the various hues, tones, shades, 
 and broken colors, so simple to an adept, is among the 
 mysteries to the uninitiated, and impossible with many, 
 from the fact that not a small proportion of mankind are 
 possessed of perceptive faculties which are not sensitive to 
 color-impressions — i. e., they are color-blind. The percep- 
 tion of color is a natural gift, and the eye alone must be 
 consulted as to what is good ; but, as much depends upon 
 circumstances and conditions, as bodily and mental sanity, 
 its judgment is by no means infallible, as *^all looks yellow 
 to the jaundiced eye " ; and, under the most favorable cir- 
 cumstances, the delicate organism of the eye becomes tired 
 when exercised by certain color-impressions. 
 
 Since the publication of his book on "House-Painting," 
 the writer has been applied to by scores of people, from all 
 parts of the country, to furnish rules for, and to give defi- 
 nite quantities of, the various colored pigments necessary to 
 produce the tones and tints commonly used in house-paint- 
 ing. The difficulties in the way of such an attempt do not 
 seem to have occurred to the applicants, probably for the 
 reason that it is not generally known that much — perhaps 
 most — of the paint sold by dealers throughout the country 
 is not what it purports to be. Pure paints, whether white 
 or colored, are the exception and not the rule ; that is, the 
 chance of getting pure paint, as compared with the chance 
 
EXTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 57 
 
 of getting a highly-adnilterated material, is small ; and that 
 is not the worst. Many of the materials sold under the 
 yarious names, as umber, siennas, etc., are not, except in 
 name, what they purport to be, but wholly fictitious ar- 
 ticles, without any of the properties of the genuine. To 
 illustrate the difficulties in the way of furnishing a set of 
 formal rules whereby to instruct the uninitiated in the art 
 of combining colors, let a case be supposed. It is easy to 
 say that one pound, or two pounds, of raw Turkey umber 
 with one hundred pounds of pure white-lead, or zinc, will 
 produce a tone of pure drab, such as will be suitable for 
 coloring the exterior surface of a house. Now, suppose, 
 instead of both articles being pure and genuine, the lead, 
 or zinc, to be so much cheapened by adulterating materials 
 that the tinting power of the same is only one quarter that 
 of pure white-lead or zinc. To mix with this a pound, or 
 two pounds, of pure umber, would give a shade four times 
 darker than is wanted ; or, suppose the lead to be pure, 
 and the coloring material to be wholly a fictitious article, 
 or to be so much reduced as to have lost almost its coloring 
 property. In the one case, a dirty gray or brown would 
 be the result ; and, in the other, almost no effect would be 
 shown by mixing the same with one hundred pounds of the 
 white. In any event, the failure would be attributed, not 
 to the fictitious materials, but to the author of the rule ; 
 and on his devoted head would fall all the blame. 
 
 In painting, good results are possible only by the use of 
 good materials, and the best are always the cheapest. A 
 few facts will, perhaps, serve more fully to illustrate the 
 
58 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE FAmTmG, AND GRAINING. 
 
 false economy in using cheap or impure paints, than would 
 a volume of argument. Take the well-known article of 
 lampblack as a familiar example. One pound of pure, fine 
 lampblack, at a cost of twenty cents, possesses more color- 
 ing-power, and will color more surface, used by itself, than 
 five pounds of black paint commonly sold in the shops at a 
 cost, say, of ten cents per pound ; or, twenty cents' worth 
 of the pure pigment will realize a better result than will 
 a dollar's worth of the so-called cheaper paints ; and the 
 pure paint will retain its intense blackness almost for ever, 
 while the cheaper article will, after a brief exposure to the 
 weather, turn gray, and soon fall off. What is true of 
 lampblack is applicable to all pigments, whether white or 
 colored. No one can afford to use impure paints. The 
 best of its kind is always the most economical ; and no con- 
 sumer should ever purchase a package of paint which does 
 not carry with it the name of some well-known and respon- 
 sible manufacturer. No matter how great *Hhe skill of 
 the workman may be, good results are obtainable only by 
 the use of good materials." 
 
 To remedy the evils which grow out of the common and 
 extreme adulteration of paints, and to save the trouble and 
 loss of time consequent upon the mixing of colors with 
 white, the custom has been adopted of selling ready-made 
 colors, which are tones and tints mostly suitable for exte- 
 rior, and many of them equally suitable for interior, house- 
 painting. The list comprises a great many different tints 
 and shades of color, and these are produced by the use of 
 such materials as experience has proved to be most suitable 
 
EXTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 59 
 
 for siicli ijurjiose — reference being had to economy, dura- 
 bility, ease of working, and purity of tone of color. 
 
 Bright blue and red grays, and pink and salmon colors, 
 are not exhibited, for the reason that such colors are, in a 
 measure, liable to the same objection as white, when used 
 for exterior painting. These tones of color, too, are apt to 
 deceive, and, in the result, to disappoint ; the eifect being 
 so different with them, when seen in large masses, com- 
 pared with a small patch of color shown on a sample-card. 
 
 It is not claimed that these colors are entirely perma- 
 nent. No compound color can remain unchanged under the 
 bleaching influence of the bright sunshine of our climate. 
 By *^ compound colors," in this connection, is meant those 
 colors which are produced by tinting with white. Any and 
 all of the natural-colored pigments, however permanent they 
 may be by themselves, are rendered fugitive by admixture 
 with white. For example : Venetian red, which, per se, is 
 almost absolutely unchangeable, becomes one of the most 
 fugitive colors when tinted with white-lead or zinc. The 
 claim is, that ready-made colors are more permanent under 
 the weather-influences than are the tones of color produced 
 in the ordinary way ; because those coloring native pigments 
 only are used which have been shown by actual test to best 
 retain their color under the fading influence of sunlight ; 
 also, that these colors are more homogeneous, for the reason 
 that they are mixed with the white before the paint passes 
 through the mill, and, consequently, become more thor- 
 oughly incorporated — more entirely an integral portion of 
 the mixture — than are the colors mixed in small quantity 
 
60 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING, 
 
 at the moment of using the same;, as has been, heretofore, 
 the general mode of producing tints and tones of color. 
 
 It will be understood that these paints are ground in 
 oil, *but not tliinned with the quantity of oil requisite to 
 spread them with a paint-brush ; that they come to the 
 hands of the painter of about the same thickness or con- 
 sistency as ground white-lead, and require to be thinned 
 with raw linseed-oil, or turpentine, or both. 
 
 The writer is well aware of the fact that to a skillful 
 painter the task of producing any desired tint or shade of 
 color is an easy one, supposing the proper materials to be at 
 hand, or readily procurable ; but such is not always the 
 case, for, as before said, pure, unsophisticated colors are 
 the exception, and not the rule. That the skill necessary 
 to produce the yarious tones, tints, and shades of color is 
 not universal among those who profess the art of painting, 
 tlie writer has good reason to know, if only from the nu- 
 merous applications received by him, since the publication 
 of the book before mentioned, for rules and forms whereby 
 those who are unskilled in compounding colors may be able 
 to produce any desired tone, tint, or shade. 
 
 The advantages of ready-made colors are many. They 
 are more economical, because they are mixed in large quan- 
 tities by steam-power, and, as only the exact quantity of 
 coloring-matter required is added, there is no waste. The 
 tones and tints are the purest possible, being produced by 
 the use of the very best materials. They are always the 
 same, being compounded by rule, and always in like pro- 
 portions, and any additional required quantity of the same 
 
EXTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 61 
 
 color may be readily obtained. Samples are furnished, and 
 tlie owner may select tlie exact tone or hue which may 
 13lease his taste before the work shall be commenced. 
 
 Referring to the use of those colors wherein the yellow 
 ray is predominant, the writer would impress most strongly 
 the fact that, of all the colors except white, yellow is, from 
 its strong reflective power, the least diminished by dis- 
 tance, and the most difficult to neutralize. There will 
 always be more of it than the sample would lead one to 
 expect. It never comes short of its promise, and becomes 
 obtrusive as it is exhibited in large masses. Caution must, 
 therefore, be used in the selection of the yellowish colors, 
 for, unless a decidedly yellowish tone is wanted, the result 
 is apt to disappoint. It is, however, less obtrusive than 
 white, and always in better harmony with the landscape, 
 either in the vernal or winter season. A yellow house 
 with green blinds is perfectly harmonious in itself, and 
 with its surroundings ; yellow being almost the only color 
 which harmonizes perfectly with all the shades of green 
 and all the shades of brown. 
 
 There are, in all communities, timid persons who can 
 not bear criticism ; who, in matters of taste, have no well- 
 grounded opinions, but are controlled entirely by the de- 
 cided expressions of their stronger-minded neighbors. To 
 such the writer would recommend, in house-painting, the 
 use of those colors which are so entirely neutral as to dis- 
 arm criticism. Variety is, however, most desirable, and no 
 two houses in a village should be painted alike, supposing 
 all to be painted well. Exterior house-painting affords a 
 
62 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTINO, AND GRAINING. 
 
 good opportunity for the expression of individuality, and 
 every man should, in some particular, express himself differ- 
 ently from his neighbors. Fortunately, the alphabet of color 
 is inexhaustible, so there exists no necessity for uniformity. 
 The custom which has heretofore much prevailed, namely, 
 of painting groups of buildings, belonging to one homestead, 
 of uniform color, is not a custom to be honored. Every 
 member of a group of structures should have its individual 
 color, as it has its own form and size. One general tone 
 should pervade the whole, but each should have its dis- 
 tinctive color, except where it may be desirable to hide or 
 diminish some of the lesser buildings. That will best be 
 accomplished by painting such of the same color as the 
 main, or principal, building. As a rule, the principal 
 building should present the lightest shade. A very light 
 yellow tint, showing more or less of the red ray, is suitable 
 for painting houses which are partially concealed by foliage 
 — which look out upon the public through masses of green 
 of every hue. It accords admirably with any of the greens, 
 from the brightest hue of the willow to the darkest green 
 of the pine. It is a bright, cheerful tint, sunny — but not 
 glaring, like white — warm, harmonious, and agreeable, par- 
 ticularly in a bare, winter landscape. It is not recom- 
 mended when the house is a conspicuous object in the 
 landscape, isolated, unscreened by trees — being, under such 
 circumstances, liable to the same objections as wliite. The 
 strong reflective power of yellow causes this color, when 
 viewed in large masses, to present a staring appearance. 
 For buildings so exposed, the drabs or gray tints are pref- 
 
EXTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 63 
 
 erable. These tones of color, too, wherein the yellow ray 
 predominates, are the only ones suitable for exterior paint- 
 ing which harmonize with green blinds. No theory, how- 
 ever well elucidated, can teach the art of properly combin- 
 ing colors and tints for decorative and ornamental pur- 
 poses. -Such knowledge must come from practice and 
 observation, and the eye alone must be consulted as to 
 what is good. 
 
 The foregoing directions, theories, or suggestions, as 
 the case may be, are given under the impression or convic- 
 tion that they will affect, in the way of instruction or 
 education, and be useful mainly to, owners of houses who 
 reside at greater or less distances from the larger centers of 
 population — of country-houses, so called ; and with such 
 owners the writer would have a little plain talk before con- 
 cluding this chapter, assuming that his forty-seven years 
 of constant experience and practice in this matter invests 
 him with the privilege of offering advice, without becoming 
 obnoxious to the charge of vanity or presumption. 
 
 Pine-wood surfaces must, in the nature of things, pre- 
 sent, in exterior weather-boards, clapboards, moldings, and 
 plain work, more or less of imperfections in the way of 
 knots, and sap, and resinous exudations. The life of the 
 pine-tree is the sap, which hardens to turpentine on expos- 
 ure to the atmosphere, and the dead wood always retains 
 more or less of this resinous substance. Unfortunately, 
 this *^ gum-resin" is incompatible with the oil used for 
 outside painting, which will certainly dissolve it ; and the 
 resin in solution will, in turn, as certainly destroy the 
 
64 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 paint. This is, no doubt, a bad state of things ; and, un- 
 fortunatel}^, tliere is in outside work no good remedy for 
 it. (The reader is requested to note carefully what is said 
 on this subject in Chapter IX, under the heading of ^^New 
 System," etc.) 
 
 The so-called remedy is no remedy, for the reason that 
 it proves in the end worse than the evil it is intended to 
 cure. A coating of shellac-varnish is sometimes applied to 
 the knots and pitchy places ; but this application, which 
 serves moderately well on interior work, proves an entire 
 failure when used on exterior surfaces ; for the sun and 
 heat will reveal these spots in spite of all efforts to conceal 
 them. Time, and the elements, will certainly work a cure ; 
 but every house-owner does not care to wait this slow pro- 
 cess. In such cases the evil must be borne as best it may. 
 The owner of an old house is certainly well rid of it. The 
 practice of the writer is, to expose new pine-wood to the 
 action of the weather-forces for one season before painting ; 
 that is, one summer and winter through. This not only 
 remedies the evil in question, but it does much more in 
 the way of good results. The weather corrodes, roughens, 
 oxidizes, the planed and smooth surface, and corrugates 
 the same, thereby giving the paint, when applied, some- 
 thing to hold, to cling to. The tooth of Time eats out the 
 wood, and also renders inactive and innocuous much that 
 the pine contained Avhich had a natural tendency to hasten 
 the destruction and lessen the durability of the paint. A 
 common practice among builders is, to have the painter 
 follow the carpenter with the brush and pot, so that the 
 
EXTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 65 
 
 wood may be coated as soon as the hammer leaves it. This 
 is done, no doubt, with a view to lessen the shrinkage of 
 the wood — a most absurd theory, truly. One may as well 
 attempt to arrest the rushing waters of Niagara with a 
 wicker dam as to hope to prevent, or lessen, in one hair's- 
 breadth, the shrinkage of soft wood. Every hygrometric 
 change in the atmosphere increases, or lessens, as the case 
 may be, the bulk and dimensions of dead pine-wood, though 
 it may be heavy with successive coats of paint. Every man 
 knows, who has lived in a furnace-heated house, how the 
 soft-wood doors will swell to tightness in the moister at- 
 mosphere of summer, and shrink to rattling openness un- 
 der the dry heat of the furnace-fire and the closed doors 
 and windows. In view of this,, what vanity to hope to 
 arrest the shrinkage of pine-wood exposed to the burning 
 fervor of our summer sunshine ! As well hope to crystal- 
 lize water without increasing its bulk, or cool hot iron 
 without contracting its dimensions ! From what has been 
 said, the conclusion may be drawn that satisfactory results 
 are not to be looked for in the first outside painting, with 
 oil-colors, of a new wooden house. We know, as a rule, 
 that the practice is, with those who build houses, to have 
 the painter follow the carpenter as soon as possible ; and a 
 manufacturer of paints should be the last to deprecate 
 this custom. We are free to confess, however, that we 
 do not anticipate any appreciable diminution in the con- 
 sumption of paints because of the facts herein given. We 
 rest in the conviction that the owner will paint his new 
 house just the same as if nothing had ever been said to 
 
66 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 the contrary ; that the builder will smile in derision of 
 our theory, and the painter will treat it with the utmost 
 contempt. Therefore, since we must and will paint our 
 newly-planed wood, how "best to do it" presents itself 
 as the most important question. Certain rules as to time 
 should be heeded or listened to, and certain conditions 
 should be observed. Much of the flaking, peeling off, 
 cleaving of paint from wooden surfaces is, not because of 
 any defect or shortcoming in the material, but because 
 the paint, though properly applied, is not applied at the 
 right time, and when the conditions are favorable to a 
 good outcome. If paint be put on a piece of wood, the 
 pores of the same being saturated with water, the chances 
 are that the paint will not adhere tenaciously to that sur- 
 face. Why ? Because the spaces which the paint should 
 have filled were already occupied with a substance which is 
 the universal solvent ; and the paint could find no perma- 
 nent lodgment, from the fact that no two material objects 
 can occupy the same space at the same time. The water 
 pushed the paint from the wall ; that's all there is of it. 
 The important question of ivhat to use, is next in order ; 
 and thereby hang a great many tales. Your village painter 
 being called in consultation — not yet having become a 
 convert to the doctrine of ready-made colors — will say, 
 with most amusing dogmatism: "No — no — no! No 
 mixed colors for me. I can make my own colors, and do 
 it better than another, because I know my trade." To 
 this action on the part of the painter no reasonable ex- 
 ception can be taken, for all handicraftsmen are as proud 
 
EXTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 67 
 
 of their acquisitions in the way of knowledge and of 
 learning as of their manual dexterity. To know, and to 
 do, is their just and proper pride. These objections are, 
 however, becoming less and less frequent every day ; and 
 the painters themselves are fast becoming converts to the 
 theory that ready-made colors relieve them of what has 
 heretofore been the drudgery and vexatious part of their 
 trade ; and the proof is constantly before their eyes that 
 colors, mixed as aforesaid, do not fade so quickly as do 
 colors made by tinting with white-lead, at the moment 
 of using the same. The reader will understand, once for 
 all, that when we speak of these colors we have in mind 
 the paints manufactured by responsible parties, who have 
 been long enough in the business to have learned, by 
 practice and experience, what mixtures will give the best 
 results — what to use and what to avoid ; and not the 
 thousand-and-one so-called "mixed colors "put upon the 
 market by parties irresponsible, ignorant, without educa- 
 tion and without experience — men who essay paint-mak- 
 ing before they gravitate to their natural level of agents 
 for life-insurance, or wnnging-machines. 
 
 In selecting a paint, it will be safe, as a rule, for the 
 purchaser to distrust claimants for favor just in pro- 
 portion as they are thrust upon the public by loud and 
 windy advertisements, high-sounding titles, and brag, 
 blow, and bluster. Fortunately for the purchaser, the so- 
 called "rubber paints" do not contain any "caoutchouc," 
 and the "fire-proof" paints do not contain any "asbes- 
 tus," or other fire-proof substance. "Good wine needs no 
 
C8 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 bush " ; and, as a rule, stuff offered for sale to the public 
 is devoid of any real value or intrinsic worth just in pro- 
 portion as it is extensively advertised. No dealer in specie, 
 or true coin, ever advertised his business to the extent of 
 two hundred thousand dollars a year. Quack-medicine 
 venders do that. 
 
 To come back to our ^* plain talk." We suppose a 
 new house in the country, presenting exteriorly pine-wood 
 boards, clapboards, moldings, trimmings, and cornices, 
 more or less elaborate and ornamental. The painting is, 
 or should be, a matter of prime importance, because the 
 beholder will receive his first imj^ression rather from the 
 color than the form. Architectural beauties may be spoiled 
 by bad coloring ; and defects may be lessened, or hidden, 
 by a proper exhibition of well-selected or well-chosen tints. 
 In this work, fancy can not anticipate the fact ; and the 
 most skillful composer in colors can not, under novel or 
 untried conditions, say, with certainty, what will be the 
 effect of any proposed arrangement, for the reason that 
 the eye alone must be consulted as to what is good. In 
 this matter of painting exteriors with colors, an ounce of 
 practice is worth a pound of theory. Any tint, hue, or 
 shade may be selected for the main or body color — not, 
 of course, positive colors, or extremes^and the contrast- 
 ing colors may be made to harmonize therewith ; but this 
 will be discovered in practice, and must not be taken for 
 granted because of any theory, no matter where and when, 
 and by whom, promulgated. The writer does not hope ta 
 make any converts to his theory and practice of presenting 
 
EXTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 69 
 
 the pine-wood surface to tlie action of tlie weather-forces, 
 for a year, unpainted ; but he would impress most strongly 
 the importance of giving the wood time to dry before ap- 
 plying the paint. To the dry wood, then, give a coating of 
 thin paint to all. parts, of one color — the color selected for 
 the finish — the main or body color. The reason for this 
 is, that it is useless to waste time in putting on two colors, 
 when one will serve all good purposes. Having the selected 
 tint on the main house, one may experiment with the trim- 
 mings, and find out, in actual practice, what will give the 
 most pleasing effects in the application of the companion- 
 colors, both by contrast and analogy ; in other words, by 
 the use of the same color as the body-color of darker tone, 
 or by the use of a different or contrasting color, as a warm 
 brown with a cold gray or a neutral drab. Better effects 
 can be produced by the use of three colors than with a less 
 number. For instance, suppose a neutral tint for the main 
 color, with a darker tint for the trimmings. These would 
 harmonize, of course, by analogy, or because they are alike. 
 The introduction of a third, different, and much darker 
 color than the others — for instance,' a rich neutral brown, 
 or red brown, as Indian red, or Tuscan red, producing 
 thereby a harmony by contrast — is recommended. The 
 third color must, however, be exhibited in small quantity, 
 as compared with its neighbors. 
 
 The succeeding coats of paint should not follow each 
 other too rapidly in outside painting. The first coat should 
 stand, at least, one week — ten days, or even two weeks, 
 will be better — ^before the application of the second coat ; 
 
70 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 and, if a third is to be applied, tlie same time should be 
 given as between the first and second coatings. The use 
 of yery dark colors is not recommended, for reasons which 
 include both taste and economy. A very dark-colored 
 building, exposed to the direct action of the sun, absorbs 
 the heat-rays, and the atmosphere in and about it will be 
 at a higher temperature than under other conditions. The 
 wooden surface becomes heated almost to burning under 
 the rays of our bright summer sun, and the boards dry and 
 warp, and split and shrivel, under the heat-force. Red 
 shingle-roofs are specially affected, and often become leaky 
 because of the absorption of the heat from the sun. Very 
 dark-colored buildings do not harmonize so well with the 
 general landscape as do those of a lighter tint, and so be- 
 come hard features therein. Such a st3de of painting is 
 better avoided by general house-owners. 
 
 As a parting word, the writer would most emphatically 
 warn any would-be purchaser of paints, for his own use, to 
 avoid the numberless chemical and other compounds which 
 are daily offered in ever-increasing variety. If these com- 
 pounds are what they claim to be, they are what the house- 
 owner does not want ; and, if they are not what they claim 
 to be, there is fraud on the face of the business. Nothing 
 has yet been discovered, in the way of durability and every 
 other good quality, that can for a moment compare with 
 the oil of flaxseed as a vehicle or medium for preparing | 
 pigments for external house-painting. Linseed-oil paints I 
 are good enough, and, with good enough at hand, it is ] 
 vanity to be looking for something better. [ 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 NEW SYSTEM OF INTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTIXG. 
 
 The painting and repainting of the interiors of our 
 houses may properly be classed with the disagreeable neces- 
 sities of domestic economy. Disagreeable, because of their 
 interference with the orderly process of daily routine — of 
 its costliness, and the unpleasant odor which exhales from 
 the painted surface, and because of its supposed unhealth- 
 f ulness. The writer has been, for many years, of the opin- 
 ion and conviction that the almost universally ado]3ted and 
 accepted practice in the art of house-painting is not in ac- 
 cordance with the general advancement and improvement 
 of the age. Let it be borne in mind that these remarks 
 apply to the use of white and colored pigments in the orna- 
 menting, beautifying, and utilizing, so to speak, of the wood 
 and plaster surfaces of interior domestic architecture. 
 
 To best set forth what there is in the present system 
 which needs reforming — or, perhaps, eliminating — let us 
 proceed to examine it in detail. Suppose a new house, 
 well rid of the plasterers, and turned over by the joiners 
 into the hands of tke painter. The usual mode of pro- 
 
72 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 ceeding on the part of tlie latter is, to coyer the wooden 
 surface with a coating of white-lead, thinned to a proper 
 consistency for application with the oil of flaxseed, or 
 linseed-oil, as it is more generally named. . To produce a 
 moderately satisfactory result, this process must be three 
 times repeated; and, as some days — say three or four — 
 must elapse between the successive coats, and a week or 
 more to complete the final drying process, not less than 
 about twenty days will have been consumed in the work of 
 painting alone ; and many weeks must pass by before the 
 house-atmosphere will have become clear of the unpleasant 
 odor which exhales from the paint in its gradual harden- 
 ing or drying process. If, after this lengthened and tedi- 
 ous operation, the result were satisfactory, and the sur- 
 face, which has been produced at such a cost of time and 
 money, gave promise of stability and permanence, there 
 would be less of necessity for seeking out or inventing 
 some system which shall be free from the evils inherent to 
 the present one. 
 
 It is now pertinent to inquire how far short the present 
 system comes of what may reasonably be demanded in this 
 age of improvement. 
 
 The soft pine-wood in common use in the construction 
 of what is called the wood-work of our houses, such as 
 doors, shutters, casings, base-boards, etc., presents more or 
 less of knots and other imperfections, which contain resin- 
 ous matter, the nature of which is incompatible with the 
 oil used to thin the paint for covering the surface. Conse- 
 quently, the oil, which is a ready solvent of the resinous 
 
NEW SYSTEM OF INTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 73 
 
 matter, ente-rs into combination with it, decomposing it, 
 and forming a substance which discolors the white pig- 
 ment to such a degree as to deprive it of its power to cover 
 and conceal these imperfections. This evil, too, is a grow- 
 ing one, as the pine-forests disappear more and more rap- 
 idly under the increasing demand for timber, and the (to 
 that species of vegetation) destructive march of civili- 
 zation. Therefore, every year, less of choice is left in the 
 selection of timber for joiner's- work, and materials are 
 used which a few years ago would have been utterly re- 
 jected for such purposes. The common remedy for this 
 evil is the interposition of some substance which shall act 
 as a shield between the oil and the resin, and keep them 
 from actual contact. A varnish made of gum-shellac 
 dissolved in alcohol is the best material yet discovered to 
 prevent the discoloration before mentioned ; but one appli- 
 cation is hardly sufficient, because the action of the oil 
 reveals many places which the eye failed to discover before 
 the application of the first coat of paint. This may be 
 remedied, in a measure, by giving a coating of varnish to 
 the painted surface ; but the remedy is not absolute, as the 
 dissolving action of the oil continues after the paint is 
 supposed to be hard and dry ; and discolorations appear, 
 from time to time, to such an extent as to seriously im- 
 pair, if not destroy, the uniformity of the painted surface. 
 In addition to this evil, which inheres in the wood itself, 
 is the gradual darkening of white-lead paints thinned with 
 oil, when not exposed to the bleaching influence of direct 
 
 sunlight. For thi^ there is no remedy but to dispense 
 
 4 
 
 % 
 
74 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 with the use of linseed-oil in the last or finishing coat, 
 and the substitution of oil of turpentine (spirits of turpen- 
 tine) — or the partial substitution, rather, as there still must 
 be a portion of linseed-oil used, or the paint would have no 
 more adhesive power than if mixed with water. The par- 
 tial substitution of the drying-oil with the volatile oil of 
 turpentine lessens the tendency of the paint to turn yel- 
 low ; but the remedy is little better than the evil it is in- 
 tended to cure, because the adhesive and water-proof char- 
 acter of the paint is, to a great degree, destroyed thereby, 
 and the washing and wij^ing of the painted surface, in- 
 dispensable to cleanliness and neatness, soon remove the 
 paint, and bare spaces on the most handled parts of the 
 wood-work are the unavoidable result. Nothing is more 
 common, in-doors, than revelations of bare wood around 
 door-handles and much-used j)ortions of the wood-work of 
 frequented rooms, while all the rest of the painted surface 
 is quite unworn. An entire rej^ainting is the only remedy 
 for such a condition. 
 
 No person, whose knowledge comes from experience, 
 will hesitate to agree with the writer in the declaration 
 that, all things considered — as costliness, loss of time, and 
 other attending discomforts — painting, that is, the ordi- 
 nary painting" and repainting of our interiors, is satisfac- 
 tory neither in the process nor in the result. To abandon 
 one's domicile for weeks, or to remain in an atmosphere 
 which is sickening, or at best disagreeable, during the 
 operation of repainting, with the knowledge that the fresh- 
 ness of the beautiful white or delicate tints, so pleasing 
 
limV SYSTEM OF INTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 75 
 
 to the eye, will hardly outlive the unpleasant odor of the 
 drying paint, is certainly good and sufficient cause for the 
 inquiry : '' Can not a better system than this be invented or 
 discovered — a system which shall include all that is good 
 in the present, and exclude most of all that is bad ; which 
 shall introduce what is required, and banish what all will 
 so readily dispense with ? " 
 
 It would seem pertinent, now that we have presented 
 the shortcomings of the present practice, to inquire what a 
 system should include to commend it to general favor, and 
 insure its more or less speedy and general adoption. 
 
 First in importance, but last to be ascertained, is dura- 
 bility, unchangeableness in color and substance ; smooth- 
 ness of surface, to cause foreign substances to adhere to it 
 with the least possible cohesion ; sufficient hardness to pre- 
 serve its integrity under the unavoidable and constant wip- 
 ing and washing ; and sufficient tenacity and elasticity to 
 enable it to resist accidental knocks and blows, and to 
 insure it against cracking, or separating, as hard varnish is 
 apt to do after long exposure. It must possess, in a good 
 degree, body, covering or hiding quality, to conceal the 
 wood under the least possible number of coats, and give 
 uniformity and homogeneousness to the work. It must 
 resist the discoloring property which inheres in the wood, 
 and the darkening, yellowing, external influences, either of 
 domestic gases, or whatever other atmospheric agencies tend 
 to produce that result. It must dry or harden so rapidly 
 that new pine-wood may be finished ready for use in not 
 more than four or fin^e days — that is, the succeeding coats 
 
76 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 should follow on consecutive days. Lastly, it must work 
 easily and flow smoothly under the brush, and not require 
 any extraordinary skill in the handling, as no paint can 
 find favor with professional painters which requires un- 
 usual skill or labor in its application. In short, to fulfill 
 all the requirements of a good paint, it must dry quickly, 
 cover well ; present a smooth, hard, unyielding surface ; 
 be water-proof and dirt-proof ; spread easily, smoothly, 
 and evenly under the paint-brush, and retain its tint, 
 whatever discoloring influences it may be subjected to. 
 The finished surface must be of such a character that a 
 simple wiping with clear water and a soapy cloth shall re- 
 move all finger-marks and other ordinary discolorations. 
 ** Scrubbing of paint'' should be taken out of the category 
 of a housewife's duties. The paint should reach the hands 
 of the consumer, be he professor or amateur, in a liquid 
 state, requiring no mixing or other manipulation, except, 
 perhaps, a stirring with a stick, to render the whole mass 
 of like consistency throughout. 
 
 It will be understood that we are treating the subject, 
 not as it concerns or affects the few, but the masses ; not 
 the wealthy citizen who has the means and conveniences of 
 repainting within his easy reach, and who must, in obe- 
 dience to the dictates of fashion or taste, adhere to that 
 custom which rigidly requires all painted surfaces to be 
 flat, dead, without gloss, and non-reflective to the last 
 degree, but the average town and country householder, 
 who can not, for many reasons, decorate his domicile as 
 taste and fancy may suggest. It can not reasonably be 
 
NEW SYSTEM OF INTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 77 
 
 denied that, where appearance alone is important, a flat, 
 non-glossy, painted surface, in-doors, is more beautiful and 
 more delicate than painted surfaces which reflect the light, 
 particularly in white or light tints ; but this kind of paint- 
 ing is costly, and in the least degree fulfills the conditions 
 which, in the oj)inon of the writer, the average householder 
 requires and demands. 
 
 The new system of interior house-painting in practice 
 requires certain conditions which are entirely essential to 
 its full success. The condition precedent is, that the paint 
 shall not, as a rule, be applied to an unprepared surface of 
 new pine-wood. The preparation, which will be described 
 after, being an economical process, needs no apology on the 
 score of cost or trouble. The following detailed process, 
 whereby the " new system " is to be rendered practicable, 
 will be made so plain that any person with a slight knowl- 
 edge of how to use a paint-brush, not a practiced j^ainter, 
 may adopt it ; not, however, with the best results, be- 
 cause, with this, as with every other system, the best re- 
 sults come through the best knowledge and the most 
 skilled manipulation. 
 
 First, it is proposed to apply the new system to the 
 interior surface of a house finished with ordinary pine- 
 wood. The unpainted wood must receive, j)reparatory to 
 painting, a liberal flowing coat of shellac-varnish. This 
 coat effectually kills all knots, pitch, and sap. It fills the 
 pores of the wood, and, for all practical purposes, is 
 worth more than two coats of ordinary i^aint. The cost 
 of the varnish is not great, and of applying it but a 
 
78 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 trifle ; but, as it is worth ten times its cost, and insures a 
 good result in the end, no more need be said on that sub- 
 ject. This yarnish-coat will dry in an hour, and the work 
 will be ready for puttying. Ordinary putty will not do 
 for this. The putty must be prepared at the time of 
 using. To make it, take from the can a sufficient quan- 
 tity of the paint to be applied to the work, be it white 
 or colored, mix with common whiting to a proper con- 
 sistency, and use a putty-knife in stopping the holes and 
 crevices. The stopping or puttying being completed, 
 brings the work to a readiness to receive the first coat of 
 paint. The preparatory step in the painting will be a 
 thorough stirring of the paint, so as to make the material 
 of uniform consistency. Next, pour whatever quantity 
 may seem best into a clean paint-pot. Flow on to the 
 work with a brush, and leave as much paint on the sur- 
 face as will stay there without running. Next day but one, 
 apply the second coat of paint as before. The work now 
 gives a smooth, uniform, glossy, and water-proof surface. 
 The finish will be found far superior in solidity and much 
 more homogeneous than the same number of coats of best 
 white-lead, as commonly applied, and, if the result be satis- 
 factory, there need be no more discourse on that head ; but 
 we suppose a better surface yet be required, and the ut- 
 most perfection of the system be demanded. The applica- 
 tion of a third coat of paint completes the job, and gives 
 the best painted surface that can possibly be produced by 
 any reasonable expenditure of time and money. The sur- 
 face will clean like French china. It will improve by 
 
NFW SYSTEM OF INTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 79 
 
 washing and wij^ing. It will be found hard enough to re- 
 sist any ordinary wear, yet elastic enough to stand without 
 cracking or chipping. We think we speak with modera- 
 tion when we declare our belief that one jDainting under 
 the '^new system" will outlast four paintings under the 
 prevailing one. 
 
 The question of economy now presents itself — a most im- 
 portant consideration, this question of expense. It must not 
 be supposed that we can have all these good and desirable 
 qualities without paying for them. Yet the results here- 
 tofore described can be brought about with no extra outlay. 
 The cost of painting under the ^^new system" is no 
 greater, perhaps, than under the old ; but when the ques- 
 tion of economy, in its most comprehensive aspect, is held 
 up to view, the new system has altogether the advantage. 
 Enumerating the advantages, we have — the less time re- 
 quired to dry the paint and make it fit for use ; the supe- 
 rior smoothness and water-proof character of the surface, 
 whereby the cleaning is rendered easy ; its durability under 
 repeated washing, wiping, or scrubbing ; its non-liability 
 to discolor under the influence of ordinary domestic gases, 
 smoke, and other discoloring influences, common in every 
 dwelling ; its tenacity, wearing properties, and the infre- 
 quency of its necessary renewal. All these good qualities 
 combined render it, in the best sense of the word, the most 
 economical process ever adopted. 
 
 Directions which must be observed and obeyed : 
 Strain the paint! Let the pail or pot out of which 
 the paint 'is to be* used be clean and free from dust or 
 
80 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 motes. Tie over the top of tlie pail a joiece of common 
 Swiss muslin, such as is sold in the dry-goods shops at 
 about twenty-five cents a yard, and pour the paint through 
 it. Maybe there will be nothing caught in the strainer. 
 If so, the error will have been on the safe side. In such a 
 proceeding the old saying, ^^An ounce of prevention is 
 worth a pound of cure," has peculiar significance. Keep 
 the muslin strainer under water, and it will serve a good 
 many times. 
 
 Do not leave the paint exposed in an open can or pot. 
 
 Be sure that the brush is clean. It is always well, 
 where the brush has stood for a time in water, unused, to 
 wash it out well in turpentine before putting it into the 
 paint. The best brush for applying the paint in question 
 is the commonly-used bristle brush. For extended flat sur- 
 faces, a flat brush, known to painters as a kalsomine-brush, 
 is recommended. 
 
 There seems to be no further explanation necessary in 
 elucidation of our theory. The new system of painting 
 must, of course, stand or fall by reason of its inherent 
 merits or demerits. If it shall prove in others' practice 
 all that we have proved it in our own, it must necessarily 
 find favor. Like all new things, however, it will in many 
 instances be thoughtlessly, carelessly, and unjustly con- 
 demned. Failures, necessarily growing out of want of 
 care, non-compliance with plainly-written rules and direc- 
 tions, unskillfulness in handling, and many other good and 
 sufficient reasons for failure, will be laid at the door of the 
 unfortunate paint, and, like the scapegoat, it will be made 
 
NEW SYSTEM OF INTERIOR HOUSE-PAINTING. 81 
 
 to bear the sins of many. That, however, is all anticipated 
 by the author of the '^New System" ; and, in spite of it 
 all, he calls attention to the same, in the fullest confidence 
 that, notwithstanding these unayoidable drawbacks, there 
 is certain success awaiting its introduction. With the fol- 
 lowing brief summary of the rules and modes of operation, 
 the theory is offered, and commendation is asked, only in 
 proportion as it shall fulfill what is claimed for it ; 
 
 1. Do not apply the paint to an unprepared surface of 
 new pine-wood. 
 
 2. Do not use ordinary putty in stoj^ping the nail- 
 heads. 
 
 3. Use a putty-knife in stopping the nail-heads and 
 crevices. 
 
 4. Strain the paint before using. 
 
 5. Old painted work should be clean, and well rubbed 
 with pumice-stone, before applying the new paint. 
 
 6. Do not leave the paint exposed to the air in an open 
 vessel. 
 
 7. Do not rub the paint out, under the brush, as with 
 ordinary color, but flow it on like varnish. 
 
 8. Put as much paint on the surface as will stay there 
 without running. 
 
 9. Before applying the paint to new work, flow on to 
 the wood, with a paint-brush, a liberal coat of shellac-var- 
 nish. 
 
 10. The more the paint is washed, the better it will look. 
 It may be washed with cold water and a soapy cloth on the 
 third day after being finished. 
 
82 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 11. It is not poisonous, or in any wise disagreeable or 
 detrimental to health. 
 
 12. Bedrooms may be slept in, during the operation of 
 painting, without fear of unpleasant results. 
 
 These paints are presented in liquid form, put up in tin 
 cans of various capacities, containing from five gallons to 
 so small a quantity as one quart. The sample-card in- 
 cludes the various colors and tints suitable for in-door 
 painting. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 WHITEWASHIN'G OR COLORING WALLS AN^D CEILINGS — 
 CALLED KALSOMINING. 
 
 This simple operation is sometimes mystified, or made 
 occult, under the appalling title of calcimining, or, as 
 generally rendered by the professors of the art, kalsomin- 
 ing. This terrible word, enough, in its sight or sound, 
 when not understood, to make "the knotted and com- 
 bined locks to part, and each particular hair to stand on 
 end," is as harmless as Bottom in the play when its mean- 
 ing becomes known to the startled auditor who first hears 
 or sees it, perhaps in connection with a painter's bill of 
 magnificent proportions. Calx, or lime, is the root out of 
 which grows this formidable verb, or noun, as the case 
 may be, and to calcimi7ie is, in plain English, to ivliite.- 
 imsh ; and, if the material be colored, the operation is the 
 same — only it is then brought within the category of the 
 Dutchman who would have his walls "whitewashed mit 
 blue." This common and simple operation, namely, the 
 whitewashing of walls and ceilings, is so much a matter 
 of course, that the* average householder does not deem it 
 
84 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 worthy of investigation, and does not seem to care to un- 
 derstand what the operation includes. Yet, from a sani- 
 tary point of view, it is a subject of prime importance. 
 
 The promulgation of Professor TyndalFs theory of 
 '* Fermentation and Disease" is, in the opinion of the 
 writer, the most important announcement since the dis- 
 covery of oxygen by Dn Priestley in the latter part of the 
 eighteenth century. Indeed, so far as it relates to the ma- 
 terial welfare of the human race, it may prove the most 
 important the world has ever listened to. The question 
 has already been asked, no doubt, by the reader, what pos- 
 sible significance the theory can have in this connection. 
 Much. The paint for the million has been, and will con- 
 tinue to be, lime and water. This water-paint, when prop- 
 erly prepared, has many good and desirable qualities. It 
 cleans, it whitens, thereby bringing in light, which is 
 wholesome, and good, and indispensable in the best de- 
 velopment of human nature, and probably other animal 
 natures. Indeed, so important an element is light, that to 
 be deprived of it is almost to be deprived of existence. All 
 dark growths are sickly, and savor of the earth. Sunshine 
 is necessary, not only in the moral world, but is, as well, 
 a physical necessity ; and any theory of painting which 
 ignores this fact should be distrusted. It is not good to 
 live in dark dwellings ; it is not wholesome to sit in dark 
 rooms ; and the only fit occupants of gloomy, sunless 
 abodes are sickness, or sorrow, or sin, or shame ! The 
 writer has witnessed with lamentation the growing disposi- 
 tion on the part of those householders who claim to be the 
 
KALSOMINING. 85 
 
 best, the leaders in society and fashion, to adopt the use of 
 dark hues and shades in interior color-ornamentation. It 
 will be kept in mind that the average householder has, aa 
 a rule, no fixed or definite opinion or purpose as to what 
 he wants, but is, on the contrary, almost wholly governed 
 or persuaded by the taste, or opinion, or dictum of the 
 decorator, or upholsterer, or furnisher who is at and for 
 the time *^the mode." We believe that abodes and dwell- 
 ings, rooms and apartments from which the sunlight is 
 excluded, are not as good homes or abiding-places for hu- 
 man beings as are those where the sunlight has free access, 
 and where the light of heaven abounds. Suppose the 
 effect of these entering rays of heaven's light be to send 
 to their holes the bats, and owls, and bugs, and other un- 
 canny things ; it will, at the same time, expose their dark 
 ways, and enable us to shut them out, so they shall find 
 ingress no more. This digression is for the purpose of 
 more fully impressing the importance of the use of light, 
 white, or nearly white tints in water-painting, or white- 
 washing, or *^ kalsomining," as one may choose to name 
 it. Lime is, we repeat, and must continue to be, the paint 
 for the million ; and well it may be, as it includes many 
 good and desirable qualities or properties. It covers well, 
 cleans, sweetens, and disinfects, and costs almost nothing. 
 Any room with plastered walls and ceilings may be made 
 neat, sweet, tidy, and wholesome with a little labor and 
 less cost, by the use of lime-water paint. How to do it ? 
 It is easily done, and a very simple operation. So : pro- 
 cure from the shop where such articles are sold a quan- 
 
86 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 tity of lump-lime — mind, lump-lime — not lime in powder, 
 which will be more or less air-slaked. These lumjDs must 
 undergo the process of slaking by or through the applica- 
 tion of water ; cold water is good enough ; but the water 
 must be poured on the lum]3s not all at once, but as the 
 changing conditions require. The lump or lumps should 
 be placed in a tight pail or pan, as may be convenient, and 
 wet with water, which the thirsty stone will eagerly drink 
 up. For a minute or two, or more, no change will be per- 
 ceptible, although a wonderful chemical change is going 
 on nevertheless. The water, having been heated by this 
 chemical operation, will exhale from the stone in the form 
 of vapor, and a slight change in the appearance of the lump 
 will be perceptible. The slaking may be said now to have 
 fairly commenced, and more water must be given, and more 
 by degrees. The process will continue until the lumps 
 shall have become entirely disintegrated, have fallen into 
 powder of snowy whiteness, and with the water will boil 
 like an open tea-kettle over a brisk fire. This boiling 
 process must be carefully watched, as the water is thrown 
 oS very rapidly in the form of vapor and steam, and the 
 tendency of the mass is to dryness. When the miniature 
 craters begin to form and solidify on the surface of the 
 mass, more water must be added ; and when the ebullition 
 ceases, the whole may be stirred thoroughly with a stick, 
 and thereby rendered entirely homogeneous. Being cool, 
 a portion of it may be taken . and thinned with water to a 
 proper consistency for application wdtli a whitewash-brush ; 
 the thinner the better, so the wall be solidly white and 
 
KALSOMINING. 87 
 
 spotless, and not streaky. If the wash be applied too thick, 
 it will show a sandy surface, and be apt to flake or chip off, 
 and will have a tendency to turn yellow. This wash — the 
 lime being properly slaked and properly applied — will have 
 in itself sufficient adhesive power to keep it from rubbing 
 off when brought in contact with the hand or garments, to 
 which it is, of course, constantly exposed. 
 
 The practice of water-painting, commonly called "kal- 
 somining," is in this wise : The base of the water-pigment 
 is known to all as chalk, which is a soft, friable carbonate 
 of lime, containing more or less siliceous matter and other 
 impurities. These impurities are removed by grinding the 
 chalk under a heavy edge stone which slowly revolves on a 
 circular bed. The bed is surrounded by a water-tight tank, 
 into which flows a constant stream of water. The particles 
 of the crushed materials, agitated by the stone in its mo- 
 tion, are temporarily held in suspension by the water, and 
 flow off with it into large sunken vats, a number of which, 
 placed side by side, are connected by troughs ; the overflow 
 of the first vat is received by its nearest neighbor, and so 
 on until all the vats become filled. The vat farthest from 
 the mill will, of course, contain the finest deposit of all, 
 from the fact that the purer material will be longest held 
 in suspension. The deposited mass, when of proper con- 
 sistency, is lifted from the vats and thrown upon thick, 
 roughly-shaped blocks of chalk, which absorb a portion of 
 the water, and in a short time so harden the cakes of whiting 
 that they may be handled. They are then taken from the 
 blocks and dried byexposure to the air in a kind of lattice- 
 
88 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING, 
 
 framework. Paris-white is produced by the same method, 
 but the material used is a finer, harder kind of carbonate 
 of lime. This article is used for the painting of ceilings 
 and walls in the better class of work. It will be remem- 
 bered that this washed and purified chalk does not possess 
 in itself the adhesive property of the lime-wash as described 
 above, but, on the contrary, will be readily transferred to 
 anything which may be brought in contact with it. To 
 prevent this, gelatine in some form is added to the pigment 
 to impart the adhesive power which the material lacks 
 per se. In plain white ceilings sulphate of baryta, known 
 as barytes, may be used with whiting or Paris-white. The 
 following is the best mode of proceeding in such work we 
 are capable of giving. The preparation of the wall for re- 
 ceiving the paint is, however, of prime importance, and 
 that preliminary operation will be first described. We will 
 suppose the wall to have been papered (that is, covered with 
 paper-hangings), and further, that the removal of the paper 
 has revealed cracks in the plaster more or less formidable in 
 number and extent. If these cracks be so extensive as to 
 require, in filling, the services of a plasterer, the labor of 
 that craftsman must be had and obtained. A plasterer ac- 
 customed to this kind of work does not need to be told how 
 to do it. Yet, supposing a case w^here the cracked plaster 
 must be removed, and the task must be performed by the 
 painter, the mode of operation is in this wise : Cut away 
 clean down to the laths, and fill the opening with mortar 
 made of plaster and water, no lime or sand. This filling 
 should not be flush with the surface of the wall, but hoi- 
 
KALSOMINING. 89 
 
 lowed out and depressed so as to receive another filling. 
 This should stand a day or two to dry and harden, and 
 then be filled flush with the surrounding surface with white 
 mortar mixed with plaster-of- Paris, and nicely smoothed 
 with a trowel. 
 
 The ordinary mode of procedure in the preparation of a 
 wall for painting is to *' point up '' ; that is, to fill the holes 
 and cracks with a putty composed of equal parts of plaster 
 and common whiting mixed with water and glue-size (that 
 is, a weak solution of glue in water). The proper tools for 
 this work of filling are a broad-bladed putty-knife or a 
 small-pointed trowel and a water-brush, as the parts to be 
 operated on must be kept wet ; otherwise, the dry wall will 
 take the moisture so quickly from the putty or filling as to 
 prevent the necessary adhesion of the new with the old ma- 
 terial. To insure the best results, the cracks should receive 
 a second '^ going over" after the first application shall have 
 had time to dry, in a measure. This filling will stick in the 
 small cracks better than a preparation where lime is used, 
 and may be worked upon at once ; whereas, a preparation 
 where lime is present will be apt to turn the paint yellow 
 if painted before the mortar-filling be fairly dry. 
 
 Next in the order of proceeding — and a most important 
 part of the process — is the application of a wash which shall 
 furnish the proper * Aground" or substratum on which the 
 water-color shall rest and remain. This wash will have 
 been prepared beforehand, and be ready for application 
 so soon as the stopping process shall have been concluded. 
 This wash or sizing, as it is called, is made thus : One 
 
90 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 pound of white glue, one half pound of powdered alum, one 
 quarter pound of bar-soap, white or brown, as may be con- 
 yenient. These ingredients are to be dissolved separately 
 in boiling water, and when the solution of each is com- 
 plete, the soap-solution will be poured into the liquid glue, 
 and to this the alum-solution will be added, slowly stirring 
 the mixture all the time with a stick. This compound will 
 be reduced or weakened with cold water to a proper consist- 
 ency for application with a whitewash-brush. Care must 
 be taken to touch every portion of the surface with this 
 solution, to insure uniformity in the painted surface. All 
 this preliminary work is supposed to have been performed 
 with closed doors and windows on a fine bright day, and 
 being finished, the doors and windows should be thrown 
 open so as to make the surface ready for the coat of water- 
 paint as quickly as possible. 
 
 The preparation of the paint is as follows : To fifteen 
 pounds of Paris- white made with water into a stiff paste, 
 smooth, and thoroughly mixed and incorporated, will be 
 added one half pound of white glue in solution. This sup- 
 poses the wall to be painted white. If a color be required, 
 the coloring-matter must be added to the paint before the 
 addition of the glue -size. The coloring pigment may not 
 be put into the thick paint in a dry state, that is, in dry 
 powder, but be first wet with water and thoroughly mixed 
 and manipulated till there shall be no lumps in it, and then 
 in the form of a thin wash be incorporated with the white 
 mass. The glue then may be added, and the whole thinned 
 down with water to a proper consistency for application with 
 
KALSOMINING. 91 
 
 a kalsomine-brnsh. In applying this water-paint a differ- 
 ent style of manipulation is adopted from that commonly 
 and properly practiced in oil-painting. That is to say, the 
 water-paint on the wall must be left as the brush lays it on. 
 No attempt must be made ^* to lay it off," as the phrase 
 goes, to streak it so that the brush-marks may be even all one 
 way, and parallel each with the other. It is recommended 
 — a pure white wall or ceiling being the object — to add to 
 the white mass a little ultramarine-blue previous to the 
 addition of the glue-size. To dissolve a pound of white 
 glue so as*to obtain a perfect solution, such as is required 
 for ^^kalsomining," is not an easy task. The material is 
 stubborn, and will not readily solve. The easy way to 
 bring it about is to pour ujoon the glue in a tight vessel 
 sufficient water to cover or immerse it. Let this stand 
 overnight, and the pouring upon it in the morning of 
 boiling water will almost instantly give a perfect solution. 
 In making a shade or tint for wall-painting in water-colors, 
 it must be borne in mind that the color dried upon the 
 wall will not be half as dark as in the mixture. For ex- 
 ample, a tint where the blue ray is very decided in the 
 mass of paint will dry out almost to whiteness on the wall. 
 In cases where the wall is very much discolored, patched, 
 unequal in surface, very hard in some places and soft and 
 spongy in others, the easiest way to make a foundation for 
 the " kalsomine " is to apply previously a thin coat of oil- 
 paint. 
 
 The next step upward in this kind of painting is dignified 
 as frescoing, miscalle'd fresco-painting ; which it is not in a 
 
92 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 proper sense, but rather ornamenting, or decorating, with 
 water-colors. This material, carbonate of lime, gives with 
 colored pigments tones and shades the most delicate and 
 the purest possible, from the lightest tint to the deep pur- 
 ples, reds, and browns. It is, therefore, more suitable and 
 to be preferred for such work to oil-pigments, which are 
 not only more fugitive in color, but which will, in the very 
 nature of things, discolor, darken, and turn yellow and 
 dingy. The attempt will not be made here to teach this 
 art by written rules and directions. It can only be studied 
 by the eye and learned through that organ. Example and 
 practice are the only teachers worth heeding. In the best 
 examples of domestic architecture this style of coloristic 
 decoration is so common that plain walls and ceilings are 
 now the exception and not the rule. This branch of paint- 
 ing is earnestly recommended to the attention of those who 
 are striving to reach a place among artists, as the practice 
 of it affords opportunity for the display of fine artistic 
 talent. 
 
 This question of the finishing, or coloring, or painting 
 of the wall in the rooms where we live is important and 
 significant in more than one respect. JEsthetically viewed, 
 it is important ; but, from a sanitary point of view, infi- 
 nitely more so. We have not now in prospect the health, 
 as affected by colors through the medium of the eye, but 
 the health as possibly affected by the materials used for 
 such purposes, either in themselves or as they may be 
 v/rought upon by independent forces. Paper-hangings, 
 which cover the walls of so many dwelling-places, because 
 
KALSOMINING. 93 
 
 of the paints which color them, are supposed by many to 
 be sources of direful ills and diseases. So far, this theory 
 must rest on mere assumption, as no case of sickness has 
 yet been traced directly to this source. The writer has 
 been at some pains to investigate this poisoning theory, on 
 the assurance of its advocates that these direful springs 
 of "woes unnumbered" do not exist in the paper, but in 
 the pigments which are used to color and ornament the 
 same — Paris-green having been fixed upon as the offending 
 material. This question will be found somewhat fully dis- 
 cussed in succeeding chaptei^ on " Paris-Green as a Pig- 
 ment " ; but, as we have a theory of our own to propound, 
 we must allude to the subject again now and here. The 
 case of poisoning most directly traceable to this cause 
 occurred in London, and the facts were given to the public 
 in the form of a report from a certain medical expert, 
 eminent, as a matter Of course, to a public board which is, 
 or was, the equivalent of our Board of Health, or Health 
 Commission. The learned doctor found the walls of this 
 "chamber of horrors" covered with figured and painted 
 paper, and among the many colors he detected — horrible to 
 relate ! — Paris-green, or something which looked like that 
 deadly material. In the interest of science and the cause of 
 humanity, the order was given : " Strip from the walls that 
 painted death, and subject it to the analysis of my crucible, 
 my acids, my alkalies, my precipitates, and my test-paper." 
 The report — give me your ear, and 1 will whisper the 
 sad tidings ! The doctor found in the ashes of this inciner- 
 ated paper poison enough to kill— how many ? We have 
 
94 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAmTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 forgotten just how many, but a dozen men^ women, and 
 children. Therefore, the occupants of this deadly chamber 
 had been poisoned by the P^ris-green present in the paper- 
 hangings. 
 
 Ordinary mortals, not doctors, would have resolved the 
 question thus : As was found in the paper-hangings all the 
 green arsenite of copper that ever was probably put there, 
 it follows as a matter of course that no poisoning or sick- 
 ness could have been brought about through that material. 
 The poisoning, or sickness, we recognize as a fact. The 
 cause may have been in the room, in the house, in the 
 street, in the neighborhood. If in the apartment, do not 
 look for it in the pigments which figure or disfigure the 
 paper. Look rather behind the flimsy covering, where 
 mass after mass, coat after coat, of wetted flour in the form 
 of adhesive paste has been piled up from year to year to 
 rot and ferment in the moisture and warmth of a heated 
 atmosphere, and to fill the walled-in space with seeds of 
 disease which find favorable conditions for development in 
 the throats and lungs and stomachs of the unfortunate 
 dwellers therein. If you would remove the cause of dis- 
 ease, tear off the rotting sham, the painted pretense, which 
 seems to be the thing it is not ; scrape and clean the walls, 
 wash thoroughly with water wherein is present carbolic 
 acid or its equivalent, and paint with lime-water pigment, 
 and you will give health and life,' and light and sweetness, 
 where all was dank and noisome before. Paper-hangings 
 are offered, artistic in invention and design, elegant in style 
 and finish, and to their proper employment in interior 
 
KALSOMININO. 95 
 
 ornamentation not a word is offered in objection. AVhat 
 we object to is the covering up, the burying of filth with, 
 or under, painted paper — a cheap way of temporarily dis- 
 posing of nastiness ; and, while we are not of those who 
 believe the odors which exhale from a stable or compost- 
 heap can not be breathed without fatal results, we do believe 
 that insidious dangers lurk around us, '^botli when we sleep 
 and when we wake." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 PARIS-GREEjq" AS A PIGMEi^^T. 
 
 The beautiful pigment known in this country under 
 the commercial name of Paris-green, in England as em- 
 erald-green, and on the Continent as Sclieele^s green, is, 
 technically or scientifically speaking, an arsenite of cop- 
 per, and consists of about three parts of copper to seven 
 parts of arsenic. 
 
 Paris-green came into use in this country about thirty- 
 five years ago, and reached its maximum of consumption as 
 a paint some twenty years after. From that it fell into dis- 
 favor ; and there are to-day, throughout the country, many 
 painters who have never used a brushful of it. Two causes 
 operated to bring about this result : first, the many dis- 
 agreeable properties and poisonous nature of the paint ; 
 and, second, the improvements which were made in the 
 production of chrome-green. These, since the decline of 
 Paris-green, have been put upon the market under all the 
 names which ingenuity could invent or devise about which 
 there hung a sound suggestive of greenness. Yet it is ever 
 a repetition of the same old thing, a compound of Prussian 
 
PARIS-GREEN AS A PIGMENT. 97 
 
 blue and clirome-3^ellow ; and the unfortunate fact con- 
 nected with the use of this jpermanent color is, that it 
 begins to fade or change almost the moment the painter 
 gives it the finishing touch with the brush. This fact 
 having been demonstrated, during the past twenty years, 
 to the comprehension of the dullest understanding, there 
 are signs and symptoms that the old favorite is again to 
 come to the front ; therefore this disquisition on the use of 
 Paris-green. 
 
 It may be said, and with a good deal of pertinence, that 
 the general use of green paints in this country evidences a 
 meretricious taste ; and that the aim of those who take an 
 interest in this subject should be directed, not to the pres- 
 entation of brighter tones of this color, but rather to the 
 discouraging of its general use in the external decoration of 
 our domestic architecture. The answer to that proposition 
 is as follows : We are treating this matter not from an 
 sesthetical but from a practical standpoint. We look at it 
 as we find it — not as we would wish to have it. 
 
 In our bright, hot climate, outside blinds are a neces- 
 sity, particularly for isolated houses, and, indeed, for all 
 domiciles not in crowded city streets ; and, notwithstand- 
 ing all that has been said and written to the contrary, the 
 public sense demands that these appendages to our windows 
 shall be colored green. Recognizing this fact, it becomes 
 us to call attention to that material which can give most 
 satisfactory results in the use of green pigments for exterior 
 color ornamentation. 
 
 There is practiced; in the matter of painting, generally, 
 5 
 
98 HOUSE AND CARPdAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 a kind of so-called regard to saving, which, if exhibited in 
 any other department of household economy, would be 
 simply absurd and ridiculous. Imagine a house-owner 
 contracting with a carpet-dealer to furnish him with car- 
 pets, with no other stipulation than simply that the same 
 should be of green color ! Yet thousands of house-'owners 
 let out the painting of their blinds and shutters to those 
 Avho will do the work for the least sum of money, without 
 regard to the material to be used, except that it be green. 
 
 Now, a set of outside lattice-blinds may be painted with 
 a green costing fifty cents a pound, or with one which costs 
 only fiye or eight cents. Both these alike will fulfill the 
 requirements — that is, all will be green ; but those coated 
 with the expensive color will retain their freshness and 
 brilliancy for a long time, while the others will change on 
 the first exposure to sunshine. 
 
 Painting, so far as color is a jorime object, is done to 
 please the eye; and, recognizing^ the fact that the public 
 taste demands a green for outside blinds, we would have 
 the pigment come into use for this purpose which offers to 
 the eye the purest and most pleasing tone of that favorite 
 color. Fortunately, we find united, in the material which 
 is the subject of this article, the two most desirable prop- 
 erties — namely, brilliancy and durability. 
 
 The discovery of SclieeWs green is most important, for 
 the reason that it gives to the painter a new pigment, which 
 not only reflects the purest green rays, but which is com- 
 paratively unfading and unchanging when exposed to the 
 bleaching influences of light and other atmospheric forces. 
 
PARIS-OREEN AS A PIGMENT. 99 
 
 So far, -this material fulfills all the required conditions. It 
 is brilliant and permanent. But, alas ! that fact, so patent 
 in Nature's workings — that grand principle of compensa- 
 tion — is, unfortunately, nowhere more prominent than in 
 colored pigments. We can not have the best without pay- 
 ing all it is worth ; and, in this instance, Nature has put so 
 many bars and penalties in the way as to severely limit 
 and, in many cases, to prohibit the use of this most beauti- 
 ful paint. 
 
 As if to combine all the bad working qualities, Paris- 
 green is not only coarse in grain and translucent (that is, 
 without body or covering property), but it is a non-drier 
 to the last degree. Vehicles, such as varnish, drying japan, 
 patent drier, and all the liquid driers, seem to lose their 
 peculiar qualities in presence of this brilliant and unap- 
 proachable color. Its defects are many, its merits few; 
 but these few throw all its would-be competitors so far in 
 the shade, that it stands preeminent, unrivaled ; and for 
 this reason must, in the opinion of the writer, again come 
 into general use. 
 
 As we propose to treat the subject with special reference 
 to the merits and defects of this chemical product as a 
 paint, a description of the mode of proceeding in its manu- 
 facture will be omitted, except to simply note the fact that 
 it precipitates from its solution in a crystalline form, which 
 will account for some of its peculiarities of working when 
 'aj)plied with a paint-brush. These crystals differ from 
 ieach other in shape and size as do the grains of sand on the 
 seashore ; and the paint may, in its form and structure, 
 
100 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 not inaptly be compared to that abundant material. Let 
 the uninitiated painter imagine the difficulty of coating a 
 comparatively smooth surface with a portion of fine sand 
 mixed in oil, and he will have some idea of one of the 
 most formidable difficulties in the way of the use of Paris- 
 green as an oil-paint. But why not grind it fine, and 
 so overcome this formidable objection ? Ay, there's the 
 rub ! These crystals are transparent, and only reflect their 
 beautiful color when unbroken ; therefore, it is absolutely 
 necessary, in order to produce the best results, that they be 
 put upon the work without further breaking or powdering. 
 It may be a help rather than a hindrance to those who 
 are unacquainted with the peculiar nature of this pigment, 
 to associate it in the mind with some familiar substance, 
 and so, by comparison, get a better idea of its nature and 
 working qualities. Very fine sand, or smalt, such as is 
 used in hour-glasses, seems more analogous to Paris-green, 
 in appearance and granular character, than anything we 
 can liken it to ; and the crushing of the crystals of the 
 paint produces the same result as would follow the grind- 
 ing of blue-glass smalt on a. stone under a muller. Just in 
 proportion as the grains are broken they lose the property 
 of reflecting pure green light. The difficulty of covering a 
 surface uniformly with these particles of green, transparent 
 sand can hardly be over-estimated ; and, if the work were 
 to be subjected to close inspection, it would be almost 
 impossible to complete it in a satisfactory manner. Fine 
 paint will adhere to a painted surface with a tenacity en- 
 tirely foreign to the nature of this sand-like substance. To 
 
 1 
 
PARIS-GREEN AS A PIGMENT. 101 
 
 sum up all its defects, we would say : Paris-green works 
 badly under the brush ; is translucent, and therefore will 
 not cover the under-coating ; has a most perverse habit of 
 running away from the work after it has been put on with 
 the utmost care ; and, as a drier, is the worst of all things. 
 Much has been said having reference to the poisonous 
 nature of arsenite of copper ; and, as this branch of the 
 subject is important, we propose to discuss it in the light 
 of experience, reason, and common-sense. One would con- 
 clude—putting faith in the marvelous facts given to the 
 reading world from time to time by scientists— that an in- 
 halation of air which had been in contact with Paris-green 
 would prove more deadly than the breath of the fabled 
 upas-tree. Harrowing tales are periodically told of whole 
 families being poisoned almost to death because of the 
 presence of this terrible pigment in the paper-hangings. 
 The reading of a paper at a recent scientific convention, 
 on the possible consequences of the use of Paris-green in 
 the destruction of the potato-beetle, called forth this re- 
 mark from one of the learned professors : "There are well- 
 authenticated cases of poisoning by arsenic through the 
 Paris-green present as a stain on the wall-paper." Now, 
 we submit that such a statement might have been expected 
 from a medical doctor, whose practice and profession is to 
 a degree, in the nature of things, empirical ; but from a 
 scientist such a statement is surprising. Until it shall be 
 shown that there inheres in this pigment a power to over- 
 come the vis inerticB of the matter — to break the bonds 
 whereby it is held to -the paper, and afterward diffuse itself 
 
102 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 as a vapor throughout the atmosphere — we hold that it is 
 contrary to reason and common-sense to conclude that any 
 case of sickness is because of the presence of Paris-green in 
 the paper which covers the wall. Let it be borne in mind 
 that much of the arsenite of copper used on paper-hangings 
 is highly sophisticated, or adulterated, with sulphate of 
 baryta, or carbonate of lime, or terra alba, or some other in- 
 nocuous substance ; and that the quantity of arsenic present 
 is very small. This question of quantity is highly impor- 
 tant ; because, if it can be demonstrated that one of those 
 reputed '^chambers of horrors" did not contain so much 
 arsenious acid as is exhibited in a single bottle of chill-and- 
 fever medicine, the poisoning theory must fail for lack of 
 probabilities. No one, we hope, will contend that the mere 
 presence of arsenic (as, for instance, the glass bottle which 
 holds the stock of the apothecary) would produce paraly- 
 sis, or any symptom of metallic poisoning. Such a theory 
 would beat homoeopathy and spirit-rapping out of sight ! 
 The uncontradicted assertion is public that arsenic may 
 be administered in ever-increasing doses until the human 
 system can bear frightful quantities with apparent im- 
 punity. This being admitted, it would seem to follow that 
 all the green arsenite of copper which would be present in 
 any ordinary apartment as coloring-matter on the paper- 
 hangings, might be eaten by members of the family with 
 their bread and butter, in the course of a month, without 
 danger of serious results. To render this poisoning theory 
 reasonable, it must be shown, not only that the pigment 
 has the property of volatilization 'per se, but that it has. 
 
PARIS-GREE^ AS A PIGMENT. 103 
 
 moreoYer, the power to escape from tlie bonds which con- 
 fine it to the surface of the paper — to break itself free from 
 the tenacious medium which surrounds and incloses each 
 particular crystal, and to float or fly in the atmosphere, 
 and find its way into the system, either through the lungs 
 or the skin, in such quantities as to produce the symptoms 
 of poisoning by arsenic. 
 
 There is no reason to suppose that this salt undergoes 
 any change when exposed to the air ; but, on the contrary, 
 there is proof positive and abundant that it is inert and 
 unchangeable to the last degree, even as much so as quartz- 
 crystals or silica. The writer has a sample of Paris-green 
 which was made in England more than twenty-five years ago. 
 It has been exposed every day to sunlight, and much of the 
 time to the air, yet, so far as the eye can discern, it has un- 
 dergone no change. It reflects the same bright-green color, 
 has the same sand-like, granular character, and to all appear- 
 ances is in the same shape and condition as when it first came 
 to hand — as unchanged even as the glass vessel which con- 
 tains it. Again, if Paris-green b^ volatilizable 'per se, how 
 is it possible that workmen can live for years in good health 
 in an atmosphere which must be, in the nature of things, 
 perfectly saturated with this virulent poison — namely, the 
 Paris-green factories, where thousands of pounds of it are 
 spread out so as to expose the greatest amount of surface 
 to the action of heated air in confined rooms ? It is not 
 unusual in these factories to see sjiread upon drying-tables, 
 at one time, from six to eight thousand pounds of Paris- 
 green, the vapor rising from the same being like unto a fog 
 
104 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 in all parts of the room. The workmen go into these rooms, 
 and stand around these tables, stirring the mass for hours 
 together without any inconvenience, and frequently may be 
 seen in cold weather sitting close beside a steaming-hot 
 table eating their dinners. In the process of passing the 
 dry green through bolting-cloths, the workmen stand for 
 hours together breathing an atmosphere visibly colored with 
 fine particles of green, and, notwithstanding the precau- 
 tions used to prevent the inhaling of the dust, a considera- 
 ble portion finds its way into the system through the mouth 
 and nostrils. 
 
 As said in the beginning, we '^propose to look at this 
 question in the light of experience, reason, and common- 
 sense," and, in view of the facts presented, we believe the 
 reader will justify us in the declaration that no well-authen- 
 ticated case exists of poisoning by Paris-green because of 
 the presence of that pigment in the paper-covering of the 
 walls of occupied apartments ; moreover, that this poison- 
 ing theory is entirely baseless, unless it can be shown that 
 arsenite of copper is fataLin small doses, yet harmless when 
 taken in large ones. 
 
 That Paris-green is a poison, and, when taken in suffi- 
 cient quantities, a deadly poison, no one familiar with its 
 composition will have the hardihood to deny. Too much 
 care can not be observed in keeping, handling, and using it ; 
 yet there is no sense in making a bugbear of it, and fright- 
 ening people from its use by attributing to it qualities and 
 properties which it does not possess. Paris-green, when 
 employed as an oil-paint, is perfectly harmless, except that 
 
PARIS-GREEN AS A PIGMENT. 105 
 
 it acts as an irritant in contact with the flesh if allowed 
 long to remain so ; for example, when it is permitted to 
 accumulate under and around the finger-nails. Every 
 workman, however, is not obnoxious to this peculiar effect, 
 and the irritation may in all cases be avoided by extraor- 
 dinary care in washing the paint from the hands ; or pre- 
 vented, by wearing gloves when using it. 
 
 Paris-green may be used either as a body-color, or as a 
 glazing in the way that lakes and carmines are used in 
 coach and carriage work. Used as a body-color, it must 
 be applied in successive coats, so as to conceal the under- 
 neath (or ground) color. The mode of proceeding in this 
 practice is as follows : The work, whether old or new, must 
 first be coated with a body-green which, in tone of color, 
 resembles most closely the Paris-green. This should be 
 dry and hard before the application of the first coat of the 
 finishing color, so that the last coat may " bear out " as 
 well as possible, Paris-green having a tendency to fiat in 
 drying, which is at times extremely annoying. As a glaz- 
 ing, it may be put on over any color which fancy may dic- 
 tate or suggest. The writer has produced most satisfactory 
 results on a ground of yellow ochre, which is a dull orange- 
 color. Any tone of brilliant green may be obtained through 
 the use of Paris-green as a glazing, by the use of darker or 
 lighter under-coats, ranging from the darkest green of the 
 pine to the very lightiest hues exhibited in vegetable growths 
 in the earliest vernal season. It will, of course, be brighter 
 and purer in tone than any of the greens which Nature 
 exhibits in natural* objects, and will make dull, by com- 
 
106 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING, 
 
 parison, the brightest of the grass-greens, whether shown 
 in well-kept lawn, or by country roadside, or in richest 
 meadow-bottom. For the information of those unacquaint- 
 ed with the significance of terms used in the shop, we would 
 explain that glazing — used in reference to painting— means 
 the putting on of a transparent color over a ground of 
 opaque or body-color. It belongs particularly to carriage- 
 painting. Those most beautiful scarlets, carmines, and 
 crimsons, exhibited on the running-gear of fancy road- 
 wagons and other wheeled vehicles, are produced in this 
 way. In glazing, one or two or three coats may be put 
 on over the body-color, as circumstances may seem to re- 
 quire. The non-drying property of this pigment has before 
 been referred to ; and, because of this, some days should 
 elapse after the first coat of Paris-green before the finishing 
 coat. It had best stand two weeks, or even longer, if there 
 be no hurry for the work. The paint must not be too 
 thin, and only as much must be put on the surface as will 
 stay there without trickling. Carelessness in this has sad- 
 dened the face of many an unfortunate painter who, com- 
 ing to take a fond look at his work next morning, has 
 found the bulk of his paint on the floor, and the rest hang- 
 ing in bead-like drops to the lower edges of the blind-slats. 
 Despair is the only proper refuge in a case of this kind. 
 
 Among the many objections to the use of this material, 
 we neglected to mention the cost — which is important, as 
 Paris-green is the most exi^ensive color used in ordinary 
 house-painting. It can not be spread out (extended) like 
 body-colors (which will bear extreme grinding), by reason 
 
PARIS-GREEN AS A PIGMENT. 107 
 
 of its translucency, its want of covering property. The 
 prime cost of this green is about twice as much as chrome- 
 green, under any of its endless names, and a much larger 
 quantity is required to spread over a given surface. Its 
 high cost, too, offers great temptation to extensive adul- 
 teration with worthless materials ; and, as a rule, Paris- 
 green ground in oil is not offered in a pure state. 
 
 As mentioned in the concluding sentence in the first 
 part of this article, we had been conducting a series of ex- 
 periments with a view to preparing Paris-green for the 
 hands of the consumer, freed from some of the objection- 
 able features which have rendered it so formidable to the 
 painter, and which have almost driven it out of use. We 
 hoped to overcome its non-drying jDroperty to that degree 
 that we could safely recommend clear raw oil for use in 
 thinning, and to lessen, if not altogether do away with, its 
 tendency to run, or trickle, from the surface ; and, what is 
 most important, to present it in the fullness of its pure 
 green color. Our course included more than one hundred 
 experiments, and concluded by painting a set of blinds from 
 the rear of a first-class city house. These were all accu- 
 rately measured, and the paint in each of three successive 
 coats carefully weighed. The cost, both of labor and ma- 
 terial, will be given, so that the amount to be expended in 
 a job of this kind may be known beforehand. 
 
 We got the best results through applying the green as 
 a glazing over a ground of yellow ochre, as before stated — 
 one coat of body-color and two coats of Paris-green. In 
 this, moreover, there must not be any extra effort made to 
 
108 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 cover tlie under-coat. A solid job must not be looked for, 
 but a transparent glazing through which the body-color 
 may be seen. 
 
 This fact can not be too constantly kept in view, namely, 
 that blinds are painted to please the sight and not the sense 
 of touch ; and it is not of the slightest consequence how- 
 ever rough they may be, so long as they fulfill the impor- 
 tant requisition — which is, to please the eye. It must be 
 borne in mind, too, that they are not to be viewed through 
 a microscope, or with spectacles, but from a distance, as 
 seen in their proper places, hanging to the window-frames. 
 No matter how coarse or ill-conditioned they may look 
 when standing in the paint-shop ; if they have a good effect 
 when exhibited in their proper belongings, more need not 
 be asked or looked for. Painters can hardly divest them- 
 selves of the idea that work of this kind must appear well 
 when viewed in close proximity. An artist, however, takes 
 you away from the canvas, when he would exhibit his pict- 
 ure, in order to get the best possible effect. Things viewed 
 too closely often appear harsh and repulsive, but, when 
 softened by distance, become lovely and enchanting. If 
 objection be made that the surface of the work is rough, 
 the answer will be : '^ What matter ? The coarser the better, 
 so long as the best results of painting may be attained 
 thereby. The work is not painted to be felt of, but to be 
 looked at." 
 
 Outside blinds, whether new or old, should have not less 
 than three coats, and new blinds will be the better for hav- 
 ing four ; that is, first a coat of blue or lead-color, then a 
 
PARIS-GREEN AS A PIGMENT. 109 
 
 coat of body-color, followed by two coatings of Paris-green, 
 used as a glazing. The lead coat may stand three days, 
 and the second four or five days ; but two weeks should 
 elapse between the first and second cbats of the finishing 
 color. Do not sandj)aper the work in any part of the 
 process, because the Paris-green will be less apt to run on 
 a rough than on a smooth surface. 
 
 A good, well-worn brush must be used in applying the 
 Paris-green, but no extraordinary care need be exhibited in 
 the effort to mahe it cover, that result being impossible, and 
 not desirable. The paint must be thin enough to work 
 easily, but not too thin ; and it should be frequently stirred 
 in the pot, so that the coarser particles of the color may 
 not escape, and be found in the end settled in a hard cake 
 at the bottom. 
 
 The coat of body-color, or groundwork, should bear 
 out w^ith a kind of half-gloss. A little hard-drying varnish 
 used in this coat will give a better foundation for the first 
 coat of green finishing color. The two coats of Paris-green 
 must be put on thinned with clear raw oil. No drier of 
 any kind may be used in thinning, and boiled oil injures 
 the delicacy and purity of the tone. 
 
 Those painters who are apt to see ^'a lion in the way," 
 when anything is presented out of the beaten track, will 
 readily conjure up a host of difficulties in, and objections 
 to, the use of Paris-green. *^What!" they will exclaim, 
 "paint blinds with this poisonous stuff, which is so coarse 
 that you must be constantly stirring it with a stick to keep 
 it from sinking, and *so transparent that it will not cover 
 
110 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 even over its own color, and which threatens to run away 
 from the work if a drop too much be applied ? " etc. Just 
 60, timid disciple. But who ever yet got any good thing 
 without working for it ? *'He that would win must labor 
 for the prize ! " On the other hand, think of what will 
 have been gained when all these difficulties shall have been 
 surmounted. A color so brilliant, deep, rich, and velvety, 
 that all other so-called greens grow sick in comparison, and 
 give up even the pretense of being entitled to bear the 
 name of green ; and then, so permanent, so durable, so 
 unchangeable ! No fading out to faintness in the sunshine, 
 and darkening to blackness in the shadow ; no two sides to 
 every blind, one '^sicklied o'er with a pale" suspicion of 
 color, and the other grim with darkness. This perma- 
 nence, too, is not a matter of a single season, but continues 
 right on, through winter and summer, from year to year ; 
 and so long as a single particle of the pigment shall re- 
 main on the painted surface, that single particle will con- 
 tinue to reflect its original emerald color. Is the accom- 
 plishment of such a result not worth some extra pains and 
 labor ? 
 
 The set of blinds before mentioned were of dimensions 
 as follows : three pairs were ten feet long, three were seven 
 feet long, three were five, and three four feet, respectively. 
 They had a uniform width of twenty-one inches. It will 
 be seen that these all were the equivalent of twelve pairs of 
 blinds six feet six inches high by twenty-one inches wide, 
 each pair. This would be about a fair average for outside 
 blinds, as they show on town and country houses. These 
 
PARIS-GREEN AS A PIGMENT. HI 
 
 blinds were first painted with a coat of dark chrome or 
 body-green, about six pounds of color being consumed in 
 the work. After standing four days, the first coat of Paris- 
 green was put on. Fifteen pounds of green, as it comes in 
 the cans when ground in oil, was thinned with six pounds 
 of pure raw linseed-oil, and the whole of this mixture was 
 consumed. After standing ten days, the finishing coat was 
 put on, and in this were used nine and one half j^ounds of 
 thick color and about four pounds of raw oil for thinning. 
 The following recapitulation, given in figures, will show 
 at a glance the cost of material for painting blinds with 
 pure Paris-green : 
 
 Tioelvc pairs, 6 fed G inches x 21 inches ; blinds painted three coats. 
 
 1st coat, 6 pounds body color, at 25 cts $1 50 
 
 „ , . ( 15 " raris-green, at 45 cts $6 75 
 
 2d coat, ■{ ^ ,. ?. ^ ^ 
 
 3d coat, 
 
 { 6 " raw oil, at 12 cts 72 7 47 
 
 9^ " Paris-green, at 45 cts 4 27 
 
 4 " raw oil, at 12 cts 48 4 75 
 
 Total $13 72 
 
 This gives about one dollar and fifteen cents as the cost 
 of the paint for three coats on a single pair of six feet by 
 twenty-one inches blinds. Of course, this is predicated 
 upon the supposition that the very best material, prepared 
 in the best manner, will be used. Indeed, nothing short 
 of this will produce any such result ; and it is entirely safe 
 to say that a good job of Paris-green can not be effected 
 with the color as usually sold in the shops. No figures are 
 given as to cost of labor, as this must depend, in a great 
 
112 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 degree, on time, place, and circumstances. An old and 
 experienced city painter names three dollars per pair as 
 a fair price for one coat of body-color and two of Paris- 
 green on ordinary outside blinds. We would suggest to 
 those painters who have never essayed a trial of Paris-green 
 to make one trial, under favorable conditions ; and to those 
 who have heretofore used and discarded it, to bring it back 
 into use as soon as possible, because it is, after all, the only 
 green for outside work which gives real satisfaction. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 GRAIJ^IJs^G AS A FII^E ART. 
 
 *^The Art of Imitating Colored and Fancy Woods, 
 taught in Twelve Easy Lessons," would be a "taking" 
 caption to this chapter, and some credulous souls would 
 certainly believe it true. We are sorry to dispel such simple 
 and childlike faith ; but a regard for truth and common- 
 sense compels us to declare that, to reach the goal of suc- 
 cess — in this as in all other branches of the art of painting 
 — one must travel the long road of patient study, close ob- 
 servation, and practice, practice, practice. To imitate with 
 colors the veins, grains, and figures in a piece of fancy 
 wood, requires the same faculties, the same development of 
 perceptive power, the same care, and skill, and talent, as 
 are required to portray the lineaments of the human face ; 
 not in the same degree, perhaps, but in the same direction. 
 
 As no two faces are alike, so no two pieces of wood are 
 exactly similar. For this reason the grainer must always 
 be a student, always a learner. Oak-wood, for example, 
 presents all neutral browns, from Vandyke-brown to almost 
 white. One may see in it a knot which is the color of 
 
114 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 charcoal, and albino specimens wliicli are quite devoid of 
 color ; between these two extremes may be found every pos- 
 sible shade of red and yellow brown. Light oak requires a 
 groundwork of palest straw-color, while dark oak is best 
 imitated on a ground of red, almost bright enough for 
 mahogany. White oak is almost devoid of color, while the 
 Western oak is quite a foxy red ; and no jury of expert 
 grainers would agree as to what is the average color of the 
 wood, because each one would have a prejudice or predilec- 
 tion for some particular tone which he had unconsciously 
 fixed in his mind, and which he had habitually accustomed 
 himself to impart to his work. As a rule, light oak grain- 
 ing presents too much of the yellow, and dark oak is repre- 
 sented with too little of the red tone. In other words, light 
 oak is made too bright, and dark oak not bright enough. 
 
 The novice must not expect to make even a tolerable 
 imitation of any fancy or common w^ood by the simple ap- 
 plication of graining color to a proper ground. The opera- 
 tion is threefold, and in some cases even more than that. 
 Finished natural woods do not reflect their color superfi- 
 cially altogether. They have depth, as well as tone and 
 figure ; and, in colored imitations of the same, these facts 
 and conditions must be respected, and the operation must 
 proceed in accordance therewith. The requisites are : a 
 solid, smooth groundwork, a coat of graining color on that 
 whereby may be shown the grain and figures of the wood, 
 and on that a glazing of transparent color to show the 
 lights and shades, and to give the required depth and trans- 
 parency. It must not be forgotten that the intent in grain- 
 
GRAINING AS A FINE ART. 115 
 
 ing is not to represent the wood in its natural colors, but 
 in tlie tones and shades it puts on when varnished or pol- 
 ished. The cold, blackish gray of unfinished black-walnut, 
 for Instance, is altogether different from the warm, reddish 
 brown which this wood reflects when yarnished or polished. 
 There is, too, a rich undertone of yellowish red, which 
 glows out from beneath the surface, the presence of which 
 would not be suspected in the natural growth as it comes 
 from the planer. Woods, too, change color when exposed 
 to the light and to other atmospheric influences, and put 
 on a richer, mellower, softer tone with age and use. These 
 conditions must be known and respected, too, if the learner 
 would become a successful imitator of natural woods. In 
 this, as in other branches of imitative art, Nature must not 
 be followed too closely ; because Nature, in her endless 
 variety, presents many specimens which the painter would 
 rather avoid than imitate. 
 
 The animal-painter would not select from the flock the 
 shabby specimens to show on his canvas ; so, the imitator 
 of fancy woods should select for imitation the best which 
 Nature offers — those which are most pleasing to the eye, 
 and most interesting as objects of study and observation. 
 Natural deformities, except as curiosities, are not worth 
 perpetuating. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PAINTED IMITATIONS OF COLORED WOODS, TECHNICALLY 
 CALLED GRAINING. 
 
 The art of imitating the grain, knots, and colors of 
 fancy woods is, like all painting not merely mechanical, 
 acquired by study, close observation, and long-continued 
 and constant practice. Success in this line is dependent on 
 the possession, or deyelopment rather, of those faculties 
 without which a person should hardly adopt this profession 
 as a specialty. An eye prompt in detecting similarity in 
 shades and hues of color, imitative power, and delicate 
 nianii^ulation, are indispensable in the make-up of a good 
 grainer. 
 
 Formerly the house-painter was supposed to include 
 among his accomplishments the art of graining as well as 
 sign-painting, gilding, and all other branches of the trade ; 
 but of late years it has become the custom for some to give 
 undivided attention to those several branches for which 
 they individually have, or seem to have, a special faculty, 
 taste, or predilection. Therefore, certain workmen desig- 
 nate themselves as ^^grainersto the trade," *' sign-writers 
 
GRAINING. 117 
 
 to the trade," etc. This custom can obtain, of course, only 
 in the larger places, there not being in small towns and 
 villages sufficient work in any one branch to permit work- 
 men to devote themselves entirely to a special department. 
 
 To teach the art of imitating the grain of the various 
 woods used in domestic architecture by a set of written 
 rules and directions, would be as much an impossibility 
 as to make a finished musician by teaching the theory of 
 sound. Even a tolerable degree of perfection in the art 
 can be obtained only by much practice and close observa- 
 tion ; but there is a great deal that can be told, and much 
 that can be acquired, more easily than by practice, the 
 same being the knowledge experimentally gained by those 
 who, with skill and custom, have become perfected in this 
 particular branch of the art of painting. 
 
 The disposition for grained work, which at one time 
 declined materially, has of late years revived, and the fash- 
 ion for this kind of painting is now more prevalent and 
 general than ever before, the difference being simply that 
 certain kinds of woods, as mahogany, rosewood, and maple, 
 which were once much desired, have been supplanted by an 
 affection for light and dark oak and black-walnut. The 
 number and variety of brushes and other tools used in 
 graining can be shown herein with sufficient accuracy of 
 description to enable the novice to order what he will 
 necessarily require in case he shall be disposed to practice 
 the imitative art. 
 
 Formerly the art of graining in oil-colors was prac- 
 ticed by comparatively few, and the knowledge of the pig- 
 
118 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 ments and other materials used was a real or pretended 
 secret. Tlie writer has seen a professed grainer involve 
 himself in the utmost secrecy, and work in a mysterious 
 way, when simply mixing common brown wax with heated 
 oil and turpentine to make what is called "megilp." 
 These little "tricks of the trade," the quackery of the 
 professors, are much less common than in younger times. 
 The printing age and the book-making mania have brought 
 to light most of those occult compoundings, and placed 
 what was once hidden knowledge within the reach of all. 
 There is truly no trickery in art. Its best results are 
 gained only by patient labor ; and the artist who claims to 
 accomplish these by some secret process known only to 
 himself, may be set down as a quack. In these, our times, 
 not only are there no mysterious compoundings, but the 
 would-be grainer does not of necessity require a knowledge 
 of the simple names of the materials which he would use, 
 because of the fact that ready-made graining colors, which 
 require only to be thinned to fit them for use, are placed 
 within his easy reach. Therefore, the greatest of the ob- 
 stacles in the way of the practice of graining, by those who 
 have not had the advantages of practical instruction in the 
 art, is removed ; and the would-be grainer has only to learn 
 the theory of "how to do it," and all the rest comes by 
 practice and observation. 
 
 AVhen and wherever in the following pages rules and 
 proportions are given for producing certain tones and tints 
 for groundwork, or for other purposes, the reader will 
 bear in mind the fact that the looked-for results can not be 
 
GRAINING. 119 
 
 reached by the use of materials which differ from those 
 given, either in kind or qualit}^ Every painter should 
 readily see the necessity of adopting some absolute stand- 
 ard, otherwise we shall all be working in the dark. When 
 we say raw Italian sienna tinted with white- lead will give 
 the best groundwork for light oak graining, we beg the 
 reader not to expect to produce that result with lead that 
 is white-lead only in name, and with sienna which is a clay- 
 colored mixture, as unlike the genuine Italian sienna as 
 the sale of it is unlike honest dealing. No painter should 
 ever purchase a package of ground color which does not 
 bear upon it the name and guarantee of some well-known 
 responsible manufacturer. The consumer should know, 
 as a rule, that the ground paints sold throughout the 
 country are not genuine. The packages do not contain, 
 even in a highly adulterated state, the article, which is in- 
 dicated by the label or brand on the exterior thereof. 
 
 White-lead, so well known by its familiar name, is the 
 most important article in the stock of the painter. Its un- 
 equaled density, opacity, and easy working qualities, have 
 made it the favorite pigment with the trade, and all at- 
 tempts to supersede it have been, so far, entirely without 
 success. The demand for it is always increasing, and new 
 establishments are from time to time erected in different 
 parts of the country to supply the growing want. No 
 article in common use probably has been adulterated to 
 such a shameful extent as has this indispensable pigment. 
 The fact that its j^urity can be ascertained by chemical or 
 mechanical tests, wliich are known only to the initiated, has 
 
120 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 rendered this adulteration easy, and its detection extremely 
 difficult ; and to-day the only guarantee which the pur- 
 chaser has of the genuineness of the paint is the name of 
 the maker which the containing package bears. This, even, 
 is not an absolute security, because the marks and brands 
 of well-known manufacturers have been fraudulently coun- 
 terfeited and imitated. White-lead is what is known in 
 trade as a leading article. What sugar is to the grocer, 
 white-lead is . to the seller of paints. It is almost every- 
 where sold at a merely nominal profit ; and the tradesman 
 readily accepts anything bearing the name of pure white- 
 lead which he can sell at the price of the genuine article. 
 The result is, a satisfactory enhancement of the seller's 
 profit, but extreme disappointment on the part of the con- 
 sumer. Thousands of tons of so-called white-lead are an- 
 nually sold in the United States which do not contain a 
 single grain of that material. A detailed statement of the 
 ways and means whereby this fraud upon the consumer is 
 effected, would seem hardly necessary here, and we rest 
 upon a simple statement of the fact, as being all that is 
 necessary or important. 
 
 In giving directions for reproducing these tints, it be- 
 comes, of course, absolutely necessary that some base of pro- 
 ceedings be first established, otherwise our results would be 
 as uncertain as the wind. It would be worse than vanity 
 for the writer to give directions for the producing a given 
 tone of buff, for instance, if the materials necessary to the 
 mixture were not the same in quality as well as quantity. 
 If the white, which must form the base and bulk of the 
 
GRAIXING. 121 
 
 mixture, be not white-lead, but only a fictitious imitation 
 of it, and the quantity of color necessary to reproduce the 
 given tint be used, the result, of course, would be entirely 
 unexpected. At the risk of being charged with unnecessary 
 repetition, the writer would again call the attention of the 
 consumer to the fact that all painting, to be done economi- 
 cally, must be performed with the best materials. If white- 
 lead be required to paint a house, get pure lead, at what- 
 ever cost. If yellow ochre is demanded, get it pure, if you 
 can. Every painter and consumer will do well to lay to 
 heart the following axioms : 
 
 1. The purer the paint, and the better it is of its kind, 
 the less it costs to do painting, of whatever grade or degree. 
 
 2. A job of painting, of whatever character, can be per- 
 formed at a less first cost of money and time with the best 
 rather than with the cheapest paints. 
 
 Every man of common-sense can understand that buy- 
 ing sugar which is half sand, because the nominal price is 
 only two thirds that of sugar, is not an economical proceed- 
 ing. Yet painters and other consumers buy paints every 
 day which are more than half sand, or some other worth- 
 less material, simply because the nominal price is less than 
 that of pure color. It ought not to require a very brilliant 
 intellect to comprehend the fact that, in distributing a pound 
 of pure color through ten pounds of so-called ground paints, 
 the consumer has to pay for ten packages instead of one, 
 and ten freights and ten profits when he should pay only 
 one. This digression is made in the hope of impressing the 
 painter, once for all, with the absolute necessity of su]3ply- 
 
122 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 ing himself with the jiurest materials. With such the best 
 results are possible. Without them we need hardly hope 
 for success. As a rule, it will be well to avoid many-hued 
 labels. These are often used with intent to deceiye. Truth 
 can commonly be told on plain white paper. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 GROUKD AND GRAINING COLORS. 
 
 Looking at a wainscot or wall of oak and black- walnut 
 in alternate strips, one sees a yariety of tints, from pale 
 yellow to light umber tone in the oak, and from light red- 
 yellow-brown to deepest black-brown in the walnut. It 
 becomes necessary, therefore, in order to avoid the extraor- 
 dinary labor of making a ground for each separate width or 
 strip, to put on such a color for the ground of either wood 
 as will enable the workman to show the liglitest colors which 
 the woods respectively present, trusting to a greater depth 
 and body of graining color to produce the darker shades. 
 
 The ground-color for light oak, maple, satinwood, chest- 
 nut, and ash, may be the same. Black-walnut ground, of 
 course, differs materially from the others mentioned, both 
 in tone and depth of color ; but it would not be a difficult 
 task for an expert to make a fair job of black- walnut on the 
 maple ground. Attention is called to this fact to show that 
 the color of the groundwork is, after all, of less consequence 
 than it would seem, supposing it to be light enough, as its 
 brightness can always be subdued by the use of a greater 
 
124 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 quantity of tlie dark graining-color and the glazing coat. 
 It is, however, a matter of prime importance that the sur- 
 face of the work shall be smooth, solid, and uniform in 
 color, in order that the graining-color shall comb cleanly 
 and wipe out clearly and brightly. The graining-colors 
 also should be compounded of the best Italian siennas, or 
 Turkey umber, or German Vandyke-brown, as the case may 
 require. If common colors be used, such as are generally 
 sold in the shops in the country, the work will present a 
 muddy, cloudy appearance, alike inartistic and unsatisfac- 
 tory. In the matter of economy, the best colors are alto- 
 gether preferable, for the reason that a dollar's worth of 
 the pure colors will be sufficient to cover a much larger 
 surface than three dollars' worth of impure, so-called cheap 
 colors. In the first case the best results are possible ; in the 
 second they are utterly unattainable. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 TOOLS KEQUIKED FOR GRAINING. 
 
 There are certain tools and 
 brushes indispensable in the 
 production of painted imita- 
 tions of fancy woods, without 
 which even the most exjoert 
 professional grainer would be 
 at a loss, and would labor un- 
 der difificulties. Yet it must be 
 understood that such a work- 
 man, through use and skill, by 
 means of a cunning hand and 
 practiced eye, may and does 
 produce effects with means and 
 appliances which the novice 
 could hardly find use for. A 
 good workman may work with 
 indifferent tools ; but the un- 
 skilled must avail himself of all the advantages which the 
 best tools and materfals place within his reach. First in im- 
 
 Badger-hair Blender or Softener. 
 
126 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 i B 
 
 yteel Grainiiig-Couib. 
 
 portance, after the brushes necessary for applying the grain- 
 ing-color to the groundwork, comes a badger-hair blender 
 
 Piltod Maple Over- (or Top-) Graiucr. 
 
TOOLS REQUIRED FOR GRAINIXG. 
 
 127 
 
 and softener (a cut of which is shown on page 125) ; sec- 
 ond, steel grain ing-combs. A set of these com^n^ises twelve 
 combs, three of which are one inch wide, three two inches, 
 three three inches, and three four inches wide. Each comb 
 in the several widths varies 
 from its companions in the 
 size of the teeth, one in each 
 of the four widths being fine, 
 one medium, and one coarse. 
 Formerly, a few leather combs 
 were considered indispensable ; 
 but now, when coarse comb- 
 ing with clear, distinct grain 
 is required, the result is effect- 
 ed by the use of one of the 
 coarsest combs, the teeth of 
 the same being covered with a 
 piece of cotton rag or cloth. 
 This is in every respect the 
 equivalent of a leather comb. 
 This short list, with a top- 
 er over-grain er (a drawing of 
 which is given), comprises all 
 the extraordinary tools re- 
 quired, the rest being com- 
 mon in and about every ordi- 
 nary paint-shop, and consist- 
 ing of a painter's duster, two or three flat bristle or fitch 
 brushes, and a i)iece of clean cotton rag. For graining 
 
 "'■'"M,i;,,iii(i,,i,w|[||,i|i|:|||iHiiiri,,|,[||M|||i't|i!|.i ii:'hii 
 
 Oak Over- (or Top-) Graiiier. 
 
128 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 maple, a tool called a cutter is necessary, and that will be 
 described under the head of ^^ Maple Graining." The cost 
 of this set of grainer's tools will be, at the outside, say 
 five or six dollars. It must not be understood that for 
 
 CameFs-bair Cutter for Maple Graining. 
 
 all kinds of work no other brushes are required or made 
 use of, for the reason that very extended surfaces, such as 
 large stores or warerooms, where the work is to be mostly 
 plain, and wlien it is necessary to get over the largest pos- 
 sible space in the least possible time, require the use of 
 larger brushes. These, however, Avill be noted each in its 
 appropriate i)lace. The reader will not take exception, 
 certainly, to tlie remark that, to give the names and de- 
 scrij^tions of the tools and brushes, is much easier than to 
 teach the lesson of how to use them. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LIGHT-OAK GRAINING. 
 
 The ground-color recommended for the imitation of 
 light oak is produced by the use of white-lead and pure raw 
 Italian sienna. Golden ochre will do in place of sienna, 
 but does not produce so clear and soft a tint. The too 
 common use of chrome-yellow is deprecated, for the reason 
 that the general tendency is to make light-oak grained work 
 too yellow. It will be seen, by studying the natural wood, 
 that it reflects, mainly, none of the chrome-yellow tone. 
 The yellow observable in finished oak furniture is derived 
 in a great measure from the successive coats of varnish used 
 in the finishing process. 
 
 The opinion obtains among professional grainers that 
 the graining-color should be mixed with special reference 
 to the ground. This is true in a measure, but has not so 
 much significance as is generally ascribed to it. In fact, 
 the graining-color is less important than the groundwork, 
 as a fair job of both light and dark oak may be performed 
 with the dark-oak graining-color, supposing the ground to 
 be suitable in either case. In making a ground-color with 
 
130 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 wliitc-lead and raw sienna, care must be taken to procure 
 the true Italian article, as the so-called American substitute 
 will give a muddy color, quite unlike what is required to 
 secure a good job. 
 
 The beginner will not be led away with the flattering 
 thought that his first attempt, however gratifying to his 
 own self-love, will result in a very close imitation of the 
 wood, which he will probably caricature rather than copy. 
 ■ The lights which he will vf\])Q out will stare stiffly at him 
 when he steps back to indulge in a look at his handiwork, 
 and the shades will frown as if in mockery of his maiden 
 effort ; but patient labor and striving for success will over- 
 come most obstacles, and the smallest amount of merit never 
 goes wholly unrewarded. The study for the learner is not 
 to cop.y at first the natural wood, but the examples of some 
 first-class artist in this line. Mannerism should be avoided, 
 and a habit of putting in always the same kind and show 
 of work in certain places, as some do. Let there be the 
 greatest variety consistent with good taste. Violent con- 
 trasts are to be avoided. The same general tone of color 
 will be preserved throughout. It will not do to have one 
 panel on a door dark, the others being light. True, this 
 might happen in a door of natural wood, but it would not 
 be desirable. 
 
 Referring to remarks on page 124 concerning the prepa- 
 ration of the work for the reception of color, and suppos- 
 ing the groundwork to exhibit the proper tint, and the 
 learner to have supplied himself with a can of read3^-made 
 graining-color, he is instructed to take therefrom what- 
 
LIGHT-OAK GRAINING. 131 
 
 ever quantity may be required, to do the work in hand, 
 covering the remaining color with turpentine to keep it 
 fresh, and the can to exclude the dust and. to prevent the 
 evaporation of the turpentine. That portion of the color 
 intended for immediate use must be thinned with oil and 
 turpentine to a proper consistency, which will be ascer- 
 tained by trying it on the work. A portion of boiled 
 oil will be required in the thinning, but only so much as 
 may be necessary to hold the color back from drying too 
 quickly. Except to secure this, there is no advantage to 
 be gained in using it. The work will not be any more 
 durable because of the use of an undue i:)ro2)ortion of oil in 
 the thinning, and the varnish-coat will be decidedly better 
 on a surface without gloss. Ordinarily, graining-color is 
 mixed with reference to drying, so as to be ready on the 
 following day for the glazing-coat. If it be desirable to 
 grain and glaze and varnish on the same day, it may be 
 done by the use of japan gold-size, or good jajjan drier ; 
 but, as much of the japan in market now is made without 
 shellac, its use is not advised, except in cases where the o]:*- 
 erator is assured of its quality and genuineness. 
 
 The beginner or learner will at first fall into the error 
 of mixing his graining-color too thick — that is, he will use 
 too little thinning ; but, as this is most easily remedied, it 
 is preferable to the other extreme. The quantity of color 
 required, for one side of a door is almost infinitesimal. Too 
 much color will make the Avork look muddy and slovenly. 
 It is common to ruh in — that is, paint — all the panels and 
 panel-moldings before proceeding to put in tlie work, as 
 
132 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 the color wipes out better after it has set a little. If the 
 color be quick-drying, however, care must be taken not to 
 rub in too much at once ; because, in such case, the work 
 will not comb well or wipe out cleanly. It will work 
 *' claggy," to use the grainer's expression. That portion of 
 the surface which is to receive the "veins" or "sap" must 
 not be combed until after the work is put in ; while that 
 kind of work called "dapiDles" requires the combing to be 
 done before the wiping out of the lights. 
 
 It will be observed that the " technical " or trade terms 
 used throughout this work are those in common use among 
 English grainers, for the reason that most of the best work- 
 men in this line are Englishmen, who have brought with 
 them to this country the knowledge and skill acquired on 
 the other side, where a rigid system of apprenticeship ren- 
 ders good workmen much more possible than with us. The 
 laxity of our system, or rather lack of system, of appren- 
 ticeship, is a bar in the way of turning out really finished 
 workmen in almost any of the trades. 
 
 Allusion has already been made to the difficulties in the 
 way of teaching, by means of written words, any branch 
 of art, a knowledge of which must, after all is said, really 
 be acquired through tlie perceptive faculties. An liour of 
 practical demonstration would be better than a volume of 
 written instructions. To lead the half-taught learner 
 toAvard perfection were comparatively easy ; but to teach a 
 language that has no alphabet and no grammar may per- 
 haps prove more fruitless tlian the writer even anticipates. 
 With a view to the fullest elucidation of the process, and to 
 
LIGHT-OAK GRAINING. I33 
 
 make it, if possible, comi^rehensible to the greatest novice, 
 to him who has never seen a job of ^graining performed, 
 it is proposed to begin with the ^'^ rubbing in" — that is, 
 applying the graining-color with a brush — and continue the 
 operation, in regular order of procedure, to its completion. 
 
 The tools necessary in the first stage of the work are 
 simply a moderately stiff brush, or sash-tool, for putting on 
 the color ; a dry paint-brush, or painter's duster, for clean- 
 ing up the corners, molds, and beads — supposing too much 
 color may have adhered thereto ; a soft, clean, worn cotton 
 rag for wiping out ; and a set of combs for the combing. 
 These comprise all which are really required for the first 
 operation. In practice, the term '^'^ rubbing in" will be 
 better understood, the performance being much more like 
 rubbing the color into the groundwork than like painting, 
 in the ordinary acceptation of the word. 
 
 All preliminaries being completed, it is now supposed 
 that the door, that being the subject to operate upon, is 
 ready with its well sand-papered coat of pale-straw ground 
 for the reception of the coat of oil graining-color. This 
 must be rubbed in with the paint-brush so as to present a 
 uniform surface. The beads, molds, and corners should be 
 stippled with the bristle-ends of a dry brush, so as not to 
 look dirty and muddy, as they surely will appear if not 
 properly cleaned up. Too much color on any part of the 
 door will make it look ^^ blotchy " when finished. Care 
 must be taken to have the color evenly distributed. In oak 
 graining, it will be remembered, the grain is shown, not by 
 adding a darker color, but by " wiping out," so as to leave 
 
134 HOUSE AND CABRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 the groundwork clean, the color which remains represent- 
 ing the darker portion of the wood. 
 
 The panels will first receive attention, and it is advised, 
 as a rule, to show on them rather plain work. There will 
 be space enough on the rails and stiles to show the veined 
 work, and much elaboration is not recommended ordinarily. 
 The corres2:>onding panels must be similar in character of 
 graining, and all should present the same general appear- 
 ance. The fact must be well understood that clean work, 
 with simple straight combing, is much more respectable 
 and workmanlike than an abortive attempt at display. 
 Almost any man who knows the two ends of a paint-brush 
 may, with proper ground and graining colors, turn off a 
 job of grained work wliich will not offend good taste, even 
 though it be not a very creditable imitation of the natural 
 wood. 
 
 Supposing the panels are to be grained, as has been sug- 
 gested, the first proceeding in order, after the application 
 of the color, is to wipe off a part of it in streaks, from top 
 to bottom, with a rag held loosely in the fingers, so as not 
 to wipe the wood clean ; then to comb each in its turn with 
 one of the fine combs lengthwise, repeating the operation 
 in a similar manner with a comb still finer than that used 
 in the first combing. 
 
 To this point the process will have been simply mechan- 
 ical ; and such work may be performed by any house-painter 
 who can paint a door with plain color in a workmanlike 
 manner. Now it ceases to be mechanical, and becomes a 
 branch of fine art. 
 
LIGHT-OAK GRAINING. I35 
 
 The taking out of tlie lights is done by covering the 
 thumb with a piece of cotton rag, and the thumb-nail be- 
 comes at once the most important and useful tool required 
 in the operation. The broader lights will be wiped out 
 with the fleshy part of the finger, and the finer lines with 
 the covered nail of that most useful member, which performs 
 so important a part that we can hardly imagine a good 
 grainer without at least one thumb. 
 
 (The horn tool sometimes used for taking out the lights 
 w^ill be described hereafter.) 
 
 That portion of the rag which covers the thumb will, 
 of course, soon become saturated with color, and so will 
 cease to be effective in wiping cleanly. This necessitates 
 the constant uncovering of the thumb, and the recovering 
 it with a clean portion of the rag. When the whole of the 
 rag shall become saturated with color, it must be thrown 
 aside, and its place supplied with a clean piece. 
 
 The first attempt will not, probably, prove very satisfac- 
 tory, and the beginner will learn, if he learn nothing more, 
 how difficult it is to perform what, at first sight, appears so 
 easy and simple. In spite of his best efforts, the lights will 
 not resemble the dapples in the natural wood ; but, as prac- 
 tice only makes perfect, so i)erseverance only Avill deserve 
 success. If his first effort shall suggest to the beholder 
 anything better than quail-tracks and blotches, he may con- 
 gratulate himself on his performance. 
 
 Supposing the panels to be finished ''for better for 
 worse," the moldings will be combed plainly, and the mid- 
 dle rail, with the center, top, and bottom stiles, will come 
 
136 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 next in order. These are usually selected for the greatest 
 display of work. The color will be first applied to the 
 middle stiles, leaving the middle, top, and bottom rails to be 
 rubbed in, each in turn, as the work proceeds. The two 
 middle stiles will be finished before putting the work into 
 the middle or broad rail. The color may be rubbed into 
 the top and bottom rails at the same time as on the broad 
 rail. In this order of procedure no care will be necessary 
 in wiping the joints, and the color may lap over on the parts 
 not rubbed in, to be cut off at the joints in the finishing 
 stiles or rails, as the case may be. 
 
 The necessity of keeping each piece composing the door 
 distinct, and treating each by itself, will be obvious to the 
 greatest novice in the art of graining. 
 
 The work of wiping out with a rag will be continued 
 in the sap or veined portion no longer than is actually 
 necessary, as whatever can be done with the coarse comb 
 will be a clear saving of time. In the sap or veined portion 
 of the work the combing will follow the wiping out, and 
 not precede it, as was the case with the panels. The top 
 and bottom rails will usually be finished plainly ; that is, 
 with coarse combing, but not of necessity straight grain. 
 The outer stiles can be heavier and coarser than other parts, 
 and this will finish the work so far as the oil-coat is con- 
 cerned. 
 
 The oil-graining is now set aside, and the job left to dry, 
 to be ready for the glazing-coat, which should be done in 
 water-color, supposing the intention be to varnish at once. 
 Some grainers glaze with a portion of the same color as was 
 
LIGHT-OAK GRAmma. 137 
 
 used for the first coat, but the use of water-color is Etrongly 
 advised. Supposing this oil-coat to be well dried, a light 
 rubbing over with a worn piece of fine sand-paper is recom- 
 mended before the glazing. Colors ground in water, and 
 put uj? in' wide-mouthed bottles, are now obtainable in the 
 color-shops, and are more convenient and economical than 
 the same materials prepared in the paint-shop. The proper 
 glazing color for light oak is made with raw sienna, burnt 
 sienna, and Vandyke-brown, in such proportions as shall 
 be found best in practice, and the color must be used thin, 
 and- the quantity used must be very small. The operation 
 of glazing is most important, as a good job may be spoiled 
 by unskillful manipulation in this process, as a poor job 
 may be redeemed, in a measure, by skillful handling in the 
 glazing-coat. 
 
 Much may be done in this process, in the way of reme- 
 dying any defect in the ground, supposing it shall be found, 
 in finishing, not to have been just what was required ; that 
 is, a yellower color may be imparted by using more of the 
 raw sienna in the glazing-color — supposing a more yellow 
 tone be desirable — or, a too yellow ground may be concealed 
 by using more of burnt sienna and yand3'ke-brown. The 
 color should not be thinned at once, as was the color for 
 the oil-coat, but should be placed on a palette or a piece of 
 board, and thinned by dipping the brush in water as the 
 work proceeds. This is necessary from the fact that in 
 some parts, as with panels, a very thin, light wash of glazing 
 will serve, while on the moldings, and around the knots, and 
 in the ^*sap" work, h much thicker coat will be necessary. 
 
138 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAmTINO, AND GRAINING. 
 
 The brushes required for this part of the operation are 
 a top- or over-grainer, shown on page 127, a badger-blend- 
 er, on page 125, and a common pocket-comb. The water- 
 color must be rubbed in with a stiff bristle-brush, and soft- 
 ened with the blender, so as not to show any streaks or 
 brush-marks. But one panel should be rubbed in at a 
 time, as the thin coat of water-color dries almost as fast 
 as it can be applied. The top grain, which is almost 
 inappreciable, will be put in with the over-grainer, which 
 must, after being dipped in very thin color, be combed 
 with the pocket-comb, so as to separate the bristles into 
 groups, which shall stand apart from each other, form- 
 ing, as it were, a series of parallel, small, thin brushes. 
 The over-grainer, in this shai^e, will be passed lightly from 
 top to bottom of the panels, after which the blender must 
 be used to soften the harsh lines and give indistinctness to 
 the grain. Great care is necessary, in this operation, not to 
 apply too much color, or the effect will be streakiness rather 
 than the almost imperceptible grain required. The glazing 
 or shading must be continued on the rails and stiles, as may 
 be required by the character of the work. These should 
 be darker than the panels, and the molding should be 
 more deeply shaded than the rails and stiles. The glowing 
 lights around the knots are wiped out of the glazing-color, 
 and delicately softened with the blender. This brings the 
 work up to varnishing, wiiich will be treated in a sej^arate 
 chapter, and the utter impossibility of giving anything like 
 a clear conception of this operation of glazing, by means of 
 a verbal teaching, would seem to preclude the necessity of 
 
LIGHT-OAK GRAINING. I39 
 
 any further words upon the subject. Enough to say, in 
 conclusion, that it is to graining what light and shade are 
 to the higher branches of the art of painting. It gives 
 depth, and tone, and glow, and transparency ; and, more 
 than any part of the process, requires the possession and 
 development of those faculties which distinguish the artist 
 from the mere mechanic. 
 
 The object selected for the operation described was 
 chosen for the reason that the greatest amount of work is 
 usually done on doors, and a workman who can make a 
 good job on this will find no difficulty in executing what- 
 ever kind of wood-work may come under his hand. In 
 wainscoting, or side-walls, composed of narrow, tongued- 
 and-grooved boards of equal width, the custom is to put in 
 less work, and to show a greater uniformity than is shown 
 in the separate pieces composing a door. Coarse and fine 
 combing, with here and there a strip showing dapples and 
 sap-work, is the usual mode of giving variety to the strips 
 composing the wall or wainscot, as the case may be. The 
 glazing-coat, however, is mostly relied on to give distinct- 
 ness and variety to the work. Some of the strips will be 
 left without glazing, while others Avill be glazed more or less 
 dark, as taste and fancy may dictate. As a rule, the boards 
 or strips alternate with quite a degree of regularity, a darker 
 shade between two light ones. This gives a much better 
 effect than to have a group of dark ones followed by a group 
 of lighter ones, or than an occasional dark strip in a group 
 of lighter ones. A good effect is produced on doors and 
 other paneled work by putting in the panels very light 
 
UO HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 oak, and the rails and stiles very dark red-oak, the mold- 
 ings being in any case darker than the rails and stiles. The 
 molding, if not too deep and heavy, may be painted with 
 coach-black before varnishing, with a gold stripe in the 
 inner flat portion of the same. This gold stripe makes a 
 very good contrast with the light-oak panel, and sets off the 
 black better than anything else. This work, however, re- 
 quires a skillful hand, and is not recommended for novices. 
 
 A summary of the foregoing instructions may prove use- 
 ful to some readers who may not have seen a job of grain- 
 ing performed, and we propose to give, in brief, an outline 
 of the processes in the order in which they usually occur. 
 
 The first requisite is a hard, well sand-papered surface, 
 with a properly colored ground. 
 
 The tools required are a paint-brush, for rubbing in 
 the graining-color ; a set of steel graining-combs ; a paint- 
 er's duster, or other dry bristle-brush ; and a rag, to wipe 
 out the lights. 
 
 Next in order is the graining-color, and the ready-made 
 colors are recommended for all, esi^ecially for beginners. 
 It may be well to state here that all graining-colors are 
 compounded of raw and burnt Italian sienna, raw and 
 burnt Turkey umber, Vandyke-brown, and drop-black, in 
 varied proportions according to the requirements of the j 
 occasion. It is impossible to give due proportions, for the 
 reason that these materials, found usually in the jiaint- 
 shops, vary so much in strength, quality, fineness, and con- 
 sistency. 
 
 The tools and materials being provided, the next in 
 
LIGHT- OAK G RAINING. 141 
 
 order of proceeding is the thinning of the color. This 
 can be properly learned only by practice. As a rule, un- 
 practiced hands pnt on too much color. Use boiled oil and 
 turpentine, and no more oil than is necessary to keep the 
 color from setting too quickly. If the needs of the occa- 
 sion require the color to dry very rapidly, use a small quan- 
 tity of good brown japan or gold-size. 
 
 Rub in the graining-color with a moderately stiff brush. 
 In dappled work comb the surface before taking out the 
 lights. In sap or veined work, comb after wiping out. 
 When a stile crosses a rail, the rail being dark and full of 
 work, the stile at the joint or line of contact should show 
 plain combing, and be of lighter color, to contrast with its 
 darker neighbor. This is a good general rule for all oak 
 graining. The oil-coat should stand overnight to dry. 
 Before glazing, rub the oil-coat lightly with a piece of fine, 
 worn sand-paper. Use water-color for the glazing, for the 
 reason, if for no other, that no time must necessarily elapse 
 before varnishing. Eaw and burnt sienna and Vandyke- 
 brown, in varying proportions, make the proper glazing 
 for both light and dark oak. The tools required in glaz- 
 ing are a water-color brush, a badger -blender, a top- or 
 over-grainer, and a rag. 
 
 Judgment, taste, skill, and practice are indispensal)le 
 prerequisites to a good job of grained work. 
 
 The before-mentioned horn tool, for taking out the 
 lights in dappled work, is simply a straight piece of horn 
 about an inch wide, and as thick as a nickel five-cent piece. 
 The end, slightly rounded, must be beveled on both sides 
 
142 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 to a sharp edge, and kept sharp by rubbing it on a piece of 
 sand-paper, as a carpenter sharpens a tool with a whet- 
 stone. The hand not holding the tool must carry a piece 
 of rag, as the horn requires wiping after every application 
 of it to the j)ainted surface. The blade of a horn spatula, 
 common in every apothecary's shop, offers the readiest 
 means for providing one's self with sucii a tool as is above 
 described. The ground coat must be well dried, on which 
 the horn is used ; otherwise it will be cut up by the sharp 
 edge of the tool. 
 
 The directions given herein, both as to ground-tints 
 and graining, are not presented dogmatically, but rather 
 suggestively, as worthy of following by those who have no 
 knowledge or idea of anything better ; and these words are 
 not for those who are skilled in the art, but for the un- 
 learned, the uninitiated — not to him wlio is able to be a 
 teacher, but to him who is desirous of receiving instruc- 
 tion. As a fine art, graining becomes subject to the rules 
 which govern art generally, if it be admitted that true art 
 has lines and bounds ; and, paradoxical as the utterance 
 may seem, there is no hesitation in declaring that the best 
 efforts or attainments in this line are not those which 
 most closely resemble the natural wood. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 DARK-OAK GRAIXIi^G-COLOR. 
 
 There is not a word to be said instructively under 
 this heading which has not been fully given in the fore- 
 going chapter. With the exception of the different ground 
 and graining color, every w^ord used in describing the pro- 
 cess in light-oak graining has equal significance in this. 
 
 The ground for dark oak is made of pure white-lead, 
 golden ochre, and royal red. Deep orange-chrome in j^lace 
 of golden ochre is sometimes used for ground for dark oak, 
 when a very bright tone is desired. The graining-color is 
 composed of the same materials as the graining-color for 
 light oak, viz., burnt sienna, raw sienna, and Vandyke- 
 brown, differing only in proportion. 
 
 The reader — he who would become a grainer, or he who 
 would add to his stock of already acquired knowledge — 
 must not suppose, because of his having the names of the 
 materials required to make a graining-color, that he has 
 only to procure a can of each of these at the shops and 
 proceed forthwith to make what is demanded, both in tone 
 and working quality. Unfortunately, the chances are de- 
 
144 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 cidedly against him, and he will, in a majority of cases, get 
 what he does not want, rather than what he does want. It 
 is a lamentable fact that the ground colors offered for sale 
 throughout the country are not, as a rule, what they j^ur- 
 port to be. 
 
 The bulk of the so-called raw sienna is little better, if 
 any, than commonest yellow ochre ; the burnt sienna is 
 hardly better than Venetian red, while the Vandyke-brown 
 is composed of what ? " Nor gods nor man can tell ! " 
 Now, to require a workman to make a good job of graining 
 with such materials is quite as unreasonable as was the 
 requisition on the part of the Egyptians that the captive 
 children of Israel should make bricks without straw. 
 
 As a rule, dealers in paints buy ground colors bearing 
 the names of the required articles, without regard to qual- 
 ity ; that is, they purchase what they can buy most cheaply 
 and sell most dearly, and it rests with the consumer to 
 demand and receive that which he knows to be good^ or at 
 least that which has a good reputation. In view of the fact 
 that the most skillful and experienced painter can not do a 
 job of plain painting well without good materials and tools, 
 all will see the importance of the best materials to the un- 
 practiced hand or the novice. 
 
 It has been said before in these pages that hardly two 
 professional grainers will agree as to the exact tone for 
 ground for any one of the fancy or colored woods. In many, 
 perhaps most cases, this fastidiousness comes more from 
 willfulness, stubbornness, or vain conceit, than from reason. 
 A grainer must indeed be weak in resources who can not do 
 
BARK-OAK GRAmmO-COLOR. 145 
 
 a fair job of graining on any ground, suj)posing the same 
 to be light enough and not decidedly off color. Many of our 
 professed grainers are real artists, and execute with true 
 artistic fervor ; while too many, alas ! are thoroughly me- 
 chanical, and among these latter will be found those who 
 are most captious and fastidious as to tints of ground and 
 color. 
 
 There are some who Avill read this book, no doubt, whose 
 knowledge of color- harmony has not been improved either 
 by study or practice ; and all readers may jDcrhaps be bene- 
 fited by a few words on this most important subject. It is 
 unquestionably essential that every painter should know 
 what plain colors and tints may be used in harmonious con- 
 trasts or combinations with the various painted imitations 
 of fancy woods. Green is entirely unobjectionable ; in- 
 deed, it forms a most pleasing contrast with light oak, 
 satinwood, bird's-eye maple, chestnut, and ash ; but is 
 discordant with mahogany, black-walnut, and rosewood. 
 Blue is entirely harmonious with all these latter. Black 
 harmonizes with all the woods, as does white ; but white 
 with the lighter-colored ones is feeble and wanting. All 
 the woods harmonize with each other, except black-wal- 
 nut with mahogany and rosewood. Gold is good with all, 
 but the contrast with the light-colored ones is not so brill- 
 iant as with the dark-toned woods. The bright colors in 
 these deaden the usually dull tones of black-walnut, and 
 detract from it thereby ; whereas the contrast of the lat- 
 ter-named wood with the light-colored ones improves and 
 brightens all the contrasting tints and shades. 
 
146 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 Light and dark oak are best shown by themselves in 
 contrast with each other, being too coarse in the grain to 
 exhibit with good effect in combination with maple and 
 satinwood. 
 
 In color-harmony, generally, white and black harmonize 
 with all colors but green. Gold is good with every color, 
 shade, and tint, but especially rich with green, black, 
 purple, carmine, and blue. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 BLACK-WALNUT GRAINING. 
 
 This wood, now so common in every household, so exten- 
 sively used in doors, wainscoting, and furniture of every 
 description, has become the mode within the last ten or fif- 
 teen years. Previously it was held in slight estimation, was 
 used only for very common purposes, and no one dreamed 
 that this cheap and common domestic tree would become 
 the successful rival of the aristocratic rosewood and ma- 
 hogany. 
 
 In black- walnut graining no two workmen seem to agree 
 as to what the prevailing tone should be. The wood itself 
 presents so great a variety of tones and shades that, when 
 the mind seems about to accept a certain shade as the best 
 imitation of the natural wood, a sample presents itself 
 which upsets all preconceived notions, and the inquirer 
 finds himself ''all at sea again." The general tone of the 
 wood, as seen before being worked, is a blackish brown, and 
 the beholder would hardly suspect the presence of a rich 
 red undertone, almost as bright as the glowing red of ma- 
 hogany. Yet such is the case, and in almost any large 
 
148 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 l^iece of furniture some parts will show a decidedly reddish 
 ground. This red glows out from underneath the brown 
 surface, and can not successfully be shown in the graining- 
 color. It must therefore be provided for in the ground- 
 work, which should be sufficiently red to represent those 
 pieces of the wood which exhibit the reddest tones of color. 
 
 Black-walnut is imitated on every variety of colored 
 ground, from straw-color to drab. We suggest, as the most 
 proper tone for imitating this popular wood, a groundwork 
 made of white-lead, with golden ochre and royal red and 
 black. The reader will bear in mind the fact that there 
 exists in this case no difficulty in covering and concealing 
 with the almost black graining-color the underwork, how- 
 ever bright it may be. So it will be best to err on the side 
 of a too bright ground, rather than one which is too dull to 
 represent the brighter specimens of the natural wood. 
 
 There can be no question as to the mode of painting 
 most proper for producing the best results in black-walnut 
 graining. The wood is what is called soft-grained, and 
 does not present the sharp lines and clear grain observable 
 in light and dark oak. Therefore it can be best imitated 
 in distemper-graining ; but as this process is more difficult 
 than oil-graining, and requires more skill in successful 
 manipulation, we shall treat it only incidentally, confining 
 our teachings mainly to graining in oil. 
 
 Supposing the groundwork to be of the right tint, 
 the next proceeding is to go over the work with a coat of 
 Yandyke-brown and drop-black ground in water. All the 
 colors used in graining may be obtained from the dealer, 
 
BLACK-WALNUT GRAINING. 149 
 
 ready ground in water, for less cost than would be involved 
 in preparing the same in the paint-shop. 
 
 This coat of water-color, while yet fresh, must be bro- 
 ken into grains by stippling with a painter's duster or 
 other dry bristle-brush. For the information of those who 
 are unfamiliar with this word, or the operation which it 
 signifies, we would remark that stippling is simjoly the 
 pouncing of the whole surface with the ends of the bristles 
 composing a painter's duster or other brush. 
 
 When this stippled coat of distemper-color, so called, 
 has become dry, the work will be ready for the application 
 of the oil graining-color.^ It is taken for granted that the 
 workman will have supplied himself with a can of ready- 
 made graining-color, and that no mixing is required, ex- 
 cept to thin with boiled oil and turpentine in such pro- 
 portions as practice alone will teach properly. It need 
 only be said in this connection that just enough of oil 
 should be used to prevent the color from setting too quick- 
 ly, when the intention is to wipe out the lights with a rag, 
 after the manner of oak graining, which is not the mode 
 we shall recommend. It will be borne in mind that in 
 black-walnut graining the imitation is always darker than 
 the natural wood, for the reason that wood of this kind 
 used in domestic and other architecture, and also in furni- 
 ture, is usually finished with some varnish or polish which 
 stains and deepens the tone. The effect of the varnish, 
 too, is to bring out the red undertone, which is not ob- 
 servable in the new, unpolished, or unvarnished surface. 
 
 The oil graining-color, thinned to proper consistency 
 
150 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 for application to the distemper or water-color, may be 
 rubbed into each panel or other piece successively, and fin- 
 ished before rubbing in any more ; or, if the color be slow, 
 the whole door-side may be rubbed in before putting in the 
 veins. The panels and pieces composing the door must be 
 treated, in one sense, individually, and in another collec- 
 tively — that is, each must have its individual character, 
 but not without reference to the work as a whole. AVith 
 Avhatever of variety, there must be a certain uniformity. 
 
 That portion of the surface of the work which has been 
 rubbed in with the graining-color is ready for what we are 
 23leased to call the hand of the artist. The oil graining- 
 color may be left to set a little before proceeding with the 
 work of putting in the veins and figures. There are two 
 modes of doing this : one is to wipe out the lights, as in 
 oak graining ; the other, to put in the darker veins with a 
 sable or camel's-hair pencil. The former mode is not rec- 
 ommended, for the reason that the darker veins cover so 
 small a proportion of the surface, that wiping out the lights 
 is to wipe off nearly all the color which has been applied. 
 As the veins are put in, they should be softened with the 
 badger-blender, the proper manipulation of which comes 
 easy after a little practice. This portion of the work re- 
 quires not only more time but more skill than any other, 
 and with the glazing and shading is really that part of 
 the operation which demands a cunning hand and a prac- 
 ticed eye. 
 
 After applying the coat of oil graining-color, it is com- 
 mon to wipe with a rag some of the color from the work from 
 
BLACK-WALNUT GRAINING. 151 
 
 toj) to bottom of rail or panel, as the case may be, to give 
 variety and a more woody appearance to the job in hand. 
 If it were possible to tell just when and where this should 
 be done, the writer's task would be comparatively easy ; but 
 this knowledge will come only through close observation 
 of the natural wood, or the work of some accomplished 
 grainer. Much of the graining, even in the best jobs, will 
 of course be done plainly and .quickly. A painter's duster, 
 or other brush, drawn lengthwise of the rail or stile, or 
 diagonally across the same, and softened with the blender, 
 will be all-sufficient to make a good enough imitation for a 
 considerable portion of the work. Care must be taken not 
 to elaborate the job too much, or it will look finical, petty, 
 and inartistic. Too much plainness, on the other hand, will 
 give the work a careless, slovenly, unworkmanlike charac- 
 ter. It is important that proper care be taken as to the 
 joints ; each separate piece of wood must be shown by and 
 for itself. The graining on the stiles of a door must not 
 lap over the rails, but go cleanly and sharply along the 
 joint-lines. Th6 oil-coat will be left to dry overnight, or 
 a day or two, as may be convenient, before the glazing-coat, 
 which will be water-color, composed of Vandyke-brown and 
 drop-black. The mode of procedure in the finishing oper- 
 ation will be the same as described under the caption of 
 light-oak graining. 
 
 The water-color will be rubbed in one panel or piece at 
 a time, and stippled with a dry brush, and blended with 
 the badger-hair softener, more or less color being aj^plied 
 as the nature of the work may require. It will be observed 
 
152 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 that there is a mucli greater uniformity of tone in black- 
 walnut than in either light or dark oak, this wood being 
 singularly free from knots and gnarled places or spots. 
 The use of the comb may be entirely dispensed with in 
 black-walnut graining. Moldings and carved work must 
 always be glazed, so as to show darker than the surround- 
 ing surface. The top- or over-grainer may be used for 
 putting in the veins on straight work, as rails and stiles 
 of doors and wainscoting, Avith a view to economy of 
 time ; but to make good work with it requires a practiced 
 hand. 
 
 A bit of sponge is a useful article in all kinds of water- 
 color graining and glazing. 
 
 A summary of the foregoing directions for graining 
 black-walnut shows as follows : 
 
 A ground-color, made of pure white-lead, orange chrome- 
 yellow, or golden ochre and royal red and black. 
 
 A stippled coat of water-color, composed of Vandyke- 
 brown and drop-black. 
 
 Oil graining-color, composed of Vandyke-brown, burnt 
 sienna, burnt umber, and drop-black. Keady-made grain- 
 ing-colors are recommended as best and cheapest. 
 
 The oil-color may be applied as soon as the stippled coat 
 of water-color is dry. The veins are put in with a pencil on 
 the fresh oil-coat, and blended to soften and give them in- 
 distinctness. 
 
 When the oil-coat is dry, it should be lightly rubbed 
 with worn fine sand-paper, and a glazing-coat of water- 
 color, mixed the same as for the first stippled coat, should 
 
BLACK-WALNUT GRAINING. 153 
 
 be applied. This must also be stippled, and softened with 
 a blender. 
 
 Let the ground-color be light enough to show the light- 
 est specimens of wood, trusting to a greater depth of color 
 to represent the darker pieces. 
 
 When a large surface is to be grained cheaply, employ a 
 large paint-brush for rubbing in, and an eight-inch kalso- 
 mine-brush for stippling, using the flat side of the bristles, 
 and not the ends thereof. 
 
 For glazing, water is always better than beer as a thin- 
 ner, whenever it will hold the color, as beer has a bad effect 
 on the first coat of varnish. 
 
 A job of black-walnut graining may be finished in one 
 day by the free use of japan or gold-size in the oil-coat. 
 
 If the work is to be finished without varnish, the glazing- 
 coat must be of oil graining-color. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ASH GRAIKIKG. 
 
 Until within a few years there has been no demand for 
 painted imitations of this very useful and, in some of its 
 presentations, beautiful wood. 
 
 It has of late more and more come into use in the inte- 
 rior finish of railroad-cars and carriages, and of houses and 
 domiciles. The latter-named fact has consequently created 
 a demand for the painted imitation of this wood in cases 
 where the use of the natural wood, from whatever cause, 
 was not deemed expedient. 
 
 The question as to the economy of natural wood, against 
 painted imitations of the same, will probably remain for a 
 long time unanswered. First cost, with the great majority 
 of house-owners, who have the bills to pay, is of prime im- 
 portance. A domicile constructed of soft-pine wood may 
 be left for a time unpainted without any great detriment to 
 comfort or to the health of the occupants, and painting will 
 be in order at any time subsequent to occupation, whenever 
 the wishes and disposition of the occupants may be in ac- 
 cord with the saved-up money wherewith to pay the paint- 
 er's bill. 
 
ASH GRAINING. I55 
 
 Graining or grained work is, of all the various styles of 
 painting, the most economical, because such work, properly 
 performed, will last an indefinite period, and stand the 
 washings, and wipings, and house-cleanings to which inte- 
 rior painting must necessarily be exposed, without becom- 
 ing spoiled or damaged. Plain colors could be as surely 
 and well protected as grained work by coats of yarnish ; 
 but the varnish would discolor the tints unless they should 
 be quite dark, and plain colors, such as would be suitable 
 for finishing the interior wood-work of a dwelling-house, 
 would not look well, nor be in accordance with good taste, 
 if finished with a varnished surface. 
 
 Ash-wood, being cheaper and more easily worked than 
 oak, is frequently used as a substitute for the latter, which, 
 more than any other woody growth, it closely resembles. 
 Indeed, there are many not unaccustomed to familiarity 
 with furniture and other joined work, who can not always 
 distinguish between these two woods. 
 
 Ash may be imitated on the same ground-color as that 
 used for light oak, and all the instructions given for light- 
 oak graining may be followed, the same as if they were 
 written especially for this, excepting that the dapples 
 which give such an agreeable diversity to oak-wood are 
 entirely wanting in ash. 
 
 The work for ash graining has the same colored 
 ground, undergoes the same preparation, and the same 
 process of wiping out and combing to show the veins and 
 grain. 
 
 It would seem that no further directions or instructions 
 
156 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 can be given as to the best method of proceeding to obtain 
 a good imitation of this wood. 
 
 . The painter is advised not to attempt to make his own 
 ash graining-color, if it be possible for him to obtain a can 
 of ready-made color, for the reason that he will experience 
 great difficulty and spend a good deal of labor in making 
 that which he may obtain ready-made to his hand. 
 
 The use of this wood is so common, and the American 
 ash varies so little in its grain and tone of color, that the 
 workman is advised to procure a piece of ash with a planed 
 surface, to fill up and varnish the same, and to use it as an 
 example for imitation. 
 
 The occurrence of knots in ash is not infrequent, and 
 the knots themselves are commonly very dark in contrast 
 with the surrounding parts. These knots, with their ac- 
 companying tints and complication and bright flash-lights, 
 give to the wood all those beautiful diversities which ren- 
 der this common material worthy of imitation. 
 
 There is a sj^ecies of this wood called Hungarian ash, 
 now in common use in the interior finish for passenger- 
 cars. This is applied wholly in the shape of veneers, and 
 exhibits a wonderfully diversified grain, tlie same being 
 beautifully and intricately curled and tinted. In tone of 
 color, both in groundwork and grain, it does not differ 
 from the common American growth. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CHESTi^UT GRAIKIKG. 
 
 This chapter will finish our direct instruction for oil- 
 graining, and will necessarily be brief, from the fact that 
 there is little to be said on this that has not been already 
 repeated under light and dark oak, excepting the direction 
 for making the ground and preparing the graining-color. 
 The writer confesses himself at a loss to understand why 
 any person should desire or require the imitation of this 
 coarse and sickly-yellow-looking wood ; but "every one to 
 his taste " is perhaps a good motto, and we will not quarrel 
 with the man who would even imitate spruce or hemlock 
 with grained work. 
 
 The ground for chestnut is decidedly more yellow than 
 any which has been shown or described, and it would seem 
 to require a glazing of yellow to make a really close imita- 
 tion of the natural wood. White-lead with yellow ochre 
 and a little orange-chrome will give the best tint for 
 groundwork, and burnt umber with a very little Van- 
 dyke-brown and burnt sienna makes the best graining- 
 color. Ready-made chestnut graining-color can be pro- 
 
158 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 cured at the shops, and its use is advised in preference to 
 the making up of the color by the painter. 
 
 This wood is generally of very coarse grain, being of 
 more rapid growth than any of the other so-called hard 
 woods, while it presents a greater degree of sameness and 
 want of variety. It should be imitated by wiping out, after 
 the manner of oak-graining, and the use of coarse combs. 
 The best study is a piece of chestnut board, planed and 
 filled up and polished. We have never seen a grainer who 
 took any particular pride in his ability to make a good imi- 
 tation of this wood, and we can not therefore recommend, 
 as copy for the beginner, specimens executed by any first- 
 class workman. 
 
 In view of the fact that the cost of imitating this cheap 
 and common wood is as great as is the cost of painting in 
 imitation of oak, black-walnut, or other woods which are 
 worth imitating, the query still remains unanswered. Why 
 do people require painted imitations of this very ordinary 
 and plain-looking wood ? 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 KEW SYSTEM OF GRAIN"IKG ON" U:N'PAINTED PINE-WOOD 
 SURFACES. 
 
 The first work of this kind which ever came under the 
 writer's notice was performed under his own supervision 
 and direction, and he therefore reasonably concUides that 
 the same will be a novelty to the trade. The peculiarity 
 of this new manner of graining is the application of the 
 graining-colors directly to the unpainted pine-wood sur- 
 face. The tint of new white pine gives ^s good a ground- 
 color for light-oak graining as can be desired, at the same 
 time not being objectionable, under the proposed mode of 
 treatment, for dark oak and black-walnut. 
 
 The operation consists simply in giving to the work one 
 coat of glue-size, and applying the graining-color in the 
 same manner as heretofore described under the title of 
 "Light-Oak Graining." 
 
 In this method (referring to black-walnut) the stippled 
 coat of distemper-color must be dispensed with, and the oil- 
 color applied directly to the ground. 
 
 To prepare the glue-size, take a handful, more or less, 
 as may be required, of wliite glue, and throw the same into 
 
IGO HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 a clean pail or other vessel ; cover with cold water, and let 
 stand overnight. Next morning pour on boiling water, 
 apply a moderate heat for a few minutes, and the whole 
 will become thoroughly dissolved and homogeneous. Let 
 this be of strength sufficient to bear out the graining-color 
 long enough to permit the combing and taking out of the 
 lights, and also strong enough to cover the knots and res- 
 inous places, so that the varnish-coat will not remove the 
 graining-color therefrom. A little practice will make per- 
 fect in this respect. 
 
 The graining-color may have a greater proportion of oil 
 than is recommended for graining on joainted surfaces, as 
 the wood will be, notwithstanding the coating of glue, 
 more or less absorbent. It is advised to rub in and grain 
 one panel or other piece at a time ; at least,* until the 
 operator shall have learned by experience how long the 
 color will *^bear out" without setting to that degree that 
 it will not comb and wipe. As much graining-color, 
 thinned with boiled oil and turpentine, should be used as 
 possible, consistent with the proper tone of color for the 
 light-oak parts, for the reason that the heavier the grain- 
 ing-coat, the better body will there be for receiving the 
 varnish-coat. 
 
 For black-walnut the first application of graining-color 
 should be stippled, as is directed for the distemper-color in 
 ordinary black-walnut graining ; and the veins put on the 
 stippled coat when fresh, the blender being used to soften, 
 as before described. 
 
 The beginner will find it not difficult to trace the veins, 
 
GRAINING ON UNPAINTED PINE-WOOD SURFACES. 161 
 
 which will show plainly through the color, and the practice 
 will be good, for the reason that tracing the natural veins 
 will familiarize him with the shapes and directions which 
 the grain takes on in the growth of the timber. This ap- 
 plies not to black-walnut, the grain of which is not unlike 
 that of white pine. 
 
 The first coat being well dried, should be rubbed lightly 
 with fine, worn sand-paper, and the glazing or shading coat 
 may be either oil-color, as was the first coat, or distemper, 
 as in the ordinary way. Oil is advised, for the reason before 
 given — to make a better body for the varnish-coat. It will 
 be well to leave the work for a day or two before applying 
 the varnish, which should be carriage, and not quick, hard- 
 drying, furniture-varnish. Two coats of varnish are ad- 
 vised, as the extra wearing quality of the job will more 
 than repay the cost of thq second coat. 
 
 It must not be supposed that work done in this way 
 will present the finished appearance of grained work done 
 on three or four coats of paint ; but it enables the un- 
 skilled grainer to make a clean job at the least expenditure 
 of time and money, and one which will prove vastly more 
 durable than the best job done in the ordinary way, be- 
 cause the color, being ingrained on the wood, will not 
 chip off and show the lighter groundwork underneath the 
 darker graining-color. The system is not offered as the 
 equivalent of, or as a substitute for, the best grained work 
 as ordinarily performed ; but as a cheap and ready mode 
 of producing a smooth and durable surface in houses where 
 white and light tints are not specially required. The 
 
1G2 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 writer exhibits specimens of this style which pass among 
 experts as good jobs of grained work, and many are slow to 
 believe that it is done on an unpainted surface of common 
 white pine. In any event, a trial will cost nothing, as, in 
 case the result shall not prove satisfactory, the color and 
 varnish already applied will make a good foundation to 
 paint upon. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 DISTEMPER-GRAIKING. 
 
 The term '* distemper-graining" is imperfectly under- 
 stood by most people who use it, and there seems to be a 
 general disposition to look upon it as largely, if not wholly, 
 insignificant. , Its proper definition is, a method of paint- 
 ing wherein some vehicle other than water or oil is used 
 for thinning the pigments. Its application, however, is to 
 all kinds of graining — and to that work only — where non- 
 water-proof thinning, such as beer, alcohol, glue-size, etc., 
 is employed in place of oil, varnish, or substances of like 
 nature. 
 
 Formerly, all imitations of wood and marble were done 
 in distemper, oil-graining being of comparatively recent 
 date. The advantage of distemper-graining is, that no 
 time (so to speak) need necessarily elapse between the put- 
 ting in of the work and the varnish-coat. 
 
 For certain kinds of the hard, close-grained woods, such 
 as maple, mahogany, satinwood, and rosewood, the best 
 effects are produced by the use of water-colors, rather 
 than oil graining-colors ; while for the open, coarse-grained 
 
104 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 woods, as oak, ash, and chestnut, the oil-colors are de- 
 cidedly preferable. There are soveral modes of procedure 
 in distemper-graining, all of which will be treated more 
 or less fully in succeeding chapters. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 The wood of this yery respectable native tree is, with 
 its close, fine texture, its delicate, soft-toned ground and 
 shadings, and penciled, sinuous grain, altogether the most 
 beautiful' of what are called the light-colored woods. 
 Painted imitations of it should always be executed in dis- 
 temper or water-colors on a very smooth ground of almost 
 white, but just turned toward a buff with the addition of 
 the slightest quantity of Italian raw sienna. Some grainers 
 use a white ground, but it is not recommended, because it 
 gives a sharp, harsh character, which does not belong to the 
 natural wood when finished and polished. 
 
 Raw Italian sienna, with the addition of burnt sienna 
 and Vandyke-brown, gives the proper graining-color for 
 maple. The raw sienna, of course, forms the bulk of the 
 material. The ground should be rubbed very smooth with 
 fine sand-paper. The amount of graining-color required is 
 very small, and the work must be rubbed in one panel or 
 piece at a time. There are several modes of taking out the 
 lights. The one recommended is by means of the tool made 
 
166 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 expressly for this work, called a cutter, and shown on page 
 128. The tool is drawn over the work longitudinally of the 
 panel or rail or stile, as the case may be, and the sides of the 
 cutter are alternately raised and lowered in its passage, in 
 order to wipe out the color as shown in the natural wood. 
 The work is then blended with the badger crosswise, from 
 left to right, but not in the direction of the tool — that is, 
 the blending or softening must be done transversely to the 
 direction or path of the cutter. This brings the work to 
 that point where the use of the " piped maple over- (or top-) 
 grainer," as shown on page 126, comes into use. The pipes, 
 it will be seen, keep the pencil-points apart or separate, and 
 there is nothing to be done but to make the proper color for 
 the over-grain, and to draw the over-grainer with an un- 
 dulating, sinuous motion from top to bottom of the panel. 
 When the writer was a boy, the custom was, in maple grain- 
 ing, to take out the lights by rolling a wet sponge from top 
 to bottom, and to put in the bird's-eyes by dabbing the wet 
 surface of the work with the four fingers held more or less 
 loosely or in contact. This, to say the least of it, was an 
 expeditious mode of procedure, but we are inclined to the 
 opinion that, like almost everything else obtained at little 
 cost, it was little T^orth. The putting in of the bird's-eyes 
 to an imitation of maple is a somewhat delicate operation, 
 and to produce good results requires a cunning hand. The 
 best tool for this purpose that has ever come under the ob- 
 servation of the writer is a piece of woolen cloth, say broad- 
 cloth, so folded as to present, on the end of a somewhat 
 sharp angle, a form similar to the eyes seen in the wood. 
 
BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE. 167 
 
 The operation of folding the cloth is extremely simple 
 to the sight, but not so easily made intelligible by a yerbal 
 description. With not a few misgivings as to the success 
 of the experiment, the writer will attempt to describe the 
 operation. 
 
 Take a piece of woolen cloth, about as large as the hand ; 
 lay on the table and fold in the middle lengthwise ; bring 
 the two edges together toward the body, leaving the fold 
 away from the body ; then, at a distance of about two 
 inches from the right-hand end, fold the cloth over upon 
 itself so as to bring that portion of the folded edge which is 
 held in the fingers at right angles to the part held under 
 the left hand, forming at the right hand an imperfect tri- 
 angle ; this will be continued until the cloth shall take 
 on the shape of a flattened horn, so called, such as fancy 
 candies are wrapped in sometimes. The sharp end, when 
 applied to a small quantity of color spread upon a board or 
 other flat surface, will retain enough to form a minute, in- 
 complete circle or eye, which, as well as or better than any 
 other readily available means, will imitate the eyes or dots 
 in the natural wood. These eyes are not put in without 
 regard to arrangement. Each eye has its proper place, 
 which place will be readily found by consulting a piece of 
 the natural wood. Remember, the blender is not used after 
 the eyes are put in. What seems to be the shadow of the 
 dark spot is the color which the cutter did not remove, 
 and which was softened crosswise, from left to right* 
 
 Bird's-eye maple is exhibited mostly in shops and ofiices 
 where showiness is required, and in panels only, the rails 
 
1G8 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 and stiles being either warm-toned black- walnut, or, better, 
 rosewood. The moldings may be cut in with scarlet ver- 
 milion (true) before the finishing coat of varnish. 
 
 The tree which affords this wood is the well-known 
 sugar-maj)le {Acer saccJiarinum), so common in the more 
 Korthern States. 
 
 The time will probably come when this tree will possess 
 a greater value for cabinet and joiner work than for the 
 crop of sugar which it yields. Its use at present is con- 
 fined mostly to panels for cabinet furniture and linings for 
 drawers in the shape of veneers. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 MAHOGAKY GRAINII^G.* 
 
 The almost total disuse of this beautiful and servicea- 
 ble wood for cabinet-work and internal domestic architect- 
 ure generally, and its substitution by black- walnut, is and 
 must remain one of those freaks or caprices of fashion which 
 no man can account for. 
 
 Painted imitations also have gone out with the original, 
 and a professional grainer might not in the course of years 
 be called on to do a piece of grained work in imitation of ma- 
 hogany ; whereas, a few years ago, to imitate mahogany suc- 
 cessfully was considered the highest reach of the grainer's art. 
 
 For painted imitations of this wood a bright ground 
 is required, which may be best produced with extra-deep 
 orange chrome-yellow and royal red. The graining-color 
 is made with burnt Italian sienna and a little Vandyke- 
 brown. The grain is put in with various means and tools, 
 
 * This chapter was written some years ago, when this beautiful wood 
 was almost forgotten as a material out of which to construct household 
 furniture. The mutations of fashion have again brought it to the front, 
 and from this time forth mahogany will be " the mode," and black-walnut 
 must take a back seat. Consequently, what we have said about mahogany 
 graining has a double valufe, for the reason that imitations of the favorite 
 wood will again be in demand. 
 
 I 
 
170 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 according to tlie kind or variety of the wood to be imitated. 
 In doors and other paneled work what is known as crotch- 
 work is generally displayed. In this the lights are taken out 
 with the cutter, as shown on page 128, and for this purpose 
 the use of this tool is advised as the best of all the vari- 
 ous methods which ingenious workmen have devised for this 
 purpose. We could tell of a dozen others, but, as the result 
 would be to mislead rather than to elucidate, we refrain. 
 The top- or over-grainer, such as used in oak graining, is a 
 most important tool in mahogany graining, and the proper 
 use of it readily comes with practice. It must not, how- 
 ever, as in its application to oak, be broken or separated in 
 distinct, comb-like teeth, but must be kept as much as pos- 
 sible in its natural or dry state. The fine lines which are 
 put in with the top-grainer do not, as in oak panels, pro- 
 ceed in straight or nearly straight lines from top to bottom, 
 but commence at the bottom on the left-hand side of the 
 crotch, and are carried, with a slightly waving motion, at a 
 pretty sharp angle, to the center of the crotch, and brought 
 down on the right-hand side and terminated at the bottom 
 or sides of the panel. The first lines will commence, of 
 course, at the bottom and terminate there ; but as the 
 graining is continued up the panel, the grain will neces- 
 sarily commence at the side and terminate on the opposite 
 side at the same height or level. 
 
 Some grainers use vermilion or orange mineral for 
 making ground for mahogany ; but our opinion is, that the 
 colors recommended are sufficiently bright, and that the 
 brighter-colored pigments are not necessary or advisable. 
 
MAHOGANY GRAINIXG. 171 
 
 The rails and stiles in doors and paneled work may be 
 grained with the blender by drawing it over the fresh grain- 
 ing-color, either continuously or by arresting its progress 
 every three or four inches, bringing it to a full stop, and 
 then proceeding again. In this, as in all kinds of painted 
 imitations of natural woods, the badger-blender plays a 
 most importantipart. Graining can not be done without it, 
 any more than it can be done wii^put a paint-brush or col- 
 ors. It is the principal and mosf^luable means to produce 
 effects which are almost or quite unattainable without it. 
 
 Supposing the graining — that is, the first application of 
 distemper-color — to be finished and dry, the varnish-coat is 
 next in order. This may be a very thin coat, just enough 
 to hold the distemper, and the varnish should be what 
 coach-painters call quick ruhhlng. When this varnish-coat 
 is sufficiently dry—which should be in one day — the work 
 is ready for glazing, which will be done with the same color 
 as was used for putting in the grain in the first coat. Rub 
 in the work, panel by panel, with thin glazing-color and 
 stipple with the blender, softening the grain, as may seem 
 necessary. 
 
 The glazing-coat in mahogany graining seems more in- 
 dispensable than in imitating the other woods, for the rea- 
 son that mahogany has more depth and transparency. 
 
 The finishing varnish-coat should be what the trade 
 denominates as "hard-drying coach-body," and should be 
 flowed on with a thick badger-hair varnish-brush, leaving 
 as much varnish on the surface as will remain there without 
 running. ^ _ 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 EOSEWOOD GRAINING. 
 
 This costly and beautiful wood yet holds its place in the 
 fashionable world, and the arbitrary dictates of that capri- 
 cious yet almost unquestioned power command that cer- 
 tain articles of furniture, for certain times and places, shall 
 be shaped in rosewood. 
 
 Painted imitations of rosewood are not, as a rule, satis- 
 factory or desirable, mainly from the fact that such articles 
 as would be painted in imitation of it are generally not 
 fabricated out of the natural wood. Rosewood doors are 
 not uncommon, it is true; but their surroundings are 
 usually such as to put grained work entirely out of the 
 question. 
 
 The proper ground for rosewood is crimson vermilion ; 
 not the so-called American yermilion, but the true quick- 
 silver product. The surface should be very smooth, and 
 previous to putting in the grain there should be a glazing 
 of English crimson-lake applied to the ground. This brings 
 the surface to a proper condition for receiving the grain. 
 This will be done with black, but not lampblack. The 
 
ROSEWOOD GRAINING. 173 
 
 gray tone of tlie common carbon, which comes from the 
 destructive distillation of fatty substances, will not give 
 what is required for the work in question. 
 
 The black required for this work is to common lamp- 
 black what the latter-named article is to lead-color. 
 
 There is a black used by coach-makers which comes from 
 the carbonizing of pure ivory. This is the only black 
 which has no rival but that darkness which has never known 
 a ray of light. It may be obtained by the grainer, not at 
 the ordinary places where ground paints are sold, but at 
 some dealer's who trades in coach-makers' goods. It will be 
 found ground in quick-drying vehicles, and for the require- 
 ments of the grainer must be reduced with raw linseed-oil. 
 This black is the proper material for putting in the grain 
 of an imitation of rosewood. This penciling-coat will be 
 blended as fast as put in with the badger, and, when thor- 
 oughly dry, the whole surface will be glazed with a very 
 thin coat of the same black as was used for the veined work. 
 The glazing-coat of black — the black being a body-color — 
 will, of course, be very thin, and the glazing process will 
 be precisely the same as recommended for black-walnut 
 and oak. 
 
 Rose-pink is sometimes used in place of lake far the 
 first glazing-coat, but, as this is one of the most fugitive of 
 all colors, its use is not advised, especially for out-door 
 work. 
 
 Eosewood imitations are not common, the wood itself 
 being now mostly used for such articles of furniture as are 
 not suitable for imitating with painted work. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 SATINWOOD. 
 
 This is an East-Indian wood of fine grain, and takes 
 on a high polish. 
 
 It is displayed mostly in panel-work, and is imitated on 
 a ground of the same tint as that used for bird's-eye maple. 
 The graining-color is the same also as that used in grain- 
 ing the last-named wood, viz., raw Italian sienna with a 
 very small quantity of burnt sienna and Vandyke-brown. 
 The difference in the painted imitations of these woods is 
 simply in the manner of putting in the grain. 
 
 The graining is done wholly in distemper, and the Kghts 
 are taken out with the cutter, as shown on page 128, and 
 the directions as to putting in the top grain, given in the 
 chapter on " Mahogany Graining," are entirely applicable 
 to the work in question. 
 
 There is very little demand for satinwood in this coun- 
 try, either in the natural wood or in the painted imitations 
 of the same. 
 
 While it is important to cultivate a bold, free hand 
 in graining, it must, not be forgotten that a close imita- 
 
SATIN wo 01). 175 
 
 tion of natural wood is the result of careful manipulation, 
 a practiced, eye, and good taste. No man can perform a 
 good job, in imitating colored and fancy woods, with a 
 whitewash-brush dipped in color, and get over a half-acre 
 of surface in eight hours. A grained door may be a 
 "thing of bemity,'^ as certainly as is the finest work of art 
 which adorns the walls of a picture-gallery. The itinerant 
 picture-vender gladly accepts a few dollars for his pair of 
 thirty-by-forty-inch elegant landscapes, in broad Dutch 
 gilt frames. This sum, multiplied by hundreds, is freely 
 paid for the work of some famous artist, the whole surface 
 of which might almost be covered with a man's two hands. 
 A door-side may be grained for a quarter of a dollar, or 
 twenty-five dollars may be expended, in labor alone, on the 
 same surface. In either case the purchaser is supposed to 
 receive no more than an equivalent for his money. In 
 graining, the most skillful workman can perform, easily and 
 rapidly, the cheapest and plainest kind of work required, 
 and it is a matter of necessity that the professional grainer 
 shall be able to adapt his hand to any style of work which 
 may be required. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 BLACK-WALNUT IN DISTEMPER. 
 
 This mode of graining black-walnut is recommended 
 when a large surface is to be painted quickly and cheaply, 
 and with little regard to the closeness of imitation. It is 
 accomplished in various ways and by various means, some 
 of which — those deemed most useful — will be hereafter de- 
 scribed. 
 
 First, the ground, similar in tone and character to that 
 used in oil-graining, Chapter XVIII, will be stippled on a 
 coat of water-color, made of burnt sienna and Vandyke- 
 brown ; but the coat and color both must be lighter than 
 that recommended in oil-graining. Upon this stippled coat, 
 when dry, may be put in the veins and lines with a sable 
 pencil or with the top-grainer, as described in oil black- 
 walnut graining. This, of course, requires no time before 
 the varnish-coat, which must be, supposing the intention be 
 to glaze over the varnish, quite thin. When dry, the glaz- 
 ing coat of water-color must be applied in precisely the same 
 manner as shown on page 152, under the head of '' Black- 
 Walnut Graining in Oil." 
 
BLACK-WALNUT IX DISTEMPER. I77 
 
 It is common, in work which does not present any ex- 
 tended surfaces, such as panels — or rail-work, which con- 
 sists in moldings and narrow flat pieces, as door and window 
 frames, and cornices — to give first a stippled coat of oil-color, 
 and when dry to put on oyer this a coat of distemper-color 
 and grain with the blender, drawing the same more or less 
 in right lines lengthwise of the work, and softening, as may 
 suit the taste or fancy. This mode is recommended when 
 the surfaces do not afford any chance for a display of artis- 
 tic labor or skill. 
 
 When a large, extended surface of neiu wood is to be 
 pointed in imitation of black- walnut, and the result is to 
 be accomplished with the least expenditure of time and 
 material, we recommend the following course of jDrocedure : 
 First give the work a coat of glue-size, having a small quan- 
 tity of whiting mixed with it ; on this, when dry, a coat of 
 ground-color made with pure white-lead, colored with gold- 
 en ochre and a little ivory-black, to produce a warm drab ; 
 thin almost entirely with boiled oil, and, when thoroughly 
 dry, apply with a largest-size paint-brush, or an eight-inch 
 kalsomine-brush, a coat of distemper graining-color, mixed 
 as follows : Vandyke-brown and burnt umber ground in 
 water, added to an equal quantity of smooth flour-paste. 
 Thin this with water to a proper consistency, and apply as 
 before said. For the graining, use a handled duster, such 
 as is common for removing the dust from a painted floor 
 by means of a dust-pan. Put the color on a large surface 
 at a time, as it will not dry rapidly, and go over it straight 
 or diagonally with the bristles composing the duster, ai 
 
178 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 stipple with the same. The varnish-coat over this needs be 
 heavy, and of elastic material, to insure durability. This 
 style of painting results in a clean, respectable-looking job, 
 durable if properly done, and quite as cheap as ordinary 
 two-coat work of plain painting. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 LIGHT-OAK GKAINING IN" DISTEMPER. 
 
 Ordin'ARILY there are no conditions or requirements 
 where the painter or grainer is called upon to depart from 
 the now almost universally adopted custom of graining oak 
 in oil-colors ; but there may be occasions where a job of oak 
 graining must be done in distemper; consequently, every 
 grainer should acquire a knowledge of the process. It is 
 recommended only on the score of economy and saving of 
 time in the operation. 
 
 A description of the process, as now in actual operation 
 in one of the large buildings used by the writer as a man- 
 ufactory, will, perhaps, best elucidate to the average com- 
 prehension the mode of proceeding to accomplish the best 
 results with the least expenditure of means. 
 
 First in order, the new wood receives a coat of glue- 
 size mixed with common whiting. This is followed by the 
 coat of ground-color — a light buff made of pure lead and 
 golden ochre, thinned with clear, boiled oil. This oil- 
 coat, which bears out about as much as an ordinary second 
 coat, is allowed to stand two davs, when a rubbing of sand- 
 
180 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 paper brings it into condition for tlie distemper graining- 
 color. For this, take of raw sienna, burnt sienna, and 
 Vandyke-brown ground in water, whatever may be re- 
 quired to do the work ; mix to suit the taste, as to tone of 
 color, and add to the mixture an equal quantity of smooth 
 flour-paste; thin with water to a proper consistency for' 
 application, apply with a largest-size paint-brush, and comb 
 as in oil-graining. To give variety, some of the work will 
 be combed, and some portion will be left as stippled by 
 the whitewash-brush. In case it may be deemed desirable 
 to give a still greater variety to the work, a glazing-coat of 
 oil graining-color may be given to every other board form- 
 ing a wall, or bulkhead, or ceiling, and to a rail or stile of 
 a door. When dry, this work should receive a heavy flow- 
 ing coat of elastic varnish. This style of painting costs 
 but little, if any, more than ordinary plain painting, while 
 it is much more desirable and pleasing to the eye — that 
 is, the general appearance is altogether preferable to plain 
 colors. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 YARK^ISHIKG. 
 
 The shabbiest economy ever practiced in painting is 
 the use of cheap varnish in finishing any job where a coat 
 of varnish is required. 
 
 Closing the seams of a costly garment with unsound 
 thread, or covering an expensive house with a paper roof, 
 would hardly evince less discretion in the way of true 
 economy. 
 
 Work that is worth varnishing at all, is worth a good 
 coat of that article. It will look better, wash better, and 
 last longer, whether it be inside or outside work. A coat 
 of cheap varnish — or a dear varnish, if it be not suited to 
 this particular work — may, in a short time, spoil the best 
 possible job of graining, and leave the surface in such a 
 condition that all the labor expended will be worse than 
 thrown away. Quich-drying, hard varnish, such as is 
 used on furniture^ is not suited to varnishing painted sur- 
 faces, especially if the work he exposed to the toeather. 
 
 It seems almost beyond belief that a householder 
 should secure, at whatever cost of trouble and money, the 
 
182 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 services of a first-rate artist to do a particular job of grain- 
 ing, and evince no anxiety as to the character of the var- 
 nish which is put upon the painted surface to protect and 
 preserve it. The difference in cost between the best varnish 
 and the worst, for a job of grained work, is but a trifle. 
 The owner would pay not less than three dollars a gallon 
 for the poorest varnish — that most unfit for the purpose — 
 while the best ought not to cost over six dollars a gallon. 
 The difference in first cost between the best and the worst 
 varnish for coating both sides of a large door, would not be 
 more than thirty or forty cents, while the one will wear 
 ten times as long as the other, and give a much better 
 finish. Many house-painters are at fault in this matter, 
 and practice a left-handed economy in the purchase of 
 varnish. 
 
 What would be thought of a carriage-painter who 
 would expend fifty days' labor, and the requisite material, 
 in painting a coach, and finish the same with a coat of 
 doubtful varnish, on the pretense of economy ? 
 
 It must be remembered that the durability of a job of 
 grained work depends wholly on the varnishing. There is 
 no good reason why grained doors should not last without 
 repainting as long as an oil-painting or other work of art, 
 and they may be made as beautiful and attractive as the 
 pictures which adorn the walls. It is quite within the 
 power of a good workman to so finish a grained door that 
 it shall remain in perfect preservation for twenty years or 
 more. To effect this, requires, of course, the best talent, 
 knowledge, skill, and a practiced hand ; but it is within 
 
VARNISHING. Ig3 
 
 reach of every good workman. No good job of grained 
 work, or any other work, in fact, should be looked upon as 
 finished after one coat of varnish. Two coats, at least, 
 should be put on, the first being what is known m coach- 
 painting as ''quick leveling or rubbing varnish," and the 
 last, or finishing coat, should be hard-drying, coach-body 
 varnish. The first coat should, after standing long enough 
 to become sufficiently hard, be rubbed with powdered 
 pumice-stone, and the finishing coat should be flowed on 
 with a flat, thick, badger or fitch flowing-brush. As much 
 varnish should be applied as will remain on the work with- 
 out running. This operation requires skill and practice, 
 with an excellent judgment. No novice should attempt it. 
 
 It will be remembered that we are not now treating the 
 question of common grained work, done under the whip 
 and spur of insufficient compensation, but of the best re- 
 sults that are possible with imitations of colored or fancy 
 woods. 
 
 Nothing is spared in coach-painting which can or may 
 in any degree conduce to the durability of the work, not 
 incompatible with beauty of finish ; and the coach-painter 
 is supposed to have reached the maximum of these two 
 most desirable qualities in combination. So, his example 
 and processes are worthy of imitation, so far as they may 
 be applicable to the work of house-painting. Through a 
 partial adoption of the modes and processes common in 
 coach-painting, the painted surfaces inside our domiciles 
 may be rendered as much more durable than they now are, 
 as coach-work is more beautiful than house-painting. The 
 
184 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTma, AND GRAINING. 
 
 assertion may seem startling to the average honse-painter's 
 intelligence, but it is a fact, nevertheless, that not one 
 house-painter in a hundred has any knowledge of the 
 proper use and application of varnish. 
 
 Varnish should not and must not be rubbed out under 
 the brush, as paint is rubbed out. The two processes are 
 entirely different. In varnishing, the object is to put as 
 much on the work as will stay there. The more varnish 
 there is on the" surface, supposing it to be smooth and free 
 from runs, the better. The object should be, not how 
 little can the surface be coated with ; but, how much can 
 be put upon it and made to stay there. 
 
 House-painters should learn the art of varnishing from 
 coach-painters. 
 
 In concluding this chapter, the writer would say, use 
 for good work the best varnish you can get, and as mucli 
 of it as will remain on the work without running. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 There is much that might be said in a general way on 
 the subject of graining which can not find room in a work 
 of this scope and extent. The aim has been to describe 
 the processes with as much detail and particularity as, in 
 the opinion of the writer, would serve to elucidate the sub- 
 ject, and not befog the learner with a confusing multiplicity 
 of directions. The difficulty of teaching any art or sci- 
 ence, however simple, without the use of the technical vo- 
 cabulary belonging thereto, can not be appreciated by one 
 who has not made the attempt. To teach, by means of 
 written words, a process where both teacher and learner are 
 familiar with* the technical terms naturally and properly 
 belonging to such process, is comparatively easy ; but to 
 make clear to the comprehension of the novice, simply 
 through such medium, a process which depends for its 
 successful execution almost entirely upon the eye, and at 
 the same time so to phrase it as not to make it seem child- 
 ish to the initiated, is a task which one comprehending 
 these difficulties would be slow to undertake. 
 
186 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 Witli an apology for the repetition, we would again call 
 attention to the fact that the object has been so to present 
 this matter that one, unacquainted even Avith the simi^le 
 names of the tools and materials usually employed, would 
 be enabled to start from the right point and proceed in the 
 proper direction. The measure of success which will wait 
 upon the effort can be known only to those who seek in- 
 struction in these pages. 
 
 The reader will hardly come to the conclusion that all 
 grained work, or even a majority of it, is wrought out 
 through all the various processes heretofore described. 
 
 A very large proportion of what is called graining is 
 finished with one coat of color to the groundwork and one 
 coat of varnish. Indeed, two varnish-coats are the excep- 
 tion rather than the rule. Much of the black- walnut oil- 
 graining is done without the stippled coat of distemper- 
 color and varnished without glazing ; but one must not 
 expect to obtain the best results through so simple a pro- 
 cess. What is worth having is worth working for ; and 
 this will be found true in graining, as in any of the higher 
 branches of the art of painting. 
 
 The interior wood-work in mills, factories, and places 
 of like nature, is commonly painted in imitation of some 
 of ^ the lighter hard woods, not so much on the score of ap- 
 pearance as for cleanliness and economy. A varnished sur- 
 face is much more easily kept clean than a surface of ordi- 
 nary paint ; but varnished plain colors do not look well. 
 Under such circumstances, no attempt is made at putting 
 in fine work, the object being to turn off the job as quick- 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 187 
 
 ly as possible, with a view to neatness and general uni- 
 formity. 
 
 City grainers — those who call themselves "grainers to 
 the trade" — do not usually, in large jobs, **rub in" the 
 work themselves, but employ one or more boys, who soon 
 become expert in the preliminary process of rubbing in, 
 combing, etc., and who are, from the nature of their occu- 
 pation, in the very best possible school for acquiring a thor- 
 ough knowledge of the art. 
 
 The importance of a smooth, hard surface to grain 
 upon can not be over-estimated. The best workman in 
 the world can not do good work on a rough, uneven sur- 
 face, for the reason that the rough places will retain an 
 undue proportion of color, and will not part with it when 
 the attempt is made to wipe out the lights. A well sand- 
 papered surface and finely ground colors are indispensable 
 to good, clean work. 
 
 There are some otherwise very good grainers, who have 
 a slovenly habit of not cleaning up the ends and corners. 
 They remind us of men who wear good clothes, but who 
 neglect to brush their hats and black their shoes. Care 
 should be taken to carry the work closely and cleanly down 
 in door-frames and base-boards to the contact line with 
 their resting-places ; as also to cut closely and wipe cleanly 
 along the joints and lines in paneled work. New pine 
 wood-work, which is to be finished in imitation of any of 
 the hard woods, should always be first coated with a color 
 darker than the intended finish, and the first coat should 
 be well sand-papered. The succeeding coats should be as 
 
188 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 dark as possible, with a view, of course, to the proper 
 ground-tint for whatever kind of wood it is proposed to 
 imitate. By such a course of procedure, the liability of 
 the finished surface to accidental injury is very much less- 
 ened. As the varnish becomes in time brittle, it will, 
 under the accidental blows which it is in the nature of 
 things subjected to, be liable to chip off, and, bringing the 
 graining-color and ground-color with it, reveal the under- 
 neath coats. If the color underneath be dark, the general 
 appearance of the work is little defaced, compared with 
 what it would be supposing the priming-coats were white. 
 
 The writer has been at a loss to comprehend why men, 
 as a rule, ordinarily practice a niggardly economy in respect 
 to the painting of their houses, while exhibiting a profuse 
 liberality in most other house decorations and embellish- 
 ments, such as carpets, hangings, furniture, etc. 
 
 An owner having decided upon the repainting of his 
 domicile, seems naturally impressed with the idea that the 
 proper thing to do is to call upon all the " trade " far and 
 near, with the request that they come over and view his 
 premises preparatory to furnishing estimates as to how 
 cheaply the work may be done, it being understood that 
 th€ painter who makes the lowest figures will ''get the 
 job." Suppose the house, after repainting, shall require 
 new furniture, carpets, hangings, etc., would any but a 
 lunatic think, under the circumstances, of going to all the 
 upholsterers in New York to obtain estimates of cost, with 
 a view of letting out the work to the concern which would 
 promise to do it for the least sum of money ? There is as 
 
aENERAL REMARKS. 189 
 
 much latitude, in the way of quahty and kind, in house- 
 painting — graining particularly — as in furniture and up- 
 holstery. A grainer may paint a side of a door with an 
 expenditure of ten cents' worth of labor, or he may bestow 
 ten dollars' worth of labor on the same surface ; and he may 
 finish it with varnish that costs him one dollar a gallon, or 
 with varnish which costs six dollars per gallon. In view of 
 these facts, it seems a little unreasonable that a proprietor, 
 having chosen the cheapest thing offered, should find fault 
 because the grained-work is spoiled by the cracking of the 
 varnish, and that the blinds fade almost before the painter 
 turns his back on his completed job. 
 
 No person, even in having his house painted, should 
 expect to receive for his money more than its worth ; and 
 cheap tilings are, as a rule, the dearest in the end. That 
 this is especially true of paints and painting, the writer 
 knows from the closest observation and an every-day expe- 
 rience of nearly forty years. 
 
 The reader is earnestly requested not to lose sight of the 
 important fact that these words are directed, not to the ex- 
 perienced and practiced workman, but to the learner, the be- 
 ginner ; not to him who can teach, but to him who is desir- 
 ous of receiving instruction ; and the writer's task has not 
 been a thankful one, because of the fact of how little can be 
 taught by printed instructions in an operation which de- 
 pends for its successful execution almost entirely upon the 
 perceptive faculties. True, the hand must be educated, 
 and the intellectual faculties must possess a knowledge of 
 the requisite means and materials ; but the perceptive fac- 
 
190 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 ulties alone must be consulted as to the success or failure 
 of the work. The eye only can tell whether or not the 
 work is a creditable imitation of the wood which the work- 
 man has attempted to copy. Once more we would impress 
 upon the mind of the learner the importance and even neces- 
 sity of attempting this work only with good and proper ma- 
 terials. As before said, the first great difficulty in the way 
 of the painter who would become a grainer has been obvi- 
 ated by means of ready-made graining-colors. These are 
 obtainable now almost everywhere, and when not at hand, 
 or in the immediate neighborhood, may be ordered from 
 the manufacturer at the additional cost only of express- 
 charges. The cost of material for graining is but a trifle, 
 as a pound of the best and finest color in market may be 
 purchased at retail for about twenty-five cents, and this 
 quantity would be sufficient to cover from thirty to forty 
 doors. It will be safe to assume that the graining-color for 
 one side of a door will cost not more than a cent. The 
 best color will prove the cheapest, not only because of the 
 greater surface it will spread over, but because the tone 
 of color will best match the wood which it is intended to 
 imitate. Cheap graining-colors, like all cheap adulterated 
 paints, are simply worthless. 
 
 The tint of the groundwork is important, but relatively 
 so from the fact that the work may be made lighter or 
 darker by the application of less or more of the graining- 
 color. Nevertheless, it is better, and will cost less in time 
 and trouble, to have the ground right to start with ; and 
 we have given the proper materials for making the best 
 
GENERAL REiMARKS. 191 
 
 ayerage ground for the various woods. Referring again to 
 the groundwork, let us say that the surface should not be 
 flat, but should present what is known among painters as 
 an egg-shell gloss — that is, just so much oil should be used 
 as will give this gloss, and no more. If more than the neces- 
 sary quantity of oil be used, the paint will not rub smoothly, 
 and a smooth, hard, even surface is indispensable with a 
 good job of graining, particularly if the lights be taken out 
 with the horn tool heretofore described. Every person who 
 has studiously observed natural woods need not be told 
 that no two widths in a wainscoting of narrow oak boards 
 are precisely alike. They differ not only in grain and figure, 
 but in tone of color, notwithstanding the general uniform- 
 ity. Some of the boards will show a tone of color in which 
 yellow is decidedly prominent. Other widths will show a 
 brown, as of umber, in the plain portion. The grain also 
 presents a variety of colors. Now, as all these variations 
 are to be shown in the painted imitations upon a uniform 
 ground, it follows that the tone of this ground must be 
 yellow enough to display the yellowest samples which the 
 natural wood presents. The browner tones can be readily 
 produced by the application of a thicker coat of the grain- 
 ing-color, whereby the yellow groundwork maybe concealed. 
 No two adjoining boards in a wainscot should be just alike, 
 both in grain and shade, while there should be no violent 
 contrasts. Of the two evils, the least is a dead level of uni- 
 formity. The first is only monotonous and unattractive, 
 while the other is painfully suggestive of a failure to per- 
 form a task which the skill of the workman was not equal 
 
192 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 to. Grained doors, particularly of light oak, should pre- 
 sent corresponding panels similarly grained, as if sawed 
 from the same log, supposing them to be natural wood. 
 The work on a panel should be put in with reference to its 
 corresponding companion, and not with its upper or lower 
 .one, as the case may be ; that is, the two panels, side by 
 side, should be grained with special reference to each other, 
 and should be very similar in both color and grain. There 
 must also be a general likeness in all the panels and the 
 same character of work, and the same tone of color should 
 be presented on all. The rails and stiles of the door will 
 give sufficient opportunity for a display of the various kinds 
 of grain and tones of color. As a rule, when the panels of 
 a door are grained moderately plain, say with straight comb- 
 ing and in dapples, a greater show of work is made on the 
 rails and stiles, the middle rail and stiles generally being 
 selected for the most elaborate figuring, the top and bot- 
 tom rails being generally plain and lighter than the outer 
 stiles, which are usually heavy and similar in appearance. 
 Inconsiderate persons may rashly condemn this methodical 
 arrangement as unnatural ; but every grainer knows how 
 indispensable it is to insure a workmanlike job. "With the 
 greatest variety there must be a certain uniformity. No 
 first-class joiner or cabinet-maker would throw together the 
 different pieces which go to make up a door or a piece of 
 cabinet-work, without regard to selection. Such careless- 
 ness would result in violent contrasts and disagreeable in- 
 congruities. The advantage which the imitator has over 
 the worker in natural woods is this : while the worker in 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 193 
 
 the real is restricted to such varieties as his stock presents, 
 the grainer may give a " counterfeit presentment " of such 
 selections as best comport and harmonize with the sur- 
 roundings ; and, moreover, a piece of grained wood in the 
 highest style of the art is more beautiful, and frequently 
 more costly, than the same work would be if made of the 
 natural wood. 
 
 The aim of the writer, in giving suggestions as to the 
 best mode of producing the proper tints and tones for 
 groundwork for the various woods, has been to simplify 
 the thing as much as possible ; to make plain, not to 
 darken and confuse — the object being to save the work- 
 man all unnecessary trouble and expense. The best and 
 cheapest and most convenient simple material for making 
 grounds for light oak, maple, ash, and chestnut, is pure 
 raw Italian sienna, tinted with pure white-lead ; not the 
 so-called sienna which is sold by most paint-dealers under 
 that name, but the genuine article, which can be and should 
 be obtained, even at some cost and trouble, the said color 
 being one of the most useful and indispensable articles in 
 the paint-shop. For maple-ground, of course, the smallest 
 quantity is required, it being necessary only to change the 
 white to the faintest suggestion of straw-color. For ash, 
 the ground should be but little darker. For light oak 
 more of the sienna will be required, while for chestnut a 
 decidedly yellowish tone is wanted. Care should be taken 
 not to make the grounds too dark — rather in the other 
 extreme, for the reason that there is a remedy for a too 
 light ground, in the application of a greater quantity of 
 
194 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 graining-color, as also in the glazing-coat ; while a ground 
 too dark can not be made lighter. For dark oak, burnt 
 Italian sienna with white will produce a far better ground 
 than any other single color. The same caution must be 
 observed, however, in obtaining this color, as was recom- 
 mended in the case of the raw Italian sienna. The domes- 
 tic so-called siennas will not prove substitutes for the gen- 
 uine Italian pigments. 
 
 The ground for black-walnut may be the same as for 
 light oak, with the addition of a little burnt sienna and 
 black. No two professed grainers, perhaps, will agree as 
 to the exact tint of color for groundwork, each one having 
 some predilection for a particular tone. These instructions 
 being offered, not to the expert, but to the uninitiated, we 
 do not propose to run counter to any man's prejudices, our 
 object being, as aforesaid, to simplify the matter to the last 
 possible degree. 
 
 And now, having written all that seems important to 
 the learner, and everything which in our view can tend to 
 make plain to the novice the art of imitating woods with 
 colored pigments, with an apology for any shortcomings, 
 and a hope that no one will fail to find something instruc- 
 tive in these pages, we bid adieu to this subject, and turn 
 to fresh fields. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 HOW TO PAINT A CARKIAGE. 
 
 There are many ways of proceeding to the same ob- 
 jective point, and doctors even will disagree as to the proper 
 mode of treating the same symptoms. Coach-painters can 
 liardly be supposed to be more unanimous than professors 
 of the healing art, particularly when the latter-named fra- 
 ternity are leagued by all sorts of oaths and bonds not to 
 affiliate or hold consultation with a school of medicine 
 which proposes to kill or cure by some irregular method. 
 
 No doubt some will see a better road than we propose 
 to travel to reach the same point, which is in every respect 
 a perfect job in the way of carriage-painting. 
 
 The writer does not belong to that class which takes 
 it for granted that a thing is good because it is new ; nor 
 to those who cling to a time-honored custom simply for 
 the reason that the same is sanctioned by long use ; nor 
 to those who believe that any particular theory or mode 
 of procedure includes all that is good and avoids all which 
 is bad. 
 
 The prejudices of craftsmen are difficult to meet and 
 
196 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 hard to overcome. One clings to a system and dogmatically 
 pronounces it best, simply because lie has never tried any 
 other, and he hates innovation. Another readily adopts or 
 tries all suggested improvements, and becomes an innovator 
 because of the charms and excitements of novelty. As a 
 rule, the first will win in the race ; but the second is useful 
 in his day and generation. 
 
 "Without attempting to trace the progress of improve- 
 ment in vehicular construction, from the rude log-wheel 
 carts of the ancients to the graceful and elegant vehicles of 
 the present day, it may be asserted, without fear of contra- 
 diction, that there are few things in our advanced civiliza- 
 tion and refinement which are more attractive, which com- 
 bine more fully the useful and the beautiful, than the 
 gracefully modeled, luxurious and comfortable carriages 
 which are turned out from first-class city and country man- 
 ufactories. 
 
 To paint a carriage in the highest style of the art re- 
 quires a judgment matured, an eye to appreciate combina- 
 tions and contrasts, and a hand cunning and skillful to 
 execute and perform. In nothing more than this is it true 
 that practice alone makes perfect. Written rules and direc- 
 tions are valuable only as hints and suggestions which, if 
 properly heeded and carried into practice, may lead to the 
 correction of errors which exist because of the want of 
 proper instructions. As well might one expect to educate 
 the ear to harmonious combinations of sounds by a treatise 
 on musical composition, as to teach the art of painting by 
 mere words. Yet, while the finished workman needs no 
 
HOW TO FAINT A CARRIAGE. I97 
 
 written rules, there are many tlirougliout our country, liv- 
 ing remote from the. great centers of population, who pro- 
 fess and practice the art of carriage-painting without the 
 oj^portunity of perfecting themselves in the higher branches 
 of the profession. In the hope that to such our directions 
 may prove of practical benefit, we give the mode of pro- 
 ceeding in the old method of carriage-painting. Of the 
 new and shorter method we shall treat hereafter. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 PREPAKATION OF THE SURFACE. 
 
 As the priming or first coating of the new wood initi- 
 ates the operation, that simple process requires a word or 
 two at the start : first, as to what shall be the material 
 used ; and, second, how to apply it. And these are impor- 
 tant questions, as the durability of the job depends in no 
 small degree on the soundness of the initiatory proceedings. 
 It will not be denied that whatever material adheres most 
 tenaciously to the wood, which best resists the changes of 
 temperature, dryness and dampness, and wear and tear, is 
 the best, whether it be white-lead and raw oil, boiled oil, 
 or japan, or wood-filling, or any other substance. 
 
 The Old Way of Pamting a Neto Carriage, 
 
 For the first or priming coat, for the body, thin a small 
 quantity of ground white-lead with raw linseed-oil, adding 
 a few (say two or three) spoonfuls of japan for &, drier, and 
 enough turpentine to make the paint work easily. Apply 
 an even coat of this paint with an ordinary bristle paint- 
 
PREPARATION OF THE SURFACE. 199 
 
 brush, taking care to work the color well into the nail- 
 heads, crevices, and corners of the body, wheels, and car- 
 riage-part. After the body has stood for four days for dry- 
 ing, the carriage-part being meanwhile in the blacksmith's 
 shop undergoing the process of ironing, mix the color for 
 the second coat as follows : Dry white-lead, mixed stiff in 
 japan and raw oil, equal parts, and ground through the 
 mill. Thin to proper consistency with turpentine, and 
 apply with an evenly-worn brush, taking care to work the 
 color down smoothly. This coat should stand four days, 
 for drying and hardening. After this, fill all the holes, 
 crevices, chinks, and imperfections in the wood with hard 
 putty, made thus : 
 
 White-lead three parts. 
 
 Whiting one part. 
 
 Wet with a mixture of 
 
 Linseed-oil two parts. 
 
 Varnish two parts. 
 
 Japan or gold-size one part, 
 
 When filling the screw-heads and other hollows, allow 
 the putty to stand a little above the surrounding parts ; 
 that is, the holes should be more than full to allow for any 
 possible shrinking. All open-grained wood, as ash, must 
 be filled with soft putty, made of white-lead wet with equal 
 parts of varnish and japan, using . a square-pointed putty- 
 knife. Care must be taken to fill all the pores of the wood 
 and thoroughly remove all superfluous material from the 
 surface. Let the body stand three days ; at the end of 
 which apply the second lead-coat, mixed, dry lead in three 
 
200 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 parts japan and one part oil ; mix stiff, reduce with tur- 
 pentine, and apply as before. Observe that care should be 
 taken to spread every coat evenly, whether it be lead, 
 rough-stuff, or color. This should stand three days before 
 the application of the third and last lead-coat, which 
 should be dry lead, wet with four parts japan and one 
 part oil. After two days (four is better, if not pressed 
 for time) the body is ready for rough-stuff. We can sug- 
 gest no better mode of mixing rough-stuff than the fol- 
 lowing, viz. : 
 
 English filling two parts. 
 
 Dry white-lead two parts. 
 
 Wet with a mixture of 
 
 Varnish two parts. 
 
 Japan one part. 
 
 Oil one part. 
 
 Gold-size one part. 
 
 Make into a stiff paste, and reduce with turpentine to a 
 proper consistency for spreading with a well-worn brush. 
 This should be allowed two days for hardening before the 
 application of the second coat, which should be mixed in 
 one half the quantity of oil used in the first coat. The 
 following day the third coat, in which no oil should be 
 used, may be applied, and again the next day the fourth 
 coat, which should be mixed the same as the third coat — 
 that is, without oil. The rough-stuff should, of course, be 
 ground finely through the mill, as should all the other 
 mixtures into which dry lead enters as one of the compo- 
 nent parts. The last coat of rough-stuff should be followed 
 
PREPARATION OF THE SURFACE. 201 
 
 by the guide-coat of Frencli yellow ochre, mixed in Japan 
 and turpentine. 
 
 The body may now go to the smith's to be hung up. 
 That done, the wood- worker should smooth up all places 
 where the beds may project over the axles, put on bands, 
 etc. The painting process should now be resumed by prim- 
 ing the iron-work, which should stand two or three days to 
 dry. While the carriage is hardening, the scouring of the 
 body may be proceeded with. This should be done by an 
 experienced hand, as great care is required to prevent the 
 pumice-stone from cutting through the successive coats of 
 paint to the wood. The lump of pumice-stone should be 
 kept well filed, and plenty of water should be used to pre- 
 vent the pores of the stone from becoming clogged with the 
 paint. This process should be continued until none of the 
 guide-coat is left, and, being completed, the body should be 
 washed off with clean, cold water, using the water-tool for 
 corners and for all places where the particles removed from 
 the surface by the action of the pumice-stone are apt to 
 collect. The body may now be left to dry for twentj^-four 
 hours, and work resumed on the carriage-part. First, cut 
 down thoroughly every part with No. 2 sand-paper, dust off 
 and apply lead-coat mixed as follows, and ground finely 
 through the mill : Dry white-lead, in equal parts of japan 
 and raw oil, reduced with turpentine. Judgment is re- 
 quired in the application of this coat, because, if the paint 
 be too thin, the pores of the wood will remain unfilled, and, 
 if too thick, it can not be spread evenly. Apply with bristle 
 paint-brush, working the paint well into the wood. 
 
202 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 This coat should stand at least four da3^s for hardening ; 
 but in the mean time it would be well to soft-putty the rims, 
 faces of spokes, and all the flat surfaces of the carriage- 
 part. Putty for this work should be made of dry white- 
 lead, wet with equal parts of oil, japan, and varnish, using 
 a square-bladed putty-knife. Work the filling well into 
 the grain of the wood, taking care not to allow any to re- 
 main on the surface, because any loose particles not re- ■ 
 moved will crumble and fall away after the carriage has 
 been for a time in use. 
 
 Returning again to the body-part, work is resumed on 
 that by going lightly over the whole surface with the very 
 finest sand-paper used for such work. Particular pains 
 must be taken to clean out all the corners ; and, should 
 any imperfection be discovered, any holes or crevices re- 
 main unfilled, the same must be stopped with quick putty, 
 and the body will be ready for color. 
 
 It is proposed to dispense with the old and, it seems to 
 us, unnecessary custom of going over the work again with 
 what is called the surface lead-coat. 
 
 It will now be understood that the successive coats 
 of paint, with the labor of rubbing and smoothing, have 
 brought the surface to the best possible condition for re- 
 ceiving the first coat of color. This surface, which has. 
 been gained by the expenditure of so much time and labor, 
 it should be the constant effort of the workman to preserve, 
 because for a scratch or indentation there is no remedy but 
 to go half-way back and begin again. 
 
 It is proposed to finish this job in black, that being 
 
PREPARATION OF THE SURFACE. 203 
 
 the most common as well as the most important of all the 
 colors used in the carriage-shop. It does not take long to 
 learn that black (which is the carbon resulting from the 
 burning of animal bones in close vessels) is serviceable and 
 valuable just in proportion to the minuteness of the division 
 of the particles. Black, not finely ground, has little body 
 and comparatively little adhesive property. The ordinary 
 appliances and means for grinding colors in the paint-shop 
 are not equal to the task of grinding black to that degree 
 of fineness which is essential to produce the best effects in 
 finished black-work. 
 
 Nor has there been, either in this country or abroad, 
 until a recent invention, any machinery whereby hard pig- 
 ments like black and some of the lakes could be reduced 
 to that impali3able fineness on which their value and good 
 working qualities mainly depend, without adding so much 
 to the cost as to put them beyond the use of coach-painters 
 entirely. Asking pardon for this digression, and taking for 
 granted that there are at hand ground colors for coach- 
 painters' use, and that the body which was left ready for 
 color is to be finished in the best style, the next proceeding 
 is to open a one-pound can of ivory jet-black, which will be 
 done in a second with the help of a penknife-blade. Black 
 ground by means of this improved machinery will be found 
 finer than a few years since it was thought possible to reduce 
 any substance, and so soft and manageable that it incor- 
 porates at once with the thinning, and the mixture be- 
 comes as homogeneous as though it were all one substance. 
 Enough of this black to go over the work is taken from 
 
204: HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 the can and thinned with turpentine, using a trifle of raw 
 linseed-oil if there be time. Apply with a flat camel's-hair 
 brush, which leaves no brush-marks. This coat had best 
 stand one day before ■ the second coat of black is applied. 
 That done, the work is ready for the first coat of varnish. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 CARRIAGE-VARXISHIXG. 
 
 This is a most important point in the process of our 
 work. So far, all has been done with reference to durabil- 
 ity, as well as beauty ; and, as a coat of bad varnish will 
 nullify all that has been done in that way, it behooves us 
 to be not a little particular about the matter. It is not for 
 us to say who makes the best rubbing- varnish, but we have 
 no hesitation in saying what, in our opinion, a rubbing-var- 
 nish should le to fulfill all the requirements of the occasion. 
 It must flow smoothly ; it must dry hard, and yet elastic ; 
 it must rub well, clean down well, and not sweat. If you 
 can find a varnish fulfilling all these necessary conditions, 
 no matter what name it may bear, apply a coat of it to the 
 work in hand — not a heavy coat, but a light one — with a flat 
 brush, of which there are several kinds intended specially 
 for varnish. A thick, flat, badger-hair varnish-brush, of 
 chisel-form, about three or three and a half inches wide, is 
 recommended for such work as is now the subject of treat- 
 ment. Such a brush, if well cared for, will last a lifetime 
 and grow better with age. But let us return to the body, 
 
206 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 which was left with one coat of rubbing- varnish, and which 
 must now be put aside to dry for three days. During this 
 time work may be resumed on the carriage ; first, by going 
 over it again with sand-paper ; and now care must be ex- 
 ercised not to rub the sharp angles through to the wood. 
 After this, dust off and apply the second lead-coat mixed 
 as follows : Dry white-lead wet with a mixture of japan and 
 oil, in the proportion of three parts of the former to one 
 of the latter, and made stiff ; reduce with turpentine, and 
 apply as before, observing the same directions as to grind- 
 ing, reducing, etc. After three days another slight sand- 
 papering, and the last lead-coat may be applied. In this 
 last coat no oil need be used, but clear japan, and the paint 
 should be applied as before. This being the last lead-coat, 
 we, of course, depend upon it for the smooth, perfect sur- 
 face required for the reception of the color, which, with 
 striping and varnishing, is to complete the job. For cut- 
 ting down this coat use No. 1 sand-paper, and be very care- 
 ful to smooth out every corner and bead, and around every 
 bolt-head, nut, etc., and remember that the bases of the 
 spokes require attention equally with the centers, as also 
 do the hubs and rims. This operation, simple as it may 
 seem, is no ^^ child's play," and must not be intrusted to 
 a careless hand, as the same amount of rubbing applied to 
 the sharp corners as to the flat and rounded surfaces, will 
 remove all the successive coats down to the wood ; and, as 
 these parts receive most of the wear and tear of actual use, 
 it follows that these, of all, require to be best protected 
 with the paint. The smoothing being properly performed. 
 
CARRIAGE-VARNISHING, 207 
 
 and tlie loose particles removed from every part, nooTc, and 
 cornier, the work is ready for the first coat of color. That 
 portion of the ground black remaining in the can after the 
 painting of the body will be found — supposing it to have 
 been kept well covered with turpentine — as soft and pliable 
 as when first opened. Mix a proper quantity of this with 
 turpentine, using oil if desired, and apply with a flat camel's- 
 hair brush. Ten hours will be sufficient to dry this coat, 
 when the second will follow, mixed the same as the first 
 coat. If the work is to be finished with a very wide stripe, 
 put this on before the first coat of varnish. The carriage- 
 parts being ready for the first coat of varnish, apply rub- 
 bing-varnish, which should be as good in every respect as 
 that used on the body, and as carefully put on. Leaving 
 this to harden, return to the body, which was left with one 
 coat of varnish, and it will be found hard enough for the 
 first rubbing. Provided with a piece of cloth or felt and 
 finely pulverized pumice-stone, a water-tool, and plenty of 
 clean, cold water, proceed to cut down the varnish as closely 
 as possible, being careful not to go through to the color, and 
 not to allow the pumice-stone to dry on the varnish ; use 
 the water-tool freely in all the corners and around the 
 moldings. This ojoeration will be repeated through three 
 successive coats of varnish, and the body is ready for the 
 trimming-shop. The carriage-part must now be subjected 
 to the same rubbing process as has been applied to the body. 
 This work must not be intrusted to unskillful hands. An 
 expert only can do it to perfection. If performed by in- 
 experienced hande, the result will be an untimely stripping 
 
208 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 of all the sharp angles, and the prosioect of a well-finished 
 job materially impaired. Supposing this delicate operation 
 to be successfully performed, the striping is next in order. 
 On this subject there is not much to be said. If any one 
 supposes he can do this because he has been told ^' how to 
 do it," a single attempt will be all-sufficient to cure him of 
 his vain delusion. There is no royal road to this accom- 
 plishment ; its attainment is through the steep path of 
 long-continued practice. The striping done and dry, a 
 thorough washing must follow, and be sure that every par- 
 ticle of dust you leave upon the work will be found by the 
 varnish-brush, and carelessness in this respect has too often 
 called down maledictions on the head of the innocent var- 
 nish-maker. The carriage-parts, removed to the varnish- 
 room, are ready for the finishing-coat, and the writer con- 
 fesses himself at a loss how to give any hints even which 
 shall prove of value as to the successful performance of this, 
 of all, the most important in the whole proceeding. A 
 knowledge, not only of the nature of varnish generally, 
 but of the particular varnish to be used in the operation, is 
 indispensable to success. To become an adept in this art 
 requires long experience, confidence, and self-possession ; 
 and, we may add, a good conscience. A mistake in this 
 is little less than a crime ! And your shortcoming will not 
 only rise in judgment against you, but will be known and 
 read of all men. 
 
 The body received from the trimming-shop is ready for 
 rubbing, preparatory to the finishing-coat of varnish. This, 
 too, is a delicate piece of work, and requires judgment, skill. 
 
CARRIA GE- VARNISHING. 209 
 
 and practice. Eemember that a mote on a panel becomes 
 a beam in the eye of the beholder, and the smallest speck 
 looms up like a distant hill in a misty atmosphere. Hav- 
 ing completed it (for better or worse), close the door rever- 
 ently behind you, lock it, call on your good angel to pro- 
 tect your work from harm, and await the result. 
 
 If not pressed for time, it will be well to allow the body 
 to stand over one night before finishing. Kemove it to the 
 finishing-room, which was put in order the previous even- 
 ing ; wash it off thoroughly with cold, clean water, using 
 a clean sponge and a chamois-skin which has been well 
 broken in. Do not use dusters which have been used on 
 lead or color, or the moldings will be discolored. After 
 dusting off well, take a dry, flat fitch-brush, and wet the 
 ends of the hair with a small quantity of varnish. Let 
 this stand for half an hour, and then go carefully and 
 lightly over the whole surface. This will pick up every 
 particle of lint and dust, and there remains only to apply 
 the varnish. This you will do, as you say your prayers, 
 alone, and, having finished it, you may retire, quietly lock- 
 ing the door behind you, keeping it locked until the sur- 
 face is no longer liable to injury from dust. 
 
 The next thing in order is to care for the tools. The 
 brush used for picking up the lint should be first softened 
 with a little oil, and then thoroughly washed with soap and 
 water, and carefully put away for future use. Eemember 
 that good work depends in a great measure on the strictest 
 attention to cleanliness ; and a sloven can not, in the na- 
 ture of things, produce a perfect job in carriage-painting. 
 
210 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 ^^ Neatness, order, and economy^^ should be tlie motto in 
 every paint-shop. 
 
 The work which has been under way for a period of five 
 weeks may now be looked upon as finished. It may stand a 
 few days to harden, and then be hung up. The bolts, etc., 
 having been blacked off and dry, the completed carriage 
 should receive the first of repeated washings which it is 
 destined to undergo ; but this clean, cold-water washing 
 should be done by an experienced hand ; otherwise it is 
 better left undone. If properly performed, it will tend to 
 harden the varnish and will rather improve the general ap- 
 pearance. The finished vehicle may now be turned out for 
 service, and there need be little apprehension that the 
 painting will not prove a durable and creditable job. It 
 might have been completed in much less time, and have 
 presented to the eye quite as good an appearance. A great 
 many carriages are so finished, and they may, and do, no 
 doubt, stand the ordinary wear and tear of country roads 
 pretty well ; but, for use on city pavements, time is an 
 indispensable element, and it would not be safe to finish 
 work for city wear in less time than we have given to the 
 job in hand, unless some other and shorter method be 
 adopted. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXIY 
 
 THE NEW METHOD. 
 
 FOE the last ten years ways and means have been de- 
 vised, and many efforts made, to shorten the process of car- 
 riage-painting — to expedite the work and turn it out in less 
 time. The pace has not been fast enough for the '' times," 
 and quicker, shorter ways of arriving at the same result 
 have been sought for, if not discovered. Keeping in mind 
 the grand, pervading principle of compensation, we are not 
 of those who believe the time heretofore deemed necessary to 
 produce a first-class job of coach-painting can' be materially 
 shortened, at the same tim_e retaining all the good features 
 and results of the slow process : that is to say, the chances are 
 , altogether in favor of durability, when oil enough has been 
 . used in the painting to insure elasticity, and prevent the 
 material from drying to that flinty hardness which can not 
 be supposed to bear the shaking and concussions which all 
 j^ wheeled vehicles on city pavements are necessarily subjected 
 to, without cracking and, perhaps, chipping off. In short, 
 the mode of painting carriages, such as we have described 
 in the foregoing pages of this book, involves the expendi- 
 
212 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 ture of a certain number of days, which can not be materi- 
 ally curtailed without incurring the risk of what has been 
 too common of late, yiz., jobs which soon perish with the 
 using. If haste be a sme qua non with the painter, if the 
 work must be completed in half the time heretofore deemed 
 essential in the production of enduring carriage-painting, 
 it is suggested that some other mode be adopted. If we 
 will have railroad speed, we must abandon the stage-coach 
 system. 
 
 In writing about our *^ new way," we propose to give 
 the results of our own experience — to present the facts as 
 we find them, leaving every man to his own Judgment as to 
 which course he will adopt or pursue. 
 
 Some time has elapsed since we inaugurated our experi- 
 ments and practice, looking to the compounding of such a 
 mixture as would permit of shortening the time without 
 impairing the durability. 
 
 We have long been of the opinion that coach-painting 
 could be reduced to a more perfect system, resulting in the 
 end in more durable work at a less cost. All our experi- 
 ments have, therefore, tended toward bringing about such a 
 result. As remarked in the second chapter of this treatise, 
 and Chapter XXXII of the book, the "priming" being 
 all-important, we have concentrated our efforts in the di- 
 rection of producing such a substance as shall close the 
 pores of the wood against the absorption of after-coats, as 
 well as of dampness. In a word, this substance is intended 
 to cement the surface of the wood. Our experiments have 
 resulted in a " priming " for first coats upon new wood and 
 
THE NEW METHOD. 213 
 
 iron, which comes nearer to possessing the above-named 
 desirable qualities than any article ever used for coach- 
 painting. 
 
 The results of these experiments are as follows : 
 
 1. The eifectual closing of the pores of the wood, so as 
 to prevent the possibility of dampness going through the 
 priming. 
 
 2. Absolute certainty that oil used in after-coats will 
 not be absorbed by the wood ; and, as a consequence, the 
 effectual prevention of the showing of the grain after the 
 work in hand shall have been finished. 
 
 3. Dryiug to a hardness which insures a solid founda- 
 tion, and the j^aint, having become cemented into the grain 
 of the wood, can not be made to chip or flake off. 
 
 To give the reader a clearer idea of what we mean by 
 cementing the surface of the wood, we make the following 
 illustration : 
 
 It is well known that a coat of lead in linseed-oil, ap- 
 plied to a sheet of tin, will not, after it has become dry and 
 hard, lose its elasticity, simply for the reason that the tin 
 does not absorb the oil. 
 
 The same mixture, applied to wood, will become, in the 
 process of drying and hardening, lifeless and brittle, be- 
 cause of the fact that the ever-hungry wood will absorb or 
 drink up the oil and leave the pigment dry. To close the 
 surface against such absorption is what this new priming 
 is intended to do ; and if this be accomplished, all '^ after- 
 coats" must necessarily retain their elasticity, and, once 
 hard, *^ grain-showing" is effectually prevented ; which, in 
 
214 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 our opinion, has always been caused by the porous wood 
 taking in a large proportion of the oils with which prim- 
 ings are compounded, leaving the pigment dry and non- 
 elastic. In considering this matter, we have not lost sight 
 of the fact that the wood-fillers now in use, which never 
 become hard, but retain their stickiness, are in every sense 
 as bad as the substance from which the wood will absorb 
 all elasticity, lecause such a coat being soft when succeed- 
 ing coats are applied, there is a gradual giving way of the 
 whole foundation, thus affecting the finishing-coat of var- 
 nish and causing a broken surface. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that any new claimant for 
 public favor can find it all at once. Many pertinaciously 
 cling to what has been tried and not found wanting. The 
 bridge is good which carries safely. 
 
 But to the modus operandi. This priming should be 
 proceeded with as in the use of lead. It must be put on 
 evenly and well brushed into the grain of the wood, and 
 under no circumstances must the beads and corners be left 
 full of the material. 
 
 A short, well-worn brush is best for applying it, and 
 the work should stand two days before the application of 
 the first coat of rough-staff. Putty on this coat of rough- 
 stuff after two days (summer heat), and give the putty two 
 days to harden before applying the second coat, and then 
 api^ly a coat a day until the job is filled. 
 
 Apply the guide-coat and rub down and finish as in the 
 old way. The carriage - part, coming from the smith's, 
 should be trimmed up, bands put on, etc., and thoroughly 
 
THE NEW METHOD. 215 
 
 sand-papered, cutting close down to the wood. Dust off 
 carefully and apply the coat of priming to every part, iron- 
 work included. Brush the priming well into the grain, tak- 
 ing care not to use too much. A thin coat is best. Next 
 day putty rims, faces of spokes, and all flat places evenly 
 with soft putty made elastic. The usual mode of proceeding 
 is to smooth down next day for color ; but our j)ractice has 
 been to apply with a flat camel's-hair brush a coat of '* car- 
 riage-part filling," reduced with turpentine to the consist- 
 ency of color, previous to sand-papering ; this will insure a 
 perfect surface. By adopting this mode of proceeding, the 
 sand-paper will not be apt to clog, and tear up the "prim- 
 ing," and, if proper care be exhibited in rubbing down, the 
 carriage-part filling will come off, and there will remain a 
 good surface without injury to the foundation. Sand-paper 
 the next day, dust off, and apply first coat of color, made 
 more elastic with oil and varnish than for coloring over 
 lead-paint. 
 
 From this point all subsequent proceedings up to the 
 finish will be the same as the old method. 
 
 Such has been our mode of proceeding in the use of the 
 *' new priming." There may be better and shorter meth- 
 ods, but the results of our experiments have been satis- 
 factory. 
 
 Disclaiming any intention of dictating a rule of action 
 for the conduct of others, we suggest a trial of the mode 
 above described to those who have not given the matter 
 any attention. Every painter is supposed to have his own 
 peculiar ways and notions as to how painting should be 
 
216 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 done. With these we have no desire or intention of inter- 
 fering. The trade of coach-painting is not to he classed 
 with mere mechanic routine. It rises out of mechanical 
 drudgery into the domain of art. The ability to perform 
 such work in all its possible completeness and perfection is 
 an accomplishment of which any man may be justly proud. 
 It does not seem that any labor-saving machinery can be 
 brought to bear upon it in such a way as to lessen the ne- 
 cessity for cunning and skill, for education and taste. 
 
 Referring again briefly to the new mode of carriage- 
 painting, we would remark that the question of time, du- 
 rability, and cost, being all involved in it, the subject is 
 entitled to a careful investigation. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 PAINTING AND VARNISHING. 
 
 Painting and varnishing are operations which are not 
 
 generally considered in their true respective forms and 
 
 proper light. These operations are in the nature of things 
 
 akin to that of plastering, and should be so looked at if we 
 
 would find the true cause of, and remedy for, the troubles 
 
 which the work of carriage-painting necessarily involves. 
 
 We allude now to the trouble known as chipping, peeling, 
 
 or cleaving of the varnish from the underneath coat or 
 
 surface of color. Painting differs from plastering mainly 
 
 in the lesser quantity of material used, and in the different 
 
 modes of application — the one being done with a brush, 
 
 the other with a trowel ; but it is equally necessary and 
 
 important, in either operation, that there shall be a surface 
 
 to which the material may cling and fasten ; or it will drop 
 
 off from the spoke or wall — as the case may be — whenever 
 
 the dislocating force shall be sufficient to overcome the 
 
 slight cohesive power of the particles of paint, or plaster, 
 
 or varnish. 
 
 If a plasterer should put his first coat of mortar on 
 10 
 
218 HOUSE AND CAREIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 laths which wei;e closely in contact — each particular lath 
 as near to its neighbor as the lathing-man could stick it — 
 and that plaster should, on drying, drop off, what would 
 be thought of the mason who should complain that the 
 lime, the sand, and hair, were deficient in adhesive quali- 
 ties ? Or, suppose the plasterer should put a coat of hard 
 finish on a previous coat of the same— taking care to grease 
 the first coat well — and should, on the dropping off of the 
 final coat, cry out against the plaster, and on that unof- 
 fending material lay all the blame of his shortcomings ? 
 
 The object in this present writing is to set forth, as 
 lucidly as may be, the general and particular failings and 
 shortcomings of carriage-painting, as usually, and we may 
 say almost universally, practiced. The obstacles in the way 
 of first-class work are not few or strange. All who are in 
 the trade are familiar with their several and respective feat- 
 ures, and would gladly be rid of them. In naming these 
 shortcomings, we put them in their order of importance 
 and frequency, thus : cracking of paint and varnish, chip- 
 ping or flaking of varnish, and premature perishing of 
 paint and varnish when the foregoiiig-Tisimed mishaps shall 
 have been avoided. 
 
 Now, there can be no doubt of an existing disposition 
 on the part of carriage makers and painters to so examine 
 this question as to arrive at the true cause or causes of 
 these accidents, and, if possible, to prevent their recur- 
 rence. We are talking of no new thing, but of what has 
 occurred often and again, and which we fear will recur, in 
 spite of all we may write to the contrary. 
 
PAINTING AND VARNISHING. 219 
 
 If this monster had a single head, we might kill it at a 
 blow ; but, unfortunately, it is "hydra-headed," and when 
 one head is killed another freshly succeeds to its place. 
 So, to account for all these mishaps at a word, seems sim- 
 ply impossible. A primary cause of failure in the painting 
 department of carriage-manufacturing may be the partial 
 seasoning of the timber, and consequent shrinkage and 
 rearrangement of the particles. Weather-changes during 
 the process of painting and varnishing may be potent for 
 evil, and most difficult to understand and guard against. 
 Badly ventilated work-rooms, where no provision is made 
 for needed circulation of air ; adulteration of leads, col- 
 ors, oils, turpentine, varnish, and driers, are fruitful 
 sources of evil. Want of skill and good judgment on the 
 part of the workman cause many calamities ; rubbing- var- 
 nish made to dry in a day, plentifully cheapened with 
 resin ; japans made from kauri-gum or dammar, or both ; 
 mixing of color without regard to proportions in the thin- 
 ning materials ; the introduction of different driers with- 
 out kno tvledge of what the result of such mixing will be ; 
 lastly, and most prolific source of evil, is the undue haste 
 in the completion of the job in hand, with little or no 
 regard to the time actually necessary to properly accom- 
 plish a first-class piece of work. 
 
 We do not pretend to have enumerated all the causes of 
 failure, but enough, possibly, for the present theme. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 EVILS Ais'D THEIR REMEDIES. 
 
 Next in importance to finding out a cause of evil, is to 
 provide or suggest a remedy. We would like to present a 
 remedy for every ill, and make the way so plain that any 
 man, though a coach-painter, need not err therein. How 
 to do it, and how not to do it, are now the questions. 
 Listen to our theory : Assuming the wood to be properly 
 seasoned and ready for paint, the priming is most impor- 
 tant ; because it is absolutely necessary that the coating on 
 the wood shall hold its place from first to last — through 
 thick and thin — under all vicissitudes and untoward circum- 
 stances, giving or yielding not a jot, not a particle. With 
 such a foundation good work is possible ; without it, not. 
 What shall it be ? Not something that will dry in half a 
 day. As a rule, the longer paint stands without hardening 
 — supposing the same to be properly compounded — the 
 more tenaciously it will cling to the surface on which it 
 may be placed. All drying substances tend to lessen the 
 enduring qualities of linseed-oil and hasten its disintegra- 
 tion and decay. Therefore, the more oil in the priming- 
 
EVILS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 221 
 
 coat the better — supposing it shall have ample time to dry. 
 We treat now of the old process of lead-priming ; but there 
 is a proper system and a key-note ; and that key-note once 
 struck, all after-proceedings should be in consonance with 
 its vibration. If the key-note be the lightning-speed 
 process, let all subsequent proceedings be in harmony there- 
 with. Better so, than introduce an elastic stratum some- 
 where in the layers. A quick-drying color put on a foun- 
 dation which is soft all the way up, will, in the nature of 
 things, crack all over. This is an every-day experience, 
 and the disappointed workman — wanting a better theory — 
 lays the blame upon the color. Hasty and ill-considered 
 condemnation shows want of balance. Before laying the 
 blame on the color and condemning it, the painter should 
 assure himself that there exists no other possible cause for 
 the disaster. A coat of the same color, applied to an old 
 spoke or to a strip of glass, would probably exhibit an en- 
 tirely different state of things. But to return. Suppose 
 the work to have received an honest coat of priming, and 
 the workman compelled to rush that work along, without 
 giving the first coat a fair time and chance to harden prop- 
 erly. Making the best of the conditions and requirements, 
 the painter (who is, we suppose, a man of long experience 
 and sound judgment) puts on another coat of lead prop- 
 erly mixed, and, in consonance with the theory of following 
 the key-note, keeps this, as all succeeding coats, sufficiently 
 elastic to prevent cracking, yet knowing all the time that 
 none of the coats are. hard, but the mass is soft all the way 
 through. Now, in finishing over this foundation, he will 
 
222 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 — ^being, as aforesaid, a man of sound discretion — use an 
 elastic varnish, and so do the best that can be done under 
 such circumstances. The work being finished, and run 
 out, and put to the test of actual wear and tear, will show 
 — what result ? It may not crack nor chip, but nothing 
 is more certain tlian the fact that — ^like the seed sown on 
 stony ground — it will perish, alas ! all too soon. The fact 
 must not be lost sight of, but kept ever before the eye and 
 the mind, that in carriage-painting — as in almost every 
 other process in art and science — time is an element which 
 can not be disregarded with impunity. On the contrary, 
 it must receive its due weight and acknowledgment, or 
 the operation wherein it shall not be properly heeded will 
 end in disaster. If the manufacturer will not afford the 
 painter proper and reasonable time wherein he may accom- 
 plish his work, he should at least have the grace to put the 
 blame for failure where it properly belongs, and not on the 
 shoulders of the innocent workman, or, still worse, on the 
 head of the maker of the last thin coat of color. We be- 
 lieve the case of the captive children of Israel has its parallel 
 in the carriage-trade, and that the carriage-painter is often- 
 times required to perform a labor more difficult of accom- 
 plishment than was required of the Jewish bondmen by 
 their Egyptian taskmasters. To make sun-dried bricks 
 without straw may, so far as we know, be within the limit 
 of human ingenuity ; but to begin and complete the paint- 
 ing and varnishing of a carriage — so as to secure the best 
 results as to durability — in the space of two weeks, is a feat 
 beyond the skill of any man who ever yet painted carriages 
 
EVILS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 223 
 
 on this mundane sphere. What the denizens of the lunar 
 conglomeration may be equal to, in this line, we shall know 
 one of these days, perhai)s ! * 
 
 Again, the painter or workman is too often required to 
 do in a given time what can not be properly accomplished 
 within the specified limits. Take, for example, that most 
 important work of properly filling up a carriage-part, keep- 
 ing the corners clean, and smoothing up every part as it 
 should be. Let us anticipate the consequences in a case 
 where the painter is required to do this job in about 
 one quarter of the time which should properly be devoted 
 to it. In the very best aspect of the case, there must of 
 necessity be masses of thick paint left in the corners, 
 around clips, between the leaves of the springs, and at the 
 end of every spoke, which should not, with a view to a 
 durable job, have been left to repose there. No amount 
 of time given this work to dry, no care in the details of 
 finishing, ornamenting, or varnishing, will prevent these 
 masses of dried putty, as it were, from being disengaged 
 from their resting-places and dropping off when this car- 
 riage is subjected to the jolting and consequent vibration 
 caused by roiling the wheels over stone-paved streets. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 CLEAVING OF VARNISH FROM THE COLOR. 
 
 The next most common and vexatious trouble with 
 the painting, is the flaking or cleaving of varnish from 
 the color. This is no new thing, but has existed, we sup- 
 pose, since the invention of the art of varnish-making. 
 Some of the causes of this anno^dng accident may be enu- 
 merated here — we do not pretend to give them all — as fol- 
 lows : Cotton-seed oil in the color, however small the quan- 
 tity, is a prolific source of evil in causing the varnish to 
 flake ; japan, made from inferior shellac, mixed with other 
 and cheaper gums ; color mixed with japan, varnish, and 
 oil, when the due proportion of each is not properly at- 
 tended to ; varnishing over a glossy surface ; fatty sub- 
 stances, whether turpentine, oil, or paint ; certain rubbing- 
 varnishes unskillfully or carelessly made, or made from 
 unsuitable materials, will cause this trouble. These are 
 among the sources of this evil. No doubt there are others. 
 A word of caution to painters just now may be pertinent. 
 If you do use oil or varnish in ground colors, even in those 
 ground in the shop, bear in mind the fact that the latter 
 
CLEAVING OF VARNISH FROM THE COLOR. 225 
 
 must ill all cases be superior in quantity to the oil. No 
 doubt, trouble in many paint-shops has resulted because 
 the painter has never fully appreciated the fact that var- 
 nish, oil, shellac, japan, and turpentine may be so mixed as 
 to give a surface which no rubbing-varnish will adhere to. 
 Really, too much caution can not be exercised in putting 
 'these thinners together. There is nothing so good for a 
 ^'binder" as pure, unboiled linseed-oil, because it rarely, 
 if ever, gives trouble, if used only in proper quantity and 
 proportion. 
 
 A glassy surface must not be varnished, but must be 
 reduced to a "scratch -coat" by the application of pumice- 
 stone and water. 
 
 The use of two driers in the same color is deprecated, un- 
 less the user shall know, with a knowledge gained by abun- 
 dant experience, just what the effect of such mixing will be, 
 and whether or not these driers will work well together. 
 
 Colors must never be finished with a japan gloss. 
 
 All paints, oil, driers, and turpentine should be kept, as 
 far as possible, in air-tight vessels. Color-cups must be kept 
 covered, to exclude dust and air. 
 
 Every foreman in a carriage paint-shop should mix all 
 the colors, supposing he has time so to do. If not, he 
 should intrust this most important operation to some one 
 experienced hand, and not to any man or boy he may have 
 under his charge. By strict attention to these little de- 
 tails, many of the troubles of the paint-shop — as pitting of 
 varnish, cracking, flaking, or premature perishing of the 
 whole — mav be avoided. 
 
226 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 Now we come to a point in this question wherefrom we 
 propose to discuss the comparative merits of ground colors 
 with those as before produced in the carriage paint-shop. 
 First, we claim that these colors are economical to the last 
 degree ; that to use them costs nothing, for the reason that 
 the labor of producing their equivalent in the paint-shop 
 would be more than the cost of ready-prepared colors.- 
 Second, they are permanent beyond anything ever dis- 
 played ; and uniform to a degree that the painter need 
 have no fear of not being able to duplicate any job he may 
 have before turned out. 
 
 It is claimed that, since the introduction of prepared col- 
 ors, the waste in the paint-shoj^ is one third less than before ; 
 that the labor and waste in grinding colors in the paint- 
 shop exceed the prime cost of these goods ; also, that there 
 is a saving in varnish, as no extra quantity need be applied 
 to cover up a sanded surface. The claim is, that the labor 
 of painting a carriage is much lessened by the use of these 
 colors, and that the labor and tim^ saved by the use of 
 ready-made colors in painting a carriage will be more than 
 the cost of the paint consumed in the job. This is a feature 
 to which we would call the special attention of the manu- 
 facturer, because of the fact that while the outlay of money 
 for materials is something tangible and always patent, the 
 expenditure for labor is in a measure intangible — ^less ob- 
 servable, and much more difficult to measure, and weigh, 
 and count. There is, too, what we choose to designate as a 
 false economy — a '^penny-wise" policy — exhibited too fre- 
 quently by purchasers of colors, which in other departments 
 
CLEAVING OF VARNISH FROM THE COLOR. 227 
 
 would be looked upon as extreme folly and stupidity. We 
 allude to the common practice of procuring paints similar 
 in name to those which the purchaser has been using, sim- 
 ply because these paints are offered at a nominally lower 
 price. In too many cases the consumer does not take the 
 trouble to learn, by experimental test, whether the nomi- 
 nally cheaper colors are worth as much as half, or only a 
 quarter as much, as those he has been using ; but rushes to 
 the conclusion that, being cheaper in naine, they must of 
 course be cheaper in fad. There is, too, in this, a peculiar 
 absurdity, from the fact that the cost of the color actually 
 consumed on the finish-coat of any light carriage is very 
 trifling, and that which works best and covers the under- 
 coat most comj)letely, everything else being equal, is the 
 cheapest at whatever reasonable price, because of the con- 
 sequent saving of material and labor. Any sane person 
 in the trade will admit that a painter would not necessarily 
 have made a good bargain simply because he had bought a 
 hundred pounds of so-called coach-black at ten cents a 
 pound. The chaffering for a few cents a pound difference 
 between an article that has been tried and never found 
 wanting, and one which has never been tested, is, we think, 
 not the right road to true economy. For example, sup- 
 pose you have been using a certain black, and have found it 
 to be uniformly fine, of good body — always working and 
 covering well, and drying invariably so as to take varnisli 
 in the number of hours allotted to it. In the strife and 
 competition for trade, some would-be rival or competitor 
 offers you a paint in substitution of this well-proved article 
 
228 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 — ^bearing the same name, at a price ten cents a pound less 
 than you paid for the former color. Of course, in using 
 this you are trying an experiment to your own cost if it 
 fail, and with a gain so small, in case of success, that there 
 is nothing in the best aspect of the case to pay for the risk. 
 One pound of a certain black will, say, coat two light car- 
 riage-parts. Admitting that the ten cents a pound is an 
 important item, there yet remains the fact that the greatest 
 possible accomplishment in the way of saving would be 
 five cents on a four-hundred-dollar job ; while, at the same 
 time, the experiment may involve a loss of twenty or thirty 
 dollars, and possibly two or three days' delay. Again, 
 there is another most important feature involved, viz., the 
 question of permanence, of durability. This can be tested 
 only by time ; and years must necessarily elapse before this 
 question can be settled. AYe would not convey the idea 
 that the practice of such false economy is common in the 
 trade ; indeed, such practice is the exception and not the 
 rule ; but there are, and always will be, in every calling, 
 short-sighted individuals, who take the name for the thing — 
 the word for the fact. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 HOW TO GET THE BEST KESULTS. 
 
 Havikg detailed somewhat this question of sui:)erioritv, 
 we take it for granted that all will admit the correctness of 
 our premises and our conclusions ; as also the fact that 
 much has been accomplished in the way of lifting the 
 business of carriage-painting out of the slough of despond 
 — so to speak — in which it once was, and in overcoming 
 the most formidable of the difficulties heretofore existing 
 in the carriage paint-shop. All this has not been done 
 without a vast expenditure of time, talent, energy, experi- 
 ence, and money. Machinery best adapted to bring about 
 the desired result has been constructed without regard to 
 cost, and vexation and disappointment were in many in- 
 stances the only fruits of costly and laborious experiments. 
 The demand for ground colors is certainly and steadily ex- 
 tending, and in a few years will include all places where, 
 in the civilized world, carriages are made and painted. 
 Admitting all these claims, the next question in importance 
 to the trade is how, in what way, by what mode of proceed- 
 ing, can the best results be realized in the use of ready- 
 made colors. 
 
230 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 Listen while we review the subject in the light of ten 
 years' every-day experience, and set forth what we have 
 found to be the best way to do it. Premising with the 
 somewhat trite proverb that "economy is wealth," we 
 would impress most distinctly the importance of not taking 
 from the opened can of paint more material than is just 
 amply sufficient to complete the job in hand. This point 
 having received due attention, scrape cleanly and neatly 
 the color from the sides of the can, level the top of the re- 
 maining mass evenly, and pour thereon sufficient turpen- 
 tine to quite submerge the whole ; then cover all with the 
 top of the can, and put away carefully for future use. 
 We refer now, of course, to the ordinary can. With the 
 patent-press can, the contents will, as it were, take care of 
 themselves. We take it for granted that the mixing-cup 
 was scrupulously clean to begin with. In thinning, first 
 add a small quantity of turpentine, and stir till the whole 
 mass becomes smooth and homogeneous. Do not add the 
 turpentine all at once. First stir the color before adding 
 any ; then pour it in, little by little, stirring all the time, 
 until the contents of the cup shall present a smooth, even 
 mass, giving it the appearance of a perfect solution. The 
 color now under consideration is suj^posed to be black. In 
 its present state it is a quick-drying substance, and if the 
 exigencies of the case required, could be used so as to dry 
 ready for varnish in less than an hour of time. This same 
 mixture, if put over a ground not thoroughly hard and 
 dry, would crack all to pieces. To escape this dilemma, 
 supposing the workman is required to finish quickly over a 
 
HOW TO GET THE BEST RESULTS. 231 
 
 soft underneath, we would suggest adding to the color a 
 quantity of elastic rubbing- varnish, so that the coat will 
 dry — not hard, but, in a measure, yielding. The present 
 case, however, supposes ample time and no extraordinary 
 haste, and that the mode of operation is to apply one coat 
 of color only on a single day — which is, in our judgment, 
 the right course ; in such case, leave out a portion of the 
 turpentine, and add in lieu thereof a small quantity of pure 
 raw linseed-oil. As before said, this black, thinned wholly 
 with turpentine, will dry ready for varnish in an hour's 
 time, or less ; and this coat may be varnished over in that 
 short time with safety, supposing the ground to be per- 
 fectly hard, but not otherwise. Yet we claim that, for 
 many reasons, it will always be better to leave the job un- 
 varnished overnight. Black, if varnished too quickly, will 
 not give the same shade and density of color as when 
 allowed ample time to dry. Any doubts existing as to the 
 correctness of this theory may be removed by the following- 
 described proceedings : Let the painter take an old sjioke, 
 paint it black, and leave it to dry overnight. Next morn- 
 ing, let him draw a broad line through the center of it, 
 using the same color as in the first coat, and in an hour 
 after putting on the stripe let him varnish over all. This 
 coat of varnish will reveal the fact that the stripe is not 
 so black as the body of the spoke by ten shades. This 
 is one good reason why a black coating of color should be 
 left overnight before varnishing. Another reason for such 
 a course is, that long experience has taught us that no 
 painter, however skiflful, can perform a perfectly satisfac- 
 
232 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 tory job in coach-painting who does not give each and 
 every coat of paint and varnish time to become dry and 
 hard all the way through. In our judgment, ninety per 
 cent, of all the carriage-painting done in the United States 
 is done too quickly ; yet we admit that some of the best 
 jobs — to look at — have been done in this manner. Such 
 work, however, when put to the test of actual use, does 
 not endure as does work where time has been duly given to 
 all the processes. 
 
 Referring again to the discoloration of black because 
 of being varnished over too quickly, and of the occasional 
 complaints because of this, we have to request that each 
 and every painter among our readers shall investigate this 
 question for himself and his own convincing. 
 
 We do not propose to consider each and every of fifty 
 or more coach-painters' colors in detail. "What has been 
 said respecting black will apply in a general way to all the 
 body-colors. It is, no doubt, true that most of the fore- 
 men painters in the carriage-shops throughout the country 
 have, by use and experience, familiarized themselves with 
 ground colors to such an extent that they require no advice 
 or direction in the matter. Yet there are doubtless many 
 in the trade who would gladly receive instruction as to the 
 way of working lakes and carmines, in order to produce 
 the best results with the least expenditure of labor and 
 material. 
 
 In all operations, a great deal depends on getting a fair 
 start. Therefore, we would have all learners lay to heart 
 this important truth : in all lake or carmine jobs, let the 
 
HOW TO GET THE BEST RESULTS. 233 
 
 ground he as close an imitation i7i tone of color to the glaz- 
 ing as possible. This we believe to be the proper starting- 
 point, although we are conscious of the fact that we are 
 not in this particular in full agreement with every member 
 of the trade. To those, however, who would take excep- 
 tion to this our position, we would put a query : Would 
 you attempt to produce a good Job in carmine by glazing 
 over a black ground ? We anticipate to this question an 
 answer unmistakably negative. If, then, to produce a 
 good job in carmine — which is not only the brightest in 
 color, but the most transparent of all the lakes — requires a 
 rich ground in correspondence, with itself, can there be 
 any reason why the same rule does not hold good with all 
 glazing colors ? Supposing, then, the adoption of this 
 principle, and the work prepared in accordance thereto, 
 the next important question is the preparation of the color. 
 It is taken for granted that the cup is clean, and that only 
 enough color has been taken from the can to finish the 
 work. To this must be added a very small quantity of pure 
 spirits of turpentine, which must be well stirred in and 
 thoroughly incorporated with the color. TMs must be re- 
 peated until the color in the cup is well broken up, smooth 
 in the mass, and entirely homogeneous. Then add as much 
 raw linseed-oil as the color will bear, and yet dry, ready for 
 varnish, by standing overnight. After the oil, add turpen- 
 tine to thin to proper working consistency. It must work 
 freely and flow perfectly. Nothing can be gained, but 
 much may be lost, by working the color too thick. If the 
 foregoing directions be followed, and the color be applied 
 
234 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 Avitli a flat camel's-hair brush hy a good luorhnan, there need 
 be no fear as to the result. One coat of color and one of 
 color in yarnish upon a carriage-part will be enough ; but 
 this will not be sufficient for panels. Another mode of 
 operation in transparent painting is to ^wi the color in var- 
 nish and flow on over the ground. This is, perhaps, the 
 best mode in painting todies, as a little color can be put in 
 each succeeding coat of varnish until the last, which, of 
 course, must be clear. This will give the best possible tint 
 or color, and will prove a lasting job. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 ADULTERATION AKD WASTE. 
 
 The money value of paint wasted in this country is 
 enormous — greater, perhaps, than in all the world besides. 
 Our reckless prodigality, in a certain way, is only equaled 
 by our absurd attempts at economy. For example : a 
 painter will sometimes speiid the time and exertion neces- 
 sary to walk a mile, all for the purpose of purchasing a 
 can of paint a shilling less than he can buy it for under 
 his very nose, and then neglect the proper precaution and 
 preventive to waste, by omitting to cover up and take care 
 of whatever paint may be remaining after the job is fin- 
 ished. Now, a quarter part of the time and labor neces- 
 sarily expended in saving the shilling, devoted to care and 
 cleanliness, would have resulted in the saving of twice that 
 amount. Another absurdity : a slavish devotion to names. 
 When will men learn that two things are not necessarily 
 the same, because they may be called by similar names ? 
 Take, for example, the greens used in carriage-painting. 
 These are either chrome or copper greens, and are briefly 
 'described in the foregoing pages. The docly greens are 
 
236 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 chrome colors and the diaphanous greens are copper colors, 
 as a rule. Chrome-green, when pure, is of a dense body 
 (almost, in this respect, rivaling lampblack), and covers 
 and conceals all it touches, whether white or black. A 
 fair selling price of this pure green, dry, would be about 
 eighty cents per pound to consumers, and at this price it 
 would be the cheapest green obtainable. Yet the proba- 
 bilities are that a pound of this color, under its own proper 
 name, can not be found in any carriage-shop in the United 
 States. What, then, do we buy ? Listen ! The so-called 
 *^ chrome-green" of commerce is simply silica, sulphate of 
 baryta, or carbonate of lime, colored with chrome-green, 
 in proportions varying from (the best), say, one pound of 
 color to five pounds of the base, to one pound of color and 
 two hundred pounds of the base ; and all is sold as chrome- 
 green ! Now, this earthy base, which is transparent when 
 mixed in oils, adds to the value of paint in the same man- 
 ner and degree as watering milk, sanding sugar, or mixing 
 shoddy with wool in the production of cloth, adds to the 
 value of these articles respectively. What the painter re- 
 quires is color, not sand ! And, considering that he has to 
 pay vastly more for the color he buys when mixed ivith the 
 sand, it would seem not to require a very elaborate argu- 
 ment to convince the dullest comprehension that for the 
 consumer pure colors are the cheapest. Some idea of the 
 coloring property or power of real chrome-green may be 
 had by reflecting on the fact that a single pound of it will 
 impart its tone of color to a hundred pounds of a glassy, 
 translucent substance, causing it "in the mass" to resem- 
 
ADULTERATION AND WASTE. 237 
 
 ble the pure green itself. I say "in the mass," for when 
 this pretended green paint is spread upon a piece of glass, 
 and viewed through a microscope or magnifying-glass, it 
 presents the appearance of vitreous minute grains, with a 
 speck of color here and there, like small sea-birds scattered 
 along a sandy beach. That a painter had better buy the 
 color unmixed with the sand, would seem a self-evident 
 proposition. 
 
 Dropping casually into a carriage paint-shop, not long 
 ago, we espied a can, with a label on it, signifying that it 
 (the can) did contain, or had contained, ivory-black in 
 japan. It was uncovered, and exposed to the dust, dirt, 
 and drying influences of a warm atmosphere. We looked 
 into it, and found it contained about two thirds of its origi- 
 nal contents ; but of its original value not a fifteenth part 
 was there. One after another of the " hands," in want 
 of a little black, had dipped into it with the palette-knife, 
 and the deep pits or holes were left, unfilled, to dry around 
 the sides, and thus waste the material in the speediest 
 possible manner. We asked the foreman how he was 
 suited with these goods. "Oh!" said he, "the black is 
 first rate, hut it dries up so ! " We thought, if it did not 
 dry under such treatment as that, it would well deserve 
 any amount of maledictions. 
 
 The utmost care and attention, and the most scru- 
 I pulous cleanliness, are indispensable to economy and good 
 results in the carriage paint-shop. 
 
CHAPTER XL. 
 
 THE USE OF EEADY-GKOUJSTD COLORS. 
 
 The extreme adulteration of paints, wliich has of late 
 years become so great an evil as to work out its own 
 cure, has not wholly grown out of a disposition on the part 
 of the manufacturer to secure immoderate profits. The 
 consumer has been most to blame, because of the ready 
 credence he has given to the promises of needy and un- 
 scrupulous sellers, who have promised to give him more 
 for his money than it is worth. It would seem almost 
 beyond belief that a coach-painter would risk spoiling a job 
 in the hope of saving a half-dollar on a gallon of varnish ! 
 Would such a case be a novelty ? The adulteration of 
 paints is so difficult of detection as to make the practice 
 of it easy and comparatively safe. Take, for example, the 
 article of carmine. In a color so expensive as this, a 
 small percentage of adulteration makes a material reduc- 
 tion in the cost. A single ounce in a pound of this expen- 
 sive color would afford a larger profit to the seller than is 
 usually realized by those who sell it pure at first hands. 
 Nor could this be detected, in using, by the most skillful 
 
THE USE OF HEADY- GROUND COLORS. 239 
 
 and practiced painter. The clieat would be revealed only 
 by the untimely fading of the color, and that would be too 
 late to remedy the evil. In carriage-painting, immediate 
 effects are less important than remote consequences. 
 
 The colors referred to are prepared expressly for use in 
 carriage- work, and with reference only to the requirements 
 of the trade. They are finer than it is possible to make 
 them in the paint-shop, for the reason that a specialty is 
 made of this business with means and appliances which do 
 not exist in the paint-shop. To illustrate the convenience 
 of these colors, suppose a case : Two or three new spokes in 
 an old wheel are to be painted. The time necessary to pre- 
 pare the paint from dry materials would be more than suffi- 
 cient to match, paint, stripe, and varnish, with colors ready 
 at hand. Or, suppose an old carriage to be revarnished. 
 The color is mixed to match on the stone, and afterward run 
 through the mill. In the grinding process the color has 
 changed, and is no longer a match. This may not be dis- 
 covered until the application of varnish ; perhaps not even 
 until the job is completed and placed in a stronger light. 
 The result is general dissatisfaction ; but, suppose it to have 
 been discovered in the process of grinding, the change in- 
 volves an addition of various colors : one after another is 
 added, and with loss of time, to say nothing of loss of pa- 
 tience ; the result is, a quantity of paint sufficient to paint 
 two carriage-parts, which, of course, is almost worthless for 
 other work, and finds its way into the waste- or slush-tub, 
 as it is not very elegantly termed, in the paint-shop. Had 
 ground colors been on hand, the match could have been 
 
240 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 made in one quarter the time and with one quarter the 
 stock, and the saving would have been both in time and 
 material, and the danger avoided of mismatching the color 
 in the process of grinding. 
 
 It may be said that a thoroughgoing, practical painter 
 does not make such mistakes ; but such work is not always 
 done by that style of workmen. It is often intrusted to 
 boys and other persons of immature judgment ; and, in 
 spite of all that may be said, such mistakes do happen in 
 the best-regulated shops. Suppose another case : A new 
 body is ready for color — an ordered job — j^i'O^^ised on a cer- 
 tain day. Time is limited, and a mistake now is little less 
 than a crime. The paint-shop is short of hands. The fore- 
 man, driven with other work, finds just time to mix the 
 black on the stone, put it into the mill, turn the screw, and 
 give pressure enough to insure moderately fine color. The 
 day is a hot one. The crank turns slowly under the hands 
 of the perspiring juvenile, who, like Mantilini, feels his life 
 to be ^^ one demnition grind." Tired and disgusted — ^not 
 appreciating the importance of fine colors — he gives the 
 thumb-screw a half turn, and, presto ! the crank goes to a 
 lively tune, the color comes out in no stinted quantity, and 
 soon the task is at an end. Leaving the mill, which he 
 neglects to clean, and the pot of half-ground color, and 
 feeling himself entitled to a half-hour's recreation in re- 
 ward for his industry and perseverance, he disappears, and 
 the foreman comes from the varnish-room with just enough 
 of daylight left to color the body. The application of a 
 single brushful of the paint informs him that in fineness it 
 
THE USE OE HE ABY-G ROUND COLORS. 241 
 
 is equal to No. 2 saud-paper ; but there is no time to grind 
 a fresh lot, and tlie cup of thin color could not be made fine 
 in a week. So the boy, being foujid, is presented with a 
 coat of — well, not blessings ! The body, unpainted, stands 
 till next day ; or, being smalied, the surface requires an 
 extra coat of rubbing- varnish to present a respectable ap- 
 pearance. Do not such accidents frequently occur in the 
 paint-shop ? Ground colors offer a remedy, sure, safe, and 
 economical, for all these complaints. Try them, and be 
 convinced. 
 
 These colors should come into general use, not only 
 because they are finer than any other colors, but because 
 they v/ork more freely, flat more perfectly, and dry more 
 readily than any others. After conversing with more than 
 five Mindred painters as to the cost of grinding colors in 
 the shop — the extremes in the estimates given being thirty 
 cents as the minimum and one dollar as the maximum 
 average cost for labor alone, and a waste of from ten to 
 fifteen per cent. — we think Ave may aver that prepared 
 colors, on tlie score of economy alone, to say nothing of 
 all the other advantages, are worthy the attention of all 
 who buy and use paint. 
 
 11 
 
CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE BEST JOB IN BLACK. 
 
 A PUKE black is, in theory, the absence of all the pri- 
 mary colors and of the extreme color, white. The presence 
 of any one of these detracts from the entireness of black. 
 So, when black is viewed through any colored medium, it 
 ceases to be pure black, and assumes that tone of color 
 which would result from mixing the color of the medium 
 with the black. For example : black, when viewed through 
 a medium of yellowish varnish, reflects, however slightly, a 
 greenish hue ; and, the greater the number of coats of clear 
 varnish, the greater will be the detraction from the purity 
 of the black. So with white : a single thin coat of the 
 palest varnish over a coat of pure white detracts slightly 
 from its purity ; but successive coats of the most color- 
 less varnish destroy the whiteness, and the surface reflects 
 more or less of impure yellowish light. The same may be 
 said of all the primary and secondary colors. Some of the 
 mixed and broken colors would be improved, on the con- 
 trary, by a coating of yellowish translucent medium, as yel- 
 low-lake over drab, or over a mixed green. In avoidance 
 
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST JOB IN BLACK. 243 
 
 of these accidents, and in order to secure the best results 
 possible in carriage-painting, we suggest the application of 
 only one coat of clear varnish, and that, of course, the last 
 one. We believe that the best work turned out of any city 
 establishment is finished without a single coat of clear 
 color (we speak now more particularly of glazing jobs), and 
 with but one coat of clear varnish. In carmine and the 
 lakes, the first coat on the ground is put on in varnish, and 
 every coat up to the last is colored. In this way a depth 
 of color is obtained which can be had by no other process. 
 It should be borne in mind that the opaque or body colors 
 do not compare in beauty and brilliancy with the trans- 
 parent colors ; and, as a rule, the colors are beautiful in 
 proportion as they are transparent : for examples, ultra- 
 marine-blue, carmine, emerald-green, scarlet and crimson 
 lakes, etc. All are familiar with the beautiful colors re- 
 flected from the vases placed in the windows of apothecary- 
 shops. This results from the depth of colored fluid. A 
 thin, flat glass vessel would not reflect such hues, though 
 filled with the same substance. The principle is the same 
 in carriage-painting : to show the best possible colors, the 
 light must be reflected, not from a flat, opaque surface, but 
 from a surface which has beneath it a depth of continuous 
 colored particles reaching way down through the succes- 
 sive coats of varnish to the groundwork. To be sure, this < 
 mode of proceeding is expensive, both in labor and mate- 
 rial ; but who ever gained a good thing without working for 
 it ? Black should be. put on in one coat of clear, flat color ; 
 after that, every coat of varnish should contain more or 
 
244 HOUSE AND CARRIAGE PAINTING, AND GRAINING. 
 
 less of the same black as used for the first coat, up to the 
 finishing-coat, which should be clear varnish. In this mode 
 the black holds its color, and does not take on the greenish 
 tinge which otherwise it is impossible to avoid. All work, 
 of course, is good or bad only by comparison. Any car- 
 riage is black enough in a dark night, and almost any toler- 
 ably good black looks well enough when viewed ^jcr se. It 
 is only when placed in comparison with the best, that its 
 inferiority is apparent ; and men who strive to excel in 
 their productions are not content to occupy inferior posi- 
 tions in any particular. *' Excelsior ! " is a good motto 
 for coach-painters. 
 
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