class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">H, I, J, M, O, P, Q, R, S, V, W.

PREFACE.

This is the 4th Volume of the Red series manuals. It covers a field which usually is or rather was made a separate branch of the painting business. It has become of less importance however since the white pine finishing of interiors has been replaced by that of hardwood. It is used to a great extent nevertheless and while there is less demand for the skill displayed by masters of the art of graining as existed in the past, a good general workman is incomplete that cannot do a fair to good job of graining today and all such should be able to do that much. A journeyman who is able to turn his hand at graining or marbling will usually be kept on the pay roll of the shop much longer than the man who can do nothing but ordinary brushwork. Marbling has been associated with graining because there is some few things that are in common between the two; the grainer is better equipped for the doing of marbling properly than painters who are not grainers—to say the least.

Graining

LESSON I.

PRELIMINARIES.

1. It has been the custom of the author in the past to give a synopsis as it were of the manner in which the subject matter is to be treated at the beginning of each of the volumes of the red series and as he sees no reason in departing from the rule and on the contrary, very many good ones for a continuation of the custom, below will be found a few outlines of how the subject matter will be handled.

First. The tools and material required for the prosecution of the work of graining and marbling. Neither the tools nor the materials needed are very numerous, complicated nor costly.

Second. The preparing of various surfaces for graining in oil or water colors.

Third. The preparing of material for the graining of various woods in oil and water colors and the painting of the ground.

Fourth. The graining of the various woods in oil and water colors, which includes the over-graining, stippling or glazing required to bring the work to completion ready for varnishing.

Fifth. The varnishing and other methods required for the protection of the graining.

Sixth. The above outlines will also suffice for the marbling section of the manual.

Unlike general directions which can be given as to the painting of surfaces of wood, iron or brick, each of the various woods will have to be treated separately. These are a few operations which are common to all kinds of grainings—these will be given in full before proceeding to their special applications, suited to the various woods, as then the student will be more familiar with what is meant by this preliminary study of the methods used in doing “wiping” for instance or “veining” in heart growths with a brush, etc.

Seventh. The varnishing is an important part of graining, which can be done in various ways to suit the kind of graining done. In this regard general directions will be given, but the kind of varnish to be used must be such as will best agree with the character of the material used in doing the graining so as to get good results from it.

LESSON II.

THE MATERIAL USED IN GRAINING.

2. The material used in graining is not numerous. The principal, as may well be supposed, is white lead to be used as a base upon which to prepare the ground tints upon which to grain.

3. The necessary colors to produce the tints required, which are: Venetian red; French ochre; raw and burnt umber; raw and burnt siennas and lamp black—all ground in oil.

4. For the preparing of graining colors all the above colors ground in oil are used with the exception of ochre, Venetian red and lamp black, and the following additional ones which are more transparent: Ivory black and Vandyke brown. Of course this applies to the preparation of colors for “graining in oil.” To the above should be added ground whiting in oil, but this can be prepared from dry whiting in the shop as it is not usually sold in that shape.

5. For graining in water colors, all the above named colors are used, but ground in water or distemper and all grainers should have a supply of raw and burnt umber and siennas, Vandyke brown and Ivory black ground in that medium. Some few grainers prefer to buy the dry ground colors and to use them from the dry state.

6. Beeswax is also used in preparing graining colors used in oil graining. Rotten stone is useful in preparing the oil graining colors, and while not indispensable, it will be well to use it as it helps to make the “megilp”—the technical name which is given by the old English grainers to such oil graining combinations—work better and comb smoothly.

7. For thinners: Raw linseed oil, boiled linseed oil, turpentine, drying japan. Stale beer or vinegar for thinning distemper colors. Glycerine to be used with the above in order to retard the drying of the color too quickly at times.

8. All the colors named above are also used in marbling, with a few additional ones such as Indian reds, Prussian blue, chrome yellows. In fact any others which may come near to imitating some particular tone in any marble specimen one may wish to imitate.

9. In giving out the above lists, no description is given of the several colors mentioned for the reason that the student will find all these colors sufficiently well described in Vol. III of the red series, which he should procure; “Colors, what they are and what to expect from them,” as it is entitled, will give him the necessary information more fully than would be possible in this manual.

QUESTIONS ON LESSON II.

2. What is said about the material used in graining and of the base?

3. What colors ground in oil are required for preparing of tints for grounds?

4. What other colors ground in oil are required for preparing “graining colors in oil?”

5. What are the colors that are needed in graining in water colors?

6. What other material is useful in grainings?

7. What are the thinners used in graining in oil or distemper?

8. What additional material is useful for marbling?

9. What is said about obtaining fuller