The decorative painters' and glaziers' guide : containing the most approved methods of imitating oak, mahogany, maple, rose, cedar, coral, and every other kind of fancy wood ..., marbles ..., designs for decorating apartments ..., the art of staining and painting on glass ...

Front matter

THE

DECORATIVE PAINTERS AND GLAZIERS' GUIDE;

CONTAINING

Preface

SO great is the supply of information at the present period, that it is usual to preface almost every Work on the various branches of art or science, with apologies for publishing another book, when so many on the same subjects have previously issued from the press. This is a task which the Author of this Work is spared, as the greater part of the information contained in the following pages, so far from being common, has been carefully kept even from those who eagerly desire to attain it.

> The Art of Staining and Painting on Glass, has hitherto been in the hands of a few who have profited too much by the exclusive practice of it* willingly to impart any of the secrets of the art to others ; but in the present day, when the liberal spirit of the age calls for embellishments of every description, and when there are thousands of artizans, who only require to have the mysteries of this elegant art thrown open to them, to practise it with honour to the profession and advantage to themselves, it was deemed a sufficient reason for publishing a complete compendium of information on the Art of Staining Glass, in a plain, practical, and familiar style, so that the workman, whose mind and time have been too much occupied by his business to attain a knowledge of even the terms used in chemistry and experimental philosophy, may yet understand the true and least expensive method of performing many of the highest chemical experiments in dissolving and precipitating metals for the purpose of producing colours for

IV

PREFACE.

staining glass. It is for this reason that all scientific or technical terms that might by possibility be misunderstood by the reader, have been sedulously avoided; and though the scholar may complain of the absence of fine writing, the practitioner will find, what to him is of far more importance, plain directions, on every thing connected with painting, staining, or burning glass, as the recipes given in the publication are not transcripts from old authors, but founded on a series of actual experiments fully tried and approved expressly for this work.

The directions given for the Imitation of Wood or Marble in painting, will be found particularly useful, and are the most modern methods of producing beautiful imitations of Oak, Mahogany, Maple, Satin, Walnut, Cedar, Rose Wood, &c as practised by the first masters of the art.

The Plates alone of this Work will be a great acquisition to every ornamental painter, as they must at all times be highly useful as patterns and examples ; being executed with the greatest fidelity and elegance by an artist of established reputation, and no expense having been spared in colouring them where it was required. The whole is presented to the Trade with a thorough confidence that it furnishes a useful body of information which has hitherto been a desideratum to the Decorative Painter and Glazier.

Chapter I

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON THE NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF THE VARIOUS PIGMENTS THAT PRODUCE COLOURS, THE VEHICLES FOR USING THEM, THE PREPARATION OF GROUNDS, &c.

The house painter who wishes to attain a correct knowledge of his business, should become acquainted with the nature and properties of the materials he is constantly using, particularly if he aims at becoming an ornamental painter; as the subjects he will then be employed on will require greater care in the selection and preparation of the various substances from which colours are produced. The facility with which ready prepared colours can be procured at the respectable colour shops in London and other large towns, has led to the great neglect of information on the first principle of painting; and it is not one house painter in twenty who is acquainted with the pigments and vehicles necessary to his business. It is true colours can be prepared much better in large than in small quantities, and therefore when an opportunity offers, it will in most eases be a saving of both time and money to purchase the materials of the manufacturer of colours, particularly now colour mills are so much improved. Yet it is necessary that the painter should know the properties and qualities of the various substances he requires, in order that he may judge of their fitness for every kind of painting, and likewise that he should know how to prepare them himself, should circumstances require it.

The colours used in oil painting, or painting in distemper, are called pigments, by which is meant all such solid bodies as require to be mixed with some fluid before they can be spread on, or made to adhere to any surface that is to be painted. The colours may be classed under the following heads :— White, Black, Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Purple, and Brown; from these every tint that can be required in any kind of painting, may be obtained by mixing one colour with another.

WHITE.

White Lead is the body colour for most whites used in oil painting, and is easily prepared by exposing narrow slips of common lead to the fumes of vinegar. Those who may wish to prepare it should get an earthen vessel with a cover to it, and an earthen colander with bars instead of holes, made to fit the vessel; the colander should go about halfway down; then pour vinegar into the vessel till it nearly reaches the bars of the colander. On the colander place narrow slips of thin common lead rolled up into scrolls; these may be placed all over the bars of the colander, taking care that they do not touch each other. The pot is then placed over a gentle heat, and the fumes of the vinegar corroding the lead reduces it to a white calx ready for use.

Flake White is lead corroded much in the same manner, with other acids : it is expensive ; but in some work it is required, as it is a finer colour than the common white lead, and retains the colour for a greater length of time. These whites will be found sufficient for any work required in oil painting, as it applies to the decoration of houses.

Chap, t COLOURS. »

The portrait and historical painter uses a variety of others, according to his subjects, produced from bones, pearl, oyster shells, egg shells, &c.

Spanish White, Bougival White, Gypsum, Rouen White, and White of.Troyes, are all preparations from the clay or chalk of various countries, as their names import, and are used in painting in distemper; the Spanish white is the common whiting which is made from chalk neutralized by the addition of water in which alum has been dissolved, and afterwards washed in several waters : none of the above pigments incorporate well with oil, nor do they possess lustre or durability when used with oil or varnish; but if used with size, and suffered to dry, may be varnished to look quite as bright as oil colour.

BLACK.

Lamp Black is the soot of oil collected as it is burning ; it is a brownish black if not properly calcined after it is collected. This black can be made from the soot of resinous or fat parts of fir trees : it will mix well with either oil or*water, and will answer for most purposes where black is required, its only fault being its fatness, which makes it a long time drying ; but this can be corrected in using it with dryers.

Ivory Black is the coal of burnt ivory or bone; it is a very rich colour if obtained pure ; but is seldom found in that state, as it is very expensive, and lamp black will answer the purpose quite as well for any work required in house painting. Artists who are particular in their colours prepare black from a variety of substances, such as charcoal, vine leaves, peach stones, vine twigs, &c.

RED.

Vermilion is a bright scarlet pigment formed of quicksilver and sulphur; it can only be produced in perfection in large quantities, which require an expensive apparatus : it is one of the most useful colours in every kind of painting, in oil or water, and the colour may

10 THE PAINTERS' AND GLAZIERS' GUIDE. Part L

be depended on for durability; but as it is an expensive preparation, it is commonly adulterated with red lead, which causes it to lose its brightness and turn black; care must be taken, therefore, in all works where the colour is required to remain bright, that the vermilion is obtained pure.

Red Lead is lead calcined to an oxide, which being ground to powder is exposed to a great degree of heat in a furnace till it becomes a pale red : the bright orange of this colour might reader it serviceable in oil painting if it was not so liable to turn black ; but as it never can be depended on, it is only mentioned here to be avoided in painting where durability of colour is required. It stands better in water than in oil, and is sometimes used in painting in distemper, and in scene painting.

Venetian Red is a native red ochre rather inclining to the scarlet than the crimson hue ; it is an excellent standing colour, and requires no other preparation than to be well ground with the oil with which it is used.

Spanish Brown is a native earth found in the state in which it is used, and requires no other preparation than being freed from stones and filth!

Lake ; this is the most beautiful of the dark reds, and is a pure transparent colour that requires great care in making. This colour is obtained by decomposing alum and tinging it with some vegetable dye, such as is obtained from cochineal or Brasil wood ; and as both these tinges are used in dying cloth scarlet, the clippings of scarlet cloth are sometimes used in forming lake, as this colour is very difficult to manufacture ; it is always better and cheaper for the painter to purchase what quantity he requires, taking care to have the best that can be procured. Lake is one of the finest glazing colours, and will be found of great use in the imitation of fancy woods and marbles.

Rose Pink is whiting tinged with the same substances that produce lake; it is a fine colour, and is used with good effect in scenic decora-

Chap. I. COLOURS

tions, where the colour is not required to stand for any length of time ; but in house painting, either in water or oil, it is sure to fly; in some cases, used as a glazing colour and afterwards varnished, it will stand pretty well.

Red Ochre is the Oxford yellow ochre made red by calcination ; it is useful in oil or water colours, and is sure to stand.

BLUE.

A

Ultramarine is the finest blue that can be produced ; it is a preparation of calcined lapis lazuli; from its high price it can seldom be used in any quantity, but in very fine work is sometimes essential : it forms a very fine opaque colour, and if used thin is a beautiful glazing colour.

Prussian Blue ; this blue is^the fixed sulphur of animal or vegetable coal combined with the earth of alum ; it is a good blue, and can be used either in water or oil : it is a transparent colour, and requires to be mixed with white lead where a body is wanted ; when used in distemper colouring, it is mixed with whiting, and is usually kept ready ground by the colourmen, under the name of damp blue.

Indigo is produced from a vegetable of the same name which grows in great abundance in the East Indies and some parts of America. This colour is not so bright as Prussian blue, and none but the best and purest is fit for oil painting.

Verditer is a transparent blue if ground in oil, and can only be rendered opaque by being mixed with white lead ; it is a useful colour in painting in distemper.

YELLOW.

Yellow Ochre is a mineral earth found in many places, but in England chiefly at Shotover Hill, near Oxford ; and is therefore known

THE PAINTERS' AND GLAZIERS' GUIDE. Part I.

by the name of Oxford Ochre : when free from other earths it is a true yellow of moderate brightness, and its texture suits for all kinds of painting ; it will not fly in the least, and may be used either as an opaque or transparent colour.

King's Yellow is arsenic coloured with sulphur ; it may be used either with oil, varnish, or size, and is a bright opaque colour : it is a yellow that will stand well, but must be used by itself, as if it is mixed with any mineral colour, such as white lead, it flies instantly ; when mixed with blue it forms the most beautiful green.

Dutch Pink is only used in distemper colouring ; it is whiting tinged with a solution of French berries.

Terra Sienna is a native earth brought from Sienna ; it is a deep warm yellow, and is a transparent colour, very useful in oil as a glazing colour, and is a valuable colour in distemper ; when burnt it makes a rich brown almost approaching to red.

GREEN.

Verdigris is the green most in use for common works ; it is obtained from the corrosion of brass or copper by the fumes of vegetable acid, produced from the skin and pulp of grapes remaining after they have undergone a pressure for wine : it is chiefly made in the South of France, and makes by itself a blueish green ; but may be mixed with Dutch pink till it becomes a true green. King's yellow and verdigris would destroy each other. When verdigris is required to be particularly fine, crystals must be procured, which is usually called distilled verdigris.

All the mineral greens are worked with great difficulty in oil, as they are not opaque colours, and require to be mixed with white lead to give them body; the minerals in both of these oppose each other, and in a short time destroy the work. Greens, both in oil or water colours, are therefore best formed of mixtures of yellow and blue that agree

Chap. I. COLOURS. IB

together in their bases ; the mixtures will be pointed out as they are required in the following examples.

Orange is best produced by the combination of red and yellow, according to the tint required.

Purple may likewise be produced to any tint required, by the mixture of red and blue.

BROWN.

Umber is an ochrous earth, of a brown colour; it is transparent, and requires to be mixed with white lead to become opaque in oil; it is a very good glazing colour, and very u*efuMn,<Hstemper.

Burnt Umber is the above pigment calcined in a crucible; it then becomes a much warmer brown: its qualities remain the same as in its raw state.

The finest brown is a pigment known by the name of Vandyke brown from its being the colour that pervades the pictures painted by Vandyke. This colour can be used either in water or oil, with the latter it is mostly used as a glazing colour; it is beautifully transparent, giving richness and effect to any previous colour. In distemper it will produce the lightest or darkest tints, and will always appear a fine clear colour, free from the muddiness that is seen in other browns. To the imitator of faney wood, vandyke brown is invaluable, as will be seen in the following chapter. Brown of any shade or tint may be produced by the mixture of red, black, and yellow.

There are many other substances used occasionally by artists to produce colour, but the above will be found amply sufficient for the decorative painter. Many of the colours used by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Romney, and other famous artists, (who were continually inventing, or rather trying to obtain colours from various pigments,) are found to fade, particularly if exposed to the weather: that paint-

D

THE PAINTERS' AND GLAZIERS' GUIDE.

Part I.

ing will always be found to be most durable, that is performed with the most simple and easily procured colour.

OILS.

The vehicles for laying on and binding these colours are various, according to the nature of the work in which they are employed : the principal are oils, water, spirit of wine, and turpentine : but as water and spirit of wine alone want the proper unctious consistence for spreading the colours, and dry away totally, without leaving any glutinous substance to bind und fix such of the pigments as are of an earthy and incohering texture, gums, size, ale, milk, and other glutinous substances or fluids, have been superadded to supply the defects and render them of due consistence. Though oils simply used, are a perfect vehicle of colours in some cases ; yet, as they are found to dry too slowly, means have been sought after, by the adoption of other substances, to remedy this defect, which are therefore called driers. As the knowledge of the qualities of oils and driers is of great importance to the painter in every branch of his profession, the following remarks derived from an excellent old work, called " Materia Pictoria," will be found particularly valuable.

Oils of a nature suitable to painting are the most commodious and advantageous vehicle to colours hitherto discovered. First, because the unctious consistence of them renders their being spread and layed on a surface with more evenness and expedition, than any other kind of vehicle. Secondly, because when dry they leave a strong gluten or tenacious body, that holds the colours together and defends them much more from the injuries either of the air or accidental violence than the vehicles formed of water. The principal and most general quality to be required in oils is their drying well, which, though it may be assisted by additions, is yet to be desired in the oil itself, as the effect of the pigments used in it are sometimes such as counteract the strongest driers, and occasion great delay and trouble from the work remaining wet for a great length of time ; and frequently never becoming

Chap. I.

OILS.

thoroughly hard. There are some oils that have this fault to an incurable degree. The next quality in oils is the limpidness, or approach to a colourless state, which is likewise very material, for where they partake of a brown or yellow colour, such brown or yellow necessurily mixes itself with the pigments ; but besides the brown colour which may be visible in the oil when it is used, a great increase of it is apt to appear some time afterwards when the oil is not good. There are three changes that oils of the kind proper for painting are liable to suffer in their nature, and which affect them as vehicles, that are mentioned by painters under one term, viz. fattening, notwithstanding these several changes are brought about by very different means, and relate to very different properties in the oils.

The first is the coagulation before spoken of by the mixture of the oil with some kind of pigments improperly prepared. This indeed is called the fattening of the colours ; but the real change is in the oils, and the pigments are only the means of producing it : this change is generally a separation of the oil into two different substances ; the one a viscid pitch body which remains combined with the pigments, the other a thin fluid matter which divides itself from the colour and thicker part* This last appears in very various proportions under different circumstances, and in some cases it is not found at all where the pigment happens to be of a more earthy and alkaline nature ; for then only a thick clammy substance, that can scarcely be squeezed out of the bladder if it is put up in one, is the result of the fattening. This fattening not only happens when oil and pigments are mixed together in bladders or vessels, but sometimes after they have been laid on the proper ground ; for then, instead of drying, the separation will insue, and one part of the oil will run off in small drops or streams, while the other will remain with the colour, without shewing the least tendency to dry.

The second is the change that takes place to oils from long keeping. This, if it could be afforded by the oil manufacturer or the painter, is by far the surest and best method of purifying linseed and other oils, as

THE PAINTERS' AND GLAZIERS' GUIDE.

Part I.

by this keeping they become lighter coloured, and acquire a more unctious consistence ; and though they are said to become fat, they are in a very different state from that before-mentioned, which is caused by unsuitable pigments.

The third is a change produced by artificial means ; from exposing the oil a long time to the sun, whereby it is freed from its grosser and more feculent parts, and rendered colourless, and of a more thick and less fluid consistence than can be produced by any other treatment : but at the same time it is made less likely to dry, particularly when used with mineral colours, as vermilion, prussian blue, and king's yellow ; it likewise becomes disqualified by other bad qualities that render it of little use as a vehicle for painting. Oils in this state are called also fat oils, though it is a change that has not the least affinity with either of the other, but on the contrary differs from both. In speaking therefore of the fattening of oils or colours, attention should be had to the not confounding these three several kinds one with the other.

•

Linseed Oil, from its cheapness, is almost the only oil in common use for house painting ; and it may, by proper management, be made to answer for every kind of work : this oil is pressed from the seed of flax, and is best when manufactured in large quantities. The general defects in linseed oil is its brown colour and a tardiness in drying, both of which are in a much greater degree found in some parcels than others : there is also found such as, in consequence of its being mixed with the oil of some other vegetable accidentally growing near it, partakes of the nature of olive oil, and cannot be made to dry by any means whatever. The faults of colour and want of drying quality may be greatly reduced, if not entirely taken away, by keeping the oil for a length of time before it is used : it then becomes fat in the second sense of the word as before explained, and is a good vehicle for colour, without any mixture, but is generally used with a proper dryer, as it never by itself becomes sufficiently pure to use with white or other light tints, without imparting a brown colour to them.

Chap. I.

OILS.

Nut Oil is the oil of walnuts, and is much used in ornamental painting, as it is nearly colourless, and can be used with flake white, and other delicate colours, without the slightest danger of tinging them. This oil is greatly improved by keeping.

Oil op Poppies is a colourless oil, and is in some instances used for very delicate works where the length of time required in drying is no object ; but for any case that can come under the decorative painter's notice, nut oil will answer every purpose.

Oils op Spike or Lavender are essential or distilled oils, obtained by distilling the spike or lavender, with water. It is used in painting only as the vehicle for enamel colours : its utility will be shewn In glass painting. It was formerly used instead of turpentine by house painters ; but the latter is now generally preferred.

Drying Oils. — A drying oil may be prepared by boiling linseed oil, either with or without the addition of other substances. The substances added to linseed oil, to make it become a drying oil, are various : and as different recipes are used by different manufacturers, some prefer one method and some another. The drying ingredients are as follow : — white vitriol, sugar of lead, litharge, seedlac, gum mastic, gum sandara, gum anime, gum copal, colcothar, and red lead. The different gums are used to form oil or spirit varnishes ; and the articles generally used as driers, particularly when large quantities of oil are required, are litharge, sugar of lead, white vitriol, and red lead.

The most simple method of preparing drying oil is by boiling it for a considerable time, without any addition. This can be bought of any oilman, and if good will dry readily.

Drying oil may be prepared, for common work, by mixing one pound and a half of red lead with one gallon of linseed oil; boiling them together, and afterwards letting the oil stand a few days for the lead to sink to the bottom.

THE PAINTERS' AND GLAZIERS' GUIDE.

Part I.

Another method. — Take one ounce and a half of white vitriol and six ounces of litharge, pound them to a fine powder, and mix them with four pounds of linseed oil ; place this in an iron pot over a slow fire, so that the oil may boil, but not too briskly : let it boil till the scum ceases to be thrown up by the heat. When it has boiled sufficiently, let the oil stand in the pot to cool four or five hours, and then pour the clear oil into large-mouthed bottles, taking care that none of the fatty sediment which sinks to the bottom of the iron pot be poured in with it. Let the oil stand in the bottles a week or two, to clear itself from any feculent particles that may remain in it, and it is then fit for use.

Some oilmen prepare their drying oil by suspending a bag by a string, tied to an iron wire, that rests upon the edge of the vessel ; in the bag is deposited the litharge and white vitriol. Twice the quantity of the litharge is required. Care must be taken that the bag is kept an inch or rather more from the bottom of the pot : it will require a longer time to boil the oil by this method, than when the litharge and vitriol are mixed with it.

A considerable drying quality may be given to linseed oil, and the colour much improved, without its being boiled, by mixing about one pound of white lead to a gallon of oil, and letting it stand a week or two, till the lead and the feculent parts of the oil have sunk to the bottom of the vessel in which the oil is placed. This is likewise a cheap way of purifying oil, as the lead can always be used for common purposes. The use of the gums and resins mentioned here as driers, will be stated under the head Varnishing.

Oil op Turpentine is distilled from turpentine. It is an etherial oil which quickly exhales in the air, and if mixed with either of the fat oils, linseed, nut, or poppy, in flying off carries with it the more volatile part of such oils, and causes them to dry much sooner than they otherwise would. On this account it is generally used as a drier, to mix with other oils ; for which purpose it has greatly the advantage over drying oils, as it is as colourless as water.

Chap. I.

OILS, &c.

The vehicles used for colours in distemper, are size, ale, milk, &c. articles so well known to every one, that they require no explanation.

In the following chapters the technical terms— warmth— coolnessglazing— washing— -as applied to colours, are frequently used. It may therefore be necessary to explain their meaning. Colours are called warm when they contain most yellow : thus vermillion is a fine warm red, because it partakes of an orange tint ; and Indian red is called cool red, as it partakes of a blue or purple tint. Cool colours are those which contain, when combined or separate, most blue. Thus yellow, the basis of all warmth in colour, becomes a cool green, by being mixed with blue. Red mixed with blue becomes a cool grey. It will easily be inferred from this explanation what is meant by warm and cold tints in every colour.

Colours which become transparent in oil, such as lake, prussian blue, umber, burnt and raw sienna,' are frequently used without the admixture of white lead, or any other opaque pigment ; by which means the tint, or other work of the ground on which they are laid, retains, in a great degree, its force ; the thin colour spread over it, merely giving it a warmth or coolness of tone. The real colour produced in the painting is the combined effect of both. This is called glazing, and the pigments, which become transparent when ground in oil, are called glazing colours. The same effect may be produced in water colours, and is then called washing.

CHAPTER II. IMITATION OP OAK, MAHOGANY, SATIN, ROSF WOOD, &c

The very great improvement that has been made within the last ten years in the art of imitating the grain and colour of various fancy woods and marbles, and the facility and consequent cheapness of this formerly expensive work, has brought it into general use ; and there are few respectable houses erected, where the talent of the decorative painter is not called into action, in graining doors, shutters, wainscots, &c.