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THE

ART OF GRAINING:

HOW ACQUIRED AND HOW PRODUCED.

WITH

DESCRIPTION OF COLORS

AND

THEIR APPLICATIONS.

WITH

THE VARIOUS WOODS USED IN INTERIOR FINISHING.

WITH 42 COLORED PLATES ON STONE.

CHARLES PICKERT AND A. METCALF.

NEW YORK: D. VAN NOSTRAND, PUBLISHER, 23 MURRAY AND 27 WARREN STREET. 1872.

INTRODUCTION.

The Art of Graining is judged by the authors of this treatise to be of sufficient importance to justify a work devoted especially to the task of giving instruction to learners of the art.

All graining is an imitation of some more or less well known wood, and the learner may doubtless draw from nature the copies he desires to imitate; but it is only trained skill that can accomplish the task perfectly, and it is presumably true that those who, in acquiring a long experience, have made the obstacles to success a special study, are best prepared to afford instruction to a beginner.

The authors of the work present here the result of a long experience in the practice of this decorative art, and feel confident that they hereby offer to their brother artisans a reliable guide to improvement in the practice of graining.

It is earnestly recommended by the authors that learners should practise drawing the several copies given as samples, with drawing pencils, using both narrow and broad-pointed, as the surest means of acquiring such thorough mastery of proper manipulation as will insure the highest degree of success.

It is believed, moreover, that experienced learners will find it not amiss to avail themselves of the methods set forth in this treatise, affording as they do, the sum of the examples of fellow-artisans who have carefully studied nature's own modes, and have studiously followed such plans in working as insured the closest and most durable adherence to the original form and color.

CHARLES PICKERT, A. METCALF.

INSTRUCTIONS

OAK.

For oak-graining the priming coat should be white, mixed with pure lead and linseed-oil; then, when thoroughly dry, and ready for a second coat of paint, much care should be observed in well stopping or puttying with white lead or common putty, as may be thought best, leaving all nail-holes or other inequalities well filled, pressed in and rounded up, so that when thoroughly sand-papered it will leave the surface entirely smooth and level. For a second coat of paint, a little yellow chrome or Rochelle may be added, sufficient to make it a light cream color, using for a body pure lead, turpentine, oil, and a small quantity of japan, making the paint a trifle thicker than the priming coat, having it well mixed and strained, so that it shall not contain any lumps or foreign substance. Here let us say that the habit of undertaking to do graining work on two coats of paint is entirely wrong; good work cannot by any possibility be performed unless there shall have been at least three coats laid on as a foundation,--otherwise it will not wipe out clean, but will appear muddy and foul when completed.

For a third coat of grained work, if a very light oak is desired, add to the same mixture of lead, oil, etc., sufficient yellow as before, to produce a delicate cream, adding to that a very small quantity of American vermilion, or Venetian red. After laying on the second coat, the work should be well and carefully sand-papered, puttying , if necessary. When the third coat has been on two or more days, and has become thoroughly hard and dry, use upon the surface very fine sand-paper, so that a perfectly smooth finish may be obtained.

For the last coat of the ground-work for oak, there should be a sufficiency of oil to impart a slight gloss when laid on, which enables it to be wiped clean, free, and unclouded.

For wiping out oak , see description of process in our following chapter on black walnut, using the same tools, etc. . Where flaking is done it is combed first with a coarse, then a fine steel comb, but where heart or growth-pieces occur, no comb should be used until wiped out, then comb with a fine comb very lightly in the same direction the grains may run.

In graining, particularly oak, care should be taken to have the grains lose themselves regularly at the sides, not leaving the heart-piece abruptly, but gradually , preserving a proper harmony of colors from centre to outside.

BLACK WALNUT.

The same care should be taken in puttying, sand-papering, mixing, and applying, as hereinbefore suggested in the chapter upon graining oak.

The ground-work for black walnut should be mixed with pure white lead, turpentine, oil, japan, etc., colored with chrome yellow or good Rochelle ochre, American vermilion, or English Venetian red, and burnt umber, which if properly combined produces the most proper ground-work attainable. This wood varies in color, some pieces bearing upon the yellow, and others upon the red, either of which may be correctly imitated by adding yellow or red as the case requires. There are some pieces, however, of a grayish cast, and if such a characteristic is desired in graining, add to the ground-work a little Vandyke brown.

The ground-work should be so mixed as to have, when dry, an egg-shell gloss, in order to prevent the first coat of graining from crawling or running together. Black walnut is a very porous wood, and unless the pores are properly shown in the graining, the imitation will be far from perfect; no grainer, therefore, should depart so far from nature as to omit this necessary and absolute consideration.

For the accomplishment of a correct imitation in this respect, take a small quantity of sour or common ale, or, if not obtainable, a little vinegar and water will do , and to this add, for coloring purposes, three-fourths burnt umber and one-fourth Vandyke brown; when this is applied, and before dry, take a dry brush , and "whip" the color thoroughly with the same, keeping the hand close to the surface of the object to be grained; and as pores in some pieces of walnut show far more distinctly than in others, to imitate this, certain portions should be whipped very coarsely, while other portions should be whipped very fine. Care must be taken in whipping, to have all joints, etc., left perfectly square as constructed, and the whipping should invariably be done as the grain of the wood is designed to run. The distemper-color should be mixed to a thickness, that, when applied and properly whipped, the general tone of the ground-work shall not be materially changed.

Some grainers, before proceeding further in graining black walnut, have varnished the distemper-coat; we regard this as entirely useless, as well as detrimental to the general tone of the graining when done. The impression current among some painters, that when the graining-color is applied to the distemper-color, without first varnishing, it will rub up, is erroneous, for when perfectly dry it is all ready to receive the graining-color.

After complying with the foregoing directions, the article being now all ready for graining, having, as shown, received the distemper-color, take three-fourths burnt umber and one-fourth Vandyke brown, mixed with three-fourths turpentine, one-fourth oil and japan, using beeswax or soap to prevent its running as in oak-graining , and to avoid darkening the graining but a very little, the color should be used thin.

In graining a panel, for instance, in order to obtain a correct imitation of black walnut, the grainer, when running the heart-piece , should have upon his pallet, glass, or board, a small quantity of umber and Vandyke brown to darken the centre a little, thereby showing the grains perfectly clear in the centre while they lose themselves near the outer edge.

In graining black walnut, combs should be used as little as possible, leaving all the plain parts to be finished in the glazing. For wiping out growths, some use chamois, others use cotton cloths drawn closely over the thumb nail, while many use in place of either, a small piece of rubber, or belting cut about one-fourth of an inch wide at the end used, and in some instances, where a cheap job of graining is desired, rubber combs cut fine and coarse can be used with good success in running growths or hearts by blending lightly after combing.

All graining can be finished by varnishing, or to imitate in "oil-finish" if preferable. Should the latter be desirable take one quart of turpentine; one-fourth lb. of white wax , adding one half pint of best coach varnish ; one half pint of boiled oil, and one gill of japan--apply with a brush, and use sparingly, one coat is sufficient.

ROSEWOOD.

In preparing work for rosewood the same instructions should be followed as are laid down in the preceding remarks upon the graining, etc., of black walnut, for the ground-work of both woods is formed of the same colors, only more of the red and yellow is used for rosewood than walnut, as the former varies more in tone between red and yellow. The same rules in both cases should be conformed with, and similar tools in applying or laying on are used. In preparing ground-work for rosewood, however, a little rose pink may sometimes be employed advantageously. Of course the egg-shell gloss must be attained after the third ground-work is laid on, in order to receive the whipping-coat properly.

Pores in rosewood being very fine, the whipping should be as fine as possible. The distemper color is made from burnt umber, a very little Vandyke brown, and a small quantity of rose-pink, ground in ale, or vinegar and water, etc., as before mentioned, and applied very thin. The first coat of graining is mixed from Vandyke brown, burnt umber, and ivory-black , ground very fine in oil, turpentine, wax, etc., and must stand after being mixed for some six hours before applying. In some cases, where a reddish cast is desired, it will be well to use a trifle more of the rose-pink.

As the grains in rosewood run very irregularly , great care must be maintained in combing, it being necessary in most cases to employ extremely coarse and fine combs; and at times it may be absolutely necessary to use a pencil, in bringing up this imitation to perfection, and all of the combing and pencilling must be blended down very softly with a fine badger blender. For the glazing, the same colors may be used, though chiefly Vandyke brown and ivory-black, making the dark places principally from the latter, though, of course, all of these colors are to be made exceedingly thin and as transparent as possible.

Where a particularly rich finish is desired, a good effect will result by giving the work another extremely thin coat of glazing, composed of rose-pink with a little ivory-black, thus sinking and harmonizing the whole work, giving it a rich and very fine appearance. When the work becomes thoroughly hard and dry, it can be finished either in varnish or oil, as heretofore mentioned in the finishing of black walnut.

MAPLE.

This, though a very beautiful wood, is not as commonly used in graining as some others, though a fine effect can be produced by graining panels, etc., in rooms where the principal graining may be black walnut, oak, or rosewood, forming thus a contrast, which, when well executed, presents an extremely fine appearance, and as maple is never used for an outside finish , it can be grained more successfully in distemper than in oil, and also much more readily, the consequence of which is, we shall speak of it as being grained only in distemper color, though the same colors, used by a skilful hand, in oil, will produce the same beautiful effect.

The ground-work for maple is made from white, tinted with chrome yellow, making the very lightest cream, and the same rules as to mixing, laying on, etc., etc., are applicable to the graining of maple as to the other woods hereinbefore mentioned, viz., walnut, oak, and rosewood.

The tools necessary for the graining of maple are a badger-hair blender, two or three top, or over-grainers, varying in width; and in running of heart-pieces, pencils must be used. For making the curls in curly maple, there can be nothing better than a raw potato, cut, say two or three inches wide, with a thin, straight edge, although the work can be performed by using a piece of rubber, or belting, with a similar straight edge. A flat camel's-hair brush, used wet, will accomplish the same, and for this purpose it is employed quite successfully.

In forming the bird's-eyes, a potato cut in two, near the centre, with various inequalities made upon the smooth surface, and carelessly pounced over the surface of the work, will prove successful; but we know of nothing better adapted for this purpose than the ends of the fingers, touching the surface therewith at intervals.

If, however, it should be desirable to grain it, it will be found that the colors used in graining maple are the same as those used in the graining of satin-wood, and the process varies in no essential manner, only that the colors and graining should be more indistinct with satin-wood, it being an extremely pale and transparent wood. Care must be observed to preserve in the imitation the purity and character of the original.

ASH.

A very beautiful and prolific wood, attainable so easily throughout the greater part of the country, is now growing in daily favor for the interior of houses and other buildings, its susceptibility of high finish making it desirable as well as handsome, and probably when well grained it presents more attractiveness than any of the other woods.

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