Ladies' manual of art; or, profit and pastime. / A self teacher in all branches of decorative art, embracing every variety of painting and drawing on china, glass, velvet, canvas, paper and wood the secret of all glass transparencies, sketching from nature. pastel and crayon drawing, taxidermy, etc.

by Anonymous

INSTRUCTION.

Lay the glass over the pattern or copy you wish to paint from, such as flowers, birds, wreaths, etc., then with a fine pencil brush, or a common writing pen, trace all the outlines of your pattern as well as possible on the glass, using for that purpose black paint made from lampblack and copal varnish; if too thick, add a little turpentine. When this is done, paint all the glass outside the picture, or that part not occupied by your drawing, with the black paint, same as used in making the outlines, only a trifle thicker. This will give your picture a neat background; other colors can be used, but this gives the best body, and is the most appropriate, contrasting well with the other colors to be used in the picture.

Let it lay until well dried, so the black will not unite with the colors you are about to use. Now, with the glass still remaining over the copy, you may commence applying the paints, if the tracing lines are dry. If you are painting a red rose, use carmine and flake white, Prussian blue, and chrome yellow for the leaf, etc., using a small camel-hair brush. Continue in this way until you have used all the colors which appear in your copy or picture underneath, which remains there to guide you, and the pen lines upon the glass to separate the colors. When the first color is perfectly dry, apply the second, and so on until you have completed all the work which the copy demands, using your own judgment in the matter, applying them as they appear in the picture you are working from.

When the painting is done and dry, cover the back of the transparency with copper or tin-foil crinkled, which gives it a sparkling, crystal-like appearance. It is now ready for framing. In placing it in the frame, be careful and not press the backboard too close on to the foil, or it will destroy the brilliant effect in the picture.

The colors used in this kind of painting must be transparent oil colors, with the exception of the background.

For white, use ground silver or flake white; for blue, Prussian blue; for pink, mix scarlet lake and silver white; orange, mix chrome yellow and scarlet lake; for red, use scarlet lake, crimson lake, or carmine; for green, mix Prussian blue and yellow lake; for purple, mix red and blue. Use the best tube paints and camel-hair brushes.

No style of painting has yet been produced which shows transparent colors to such advantage, and never fails to attract attention and admirers wherever introduced.

It is called Oriental from the fact of its producing effects of coloring equal to the colors of Oriental flowers, and the plumage of Oriental birds.

ANTIQUE
Italian Landscape Painting

ON GLASS.

All honor to the worthy sire who produced the first pictures upon glass, paper or canvass, with oil; and, although those pictures have passed from sight of the present generation, we live to enjoy the knowledge given to us through history, that many a fine artist did live long enough to give to the world the highest productions of his artistic hand; and, although passed to “that bourne from whence no traveler returns,” his teachings are still practiced among men. And no man, however original he may be, can to-day sit down and paint the form or ornament of a house, but that it will be the development or degradation of forms practiced by the artists of early days. The style of painting which is given below is somewhat ancient, but very ornamental and useful; and, although to an extent it passed from existence years ago, the lovers of decorative art have again revived it in the East, and it is now being sought after and practiced by thousands on account of its being cheap and easy to attain. This plan of transferring the engraving from paper to glass, and discarding the paper wholly, is simply wonderful. We give it below:

Procure a fine quality of French glass, make perfectly clean with alcohol, then apply with a stiff brush a coat of damar varnish; after drying about an hour, apply another coat, evenly and smoothly; this allow to dry about ten minutes, or just long enough to make it sticky. Procure an uncolored steel engraving that you may desire to see painted, and trim off all the paper not connected with the picture. Dampen it with a sponge or wet cloth, and while yet damp place the engraving on the glass with the face to the varnish, rubbing with your dry hand or cloth until every part adheres to the surface, and all air has been removed, rubbing from the center.

Lay this away a few hours, until it is perfectly dry, then dampen the picture again, and commence rubbing therefrom the paper; continue this until you have removed every vestige of the same, nothing remaining upon the glass but the face of the engraving. Now apply a coat of boiled oil, let it dry fifteen or twenty minutes, and apply another, or a coat of varnish, evenly and smoothly; after laying an hour or two it is ready to receive the paint. As the paper has been all removed the colors will strike through readily. Arrange the glass to the light in such a manner that you may see through it, and apply the colors to the engraving on the back, as in the Grecian oil. The outlines and shades are already produced by the engraving, and all that is necessary now is to place the colors where they belong, which, with a little practice, can soon be acquired.

The paints used are, yellow lake, yellow ochre, chrome yellow, chrome green, Prussian blue, burnt sienna, Vandyke brown, ivory black, verdigris green, silver white, mixed with damar varnish. Use brushes as in Grecian oil.

THE
GRECIAN OIL PAINTING.

Grecian oil paintings are made from engravings and lithographs. There is but little of it done in this country; and, although there was quite an interest manifested in it here a few years ago, it did not live long, and this is the first time I have seen the instructions in print since or before.

We select the engraving most desired to hang upon our walls, (regardless of size), and place it upon a frame or stretcher with small tacks or glue; this prepares it for the work. When ready, commence by sponging it with clean water; when dry, saturate it well with turpentine, applied with a large size paint brush; when this is done, apply Grecian varnish in the same way, spreading it smoothly and evenly over the surface, until all the dry spots in the paper have entirely disappeared. The application may be made on either side of the picture. When done, let it lay level (with the face down), twenty-four hours, and it will then do to paint, if free from spots and perfectly transparent. When you commence upon the back to paint, follow the lines with those colors necessary to make it look natural; the shading being made by the engraving, nothing is necessary but to apply the colors required. Suit your taste in choosing those colors. Mix the paints with varnish made from balsam fir three parts, alcohol two parts, and spirits of turpentine one part; or use tube paints, which are already prepared.

In painting the figure of a person, if the eyes are blue, mix Prussian blue and white; for dark eyes or hair, Vandyke brown works with good effect; for flesh color, mix red, white and a little yellow, adding a little more red for lips or cheeks. You may suit your own taste in regard to the color for background, but I will suggest equal parts of blue, red, green, and Vandyke brown, covering all that part which is not connected with the object you have painted. Don’t apply a second color until the first is perfectly dry. When done, give the face a coat of varnish.

The colors suitable for this painting are chrome yellow, yellow lake, emerald green, carmine, Prussian blue, burnt sienna, raw sienna, Vandyke brown, ivory black and silver lake.

The brushes required are one large varnish brush, with two or three small to medium size camel or sable hair paint brushes.

ORNAMENTAL
GLASS SIGN WORK.

FOR LETTERING DOOR PLATES,

ORNAMENTING GLASS WORK BOXES, Etc.

How this art may be applied to making signs of every description, numbers of dwellings, door plates, ornamental borders for pictures, ornamenting work boxes, etc., which are made at a trifling expense, and unsurpassed for brilliancy.

First. Clean well the glass to be used, with alcohol. Second. Wet with your tongue the side cleaned, and immediately lay over the whole of that side a coat of gold or silver leaf. Third. Let this dry on—it will take from two to four minutes. Fourth. When the leaf has dried on the glass, polish it with a ball of cotton. Some of the leaf may possibly be rubbed off by the polishing, but this is of no consequence. Fifth. After polishing, wet again with your tongue the whole side you have polished, and lay another coating of leaf over it. Let this dry. Sixth. After the second coat of leaf is dry, polish it as before, with the ball of cotton, and then your sign or door plate will be ready for lettering.

As a border will add much to the appearance of the plate, I will now instruct you how to make one. Rule with the point of a needle two lines around the edge of the plate, the outside line one-quarter of an inch from the edge. After the lines have been ruled, wet your pencil brush, and with it moisten the leaf laying outside of the space between the lines you have ruled, and remove with the brush the leaf thus moistened, working gently from the lines. Your border is now made.

Your next step is to put the lettering on the glass. To do this, first measure the height of your letters, then rule with the needle two lines as far apart as the letters are high. When this is done, lay the letters on the leaf, one at a time, beginning at the right hand, and placing the back of the letters up, or backwards. Hold the letters on firmly with your left hand, and with your right mark around them with a needle. When you have marked around all the letters in this way, wet with your tongue the pencil brush, and apply it to all the leaf on the glass, except what is needed for the letters and border; then remove the leaf thus wet by rubbing it gently with the brush.

The next process is to apply the Japan. Do this with a small paint brush, and cover the whole of the side which has been covered with the silver leaf. It will require two coats, and after these are dry you have an elegant plate.

All that now remains to be done is to place the plate in a frame, to do this apply a little putty to the edges of the glass, and set it in the frame; then lay upon the back a piece of paper of the same size, and over that a piece of tin, and fill up the remaining space with plaster of Paris. Your door plate is now complete.

To ornament glass work boxes, flowering, etc., proceed as above.

Articles Used. A small camel-hair pencil brush, cost three cents; blue or black enamel, or Japan, per gill, 25 cents; selected silver leaf, per book, (24 sheets), 24 cents; patterns for letters, per set, 37½ cents; patterns for numbers, per set, 25 cents.

[Note.—A gill of Japan will answer for fifty signs. A book of silver leaf will answer for six or eight door plates.]