The Useful Arts Employed in the Construction of Dwelling Houses. Second Edition

by Anonymous

Graining and Marbling.

We have in the above details confined our attention to that more general and economical kind of house-painting in which a large surface is painted of one uniform colour. But the department of house-painting in which the taste of the workman is more fully developed, is that in which imitations of various species of wood and marble are attempted; these processes are called graining and marbling. We may perhaps call this a humble branch of the fine arts, since the workman prepares a picture of a piece of wood or of a slab of marble; but whether this be a correct term or not, it is certain that skill in this branch depends more on taste and observation than on fixed rules.

Graining and marbling are sometimes done in oil-paint, but more frequently in distemper, that is, with a colour mixed with beer or some other liquid more limpid than oil; in this latter case, as the graining would not have a durable character, it receives one or more coats of varnish. We will endeavour to give a general idea of the mode in which graining and marbling are effected.

The kind of wood usually imitated in this way is oak, or wainscot, as it is more generally called. When this is imitated in oil, the last coat of paint previous to the graining is made of rotten stone, white lead, and linseed oil, and is of a light oak colour. On this is laid the graining colour, which painters call the megilp, and which is a thin paint composed of oil, rotten stone, sugar of lead, and white wax. When this has set a little, the painter draws over the surface the teeth of a kind of comb, called the graining comb, by which an imitation of the grain of oak is produced; these grained lines, to make the imitation more close, are drawn in a wavy direction. The workman then wraps a little piece of leather round the finger, and delicately wipes off the colour from small spots of various forms, by which the light parts of a piece of oak are imitated. In this state, the grain and the light parts have rather a harsh appearance, to remove which, a soft dry brush is worked over the whole in such a manner as to make the various parts blend with one another. A little Vandyke brown is then mixed up into a smooth paint, and with this the dark veins are imitated, by means of a small brush or pencil.

But in graining oak in distemper, the graining colour consists of other materials; many receipts are given, but one is Vandyke brown, burnt umber, and raw umber, mixed into a paint with beer or ale. This is laid on with a brush, and the subsequent processes of producing the grain, the light patches, the dark veins, &c., are much the same as in oil graining, with this exception, that the grain is produced by veining brushes, instead of graining combs. When the whole is dry, it receives one or two coats of varnish, to act as a preservative.

By processes very similar to that just described, mahogany, rose-wood, satin-wood, maple, pollard oak, zebra-wood, walnut-wood, elm, and other species of wood, are imitated. For mahogany, the ground is Venetian red and white lead, and the graining colour is Sienna, or Vandyke brown, ground in beer. For rose-wood, the ground is lake, vermilion, and flake white, and the graining colour Vandyke brown, ground in ale. For satin-wood, the ground is the same as for light oak, and the graining colour is Oxford ochre, ground in ale. The other kinds of wood are imitated by grounds and graining colours more or less resembling those now mentioned. The manual use of the tools is more difficult for the variegated woods than for oak. Satin-wood, and some other kinds, have large spots or patches of a lighter colour than the rest of the wood, and of a peculiarly soft appearance; these are imitated by letting a sponge fall on various parts of the wet graining colour, by which some is wiped off, and the edges of these parts are then softened by means of a badger-hair brush, called a soft even, which is drawn lightly across the light and dark parts, whereby the sharp edges are softened and blended.

The imitation of marble is effected in a similar manner to that of wood. For white marble, or rather, that which is slightly marked with dark veins, the walls are first whitewashed, and then washed with whiting and milk, to obtain a fine white surface. Lamp black, damp blue, Indian red, and some other colours, are then laid on with very fine pencils or brushes, in fine but irregular lines, so as to imitate the veins of the marble. Sienna marble has a ground of yellow ochre; Florentine marble, one of white, black, and Indian red; dove-coloured marble, one of light lead colour; and black and green marbles have the colours designated by their names. On these grounds are pencilled the light and delicate veins traversing the surface in every direction, according to the colour and character of the veins in the marble to be imitated. There are then various contrivances made use of, by which a softness is produced in all the veins; this is of more importance in marbling than in graining, since much of the beauty which we acknowledge to exist in marble is undoubtedly due to the exquisite softness with which its colours are blended. The kind of marble called porphyry is imitated in a singular manner. This marble is spotted all over in various colours; and the imitation is therefore spotted. A ground is laid on of the proper colour, and a brush is dipped into a mixture of vermilion and white, and after being allowed to drain nearly dry, is struck against a piece of wood, by which a sprinkling of small spots falls on the surface. The brush is then dipped into another colour, and a similar process gives a second sprinkling. This is done a third and sometimes a fourth time, according to the colours of the spots in the marble to be imitated. The mica, quartz, and feldspar, in granite, are sometimes roughly imitated by similar means.

Whatever be the kind of marble which is imitated, it is varnished after the marbling is completed, in order both to give it greater durability, and to imitate the beautiful polish which can be imparted to marble.