Paper and Printing Recipes / A Handy Volume of Practical Recipes, Concerning the Every-Day Business of Stationers, Printers, Binders, and the Kindred Trades

by John Sawtelle Ford

Painting on Ebonized Wood.

The great difficulty to be overcome in painting on ebonized wood, is the non-absorbent character of the surface, which will not allow the paint to sink in. Washing the panel over with onion juice enables the paint to adhere more easily. The paint, whether oil or water color, must be laid on thickly. In order that the painting, whether of flowers or figures, shall prove a decoration, the black space between the painted figures must be graceful in shape. Water color paintings on such panels require to be varnished. Oil color does not need the varnish.