THE YELLOWS.
Among the yellows are many delicate shades which require strong basic color coats to support them properly. In the painting of a yellow surface, be it of the most delicate or the most powerful shade of yellow, the initial coats of color may very correctly be white. Have the surface smooth and clean, and if it be the running parts of the vehicle, and the priming coat is already on, mix the keg lead in, say one-half raw linseed oil and one-half turpentine, using a teaspoonful of coach japan to each pint of the paint. Apply this coat with an oval bristle brush. When dry, sand off lightly with No. 1 paper, putty with white putty wherever necessary, doing the work so smoothly as to require no sanding, and then with a camel's-hair brush apply a second coat of the white containing a strong binder of oil and thinned to a free working consistency with "turps." Over this ground most of the yellows can be brought to the proper depth and density of color with two coats of color and one coat of color-and-varnish. This for the running parts. Upon body surfaces having a roughstuff base, wash the keg white lead free of oil with benzine or turps, adding a binder of rubbing varnish, and apply two coats of the white with a two-inch camel's-hair brush, polishing each coat with clean curled hair. Then apply the yellow, using the final coat in the capacity of color-and-varnish. There is economy of time, labor, and pigment in using a white ground for yellow. Moreover, the natural bleaching propensity of the yellows is distinctly checked through the agency of a white ground. All colors in light shades evince a natural tendency to darken as they fade and lose their original purity of tone. The white ground operates to overcome this tendency, to arrest this deepening process, to hold the yellow to its true color; and it does this by reason of the fact that it offers the yellow a white base instead of a positive, assertive one, to strike through. In other words, the yellow, as it responds to the process of drying, is influenced by the lighter color beneath, the one counteracting the other.
That renowned French authority on coach painting, M. Arlot, is upon record as advising primary coats of white lead as a base for yellows. The writer has personal knowledge of the value of white basic coats for the numerous family of colors in question, and therefore strongly advises their employment. Primrose, canary, and sulphur yellow are among the most fashionable of the pale yellows and require careful working out under the brush. With the yellows must be considered yellow lake. This is used only as a glaze color. Put over the solid greens, it gives to them depth and richness. Placed over Brewster green, for example, it renders a particularly elegant effect. Put over many of the brilliant reds, it imparts a fine and exquisite effect.