BURL ASH.
Burl ash, or root of ash, is often used in panels, and can be imitated in either oil color or water color, but water color will be found the best. The colors used are raw sienna, burnt umber and Vandyke brown; a sponge with rather small holes is requisite for use in representing the minute clusters of knots. After the work is rubbed in, the sponge (which has previously been faced square on one side) is dipped in some of the darker color and lightly pressed against the work. It is better to use the color a little darker than that with which the work has been rubbed in, and to put it where you wish the darker portions of the wood to appear. After this is dry go over the whole panel with the sponge and some of the darkest color, lightly pressing the sponge against the work wherever you desire the knots to appear. A little growth is sometimes put in by the use of the fitch tool, and tends to relieve the sameness of the work; it must be done carefully and on a small scale. When the work is dry, carefully pass the hand over it and remove the superfluous color which adheres, and the job is then ready to be varnished. It is sometimes shaded after having one coat of varnish, in which case it is necessary to revarnish it; it will require little or no stippling.
In imitating this wood in oil color, the work is first rubbed in and but little color is put on—merely enough to cover the ground-work with a very thin coat; a sponge may then be used to apply the darker color. The sponge should first be thoroughly wet in clean water and wrung out dry before the oil color is applied by it. Have some of the dark color in a shallow vessel and use the sponge as directed in water color, dipping the faced side of the sponge in the color and representing the clusters of knots in this manner. When dry, it may be overgrained or not, according to the shade desired or to the wood to be matched.
Plate 15.
HUNGARIAN ASH, WIPED OUT AND PENCILLED.
Plate 16.
BURL ASH, IN WATER COLOR.
Plate 17.
DARK ASH, PENCILLED AND COMBED.
Plate 18.
HUNGARIAN ASH, WIPED OUT.
[CHAPTER VI.]
CHESTNUT.
This wood is not frequently used as an interior finish, but sixteen years ago it was almost the only hardwood used for interior finish in the New England States; and any grainer who succeeded in matching it was considered very skilful. It is a highly-porous wood, and on that account is undesirable, as, if not entirely protected from the changes in temperature by being thoroughly filled, it will warp or swell; and I have seen doors concave or convex as much as three inches in a two foot eight inch door. It also turns very dark with age, and its hearts or prominent grains are very coarse. I have seen specimens which measured eighteen inches from point to point at the heart. The colors used are raw sienna, burnt umber, Vandyke brown and a little burnt sienna. There is some resemblance to ash in the finer growth of chestnut, but its general characteristics are more angular—that is, the hearts run more to points than those of ash—and in most of the hearts a faint outline appears between the points. The combing also is much coarser than that meant for ash. Chestnut can be done in either oil or water color. I think it can be done best in oil, using the rag to wipe out the color and combing in the edges of the hearts with a rubber comb covered with a thin piece of rag. This comb should not be over two inches in width, and the teeth should be about five to the inch. When the hearts are wiped out and lightly-blended, the fine outline may be put in between the points in the hearts by using a sharp-pointed stick or the round corner of a steel comb. The work, when dry, may be lightly stippled in distemper, or a thin glaze of color without stippling may be applied to bring the work to the desired depth of color; this shading-color may be mixed in oil or water color.
In imitating this wood in water color the work should first be stippled in very fine and allowed to dry; then put in the growths with the small fitch tool, and use the overgrainer for the same purpose as that for which the comb is used in oil color to follow the edges of the hearts, and to produce the "combed" work; a piped bristle over-grainer will be found useful for this purpose.