Hints for painters, decorators, and paper-hangers. / Being a selection of useful rules, data, memoranda, methods, and suggestions for house, ship and furniture painting, paper-hanging, gilding, color mixing, and other matters useful and instructive to painters and decorators. Prepared with special reference to the wants of amateurs

by An Old Hand

3d. Not to add them to the color until about to be used.

4th. Not to use more than one drier to the same color.

5th. To avoid the use of patent driers, unless known to be of good quality.

6th. To avoid the use of driers in the finishing coat of light colors, as they are liable to injure the color.

Coloring Pigments.—It will be impossible in a small work of this sort to give anything like a complete list of the pigments used to produce the colors and tints used by the house painter and decorator. A few of the most useful may, however, be mentioned. It is not proposed to give a detailed description of them, but merely to distinguish those that are injurious from the others. Many of these, such as the ochres, umbers, etc., are from natural earths; others are artificially made. They may generally be purchased either in the form of dry powder or ground in oil.

Blacks.—Lampblack is the soot produced by burning oil, resin, small coal, resinous woods, coal tar or tallow. It is in the state of very fine powder; works smoothly; is of a dense black color and durable, but dries very slowly in oil.

Vegetable black is a better kind of lampblack made from oil. It is very light, free from grit, and of a good color. It should be used with boiled oil, driers, and a little varnish. Raw linseed oil or spirits of turpentine keeps it from drying.

Ivory-black is obtained by calcining waste ivory in close vessels and then grinding. It is intensely black when properly burned. Bone-black is inferior to ivory-black, and prepared in a similar manner from bones. Blue-black and Frankfort black of the best quality are made from vine twigs; inferior qualities from other woods charred and reduced to powder. In Europe some other blacks are used, but we seldom meet with them in this country.

Blues.—Prussian blue is made by mixing prussiate of potash with a salt of iron. The prussiate of potash is obtained by calcining and digesting old leather, blood, hoofs, or other animal matter with carbonate of potash and iron filings. This color is much used, especially for dark blues, making purples, and intensifying black. It dries well with oil. Slight differences in the manufacture cause considerable variation in tint and color, which leads to the material being known by different names—such as Antwerp blue, Berlin blue, Hærlem blue, Chinese blue, etc. Indigo is produced by steeping certain plants in water, and allowing them to ferment. It is a transparent color; works well in oil or water, but is not durable, especially when mixed with white lead.

Ultramarine was originally made by grinding the valuable mineral Lapis lazuli. Genuine ultramarine so made is very expensive, but artificial French and German ultramarines are made of better color, and cheaply, by fusing and washing and reheating a mixture of soda, silica, alum, and sulphur. This blue is chiefly used for coloring wall papers.