Although we have spoken of the trade of the Plumber separately, and have placed the Painter and Glazier together, it generally happens that the three trades are carried on by the same persons, and you will often have noticed “Plumber, Painter, and Glazier” over the fronts of shops, where leaden pipes and taps, casements, and squares of coloured glass, and specimens of “graining,” or imitations of various woods in painting, are placed for show in the windows, to represent the different businesses carried on.
It is the duty of the House Painter to cover with his colours such portions of the Joiner’s, Smith’s, or Plasterer’s work as require to be protected from the action of the air, which would cause them to rust or decay. He has also to choose the colours which will be best suited for decorating walls and cornices, and generally to apply the proper shades for all the ornaments of the house, and this part of the business, which is called “decorative painting,” requires a great degree of skill and taste in the workman, who may properly be called an artist.
The materials used by the Painter are principally white lead, linseed oil, spirits of turpentine, “dryers,” and putty. White lead, which forms the basis of almost all the colours used in house painting, is prepared by exposing strips of lead to the action of acid; but the Painter buys it ready made, in the form of small cakes, or lumps. This white lead is used in all the under coats of paint, and generally makes the body of most of the colours which are afterwards applied. Unfortunately, while it is in the half-fluid state, when it is used by Painters, it is very poisonous and unwholesome, and many workmen suffer severely in their health from its use; but it will be found that this is often caused by their own carelessness in working, and by the want of personal cleanliness. The Painter should not only thoroughly wash his hands before every meal, but as soon as his work is done should entirely change his clothes, and wash hands and face thoroughly, or even take a bath. Beside this, he should wear, over his working clothes, a coarse linen frock or blouse, which will protect him from the spots of paint, and may be frequently washed.
Linseed oil and spirits of turpentine are used for mixing and thinning the colours; linseed oil is obtained from the seeds of the flax plant, which are heated, beaten, and pressed by machinery, until the greater part of the oil is extracted; the seeds crushed into cakes are then used as food for cattle. Nut oil, or the oil pressed from various kinds of nuts, such as walnuts, hazel and beech nuts, is also frequently used for mixing colours where they are likely to be exposed to the weather, but linseed oil is cheaper and is most generally adapted to the purpose.
Oil of turpentine, which the Painter calls “turps,” is the oil obtained by distilling crude turpentine; and is used by the House Painter to make his colours work more smoothly and freely in the brush, to cause them to dry more quickly, and to take away that shiny unpleasant glare that would otherwise be seen on the surface of paint mixed with linseed oil alone.
It is necessary, too, to take some means to make the linseed oil dry more rapidly than it would in its raw state; or the paint would remain moist and greasy upon the walls for a very long time. For this purpose the oil is boiled, and is then known as “boiled oil,” this is bought ready prepared, the Painter having by him preparations of lead or vitriol, called “dryers,” which he mixes with his colours, after they are made, in order to increase the rapidity with which they set upon the places where they are applied.
The Painter has only a few tools, and these are very simple; they consist principally of the grinding stone, or slab and muller, for grinding his colours; earthen pots for holding the paints; cans for oil and turps; a few tin pots, or open cans and kettles, for colour to be applied to outside places or walls where he has to work on ladders; a palette knife, for spreading the white lead on the stone, or removing the paint to the palette, for fine work, or to the paint pot; and brushes of different sizes.
Slab and Muller. Paint Pot. Palette Knife. Oil Can. Paint Pot. Paint Kettle.