Commercial White.
—Seventeen parts of white lead, three parts of barytes. This is intended to be mixed in oil, not water.
Permanent White.
—The best quality barytes or blanc fixe makes a permanent white when ground in water. In oil it lacks body. For many purposes a white which will last a considerable length of time is made by mixing two parts of zinc white with one part of barytes.
Various Whites Compared.
—Space will not permit of the advantages and disadvantages of the various whites being treated here at length, but the reader can obtain reliable information on the subject from the books of Hurst, Pearce and others, as given elsewhere in this book. Briefly, white lead is valuable because it possesses better “body”—i.e., the property of covering or hiding the surface to which it is applied—than any other pigment. Its poisonous character is against it, as is also the fact that it is affected by certain gases. Zinc is an excellent pigment; it is whiter than white lead, but is somewhat deficient in body. Lithopone and Charlton white are both excellent substitutes for lead, and are non-poisonous.
CHAPTER IV.
Grays and Greys.
Although the dictionaries usually do not distinguish between the spelling of “grey” and “gray,” and although many decorators use the two words indiscriminately, there is a distinct difference which it is both convenient and advisable to recognise. A “grey” is an admixture of black and white, and may vary from the smallest quantity of black added to white to the other extreme, where there is almost as much black as white. Anything between the two would be termed a “grey.” Examples of this are found in the list which follows under the heads mentioned below: Dark lead, dark slate, lead, etc. When a colour is added to the black and white the admixture is called a “gray,” provided, of course, that the black and white predominate, for example, a French gray is made by tinting white with a little ivory or drop black and adding a little carmine or crimson lake or ultramarine. What may be produced in other ways is noted below. It will be seen that the addition of the lake in ultramarine gives it a peculiar warmth which distinguishes French gray, and changes the spelling from “grey” to “gray.” Gray drabs are those in which a grey is coloured up to produce a yellowish tinge. Black being usually a strong tinting colour, care must be taken that it is used in moderation, and here the importance of adding a small quantity at the time, as already observed, will impress itself on the operator. After the shade desired has been obtained the colour should be added until the desired warmth is arrived at.