Graining and Marbling E-Book

Frederick Maire

• Herausgeber: Science & Technology Publishing
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 110

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Graining and Marbling: A Series of Practical Treatises on Material, Tools and Appliances Used is a comprehensive guide dedicated to the traditional decorative arts of wood graining and marble imitation. This book delves deeply into the techniques, materials, and tools essential for mastering the craft, making it an invaluable resource for both beginners and experienced artisans. The text is structured as a series of practical treatises, each focusing on a specific aspect of the process, from the selection and preparation of surfaces to the application of colors, glazes, and varnishes. Detailed instructions are provided for replicating the appearance of various woods and marbles, with step-by-step guidance on creating realistic textures and patterns. The book also covers the use and maintenance of specialized tools, the preparation of pigments and stains, and the finishing techniques that ensure durability and authenticity. Richly illustrated with diagrams and examples, Graining and Marbling not only preserves the knowledge of a time-honored craft but also inspires readers to experiment and refine their own decorative skills. Whether used as a manual for professional decorators or as a reference for enthusiasts of historical interior design, this book remains a definitive source on the art of imitative finishes.

Leseprobe

Every attempt has been made to replicate the original as printed. Some typographical errors have been corrected;

a list follows the text

. Some illustrations have been moved from mid-paragraph for ease of reading. (etext transcriber's note)

GRAINING AND MARBLING

A Series of Practical Treatises

ON MATERIAL, TOOLS AND APPLIANCES USED; GENERAL OPERATIONS; PREPARING OIL GRAINING COLORS; MIXING; RUBBING; APPLYING DISTEMPER COLORS; WIPING OUT; PENCILING; THE USE OF CRAYONS; REVIEW OF WOODS; THE GRAINING OF OAK, ASH, CHERRY, SATINWOOD, MAHOGANY, MAPLE, BIRD’S EYE MAPLE, SYCAMORE, WALNUT, ETC.; MARBLING IN ALL SHADES.

Each Treatise is followed with Test Questions for the Student

By F. MAIRE Author of “Modern Painter’s Cyclopedia” “Exterior Painting,” “Interior Painting” and “Colors.”

I L L U S T R A T E D

C H I C A G OFrederick J. Drake & Company P U B L I S H E R S

COPYRIGHT 1910 BY FREDERICK J. DRAKE

LESSON I., II., LESSONS III. AND IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., IX., X., XI., XII., XIII., XIV., XV., XVI., XVII., XVIII., XIX., XX., XXI., XXII., XXIII., XXIV., XXV., XXVI., XXVII., XXVIII., XXIX., XXX., XXXI.INDEX:A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, M, O, P, Q, R, S, V, W.

PREFACE.

This is the 4th Volume of the Red series manuals. It covers a field which usually is or rather was made a separate branch of the painting business. It has become of less importance however since the white pine finishing of interiors has been replaced by that of hardwood. It is used to a great extent nevertheless and while there is less demand for the skill displayed by masters of the art of graining as existed in the past, a good general workman is incomplete that cannot do a fair to good job of graining today and all such should be able to do that much. A journeyman who is able to turn his hand at graining or marbling will usually be kept on the pay roll of the shop much longer than the man who can do nothing but ordinary brushwork. Marbling has been associated with graining because there is some few things that are in common between the two; the grainer is better equipped for the doing of marbling properly than painters who are not grainers—to say the least.

Graining

LESSON I.PRELIMINARIES.

1. It has been the custom of the author in the past to give a synopsis as it were of the manner in which the subject matter is to be treated at the beginning of each of the volumes of the red series and as he sees no reason in departing from the rule and on the contrary, very many good ones for a continuation of the custom, below will be found a few outlines of how the subject matter will be handled.

First. The tools and material required for the prosecution of the work of graining and marbling. Neither the tools nor the materials needed are very numerous, complicated nor costly.

Second. The preparing of various surfaces for graining in oil or water colors.

Third. The preparing of material for the graining of various woods in oil and water colors and the painting of the ground.

Fourth. The graining of the various woods in oil and water colors, which includes the over-graining, stippling or glazing required to bring the work to completion ready for varnishing.

Fifth. The varnishing and other methods required for the protection of the graining.

Sixth. The above outlines will also suffice for the marbling section of the manual.

Unlike general directions which can be given as to the painting of surfaces of wood, iron or brick, each of the various woods will have to be treated separately. These are a few operations which are common to all kinds of grainings—these will be given in full before proceeding to their special applications, suited to the various woods, as then the student will be more familiar with what is meant by this preliminary study of the methods used in doing “wiping” for instance or “veining” in heart growths with a brush, etc.

Seventh. The varnishing is an important part of graining, which can be done in various ways to suit the kind of graining done. In this regard general directions will be given, but the kind of varnish to be used must be such as will best agree with the character of the material used in doing the graining so as to get good results from it.

LESSON II.THE MATERIAL USED IN GRAINING.

2. The material used in graining is not numerous. The principal, as may well be supposed, is white lead to be used as a base upon which to prepare the ground tints upon which to grain.

3. The necessary colors to produce the tints required, which are: Venetian red; French ochre; raw and burnt umber; raw and burnt siennas and lamp black—all ground in oil.

4. For the preparing of graining colors all the above colors ground in oil are used with the exception of ochre, Venetian red and lamp black, and the following additional ones which are more transparent: Ivory black and Vandyke brown. Of course this applies to the preparation of colors for “graining in oil.” To the above should be added ground whiting in oil, but this can be prepared from dry whiting in the shop as it is not usually sold in that shape.

5. For graining in water colors, all the above named colors are used, but ground in water or distemper and all grainers should have a supply of raw and burnt umber and siennas, Vandyke brown and Ivory black ground in that medium. Some few grainers prefer to buy the dry ground colors and to use them from the dry state.

6. Beeswax is also used in preparing graining colors used in oil graining. Rotten stone is useful in preparing the oil graining colors, and while not indispensable, it will be well to use it as it helps to make the “megilp”—the technical name which is given by the old English grainers to such oil graining combinations—work better and comb smoothly.

7. For thinners: Raw linseed oil, boiled linseed oil, turpentine, drying japan. Stale beer or vinegar for thinning distemper colors. Glycerine to be used with the above in order to retard the drying of the color too quickly at times.

8. All the colors named above are also used in marbling, with a few additional ones such as Indian reds, Prussian blue, chrome yellows. In fact any others which may come near to imitating some particular tone in any marble specimen one may wish to imitate.

9. In giving out the above lists, no description is given of the several colors mentioned for the reason that the student will find all these colors sufficiently well described in Vol. III of the red series, which he should procure; “Colors, what they are and what to expect from them,” as it is entitled, will give him the necessary information more fully than would be possible in this manual.

QUESTIONS ON LESSON II.

2. What is said about the material used in graining and of the base?

3. What colors ground in oil are required for preparing of tints for grounds?

4. What other colors ground in oil are required for preparing “graining colors in oil?”

5. What are the colors that are needed in graining in water colors?

6. What other material is useful in grainings?

7. What are the thinners used in graining in oil or distemper?

8. What additional material is useful for marbling?

9. What is said about obtaining fuller descriptions of material?

LESSONS III. AND IV.TOOLS USED IN GRAINING AND MARBLING.

10. Brushes. The brushes required for the laying on of the “ground colors” are the same as would be used for similar work in interior painting. A good oval 6-0 varnish makes a fine tool for the purpose. Some prefer the flat brush for laying on color; any good 3-inch flat brush that will lay color smoothly.

11. For “rubbing” in the graining colors in oil some use half worn-out, flat brushes—others again prefer the round or oval, and again some rubbers-in use a brush that has been well broke in but not worn much. It is largely a question of habit. If the “megilp” is just right, the rubber-in can take almost any kind of a brush and rub out well with it, but the advice of using an old worn-out brush which is seen in some of the old-time books on graining should not be followed too implicitly. A half-worn brush will probably suit more “rubbers-in” than any other extremes. None of the above need illustrating as these brushes are in constant use in all paint shops. Besides a number of kinds are shown in Vols. I and II of the red series.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

12. Walnut stipplers. This tool is a thin, flat, long bristle brush and Fig. 1 shows it to perfection. They run in width from 2½ inches up to 4 inches. They are indispensable in graining such woods as black walnut and others which show up a large number of coarse pores. It is also known under the name of flogger, the latter seemingly the more appropriate of the two.

13. The “Badger blender” is an indispensable tool used in all distemper graining to a greater or lesser extent. It is also used in marbling. Fig. 2 shows it. This is the best shape for it; it is set in glue and has a bone head; the old form of it is also shown in A of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

14. The “fan overgrainer” is a brush that cannot be dispensed with. Every kit should have several sizes of them. Fig. 4 illustrates it well. They run in sizes from 1 inch wide by half inches upward to 3½ inches. Some grainers prefer to make them themselves, but little is gained thereby. They usually have to have some of their bristles cut away to suit the different purposes they are needed for. They can be clipped off with scissors much quicker than the making of one out and out. They are so cheap that one’s time cannot be profitably employed in making a fan overgrainer.

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

15. In Fig 5 are shown a few mottlers and in Fig 4, also under letters B, C, E, K, H and M, each varying in forms so as to meet the various uses to which mottlers are adapted and to suit the various ideas of the operators.

16. A few camel pencils of various sizes, flat and sharp pointed for veining completes the list of brushes specially used for graining and marbling, to which must be added also the varnish brushes to put on the finishing varnish coats. These may be any of the numerous bristle varnish brushes fully described in Vols. I and II. It is a matter of choice and convenience, no special shape or build being necessary for these.

QUESTIONS ON LESSONS III. AND IV.

10. What kind of brushes are required for the laying on of ground colors?

11. What brushes are used for “rubbing in” graining colors in oil?

12. What is a stippler or flogger?

13. What are the badger hair blenders used for?

14. What are fan overgrainers?

15. What are mottlers?

16. What other brushes are useful in graining and marbling?

LESSON V.TOOLS USED IN GRAINING AND MARBLING—CONTINUED.

17. The mechanical aids to graining are quite numerous and some are valuable. For the graining of many kinds of woods the devices which are shown below will finish the work completely, and in the graining of others will partially do the work, which may afterward be improved by hand work in the finishing. It is not claimed for these tools that they will do as good work nor as varied as can be done by hand, but that in the hands of one who is used to the proper handling of them they will dobetter work than the average hurried up hand work that is usually seen, and which has probably had no small share in disgusting people with graining.

Fig. 6

18. Fig. 6 shows the three Davis rollers made of rubber. One is used in the wiping out of heart growths; another for the wiping out of champs in quartered oak and other woods, which when quartered present the same peculiarities. The last has three graded sets of indentations and are used as combs for any kind of combing where rubber combs are used.

In this lesson it is not the purpose to explain the use of the tools enumerated; this will come under its proper heading when the modus operandi of graining, both by hand and by the use of other helping tools will be fully detailed.

Fig. 7

19. Fig. 7 shows another rubber device, patented by the Ridgely Trimmer Co. The corrugations, as will be seen, are in halves and are made so that by proper pressure upon the handles curves them, enabling the operator to follow indentations, and which also produces many variations upon plain surfaces.

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

20. Figs. 8 and 9 are handled corrugated quarter-round rubber grainers. These are especially handy in graining floors, also in getting into corners where the others cannot readily be made to fit up to the jointing of the two corners. These are also made by the above-named firm; as well as the following:

Fig. 10

21. Fig. 10 shows a rubber graining comb with graduated sized teeth, which is frequently desirable as the work shows a more natural lessening of the width of the veining from the heart outward.

22. Fig. 11 shows graduated widths steel combs in three sizes of teeth, fine, medium and coarse. These are used in plain oak combings, etc.

Fig. 11

23a. An artificial rubber thumb made from a piece of rubber about ½ an inch wide at the end, which is then bevelled to a sharp edge, and is frequently used by men who have never been able to use their natural thumb in wiping out.

23b. The check roller shown in Fig. 12 is a series of notched metal disks which are joined together. The projecting parts of the disks are brushed over with distemper color and the roller revolved over such parts of the work where the operator desires