F. Maire

“ At one time when graining was at its height, walnut graining was next to oak, the main wood which grainers had to imitate, and some of them attained to such skill as entitled their work to be called art. It is not used just now to near the same extent that it used to be, but as the prevailing sorts of woods that are grained are subject to changes caused by fashion, there is no telling how soon walnut graining may take the lead among the dark wood imitations. The color of the various specimens of walnut vary greatly. ”

“ The use of the check roller usually is the first operation done in graining woods which show weather checks. The proper way to use them is to fill a 3-inch fan overgrainer with the distemper color which comes nearest to the ideas of the grainer in showing up what he desires to produce. This fan overgrainer is laid upon the face of the check roller flat, and a few turns are given in order to spread, when it is ready to do its duty. Checks while they look all right in some oak work, are usually rather scarce in nature, and it is an easy thing to overdo them in the imitation. ”

“ Plain maple is never grained in oil as it would be too tedious to imitate it by wiping. Therefore its graining by distemper work is the only method worth the while to describe. To be able to grain it well the student must have its character well made out—in his head at least. The color if the wood is grained in its natural color is made from raw sienna weakened down to suit by the addition of whiting. The character of the wood is best produced by the application of the color with a sponge. ”

“ The graining of chestnut may be done in either oil by wiping or in distemper. By either method it will be best to stipple it in the manner stated in the previous paragraph—rather coarsely. The ground is a light buff, just about such as described for oak or ash, and may vary to suit the graining and grainer. It can be wiped out easily in oil, but much the best way is to grain it in distemper, as it is easier and more quickly done. The veining is put on with a camel’s hair brush and blended with the badger hair blender before the color sets. The veining being coarse is easily put on. ”

“ The general tone of American black walnut is darker than that of the European species variously known as English, Italian, etc., they all being the same. But aside of the fact that American black walnut is darker, the degree of darkness varies considerably in various specimens. Walnut, especially black walnut, is a rather coarse, open-pored wood, with a heart growth which is well defined and of pleasing forms. The veneers which are sawed from walnut roots and forks of limbs, as in the crotch walnut, are very intricate and beautiful when all the details are well brought out by polishing. ”

“ The sponge is an invaluable aid to the grainer in distemper work, and the student should spare no pains in learning to master its use. With it not only mottlings may be made, but the main features and character of all the burled growths of walnut, oak roots, pollard oak, bird’s eye maple, sycamore, mahogany, etc., may be laid out; most of it to be blended, and when dry overgrained and finished with either crayon pencils, camel hair knottings and linings done with various distemper colors or with the fan overgrainers, or by combinations of all the above. ”

“ The ground for walnut graining, as may be well supposed, will vary greatly, according to the desired finish. The average European walnut ground is made from ochre, burnt umber and a trifle of venetian red added to a white lead base, and will be deeper or lighter according to the finish desired. It will be more yellow in tone than the ground that is used for the darker American species. For the latter the same colors are used in preparing the ground, only that it is made deeper on the average, and that it should not be quite as yellow toned as the ground used for the European variety. ”

“ An endless variation in variously formed panels and cornices and surrounding stiles, where contrasting colored varieties of marbles and onyxes can be used, or their use in plain slabs as desired, will enable the artist who does the marbling to produce an individuality of work on every job. The good marbler is entitled to be called an artist, for it is only an artist who can vary this infinity of forms properly. ”

“ As much of the graining done is over old painted work, there is always an element of uncertainty as to the results. If the woodwork has been painted only a few times, it will be easy enough to bring it to a good finish by the application of two good coats of ground color, where turpentine predominates, so that it will not be too glossy. If the woodwork has been painted a great number of times it will be useless to try to paint grounds over it, as then it will be apt to blister. ”

“ A good-sized brush may be used for the laying of the distemper colors, but they are not absolutely necessary. A sponge is even more frequently used, especially when the character of the wood is to be shaped by the use of the sponge as the color is being laid on. It is hardly worth while to say that the man who does the graining must be his own “rubber in” in distemper work. ”

“ The color itself may be thickly or thinly thinned—it will all depend upon the kind of surface one is working upon, and also upon the kind of graining being done. Some grainers must have stale beer for a thinner, but others will do as good work who never use any, and such use vinegar somewhat diluted for that purpose. The proper thing is to have the color of the right working condition for the particular job. The kind of thinner does not matter so much so that it has tack enough to hold the color, so the colors will not run together when brushed over in the varnishing afterward. ”

“ The color used for graining may be either Vandyke brown, which has been made more drying by the addition of an extra quantity of good drying Japan, or from burnt umber, to either of which enough megilp has been added to keep them from running when sufficiently thinned out for wiping.
The easiest way of graining plain growth walnut of either the European or American varieties is in distemper, and while it may not be as good in the estimation of some, it is much more quickly performed, and when well done will look fairly good and natural. ”

“ The feathering is brought out by the proper use of the sponge and the blending of it properly afterward has much to do in the making it look natural, for if it is not done right it will make an otherwise good piece of work look ridiculous. In the natural wood these fine markings are very scarce, and never seen outside of veneers and are costly, therefore hardly ever seen except upon high priced furniture, but in the grained imitation the operator can indulge his wildest fancies in reproducing the choicest specimens of the wood at a small outlay. ”

“ If the imitation is striated, veined or serpentine marble, while the ground is still wet the main body of color and veining should be put in and blended. The blending in marbling constitutes a most important part, as by means of it veins and lines are made to disappear as it were into the ground gradually, which gives it transparency, and it will look as if it came from the interior and gradually becoming stronger toned as it reached the surface. These effects are all produced by proper blending. ”

“ There is a great deal of quartered oak graining that is done in distemper in certain localities, especially where the grainers have come into the knack of it. When it is well done it is fully as good as when done in oil. The quality of the work is what counts, and it is just as easy to produce an eye sore in the one as it is in the other. ”

“ As hinted in paragraph 28, some grainers expect to do too much with the overgraining. They try to correct a faulty ground work and to put in many details which properly belong to the graining proper. It is possible, of course, to help very much in the correction of many faults, especially in those of bettering the mottlings, but if the graining has not been laid out nor grained pretty near right, no amount of overgraining will make it right, and more work that would have been passable is rendered worthless by overdone overgraining than from any other one cause. ”

“ No matter what wood one tries to imitate, either in its natural finish tone or in an imitation of one which has been stained to an unnatural color, always have the ground tint: as light as the lightest part of the wood which shows through. This will be the right tint for the graining of that wood.
32. It is refreshing sometimes to hear the discussions that take place among grainers as to the proper ground tints for various woods. No cut and dried rule can be given. The one given in paragraph 31 is as good or better than any. ”

“ Cherry graining presents no great difficulty, as it is a wood of very plain growth, so much so that it looks rather tame and for that reason it is very seldom imitated by graining. There are some of the rooms in the old-time houses where the woodwork is cherry, and it sometimes happens that repairs are done to it, and which have to be grained in order to match the old work. ”

“ It has one disadvantage in that on large jobs there will be more repetition than is desirable; there is also an automatic indescribable look belonging to it, that grates upon an artistic taste, so that while the graining may be really much better than much hand work, yet hand or even that done with corrugated rubber tools will please the average man better than the more perfect automatic work done with the graining paper. ”

“ It is true some forms are more pleasant than are others, and that is true really in all marbles, so that the student should not spend much time in trying to do something which is considered an inferiority in the sienna marble itself. The most pleasing forms are clumps of darker color overrun with veinings and intervals of lighter tone also veined, but usually with much lighter toned veins than the set occupying the darker clumps. ”

“ There are a great number of ways of graining quartered oak and when one says that it is imitated in oil graining, but very little more information is conveyed than that the work is executed in that medium instead of in distemper color. The manner of doing it may vary greatly, as well as the growth itself, which is infinite almost. ”

“ The graining of bird’s eye maple is always done in distemper, for the same reasons that were given in describing the graining of plain maple, and for a few additional ones of its own besides, so that all that will be said in connection with it must be understood as appertaining to distemper work. ”

“ The openness of the wood represented by the pores is easily reproduced by the stippling it should receive before the heart growth is either wiped out in oil graining or pencilled on in distemper. Some grainers dispense with it in oil work, but the finished work suffers from it. The stippling color is best made from some good Vandyke brown, and it may also be made from burnt umber in distemper. ”

“ That it has not become general is because, sad to say, it has almost become a lost art from long disuse. The many cheaper halls, restaurants, etc., in public and semi-public buildings where the real stone is too expensive; the many private vestibules, halls and bathrooms, where their use is almost imperatively demanded by good taste as the only permissible embellishment to relieve the monotony of the walls, by at least a dado imitation of good marble done in oil and washable. ”

“ For the black-veined variety the white lead ground is gone over here and there, but not too much of it, with a touch of black which must be vigorously worked into the white to produce a few blotches of light, faint gray not prominent at all. The veining is gray of a trifle darker tone, which is called black by courtesy and as a contrast to the white of the ground. ”

“ It will be well to state here that the descriptions which are given is for marbling in oil, as that is by far the best way of imitating marble, therefore the proper allowance must be made for water color work of quicker drying, and therefore it will require considerable speed in conducting the marbling operations, giving the operator but little time to do his work in he cannot possibly produce as good work as he can in oil. Only rather plain figured marbles should be attempted by the students in distemper work. ”

“ Their representation requires considerable study in order to represent them naturally, not that it is very hard to do, but in order rather that it be not overdone. There is nothing that has a more vulgar look than an overdone imitation of burled walnut.
128. The student should familiarize himself with the growth of many specimens and besides he should carry an imprint in his mind of all the various natural specimens he may come across. In these studies he will no doubt have noted that the ground color or the lighter parts in the natural wood does not run uniform as in the plain wood. ”

“ The enormous use of marble and onyx in various decoration in this country, which has been developed within the latter part of the past fifty years, has been educating the people to the use of something better than the miserable paper imitations which have paraded as marble, or rather been a parody upon it. ”

“ The graining is always done in distemper. The colors used are raw and burnt sienna, raw and burnt umber and ivory black. To these may be added Vandyke brown. The lay out is first laid out with a sponge. A different sponge should be used in each color. After all the principal features have been put on and blended properly, the work proper of putting in the details commences and is done with camel’s hair pencils, fan overgrainers, etc. ”

“ For a change dark flakings and other flaked veinings may be put in instead of light ones. In this sort of quartered oak graining the whole thing is reversed. The color is applied evenly but solidly over the panel and immediately combed with rubber combs and split as related in the preceding paragraph; then with the camel hair pencil brush proceed to pencil on the flakes and champs as desired, slightly blending them with the badger blender. This is not so difficult to execute as by wiping out, because it does not matter about hurrying. ”

“ It is found in many variations of color. New mahogany is very light toned and seldom darker than a medium buff tone. It acquires a reddish tone by age, which becomes a rich dark red in time. This redness is usually artificially supplied in the natural wood by staining. In graining it is the most usual to reproduce the rich red darker variety, and that of the light varieties is only resorted to in order to match some parts added to a room which has been finished in the light natural wood. ”