Transcriber's note:
Minor spelling and punctuation inconsistencies been harmonized.Obvious printer errors have been repaired. Missing page numbersare page numbers that were not shown in the original text. Pleasesee the end of this book for further notes.
WITH
DESCRIPTION OF COLORS
AND
THEIR APPLICATIONS.
WITH
LITHOGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS
OF
THE VARIOUS WOODS USED IN INTERIOR FINISHING.
WITH 42 COLORED PLATES ON STONE.
BY
CHARLES PICKERT AND A. METCALF.
NEW YORK:
D. VAN NOSTRAND, PUBLISHER, 23 MURRAY AND 27 WARREN STREET.
1872.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
CHARLES PICKERT AND A. METCALF,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
The Art of Graining is judged by the authors of this treatise to be ofsufficient importance to justify a work devoted especially to the task ofgiving instruction to learners of the art.
All graining is an imitation of some more or less well known wood,and the learner may doubtless draw from nature the copies he desires toimitate; but it is only trained skill that can accomplish the task perfectly,and it is presumably true that those who, in acquiring a long experience,have made the obstacles to success a special study, are best prepared toafford instruction to a beginner.
The authors of the work present here the result of a long experience inthe practice of this decorative art, and feel confident that they herebyoffer to their brother artisans a reliable guide to improvement in the practiceof graining.
It is earnestly recommended by the authors that learners should practisedrawing the several copies given as samples, with drawing pencils,using both narrow and broad-pointed, as the surest means of acquiring suchthorough mastery of proper manipulation as will insure the highest degreeof success.
It is believed, moreover, that experienced learners will find it notamiss to avail themselves of the methods set forth in this treatise, affordingas they do, the sum of the examples of fellow-artisans who have carefully4studied nature's own modes, and have studiously followed such plans inworking as insured the closest and most durable adherence to the originalform and color.
CHARLES PICKERT,
A. METCALF.
HOW TO MIX AND APPLY THE COLORS IN GRAININGTHE VARIOUS WOODS HEREIN REPRESENTED.
As oak and black walnut are the principal woods imitated in graining,we have given them a prominent place and careful attention in ourwork, for when the ability to produce imitations of those properly is oncethoroughly attained, the graining of other woods becomes a comparativelyeasy task.
First:—In preparing work for graining, great attention should begiven to the shellacking of all knots and other parts containing any inequalitiesof surface, whether from the exudation of pitch, gum, or othersubstance; unless this precaution is observed the