Chapter II

Gall nuts coarsely broken 2 ounces.
Rain water 1 quart.

Boil down to one half. (_Seaton._)

To stain wood, first apply No. II., when nearly dry put on No. I. and then No. II. again. It will occur to the reader that this is really ink, and, in fact, if he cannot get a stain, good common ink applied a few times and well dried will answer quite as well. After it has been thoroughly put on, and quite dry, oil the surface, and rub it well, and it will be found that it will not wash off from any casual application of water. Some of the writing inks now made are intensely black and almost indelible.

NINETEENTH LESSON.

MAKING MOULDS OR SQUEEZES FOR WOOD-CARVERS.

It will very soon become apparent to every wood-carver that it is easier to copy from a model than a drawing, and that this ease is very much increased when he has made that model in clay himself. However, it is also very advisable that he shall, after a time, practise carving from drawings and sketches also, as this of itself gives great skill and accuracy of perception. But he will very often need or wish to have copies of carvings or casts, and these he may obtain with ease, if the relief be not too great or the object too large. This is called "taking a squeeze," and it may be done in two ways. Firstly, by means of squeezing or modelling wax, which is sold by dealers in artists' materials. The use of this and the casting in plaster of Paris is, however, generally tiresome to beginners in carving. For all practical purposes squeezes in paper are quite sufficient.

_Paper squeezes._ Take any pieces of soft newspaper. Oil the wood or plaster cast which you wish to copy; soak, and then press on the paper and, with your fingers and a sponge or a very stiff brush, poke and squeeze it into every cranny of the original. If this be done _thoroughly_, the hardest part of the work is accomplished. Now give the paper a brush of flour-paste or gum or mucilage, or paste strengthened with glue, and press on new pieces of paper. To merely copy the original, a few thicknesses will suffice. Take the squeeze off and let it dry; if necessary, touch it up with colour. For this the first coat should be of _white_ paper. To make a cast, keep adding paper till the whole is at least half an inch in thickness. Press it as hard as you can while forming the mould. When it is dry you can paint or rub the inside with any dry powder, such as whiting, or varnish it, and then make a cast with the same material, _i.e._ paper and paste, or with plaster of Paris. Papier-maché casts, when rubbed by hand with brown paint, form perfect facsimiles of old wood-work. Rubbed with bronze-powders they resemble metals, or they may be ivoried, by the process described in the chapter on dyes.

Plaster-casts are very easily broken, and are heavy and difficult to transport. Wax is spoiled almost by a touch, and it readily yields to heat. Papier-maché, when properly managed, with a little practice gives a mould which is equal to either for all surfaces except the most minutely delicate. When dry, such casts may be let fall, or really thrown about, without sustaining any injury, and they are very portable. It is very often possible to easily copy an object with paper when plaster or wax cannot be used at all. The reason why it is not more generally used is because few persons have taken the pains to treat it as a plastic material suitable to the arts, or are sufficiently practised in it to know what can really be done with it. The wood-carver should do this, because it is a very important thing for him to keep copies of his works, or to get those of others to use in his designs. With a little practice, and at no expense, he can make such casts in a material which is almost as durable as wood itself.

In large manufactories of papier-maché the pulp of paper is simply mixed with the paste or size, and put into the moulds in large masses, and then subjected to pressure. When a good surface is secured with fine white paper, it is not of much consequence how coarse the paper for the _backing_ may be. For this purpose it may be mixed with tow or fibre of any kind, plaster, or fine sawdust, etc., so long as the _binder_ or size be only strong enough to hold all together. But for all ordinary purposes waste-paper and paste, thickened with common glue, will suffice.

TWENTIETH LESSON.

SPOT CUTTING.

This is a manner of ornamenting which can hardly be called carving, and which would not deserve special mention were it not that it is so extensively used, it being the chief method of decoration in all the islands of the Pacific, and still extensively practised in Sweden and Norway. It consists of small incised triangles, or "diamonds," made with a skew or ordinary chisel, which are arranged in rows or lines. Simple as the work may seem, it is very effective when artistically employed; and it has this peculiarity, that no other kind of cutting is so well adapted, with very little labour, to relieve flat surfaces, such as paddles, tankards, spoons, war clubs, and scoops or dippers.

The triangular incision is made with three cuts; by adding two more from the opposite direction we make a diamond, or the latter may be produced at once with only four cuts, Fig. 63. To these we may add the hemi-spherical or cup hollow, which is made with a gouge, and which, in Scotland at least, seems to have been the earliest pre-historic beginning of ornamentation of flat surfaces.

When these triangles and diamonds are tastefully arranged in lines, and filled in with a composition, or paint, which contrasts in colour with the wood, the effect is often excellent. Ordinary putty, into which a little mastic has been well worked, or plaster of Paris with size and a little flour paste, with one drop of oil to an ounce, makes a good filler for such a purpose. This may be applied to any incised cutting. An ivory-like filling, which may be stained of any colour, and which was once extensively used in Florence, is made with rice, lime, and size.

Any pattern which can be drawn in lines may be executed with good effect in triangular spots, the base of every spot being on the line. They may either join one another or be separated; both methods produce a good effect. The spots may be of all sizes, and are generally not larger than those at the top in the above illustration.

Large triangles may of course be used as well as small ones. Owing to the ease with which these spots are made, and the good effect which they produce when blackened, it is not remarkable that so simple a method of decorating wood is extensively practised.

By placing a gouge vertically and turning it, as already mentioned, a cup-like cavity is easily cut. A row of these is often very effective.