Chapter X: The Interior--Painting and Gilding

Reasons for Painting a House.

The love of neatness and elegance which distinguishes the cultivated from the rude man in the decoration of his dwelling, is not the only motive for these interior fittings of a modern house. There are in many instances manifest advantages, in relation to dryness and durability, resulting from such arrangements. Such is the case with respect to one of the two processes which will occupy the present chapter. In noticing the services of the house-painter, it will be found that they are conducive to something more than our love of colours and tasteful decoration, for they greatly promote the durability of wood and iron work. Wood of almost every kind is liable to injury from the effects of the atmosphere, if left unprotected; but when coated with oil-paint, its power of resisting those effects is much increased. Cleanliness is also more easily preserved where paint is employed. If a room door, for instance, were not painted, it would require the same scouring and cleaning which an uncarpeted floor so often receives, though perhaps not so frequently. When we consider, therefore, that durability, cleanliness, neatness, and pleasing decoration, are all derived from the judicious employment of oil-paint in a house, we shall conclude that a painter renders important service in the preparation of a dwelling-house.

Materials used in House-painting.

House-painting, in most cases, consists in laying on several coats of some mineral substances mixed up to a fluid consistence with _oil_. There is no other liquid body which is found to have so many advantages for this purpose as oil; for although turpentine, milk, beer, spirit, and other liquids are occasionally employed, oil is the standard material with which the colouring substances are mixed. The colouring substances, as well as the oils, employed in painting, are very numerous; and we can only offer a brief description of the principal among them.

_White lead_ is the most valuable of all the colouring bodies, since it enters into the composition of almost every other. It is made by exposing sheet-lead to the action of vinegar, by which a white substance is procured. _Bougival white_, and _Spanish white_, are mineral substances procured from abroad. _Chrome yellow_, _Turner’s yellow_, _Massicot_, _Naples yellow_, _King’s yellow_, _Orpiment_, and _Ochres_, are various bodies of a yellow colour, some derived from earths, others from ores, and others from chemical treatment of metals. _Vermilion_, _Carmine_, _Cochineal lake_, _Madder lake_, _Red lead_, _Indian red_, _Venetian red_, &c., produce various tints of red and crimson; but the materials themselves are derived from very different sources. Vermilion is a compound of sulphur and mercury; Carmine and Cochineal lake are prepared from an animal substance; Madder lake from a vegetable; Red lead is an oxide of that metal; while the others are derived from various kinds of earth. For a _blue_ colour, the painter employs _Prussian blue_, which is a compound of prussic acid and iron; _Indigo_, derived from a plant growing in the East Indies; _Blue Verditer_, a nitrate of copper; and some other substances. Most _green_ paints are made of salts of copper, such as _Verdigris_, which is an acetate of copper; _Scheele’s green_, an arseniate of copper; _Green Verditer_, a nitrate of copper, and _Brunswick green_, a muriate of copper; together with two or three earths, such as _Italian green_, _Saxon green_, &c. _Browns_ are generally produced by a mixture of _black_ and _red_; but there are several earths which yield a brown colour. These are the principal colouring materials employed by the house-painter, for almost every intermediate tint or grade of colour can be produced by mixtures of two or more of the above-mentioned materials, in certain proportions.

The liquid principally employed to mix with these dry colours is _Linseed oil_. This is obtained by beating, pressing, or heating, from the seed of the flax plant, the _Linum usitatissimum_, which grows in most parts of Europe. This oil has so much _fatness_ or unctuousness, that it would dry with extreme slowness were not some further precautions taken. It is boiled with _litharge_ and _white vitriol_, in certain proportions, by which it has a drying quality imparted to it. _Nut oil_ is sometimes used in painting: this is procured from the kernels of walnuts, beech nuts, hazel nuts, and other kinds of nut, by a process similar to that by which linseed oil is obtained. _Oil of turpentine_, or _turps_, is largely used by painters, as it has a drying quality which counteracts the fatty nature of linseed oil, in combination with which it is generally used. It is obtained from a liquid or sap exuding from a species of pine tree, in North America: the sap is crude, or common turpentine; and by a process of distillation, the _oil of turpentine_ is obtained from it, leaving a substance behind which constitutes yellow resin. _Oil of spike_, _oil of lavender_, and _oil of poppies_, are sometimes used by the painter; but not very frequently, on account of their expense; they are vegetable preparations. _Pilchard oil_, (obtained from the fish,) _common tar_, _coal tar_, and _oil of tar_, are used occasionally for rough exterior work. _Varnish_, _size_, _beer_, _milk_, and one or two other liquids are used to a small extent in some processes to which the painter has to direct his attention. Varnishes are mixtures of various resinous bodies with spirit; and size is a jelly obtained by boiling parchment, leather, parings of hoofs, or of horn, or some similar animal substance, in water.

Preparing the Paint.

Such being the principal materials from which the painter prepares his paint, we proceed to speak of the mode by which he mixes them. The colours are mostly purchased in that form which is called _dry colours_, that is, in coarse powder or small lumps; and they have to be reduced to fine powder before they are mixed with the oils, &c. If they contain gritty particles of sand, &c., the colour is put into a tub or pan, and water thrown upon it, and mixed up with it. The gritty particles soon fall to the bottom, and the remainder is poured into another vessel, where, in a short time, the colouring substance falls to the bottom, and can be obtained by pouring off the water; after which the powder is dried. But if the substance is one which will dissolve in water, or if it is not very gritty, it is ground up to powder in a dry state.

When the substance is reduced to fine powder, the painter begins to incorporate the oil with it. He has a _grindstone_ of marble or porphyry, on which he places a small quantity of the dry colour, and moistens it with a little oil. With a large flattened pebble, called a _muller_, he then grinds up the powder with the oil, until both form a perfectly smooth paste. That portion is then removed by a palette knife, (which is a broad thin knife,) and placed in an earthen paint-pot. Another small portion of powder and oil is ground up in a similar manner, and put into the paint-pot; and so on, until a sufficient quantity has been obtained. When this is done, the pot contains paint, which is too thick for use; to liquefy it, therefore, a given quantity, which is determined by experience, of oil or turpentine, or a mixture of both, is added, until the paint has acquired a consistence--thick enough to prevent it from running into drops when laid on the work--and thin enough to make it work with ease.

The Process of Painting.

Supposing the carpenter to have left the doors, the windows, &c., in a clean and smooth state, the painter’s first office is _knotting_. Knots are round places in a plank, in which the grain of the wood runs through the thickness of the board, so as to show the ends of the pores at the surface. These ends absorb a greater quantity of paint than the other portion of the wood, so that if the same number of coats were given to all alike, the knots would have an ugly, dead appearance, in consequence of the absorption. The painter, therefore, gives the knots more paint than the rest of the wood-work; and the preparatory coat, which is laid on the knots only, is called the _knotting_. The paint used is generally red lead, and boiled oil; or sometimes red lead and size. When this knotting is dry, the _priming_ is applied, consisting of a thin coat of white paint. White is used for the priming under almost every variety of circumstances, whatever the subsequent colours may be. This white paint is a mixture of white lead, linseed oil, and oil of turpentine, and is laid on, as are the subsequent coats, by means of brushes which are too well known to need a lengthened description. They vary from a quarter of an inch to three inches in diameter, and are generally made of hog’s bristles bound round with string, or sometimes with tin.

When the priming is dry, the painter proceeds to fill up all the nail holes and other irregularities, with putty. This he does by means of a pointed knife, with which he works in small portions of putty wherever they may be needed. It is then ready for the second coat of paint, which is thicker than the first, generally white, but sometimes coloured. Painting appears to be a very easy process, but in common with other trades, it requires considerable practice before skill can be attained. After having worked the brush over the wood-work in every direction, so as to completely cover every part with paint, the “laying-off” is effected by drawing the brush smoothly over every part in the direction of the grain, particularly at the stiles and panels of doors. Brushes of various sizes are employed, by means of which the workman can paint the fine mouldings, beading, &c., as well as the broader surfaces. The more skilful the workman is in the use of his tools, the less do the marks of the brush remain visible when the work is done.

As each coat of paint dries, another is laid on, until sufficient has been applied. The number varies from two to seven, according to the part which is to be painted, and the means of those who have to pay the painter; but in general, four coats is the average quantity which new wood-work receives. It is the last two coats only which are of the colour selected, as those which are preparatory are seldom other than white. On some occasions it is desired to have the last coat _glossy_; but in others _dead_. To effect these differences, all that is necessary is, to vary the oil with which the colour is mixed. If a glossy surface is required, linseed oil is principally used; but if a dead surface, oil of turpentine predominates. It is frequently seen that the walls of staircases, and other large surfaces, are, when finished painting, totally without gloss. This is effected by what is called _flatting_, that is, a coat of paint mixed wholly with oil of turpentine: the turpentine soon evaporates, and leaves the colour without gloss on the walls; whereas, when linseed oil is employed, the oil dries and hardens, instead of evaporating, and assumes much of the character of a varnish. If no linseed oil is employed in flatting, it is called a _dead flat_; but if a little is added, in order to produce a faint gloss, it is called a _bastard flat_. This part of the work forms one of the most unwholesome in which the painter is engaged, since the oil of turpentine, which is constantly evaporating during the process, is found to be extremely prejudicial to health.

As we are here speaking of a _new_ house, we need not detail the process followed in repairing an old one. Nor is it necessary so to do even in respect of the processes themselves, for they are nearly the same for old work and new. The principal points of difference are these:--that in old work, greasy and dirty spots are washed with pearl-ash and water, or with turpentine; that the old paint is rubbed smooth with pumice-stone, or, if very rough, burned off; that a smaller number of new coats of paint will suffice; and that a larger proportion of turpentine is used than in new work.

Graining and Marbling.

We have in the above details confined our attention to that more general and economical kind of house-painting in which a large surface is painted of one uniform colour. But the department of house-painting in which the taste of the workman is more fully developed, is that in which imitations of various species of wood and marble are attempted; these processes are called _graining_ and _marbling_. We may perhaps call this a humble branch of the _fine_ arts, since the workman prepares a _picture_ of a piece of wood or of a slab of marble; but whether this be a correct term or not, it is certain that skill in this branch depends more on taste and observation than on fixed rules.

Graining and marbling are sometimes done in oil-paint, but more frequently in _distemper_, that is, with a colour mixed with beer or some other liquid more limpid than oil; in this latter case, as the graining would not have a durable character, it receives one or more coats of varnish. We will endeavour to give a general idea of the mode in which graining and marbling are effected.

The kind of wood usually imitated in this way is _oak_, or _wainscot_, as it is more generally called. When this is imitated in oil, the last coat of paint previous to the graining is made of rotten stone, white lead, and linseed oil, and is of a light oak colour. On this is laid the graining colour, which painters call the _megilp_, and which is a thin paint composed of oil, rotten stone, sugar of lead, and white wax. When this has set a little, the painter draws over the surface the teeth of a kind of comb, called the _graining comb_, by which an imitation of the grain of oak is produced; these grained lines, to make the imitation more close, are drawn in a wavy direction. The workman then wraps a little piece of leather round the finger, and delicately wipes off the colour from small spots of various forms, by which the light parts of a piece of oak are imitated. In this state, the grain and the light parts have rather a harsh appearance, to remove which, a soft dry brush is worked over the whole in such a manner as to make the various parts blend with one another. A little Vandyke brown is then mixed up into a smooth paint, and with this the dark veins are imitated, by means of a small brush or pencil.

But in graining oak in distemper, the graining colour consists of other materials; many receipts are given, but one is Vandyke brown, burnt umber, and raw umber, mixed into a paint with beer or ale. This is laid on with a brush, and the subsequent processes of producing the grain, the light patches, the dark veins, &c., are much the same as in oil graining, with this exception, that the grain is produced by _veining brushes_, instead of _graining combs_. When the whole is dry, it receives one or two coats of varnish, to act as a preservative.

By processes very similar to that just described, mahogany, rose-wood, satin-wood, maple, pollard oak, zebra-wood, walnut-wood, elm, and other species of wood, are imitated. For mahogany, the ground is Venetian red and white lead, and the graining colour is Sienna, or Vandyke brown, ground in beer. For rose-wood, the ground is lake, vermilion, and flake white, and the graining colour Vandyke brown, ground in ale. For satin-wood, the ground is the same as for light oak, and the graining colour is Oxford ochre, ground in ale. The other kinds of wood are imitated by grounds and graining colours more or less resembling those now mentioned. The manual use of the tools is more difficult for the variegated woods than for oak. Satin-wood, and some other kinds, have large spots or patches of a lighter colour than the rest of the wood, and of a peculiarly soft appearance; these are imitated by letting a sponge fall on various parts of the wet graining colour, by which some is wiped off, and the edges of these parts are then softened by means of a badger-hair brush, called a _soft even_, which is drawn lightly across the light and dark parts, whereby the sharp edges are softened and blended.

The imitation of marble is effected in a similar manner to that of wood. For white marble, or rather, that which is slightly marked with dark veins, the walls are first whitewashed, and then washed with whiting and milk, to obtain a fine white surface. Lamp black, damp blue, Indian red, and some other colours, are then laid on with very fine pencils or brushes, in fine but irregular lines, so as to imitate the veins of the marble. _Sienna marble_ has a ground of yellow ochre; _Florentine marble_, one of white, black, and Indian red; _dove-coloured_ marble, one of light lead colour; and _black_ and _green_ marbles have the colours designated by their names. On these grounds are pencilled the light and delicate veins traversing the surface in every direction, according to the colour and character of the veins in the marble to be imitated. There are then various contrivances made use of, by which a softness is produced in all the veins; this is of more importance in marbling than in graining, since much of the beauty which we acknowledge to exist in marble is undoubtedly due to the exquisite softness with which its colours are blended. The kind of marble called _porphyry_ is imitated in a singular manner. This marble is spotted all over in various colours; and the imitation is therefore spotted. A ground is laid on of the proper colour, and a brush is dipped into a mixture of vermilion and white, and after being allowed to drain nearly dry, is struck against a piece of wood, by which a sprinkling of small spots falls on the surface. The brush is then dipped into another colour, and a similar process gives a second sprinkling. This is done a third and sometimes a fourth time, according to the colours of the spots in the marble to be imitated. The mica, quartz, and feldspar, in granite, are sometimes roughly imitated by similar means.

Whatever be the kind of marble which is imitated, it is varnished after the marbling is completed, in order both to give it greater durability, and to imitate the beautiful polish which can be imparted to marble.

Gilding, as an Interior Decoration.

Supposing the internal decorations to have proceeded thus far, we may next say a few words about the costly material _gold_, as applied in furtherance of these embellishments. This is only of limited application, and in the better class of houses; but as gilt mouldings frequently form the finishing part of the papering of a room, and as the houses of most persons contain some articles which are gilt, we will give a slight description of the processes followed by the gilder, but without reference to any particular article of _furniture_, since that is a department into which we do not profess to enter.

A _metal gilder_, or _water gilder_, is a different workman from the _carver and gilder_, who gilds various articles of wood or composition. The former lays a thin coating of gold on articles of metal, by means of mercury and of heat, an employment of an extremely unhealthy character. The carver and gilder lays a surface of leaf-gold on ornaments, frames, or mouldings, made of wood, plaster of Paris, papier-maché, or composition.

If the gold were laid on the bare material by any sort of gum or cement, it would not adhere permanently, nor would it have that brilliancy of appearance which the natural lustre of the metal is calculated to produce; above all, that dazzling surface, known as _burnished gold_, could not be so produced. The gilder, therefore, lays on a certain thickness of such substances as experience has taught him will answer the proposed end. There are, doubtless, many substances which would answer for this purpose; but the course which is actually adopted we proceed to describe.

The Process of Burnish-Gilding.

We will take, as an instance, a long piece of the moulding which the paper-hanger applies in the way to which we have alluded. This is cut out to the proper hollow or reeded form by a carpenter, who employs planes suited for the purpose. The wood which he uses is of a kind tolerably free from knots and holes: and when the moulding is ready, it passes into the hands of the gilder. The first thing done is to wash it with a mixture of whiting and parchment-size, made quite hot, and almost as limpid as water. The size used for this and for other purposes required by the gilder, is obtained by boiling cuttings of parchment in water until a stiff jelly is produced.

When the moulding is dry from the application of this preparatory wash, any small holes that may exist are stopped up with putty, and the moulding is ready to receive five or six coatings of a very thick mixture of whiting and size. Those coatings are laid on moderately warm, by means of a brush, each coat being thoroughly dried before the next is applied. By this means the moulding is coated to the thickness of a sixteenth or twelfth of an inch, by which the fine squares and hollows produced by the plane (if there happened to be such in the moulding) would be liable to be stopped up: to prevent this, modelling tools of various forms are drawn along the wet whiting, so as to preserve the original pattern in tolerable condition. The whole surface is then smoothed by small pieces of pumice-stone worked to fit the various parts of the moulding. The stones and the whiting being kept constantly wetted, and the former worked steadily over the latter, a smooth and even surface is attained.

When the moulding is dry after this smoothing process, it is further smoothed with sand or glass paper, and is then coated with five or six layers of _burnish gold size_. This is a very peculiar composition of suet, black lead, clay, parchment-size, and other ingredients, mixed to a stiff consistency. These successive coats or layers are well dried after each application; and after one or two other processes by which the gold size is rendered smooth, the moulding is ready to receive the leaf gold.

Gold, in the form in which it is thus used, is one of the thinnest substances which the art of man has ever prepared in a solid form, since it would require more than a quarter of a million of the small sheets into which it is beaten, to make a pile _one inch_ in thickness. A solid piece of gold is rolled into the form of a ribbon by means of a flatting-mill: and the gold-beater then reduces it to the thickness--or rather thinness--to which we have alluded, by means of hammering.

The gilder receives this leaf gold in the form of sheets or leaves about three inches square, inclosed between the leaves of a small book. He blows out some of these leaves on a leather cushion surrounded by a parchment border on three sides; this border, is to prevent the gold from being blown away, the fourth side being left open for the future proceedings of the workman. The gilder supports the cushion on his left hand, and with a knife in the other, he takes up one of the leaves of gold, and by dexterous management, spreads it out smoothly on the cushion. He then considers the width of the moulding, (which is laid before him,) and determines how he can best cut up the leaf of gold so as to adapt the pieces to the width of the moulding:--if for instance a slip one inch in width will cover the width of the moulding, he cuts the leaf into three equal pieces. He is next provided with a flat camel-hair brush, called a _tip_, the hairs of which are from one to two inches in length, and laid parallel with great regularity.

His tools being thus ready, he wets a small portion of the moulding by means of a camel-hair pencil dipped in water, and, taking the _tip_ in his right hand, he lays the hairs on one of the slips of gold, which slightly adheres to it. This slip of gold he transfers to the moulding, where it instantly adheres by means of the water with which the latter is wetted. Another portion is wetted in a similar manner, and another slip of gold laid on, one end of which is made to lap a little way over the one first laid on. A third slip is now laid on in a similar manner; and by this time the first leaf of gold is all used. A second is therefore laid out smooth by means of the knife,--cut into three pieces,--and laid on the moulding as before. This process continues until the moulding has been gilt in its whole extent. We may remark, that the moulding is placed in an inclined position, the higher end being first gilt: this is done in order that the water should gradually flow off from beneath the pieces of gold after they are laid on, to facilitate the drying.

When the gold--or rather the wetted gold size which is beneath it--has attained a certain degree of dryness known only by experience, and which occurs in a time varying from one to twelve hours according to the state of the atmosphere, the gold is _burnished_ by means of a burnisher made of flint, agate, or bone. This, if carefully done, produces a brilliant gloss, but could not be at all attained without the layers of whiting and gold size under the gold. Sometimes a portion of the moulding is preferred, for relief and contrast, to be left dead or _matt_, as it is termed. In this case the burnisher is not used; but the gold, after it is dried, is merely secured by a thin clear cement or varnish of parchment size.

The Process of Oil-Gilding.

Sometimes no burnishing at all is required, while a degree of durability which cannot be conveniently obtained with burnish-gilding is desired. In this case the moulding is gilt in _oil gold_, by a process differing in many respects from that which we have mentioned.

For oil-gilding a ground of whiting and size is required, as in burnish-gilding, but not in so great quantity. After the application of a few coats of whiting and size, the moulding is smoothed in the manner before described; and in some cases a few coats of burnish gold size are applied, but not always. The next process is to wash the moulding with two or three coatings of strong size, by which it acquires a gloss somewhat similar to that produced by varnish, and which has the effect of preventing the absorption of the substance next employed.

The moulding is now ready to receive the _oil gold size_, which is an exceedingly smooth mixture of ochre and oil. This is laid on in a stratum as thin and smooth as possible; and after being set aside for some hours, it acquires a peculiar degree of clamminess between wet and dry; when it is ready to receive the coating of gold. The gold is blown into the cushion, spread out, cut into slips, taken up by the tip, and applied to the work, in the same manner as in burnish-gilding; but the moulding is not wetted with water, the partially dry oil gold size serving that purpose. The gold is, in this case, pressed down into the hollows and crevices of the moulding, by means of a piece of cotton wool; and when the whole is gilt, a soft brush is lightly applied, by which the gold is worked into small depressions, which it would not otherwise have reached, and the superfluous gold is rubbed off. The gold is now left as it is, or is washed with transparent size, or receives a coat of varnish. In either case it becomes in a short time so far hardened as to be susceptible of washing without being rubbed off.

Gilding Enriched Ornaments.

The description which has been given of the process with reference to the mouldings used by the paper-hanger will also apply to most other articles with which the gilder is concerned. But in proportion to the elaborate nature of the article must be the care bestowed by the gilder. This particularly applies in the case of an elegant carved looking-glass frame.

The richly ornamented frames, window-cornices, mouldings, &c., which form a great part of the work of the gilder, are in general not carved in wood, but are cast in moulds, and are made of a tough and durable composition formed principally of glue and whiting. The ornaments, when cast, are fixed on wood frame-work or foundation, and in that state pass into the hands of the gilder. His mode of treating them is somewhat different from that required by a straight plain piece of moulding:--the material itself does not require so many layers of whiting and size as those articles which are made wholly of wood; and the difficulty of smoothing intricate and ornamental surfaces renders many precautions necessary.

Sometimes the cornice of a room, or a portion of it, and also the central ornament of the ceiling, are gilt. This is generally done in oil gold; and as the material of which they are made, viz., plaster of Paris, very much resembles whiting, scarcely any of the last-mentioned substance is required to be applied by the gilder.

We may here state, in connexion with what has been said about gilt mouldings for rooms, that the paper-hanger fixes them to the wall by means of broken needles, or headless brittle needles made for the purpose. The pieces of moulding are cut to the required length, and mitred, so as to join accurately at the corner; after which they are fastened to the wall by driving in some of the needles at distances of two or three feet.