by Lina Beard
When making casts of long objects, or those that are larger at one end than the other, such as vases, always lay them on one side, as a much better mould can be obtained in that way.
I have read that if milk-and-water is used for mixing the plaster, or, after the cast has hardened, if a little oil, in which wax has been dissolved, be applied to the surface, it will take a high polish; and if left for a while in a smoky room it will acquire the look of old ivory.
The same writer also states, without giving the proportions, that liquid gum-arabic and sufficient alum in solution, mixed and put into the slip or soft plaster, will make the cast so hard that it can be set as a panel in a cabinet.
The dead white of plaster-casts is frequently objected to when they are wanted for ornaments; but that difficulty is easily overcome by mixing dry colors with the plaster before wetting it.
Fig. 171
Fig. 172
A small quantity of yellow ochre will make the plaster creamy or ivory-like; brown will give a wood color, and red a terra-cotta.
Plaster-casts can also be bronzed with gold, red, or green bronze, which makes quite handsome ornaments of them. A plaster panel in bass-relief, bronzed with gold bronze and mounted on black or dark-colored velvet, is an exceedingly rich wall decoration.
To mount a panel of this kind you must first secure a smooth, flat piece of board, not more than half an inch thick, and just large enough to allow about four inches of the background to show all around the panel when it is mounted. Cover the board with velvet or velveteen, bringing it smoothly over the edges, and tacking it down at the back. Fasten on it a small brass hook. Fig. 171 is the best kind to use, which is tacked to the board with small, brass tacks.
Make a ring or loop for hanging the panel in this way:
Take a piece of wire about three inches long, form a small loop in the middle, and give the wire several twists; then bend the ends out on each side.
Scrape a narrow place in the top edge of the panel, just long enough to admit the wire, and about half an inch deep; then place the wire in this little ditch and fill up the hole to the top with soft plaster. When this hardens the ring will be quite secure. Fig. 172.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHINA PAINTING.
CERTAINLY you can paint on china; have confidence, and do not hesitate because you may never have studied art, but select the china you wish to decorate and we will go to work. First, take what is needed for present use from the following
List of Materials.
PALETTE.
A common square, white china tile is the best palette for mineral colors; but in case you have no tile, an old white plate will answer the purpose.
BRUSHES.
These are of camel’s-hair, Figs. 173 and 174, are broad and flat, and are used in placing the color on the china when the surface is to be tinted. Fig. 175 is for blending the color after it is on the china; it is called a blender, and is useful where borders and surfaces are to be tinted. Figs. 176 and 178 are for general use. Fig. 177, with its long, slender point, is for gilding, another similar brush is needed for India-ink. Mark the two brushes in some way to distinguish them one from the other, and never use either for any paint except that for which it is intended. Fig. 179 is a stipple for blending the colors when painting a face, a fish, the sky of a landscape, or wherever delicate, fine blending is needed.
To clean the brushes after using: dip them in turpentine and wipe off the paint on a cotton cloth, repeating the operation until the brushes are perfectly clean; then dip them in fat oil, and bring them out smooth to a fine point. Do not allow the brushes to become bent over, if the box is not long enough for them to lie out straight, remove the quills from the wooden handles and they can easily be replaced when needed. Should the brushes seem a little stiff at the next painting, immerse them in turpentine; this will make them soft and pliable.
Fig. 173
Fig. 174
Fig. 175
Fig. 176
Fig. 177
Fig. 178
Fig. 179
Brushes for Ohina Painting (about one-half actual size).
To save the expensive gold paint, the gilder should be kept exclusively for gilding, and need not be cleaned, as it will not be injured if the hairs are carefully straightened out and the brush put away with the gold.
KNIVES.
Fig. 180 is a horn palette-knife for mixing Lacroix white, the yellows, and all such colors as are injured by contact with metal. It is the only knife used with the mat paints for Royal Worcester decoration. Fig. 181 is a steel palette-knife for general use. Fig. 182 is a steel scraper for removing paint from the china when necessary. Always clean the knives after mixing one color, before using them for another.
Fig. 180
Horn Palette-knife.
Fig. 181
Steel Palette-knife.
Fig. 182
Steel Scraper.
(Reduced sizes.)
PAD.
This is made of a ball of cotton tied in a piece of soft lining-silk, fine linen, or cotton-cloth (Fig. 183) and is used for tinting.
THE PAINTS
Fig. 183
Printer’s Pad.
are Lacroix’s colors; they come in tubes and should be squeezed out on the palette and used as in oil painting, with a little turpentine and fat oil when desired. To moisten the colors while painting dip your brush, carefully, without shaking or moving it around, into the turpentine or oil, and then in the color. Allow the paint to lie on the palette as it comes from the tube, except when two colors are mixed, or when using the stipple for blending one tint with another, or when tinting, then the paint must be mixed and rubbed down with oil and turpentine. Keep the colors in a cool place, and when returning them to the box, after you have finished painting, do not lay them back on the same side. Always remember to turn them over so that the color will not separate from the oil. If you are careful and follow these hints, your colors will keep in a good condition. We would advise you to purchase the paints as they are needed, thereby avoiding all unnecessary expenditure.
OILS.
Fat oil is for general use in painting. Clove oil is used in its place when two or more tints are to be blended together, as in painting a face, etc. Capavia oil is always mixed with the colors for grounding.
TURPENTINE
is in constant demand in china painting. It is used with all the different oils, paints, bronzes, and gilt, and should be poured in a small cup or any little vessel, and kept convenient while painting.
TAR PASTE
comes in bottles, and is used to take the color off of tinted backgrounds, in order to leave a clean surface of the china in which to paint the design in different colors. The paste should be rubbed down smooth on the tile with the palette-knife; if it is too hard, a little tar oil may be added. A small brush is best to use for the paste in covering the design you wish to wash out; but be very careful to keep within the outlines, for this mixture will take off the color wherever it touches. When the tint is light the paste may be wiped off in a few moments; but when it is dark, the paste must be allowed to remain on for perhaps hours before the paint will be sufficiently softened to remove.
Use small balls of raw cotton-batting in wiping off the paste, and take a fresh piece for every stroke. If any of the tar paste is left on the tile after using, scrape it off with your palette-knife, and return it to the bottle.
MAT GOLD
is for gilding, and can be either burnished or highly polished. It comes on a little square of glass inclosed in a box. This gold can also be used as solid ornamentation or for delicate tracery, and is sometimes used over colors, greens excepted, but is then never so bright as when on the plain white china.
The gold is prepared for painting on a tile kept expressly for the purpose, and which must not be used for any other paint. Place some of the gold on the palette with your palette-knife, and mix a little turpentine with it by dipping your palette-knife in the turpentine and rubbi
ng down the gold with the turpentine on the knife. If more is needed, again dip your knife in the liquid, and do so as often as it is necessary; but you must use the utmost care not to have the gold too thin; gild with it as stiff as it can be smoothly applied.
Should any gold remain on the palette after the gilding is finished, mix in a little turpentine and scrape it all up with your palette-knife, then replace the gold on the square of glass.
Silver is used the same as gold.
The bronzes are for handles and conventional flowers or figures; they are rich and pleasing in effect.
PURE GOLD
cannot be employed for gilding plain white china. It also comes on a little square of glass and is used for gilding over colors. It can be applied over any mineral paint or relief, and may be polished or burnished as desired.
This gold is mixed with turpentine, for use in the same manner as mat gold.
RELIEF.
The best is mat relief, which comes in a powder, and is used for both tube and mat colors. It is prepared by mixing with a very little fat oil and turpentine, and should be applied stiff enough to make a raised line. It is useful where a small raised surface is desired, as on the edge of a leaf or the petals of flowers. A fish-net is much more effective if the gilt be put on over the relief. Should the relief dry and become too stiff while using, soften it from time to time with a little turpentine, always using the horn knife for mixing, as the steel knife should never be used with the relief, and the relief must always be fired before the gilt is applied.
Enamel white can be mixed with delicate tints, turpentine, and a very little fat oil for raised flowers; or the white alone may be used for pearls, imitation of lace, or embroidery, but its use is limited and it will not stand two firings, so should always be the last paint applied.
MAT COLORS
are for Royal Worcester decorations. They come in powders, and when mixed with a little oil and turpentine are used in the same way as the Lacroix tube paints.
BOX FOR MATERIALS.
Select a light wooden box, or one of strong pasteboard; have the box of a convenient size to contain all your painting materials.
PIECES OF SOFT, OLD MUSLIN,
torn in different sizes, and plenty of them, are very essential for cleaning brushes and rubbing paint off the tile or china; the demand for clean pieces will be constant while painting.
CHINA.
Have this of the very finest French ware, without spots or other imperfections of the surface, and never attempt to decorate china after it has been used, for it seldom proves satisfactory.
A Monochrome Painting.
For this we will need a tile, a pad, a broad flat brush (Fig. 173), some turpentine, capavia, two tubes of paint—one copper-water green, the other brown green—a palette-knife, and some pieces of cotton cloth. Now be sure your china is perfectly clean and dry, then mix your copper-water green for
Tinting.
Place enough color on your palette to cover the entire surface to be tinted; dip your palette-knife in the capavia oil and tap it off the knife on the tile; in the same way place turpentine on the tile with the oil, and use your palette-knife to thoroughly mix the paint, oil, and turpentine. If the mixture seems too stiff add a little more oil and turpentine, but be careful not to have the paint too thin so that it will run; test its consistency with a brush on a clean place on the tile.
As a rule, the proportions for tinting should be five drops of paint to three of capavia, mixed with a little turpentine.
The paint being prepared, take the flat brush and begin to paint; rapidly cover the entire surface with color. Then go over the tinting with a pad, touching lightly and gently, not letting the pad rest a moment on the paint, nor touching it twice in the same place in succession. Continue going over and over it until the grounding is even and of a uniform tint. Then set the china away to dry, in a safe place, where it will be free from dust. Always make a fresh pad every time you tint, and a separate one for each color used, as a pad cannot do service more than once.
All tinted grounds and borders are made in this way, the capavia oil and turpentine being mixed with any of the grounding colors you may wish to use. Tinting is very easily and quickly done; but should anything happen to spot or mar the evenness of the grounding, the paint must all be washed off with turpentine, and the china tinted over again.
When your green-tinted china is perfectly dry, gather some maple leaves and with the brown-green paint try a
New Method of Decorating China.
The leaves must be free from dust and moisture and perfectly fresh. Place a small quantity of paint on the palette, do not mix the paint with oil or turpentine, but rub it down well on the tile as it comes from the tube; make the paint perfectly smooth, now press a small clean pad down lightly, lifting and again pressing until the paint is smoothly distributed on the pad; next select a leaf and place it face or right side downward on a piece of folded newspaper, then press the pad down on the under side of the leaf, which is now lying upward, repeating the operation until the leaf is sufficiently covered with paint. This done, carefully place the leaf painted side downward on the china, over it lay a piece of common wrapping-paper, and rub your finger gently all over the covered leaf. Then remove the outside paper and very carefully take up the leaf, when an exact impress of the natural leaf will be printed on the china. Repeat the operation with another leaf either larger or smaller, and still another, using as many as you wish; connect the leaves to a central branch by making the stems and branch in the same color with a small paint-brush. To do this paint a long line for the branch and other smaller ones for the stems of the leaves. Set the china away to dry, and it will be ready for firing. Very pretty effects may be secured by using two shades of one color for the tinting and designs. First tint the china, and when it is perfectly dry, ornament it with the same paint in the manner described, making the ground of a lighter tint than the decorations. The colors of fall leaves can be used on white china, or you may make the combinations and designs of whatever is most pleasing.
It is well to have some idea of what your decoration is to be like before commencing with the leaves. If you desire a spray, try to place the leaves as they are on the natural spray, or as represented in some picture taken for a guide. The prints also look well used in a conventional style. As any kind of leaves or grasses that will print can be employed, your decorations will always be original and true to nature.
Flowers are more difficult to print, yet when the impressions are successful they are very beautiful.
You will find this new idea an interesting method of ornamenting china, while the decorations may be made in much less time than is usually required. The style is suitable for dinner-sets, vases, tiles, plaques, and lamps, and it requires no knowledge of drawing or painting to decorate china in this simple yet effective manner.
Tracing.
Lay a piece of tracing-paper over the design to be copied and trace the outlines very carefully with a hard lead-pencil. Then have your china perfectly clean and dry, and give it a wash all over with a clean cotton cloth wet with clear turpentine. Place a piece of red transfer-paper on the china, and having determined exactly where you wish the design, lay the tracing-paper over the transfer-paper on the space for decoration. Use bits of gummed paper on the corners of the transfer- and tracing-paper to hold them in place, and carefully go over the lines with a lead-pencil, remove the papers, and the design will be clearly outlined on the ware. Now rub a little India-ink on a common individual butter-plate of white china, and using a fine brush, very carefully paint over the red marks with the India-ink, making your lines as distinct and delicate as possible. When this is finished, again wash the china with turpentine to remove any of the red coloring which may be apparent on its surface. Thus prepared the design can be painted, or the china may first be tinted and allowed to dry, when the outlines will be plainly visible through the tinting, and the color can be removed from the design with tar paste. Use t
he scraper to take the grounding off of minute spaces. For those skilled in drawing it will not be necessary to trace the design, as it can readily be sketched on the china with a lead-pencil after the ware has first received a coat of turpentine, and when tinted the decoration can be drawn on after the grounding has thoroughly dried, and the color may be removed as before.
Mottled Grounds.
Prepare the paint as for tinting, only make it more moist, and dab it lightly over the china by means of a piece of cotton cloth on the end of your finger; this will give the china a mottled appearance which in some cases is preferred to the plain grounding.
Snow Landscape.
We will take for example Fig. 184.
After tracing the design, paint a streak across the sky, just back and a little above the trees, with carnation No. 1 mixed with clove oil and turpentine, then another narrow streak above it of a lighter shade, and another still lighter of the same color, allowing each tint to meet. Next mix light sky-blue with clove oil and turpentine, and paint as deep a tint as it will make across the sky at the top of the plate, graduating it down to the red; use the stipple immediately while the paint is wet to blend the colors and tints; this finished, make the reflections on the ice, beginning with carnation No. 1 for the ice nearest the castle, and ending near the bottom of the plate with the deepest shade of light sky-blue, using the colors mixed for the sky. Paint the foliage in the background with neutral gray and sky-blue mixed with turpentine and fat oil for the darker tones, and turquoise-blue with neutral gray, turpentine and fat oil for the lighter parts, also for shading the darker portions of the snow. Then take brown No. 4 as it comes from the tube, with a little turpentine when necessary, for the shading of the trees in the foreground, the outlining of the castle, and the tufts of grass and edges of the ice in places where the copy requires it.