|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 6
PAINTING JAPAN WORK.
Japan work should be painted with real "enamel paints," that is with
paints actually ground in varnish, and in that case all pigments may
be used and the peculiar disadvantages, which attend several pigments
with respect to oil or water, cease with this class of vehicle, for
they are secured by it when properly handled from the least danger of
changing or fading. The preparation of pigments for this purpose
consists in bringing them to a due state of fineness by grinding them
on a stone with turpentine. The best varnish for binding and
preserving the pigments is shellac. This, when judiciously handled,
gives such a firmness and hardness to the work that, if it be
afterwards further secured with a moderately thick coat of seed-lac
varnish, it will be almost as hard and durable as glass. The method of
painting in varnish is, however, far more tedious than with an oil or
water vehicle. It is, therefore, now very usual in japan work for the
sake of dispatch, and in some cases in order to be able to use the
pencil (brush) more freely, to apply the colours in an oil vehicle
well diluted with turps. This oil (or japanners' gold size) may be
made thus: Take 1 lb. of linseed oil and 4 oz. of gum anime, set the
oil in a proper vessel and then add the gum anime powder, stirring it
well until the whole is mixed with the oil. Let the mixture continue
to boil until it appears of a thick consistence, then strain the whole
through a coarse cloth and keep it for use. The pigments are also
sometimes applied in a gum-water vehicle, but work so done, it has
been urged, is not nearly so durable as that done in varnish or oil.
However, those who formerly condemned the practice of japanning
water-coloured decorations allowed that amateurs, who practised
japanning for their amusement only and thus might not find it
convenient to stock the necessary preparations for the other methods,
might paint with water-colours. If the pigments are ground in an
aqueous vehicle of strong isinglass size and honey instead of gum
water the work would not be much inferior to that executed with other
vehicles. Water-colours are sometimes applied on a ground of gold
after the style of other paintings, and sometimes so as to produce an
embossed effect. The pigments in this style of painting are ground in
a vehicle of isinglass size corrected with honey or sugar-candy. The
body with which the embossed work is raised is best formed of strong
gum water thickened to a proper consistency with armenian bole and
whiting in equal parts, which, being laid on in the proper figures and
repaired when dry, may be then painted with the intended pigments in
the vehicle of isinglass size or in the general manner with shellac
varnish. As to the comparative value of pigments ground in water and
ground in oil, that is between oil-colours and water-colours in
enamelling and japanning, there seems to have been a change of opinion
for some time back, especially as regards the enamelling of slate. The
marbling of slate (to be enamelled) in water-colours is a process
which Mr. Dickson says well repays study. It is greatly developed in
France and Germany. The process is a quick one and the pigments are
said to stand well and to maintain their pristine hue, yet if many
strikingly natural effects result from the use of this process, its
use has not spread in Great Britain, being confined wholly and solely
to the marbling of slate (except in the case of wall-paper which is
water-marbled in a somewhat similar way).
"In painting in oil-colour," says Mr. Dickson, "the craftsman trusts
largely to his badger-hair brush to produce his effects of softness
and marbly appearance; but in painting in water-colours, this
softness, depth, and marbly appearance are produced mostly by the
colour placed upon the surface, and left entirely untouched by badger
or any other brush. The colour drying quickly, does not allow much
time for working, and when dry it cannot be touched without spoiling
the whole of the work. The difference first of all between painting in
water and in oil colour, is that a peculiar grain exists with painting
in water that it is absolutely impossible to get in oil. The charm of
a marble is, I think, its translucency as much as its beautiful
colour; it is to that translucency (for in marble fixed we have no
transparency) that it owes its softness of effect, which makes marble
of such decorative value. This translucency can only be obtained by
thin glazes of colour, by which means each succeeding glaze only
partly covers the previous one, the character of the marble being thus
produced. This is done sometimes in oil-colour in a marvellous manner,
but even the best of oil-painting in marble cannot stand the
comparison of water-colour, and it is only by comparison that any
accurate judgment can be formed of any work. The production of marbles
in water-colour has a depth, softness, and stoniness that defies
oil-painting, and in some cases will defy detection unless by an
expert of marbles. It may be that first of all the materials employed
are more in keeping with the real material, as no oil enters into the
composition of real marble, and by using the medium of water we thus
start better, but the real secret is that by using water as a medium
the colours take an entirely different effect. In painting in
water-colour greys of any tint or strength can be obtained suitable
for the production of a marble of greyish ground, by pure white,
tinted as required, being applied of different thicknesses of colour,
all the modulations of tone being obtained by the difference in the
thickness of the colour applied."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|