CHAPTER V.
THE APPLICATION OF COLORS TO SURFACES.--GREENS--BLUES--REDS--YELLOWS--BROWNS--BLACKS--WHITE.
The greens comprise a class of colors many of which are leaders in popularity as panel colors on heavy pleasure vehicles, such as landaus, broughams, rockaways, etc. Nearly all the greens are used as solid colors, requiring no specially prepared ground work color. The ease, however, with which solidity and density of color is obtained upon a surface is greatly overshadowed by the difficulty--the extreme difficulty, perhaps I should say--of applying most of the fine carriage greens now fashionable. Such greens as olive, Quaker, Brewster, and Merrimac green, individually and collectively favorites, require very deft and painstaking manipulation in the cup and under the brush in order to insure workman-like results. Probably olive green manifests the most pronounced disposition to assert the strength of some one or more of its color constituents independently and to the detriment of the remaining ones. To overcome this difficulty, the color in the cup should be stirred frequently after having been mixed thoroughly when in preparation for the surface. In applying greens to the surface--and this statement is intended to cover the entire list of greens used in carriage and wagon painting--cross brushing at the final conclusion of laying off the color may well be avoided. The tendency of cross brushing at the ends of a panel is to show two or more different shades of the same green. The rule holds good, when using the greens, to adhere to thorough methods of mixing, to keep the color well stirred in the cup, and to desist from cross brushing at the extremities of the panels in finishing up.
These characteristics so conspicuously developed as opportunity offers have prompted a majority of carriage painters and colorists in our best shops to use most of the greens employed on fine carriage surfaces in the capacity of flat color coats (two coats in nearly all cases covering solid) and then applying clear rubbing varnish, thus doing away with the color-and-varnish coats altogether. The greens which are used as glazing colors comprise ultramarine green, verdigris, and transparent bronze green.
THE BLUES.
Next to the greens in popularity as fine panel colors come the blues, ultramarine blue ranking as the most widely used of the various varieties. The elegance and aristocratic effects obtained by the employment of ultramarine blue are secured only by the development of a ground work free from imperfections. As a matter of fact, the successful use of almost every coach color, whether used as a glazing color or otherwise, is contingent upon the quality of the ground color and upon such a harmonious assimilation of the different coats as will promote the greatest elasticity and permanence. Of the ultramarine blue there are three shades, light, medium, and dark. Most color manufacturers prepare and sell ground colors adapted to the different shades of the blue, the ultramarine being invariably used as a color-and-varnish or glazing coat. Nevertheless, it is often necessary, even if not desirable, to shop prepare the ground color for the ultramarine blues when wanted.
For the light shade of ultramarine blue, Prussian blue and a superior grade of white lead are so combined as to produce a blue of good depth and body, unusual care being taken to have the blue and white thoroughly united and beaten into one indivisible pigment. If keg lead be used in making the ground, the oil should be first completely washed out of the pigment with benzine or turpentine, and varnish, instead of oil, be employed as the color binder. This practice provides for sure and reliable drying of the ground color. The ground for the medium ultramarine blue may be made of the ingredients above stated, the color being simply adjusted to a deeper shade of blue, more blue and less white being used in the admixture. In both the light and the medium, the ground color should approximate the glaze color and enhance the richness of effect. For the dark shade of ultramarine blue, a coat of lampblack furnishes a most excellent and effective ground color.
Probably the richest effect in blue is furnished by glazing ultramarine blue over a ground of very deep green. Transparent cobalt blue, a glaze color always, requires a ground of Prussian blue and white. Body cobalt is used as a solid color, and for a panel color on traps, breaks, and vehicles of that order it produces admirable and fetching effects. The glaze colors are best used in a flowing medium of elastic rubbing varnish, especially when body surfaces are being coated, and the brushes adapted to applying such colors are the 1-1/2-inch and the 2-inch badger flowing brush or a soft, half-elastic bristle brush suited to the size of the panels being coated.
REDS, WINES, AND OTHER COLORS OF THE RED ORDER.
For warmth and brilliancy of color effects, carmine among a long list of gorgeous reds, is without a rival. Carmine is a glaze color exclusively, and the splendor of its radiance is governed entirely by the ground color. Carmine, along with its near relatives of the red order, has a decided tendency to fade, flake, and chip off. The ground color, therefore, must, in addition to being faultless in color density and surface features, be possessed of great enduring qualities. It may be accepted as a rule worthy of practice that the ground colors for the general order of reds should be mixed with a binder of varnish sufficiently strong to impart to them when dry at least a faint gloss--an egg-shell gloss, if it please my community of readers. A ground so prepared is fortified to counteract the fading and flaking properties of such of the reds as are used as glaze colors.
To secure a first-class job of light carmine, bring the surface up level and smooth, and then apply a coat of peach-blow color, made of white and some one of the ordinary reds. Over this apply a coat of deep English vermilion, using the vermilion stoutly charged with rubbing varnish. Polish this coat, when dry, with curled hair and apply a second coat of the vermilion, adding a sufficiency of varnish to convert the mixture to the color-and-varnish class. At the proper time this coat should, preferably, be rubbed lightly with pumice stone and water. Next apply a coat of clear rubbing varnish, which in due time also demands rubbing with pulverized pumice stone and water. Then to rubbing varnish, elastic or quick, hard drying, as the size of the surface may dictate, add enough of No. 40 carmine to fully stain the liquid, say 3/4 of an ounce of carmine to one full pint of varnish (many first-class painters use 1/2 oz. carmine to 1 pint of varnish), and apply to the surface, be it body or gear, with a soft badger or bristle brush. For a less expensive job, omit the coat of clear rubbing varnish and apply the carmine directly to the vermilion.
A method easier to carry into execution in painting a carmine job consists in adding a little carmine to the last coat of vermilion color-and-varnish. This coat is rubbed with curled hair; then carmine is added to varnish, as in the first method, after which a _small_ quantity of vermilion is put in to give the mixture opacity or covering power. Clouding and such other incidental imperfections to be considered in connection with the work of one not really an expert in the manipulation of glaze colors, is thereby avoided. For a darker carmine, use a ground of flamingo red, carmine red (a solid color), road-cart red, Kalliston red, or permanent scarlet, dark shade, the latter color requiring a light vermilion ground.
In applying carmine to wheels, it is advisable to flow the whole wheel at once, instead of doing them in sections, as by this practice a cleaner, clearer, and more satisfactory job is secured. For the gear, do the whole of one end of it before wiping up, then the final end, finishing with the reach and side bars, if there be side bars. To obtain the real purple and fine linen of carmine effects, the color-and-varnish requires to be flowed on freely and quickly, and promptly slicked up. Pottering and sectional patching up invites inferior results.
The vermilions, of which there is at present quite a formidable list, ranging from the glaring light shades to the glowing dark ones, all bespeak carefully prepared and durable grounds, if satisfactory wearing and appearing qualities are to be attained. Vermilions may properly, it would seem, be classed among the fugitive colors, and their retention of purity of color is therefore dependent upon the grounds employed to support them. As previously stated, a peach-blow color forms a good ground for vermilion. It should be made to dry with an egg-shell gloss so as to overcome the fading propensity of the vermilion. Then let the first coat of vermilion have a decided gloss. The final coat of vermilion is placed as color-and-varnish. Linseed oil should not be used in vermilion, as it darkens the color and destroys its brilliancy. Ditto japan.
The large class of modern reds known under such alluring titles as C. P. red, flamingo red, brilliant coach red, Ottoman red, Kalliston red, etc., are usually applied over ground colors specially supplied by the manufacturer. With but few exceptions, such reds are used in this way: One coat of color, one coat of color-and-varnish, "dead," or lustreless, coats being carefully avoided.
Indian red in at least two distinct shades, pale and deep, and Tuscan red in three shades are largely used for running parts and panel colors on certain _fin de siecle_ pleasure vehicles, and they are painted as solid colors, one coat flat color and one coat color-and-varnish.
In wagon painting, wine colors in half a dozen shades are used. They also need the supporting strength of very stable grounds. Indian red and Tuscan red, of shades suited to the shades of the wine color afford excellent ground colors. If ample time be at the command of the painter, mix these grounds with a binder of raw linseed oil. For hurried work, use a binder of varnish.
Among carriage painters generally, the lakes have never been classed as strictly permanent pigments. At the same time, in the creed of modern carriage and wagon painting they are indispensable. Of those probably the best known in the vehicle paint shop, may be mentioned maroon lake, Munich, carriage part, permanent scarlet, scarlet, red, English rose lake, purple lake, carmine lake, and crimson lake.
Maroon lake is best glazed over a deep Tuscan red ground; Munich lake over extra deep Tuscan red or lampblack; carriage part lake over the same ground as Munich; permanent scarlet over vermilion; scarlet lake over light vermilion; red lake over pale Tuscan red; English rose lake over extra deep Tuscan red; purple lake over a ground made of Tuscan red and Prussian blue. Carmine lake furnishes many of the gleaming and beautiful effects of No. 40 carmine when used over such grounds as are best adapted to genuine carmine. Crimson lake is used over vermilion grounds and furnishes a color of great warmth and richness.
It is advisable, when perfecting the ground for the lakes, to add to the last coat of ground color some of the lake to be used over it, as a mellowing, toning ingredient. The non-elastic quality of the lakes suggests the use of elastic rubbing varnish when preparing the lake color-and-varnish. This will impart elasticity and adhesiveness.
THE YELLOWS.
Among the yellows are many delicate shades which require strong basic color coats to support them properly. In the painting of a yellow surface, be it of the most delicate or the most powerful shade of yellow, the initial coats of color may very correctly be white. Have the surface smooth and clean, and if it be the running parts of the vehicle, and the priming coat is already on, mix the keg lead in, say one-half raw linseed oil and one-half turpentine, using a teaspoonful of coach japan to each pint of the paint. Apply this coat with an oval bristle brush. When dry, sand off lightly with No. 1 paper, putty with white putty wherever necessary, doing the work so smoothly as to require no sanding, and then with a camel's-hair brush apply a second coat of the white containing a strong binder of oil and thinned to a free working consistency with "turps." Over this ground most of the yellows can be brought to the proper depth and density of color with two coats of color and one coat of color-and-varnish. This for the running parts. Upon body surfaces having a roughstuff base, wash the keg white lead free of oil with benzine or turps, adding a binder of rubbing varnish, and apply two coats of the white with a two-inch camel's-hair brush, polishing each coat with clean curled hair. Then apply the yellow, using the final coat in the capacity of color-and-varnish. There is economy of time, labor, and pigment in using a white ground for yellow. Moreover, the natural bleaching propensity of the yellows is distinctly checked through the agency of a white ground. All colors in light shades evince a natural tendency to darken as they fade and lose their original purity of tone. The white ground operates to overcome this tendency, to arrest this deepening process, to hold the yellow to its true color; and it does this by reason of the fact that it offers the yellow a white base instead of a positive, assertive one, to strike through. In other words, the yellow, as it responds to the process of drying, is influenced by the lighter color beneath, the one counteracting the other.
That renowned French authority on coach painting, M. Arlot, is upon record as advising primary coats of white lead as a base for yellows. The writer has personal knowledge of the value of white basic coats for the numerous family of colors in question, and therefore strongly advises their employment. Primrose, canary, and sulphur yellow are among the most fashionable of the pale yellows and require careful working out under the brush. With the yellows must be considered yellow lake. This is used only as a glaze color. Put over the solid greens, it gives to them depth and richness. Placed over Brewster green, for example, it renders a particularly elegant effect. Put over many of the brilliant reds, it imparts a fine and exquisite effect.
THE BROWNS.
In business vehicle painting, the browns receive consideration. Vandyke brown, a warm brown color inclining to a reddish hue, can be used for one coat of color and one coat of color-and-varnish. If desired, a first, or ground, color can be made of drop black, yellow, and red. A close imitation of this famous brown can, in fact, be made of the three colors just named.
Vienna brown, a justly and widely esteemed color for vehicle bodies, is a warm, rich brown and requires a ground color of deep, Indian red. Over this ground apply one coat of color and one of color-and-varnish. This brown is obtainable in two shades, light and deep. London smoke, a much used running part color, is painted solid color--one coat color, one coat color-and-varnish. Burnt Italian sienna and burnt Turkey umber are likewise painted solid colors. As a whole, the browns, as colors, are easily applied to the surface and may be classed as good wearing colors.
BLACKS.
In carriage painting, the black surface fairly reigns supreme. At first thought, the painting of a fine black surface would seem to involve a very common turn of trade craft. It involves, in the largest sense, a high grade of workmanship, rather than a common one, this painting of the black surface. Coach black ground in japan, in which state the carriage painter gets it, should have a binder of varnish, instead of oil, and should be thinned with turps so as to spread freely under a camel's-hair brush and to flat out to a fine, soft, velvety texture. Easy working, without brush marks, is a paramount virtue, regardless of the opacity or covering power of the black. A high grade ivory black is less opaque, and consequently covers less solidly, coat for coat, than does the cheaper, but less lustrous, black. Hence, the covering power of a color can never be accepted as a safe guide to direct the thinning of said color. To make the highest quality of black to cover as solidly at one coat as an inferior grade of black at one coat might, would necessitate using the best black so thick as to invite a disastrous sweep of brush marks. More and thinner coats of color, minus brush marks, are preferable to fewer and heavier coats with brush marks in plenty.
Black color-and-varnish, a popular coating up and surfacing material for vehicle bodies and running parts, is best used upon all the lighter grade of bodies by tipping them so that the side panels at least present a flat, upturned surface, the device, Fig. 9, in Chapter I. of this work, being used effectively for holding such bodies in position. The half elastic brush, flat and chisel pointed, is the most available tool for flowing the color-and-varnish on bodies. For applying the black color-and-varnish to running parts, the camel's-hair flowing brush is an easy and fine working tool and is principally used for that purpose in many foremost carriage paint shops. Like all color-and-varnish, the black variety should be furnished with a ground free from defects, and should be used simply for the enrichment of that ground, to give it depth, density, and an intense jet black color. Such an achievement is impossible through the agency of color coats and clear rubbing varnish coats, pure and simple.
WHITE.
The application of white to a surface and the development of a solid white job thereby is certainly one of the highly skilled features of the trade. The most fitting reference to white would seem to be best made by describing the method used in painting and finishing a vehicle surface in white.
First clean the wood thoroughly, removing all stains, discolorations, etc. Then carefully brush on a coat of raw linseed oil. Seek to have a uniform film of the oil over all parts of the surface. When the surface is ready to recoat, make sure by a careful inspection of it that all parts are sufficiently well sandpapered. Then apply a coat of white keg lead mixed 3/8 oil to 5/8 turps, with a teaspoonful of pale japan added to each quart of the mixture. The second coat of white is best mixed with, say about 3/16 of oil to 13/16 of turps. This quantity of oil suffices to give the white a stout binder without affecting the purity of the white. Puttying and whatever putty glazing is necessary should be done on the first coat of white. Make the putty of dry white lead mixed to the proper consistency in very pale rubbing varnish, 1 part; gold size japan, 2 parts. For stopping holes, the putty needs to be a good bit stiffer than when used for the general run of disfigurements; for glazing, thin to the desired consistency with turps. Sandpaper lightly and then mix Florence, flake, or cremnitz white to a consistency that will render the color free working under a half elastic, soft bristle brush, using turps for the thinner, and hard drying finishing varnish for the binder. Apply two coats of this color, taking due care to have the color laid smooth and free from brush marks. Then take the hard drying finishing varnish and add to it enough of the white to "kill" the yellowish amber color of the varnish, and flow on a full, free, uniform coat. When dry, rub with pulverized pumice stone and water, clean up thoroughly, and apply a second coat of the color-and-varnish. Rub and clean up as before, and apply a third coat. This coat will probably suffice to furnish a solid and pure white surface, fine and smooth, and of becoming lustre. If the job is to go with a full varnish gloss, and striping or other ornamenting is desired, it can be done on this finishing coat, and pencil varnished.
In case gold, silver, aluminum, or other leaf is used in ornamenting, the finish should, preferably, be done in a simple gloss or flat, as it will be found extremely difficult to successfully apply leaf over a finished surface of high lustre. If the finish is to be gloss or flat, give the last coat of varnish adequate time to dry hard, say ten days at least, and then first rub with pumice stone and water, wash and dry up carefully, after which rub with rotten stone and sweet oil, using a piece of chamois skin for the rubbing pad. In rubbing, avoid heating the varnish, otherwise a roughened, shredded surface will result. For cleaning up the oil and rotten stone, dust wheat flour or pulverized slippery elm over the surface, flick off with a soft duster, and wipe dry with a clean piece of silk. In the painting and finishing of a white surface, the subjoined rules hold good:
Avoid using the color too thick. Thinner coats and more of them are best.
After the first, or priming, coat, use as sparingly of oil as possible. Oil produces "yellowing" of the white.
Abstain from the use of zinc white or damar varnish altogether. They are alike shifty and unreliable as applied to the processes of carriage and wagon painting.
Care should be observed to keep the surface flawless and perfectly clean. To this end, clean apartments, clean brushes, chamois skins, sponges, etc., may be classed as imperative necessities.
The Florence, flake, or cremnitz white above recommended should be used in the painting of all first-class white surfaces. Ordinary white lead is advised only when the cheaper grade of white surfaces is desired.
If broad, flat surfaces are to be painted and a strictly first-class job is demanded, a roughstuff will be necessary. Formulas for roughstuff or white filler are as follows:
Formula No. 1.--Dry white lead, 2/3; whiting, 1/3. Liquids, pale rubbing varnish, 1/3; turpentine, 2/3; gold size japan, 1/2 gill.
Formula No. 2.--Dry white lead, 1 part; pulverized soapstone, 2 parts; pulverized pumice stone, 1 part. Liquids, rubbing varnish, 1 part; turpentine, 1 part; tablespoonful of gold size japan to each quart of the filler when mixed.
Formula No. 3.--Dry white lead mixed to a thick paste in 1/3 pale rubbing varnish and 2/3 gold size japan. Reduce to a brushing consistency with turps.
Apply one coat of either of the above fillers per day and regulate the number of coats to suit the condition of the surface. To the final coat add a little lemon yellow as a guide in rubbing out. A dash of pulverized pumice stone may also be given the 'stuff (especially that made by the third formula) to make it surface free and clear under the rubbing stone. In rubbing out, "eternal vigilance" and plenty of care and caution are factors of the utmost importance, if scratching and disfiguring the surface would be avoided. Then over this rubbed surface apply flat coats of the white, reinforced with a binder of hard drying varnish, following with color-and-varnish and other finishing processes as above directed.
While roughstuff must continue to be recognized as a necessity in the development of white surfaces of certain grades, sizes, and forms, the painter, in so far as possible, may well decide to discard its employment solely owing to a lack of durability as compared to the regulation method of building up with color and color-and-varnish coats to a solid and firmly-welded finish.
There is another method of painting white practiced by many first-class painters, which was first published in _Varnish_ and written by that reliable and experienced authority, Mr. J. G. Cameron. It consists of priming the wood with the best white lead, mixed with as much oil as the wood will absorb, and turpentine. This is given five days in which to dry. Then white lead is made up to dry with a gloss, and two coats of the mixture is given, with an interval of one day between coats. The surface is then puttied with a putty made of white keg lead, dry white lead and whiting, equal parts by bulk, and japan. The putty used for knifing in is made softer than that used for stopping holes and cavities. The putty is given one day to harden. Then a filling composed of keg lead, 1 part; whiting, 1 part; flour of pumice stone, 1/5 part; made into a stiff glazing pigment with japan and a small percentage of turpentine, is brushed over the surface, a second workman following with a broad putty knife and skillfully removing the superfluous filler. This glazing is intended only for panels and flat work generally. Permit this filling to dry forty-eight hours. It is then rubbed lightly with pumice stone. Moldings and carved work are sandpapered. Next, to 5 lbs. of white keg lead, highest quality, 1/2 pint of good wearing body varnish that dries quickly and reliably is added. The mass is then thinned with turps and strained. This dries to a little more than an egg-shell gloss. Five coats of this color are applied on five consecutive days, no rubbing or sandpapering being done between coats. This foundation of white is given a week, to harden, after which it is thoroughly rubbed down with about No. 1-1/2 pulverized pumice stone. It is then allowed to stand two days before being polished and cleaned up with flour of pumice stone. A coat of high grade and practically colorless finishing varnish (now procurable of the leading varnish makers) is now flowed on and the work is complete. The color for the five coats is made up at one time, so that it dries and hardens equally and uniformly throughout. Mr. Cameron vouches for the durability, fullness, and solidity of a white surface painted by this method, having employed it in painting hundreds of street cars, in addition to a great many hearses, delivery wagons, etc. It is a well-known practical fact that a first-class finishing varnish and white lead carefully mixed solidifies amazingly throughout. And the one coat of very pale or colorless finishing varnish over all produces the effect of a high grade finish.