CHAPTER VIII.

STRIPING: THE PURPOSE OF STRIPING--HOW TO BECOME A STRIPER--PENCILS AND THEIR CARE--MIXING STRIPING COLORS--NAMES OF STRIPES--STRIPING DESIGNS, INCLUDING PANELS AND CORNER-PIECES--ETC., ETC.

The chief and essential purpose of striping is to impart a beautifying effect to the surface upon which it is used. To accomplish this purpose it must be so perfectly and artistically executed that the colors employed in painting the surface are made to reflect their most charming harmonies and contrasts, while the outlines of the surface itself are cast into more graceful relief. The art of striping, when it achieves this result, may be said to have successfully performed its office; and the expert exponent of this art, it need scarcely be added, is accounted an important member of every well-regulated paint shop family.

To be a really skilled striper, the workman needs to be the possessor of a steady hand, or, in the words of another, of "hand magic," of an accurate eye, and plenty of color sense. In point of fact, it is highly necessary that the striper should be a good colorist; one, in short, who is thoroughly conversant with the rules of color harmony and contrast.

The first law with which the novice or learner of the art of striping or ornamenting is confronted is that of color and form. This he must study patiently and persistently, the while practicing with the pencil in order that the purely mechanical part of the art be well mastered. Grace, freedom, sure-handedness, are indispensable factors, as applied to the mechanical features of striping and ornamenting, and these can be attained only through the agency of diligent practice, combined with the help of an eye educated to act quickly and accurately. There can be no arbitrary rules laid down to govern the art of striping in so far as it has reference to style. Style is but the fleeting fancy of "the passing show," and while it is here today it may be gone tomorrow. Hence, the fashion in striping is indefinite and sufficiently elastic to adapt itself to local requirements without departing far from what may chance to be at the time generally accepted as the prevailing style. For, after all, the striping must be subordinate to form, color, and surface, and its lavish or meagre employment, in plain or fancy design, is controlled very largely thereby.

THE STRIPER'S OUTFIT.

The pencil equipment is properly a matter of the first concern to the striper. The last decade has witnessed the retirement, in large part at least, of the round pencils, save when stripes are to be done in sizes exceeding 1/8 in. The vividly sensational name of "dagger" or "sword pencil" has been applied to the pencil which has taken the place of the round liner. Practically all vehicle stripers use these pencils at present. A single pencil, if necessary, can be made to draw a various assortment of lines, running from the hair line to the round line, or even heavier. But, all things considered, the writer deems it best to have a pencil made to draw a certain line and no other. This necessitates the ownership of a larger equipment of pencils, but it also provides for uniformly good work more easily accomplished than can be expected when one pencil is made to do duty in drawing the variously sized lines called for in the average carriage and wagon shop. In Fig. 1, accompanying this chapter, is shown a fine line sword pencil. This draws a hair line when filled properly, and cannot be made to exceed a fine line and do effective work. Fig. 2 is a medium fine line pencil, and Fig. 3 represents a pencil with which a fine line or a round line, or any line varying between these two, may be drawn. The striper should be provided with at least four different sizes of pencils. To make the sword pencil, proceed as follows: Take the desired portion of hair from a large camel's-hair pencil of selected quality, and draw to the proper bevel from one side of the flat portion of the hair. Then, taking the hair carefully in the left hand, with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand work a bit of trimmer's paste into the end that is inserted into the handle. Narrow strips of paper, say 3/4 in. in width, and of the full length of the hair, are cut and spread with a thin glazing of the paste, and on these prepared strips, about the center of them, lay the hair, keeping it perfectly straight. Next, fold the uncovered portions of the paper over the hair. The day following, or at any time in the future, the superfluous hair and paper may be trimmed from the embryo pencil and a handle attached. A straight-grained piece of pine affords a good handle. Split in center of handle, insert the hair in the split, wrap tightly with stout linen thread, and the pencil is ready for use. In the making of the sword pencil there is often a superfluity of short hairs, of which it is desirable to be well rid. To remove them, take the hair before it is greased, and with the end that is to be bound with the thread held between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, pull the long hairs over to the right, thus exposing the short and useless hairs and affording an easy removal of them. This process of weeding out the naturally short hair develops the pencil of one length of stock excepting, of course, the desired taper of the tool. While many supply houses now furnish sword pencils of all sizes and lengths, the first-class stripers, the chevaliers of the art, prefer to make their own pencils, and the writer heartily coincides with that preference, the shop-made pencil usually having a poise and balance not possessed by the store-purchased article. To those of my readers who accept the dictum that there is no royal road to the art of striping; that the severe schooling in the busy arena of every-day practice is the culture that graduates the talented striper, I would say, learn to make your pencils. Your first attempt, or your second, and perhaps even your third, may not result successfully, but patience and a capacity for taking infinite pains will eventually, if not shortly, win. It is best to make pencils in lots of 1/2 doz. Two or three out of the lot, even after one becomes tolerably proficient in pencil making, may prove defective. The method of making the sword pencil, as above advised, has the advantage of being easily and quickly acquired, and is therefore recommended to the learner as a feasible one to adopt. With these sword, or dagger, pencils many of the ornamental striping designs which will accompany this and later chapters may be executed, the extreme point of the pencil being used in describing all curves and fancy circles.

COMBINATION LINES AND STRIPES.

To make a round fine line pencil suited to the execution of corner pieces and cut up striping generally, take a camel's-hair round pencil of large size, from which extract the desired quantity of hair. Then cut a small piece of cedar down to about 1/8 in. diameter at one end and considerably smaller at the other. In the smaller end insert a pin until it holds firmly. Then, say, 1/4 in. from the wood, clip the pin off. Now shave the stick off until it tapers perfectly down to the pin. Next take the desired quantity of hair, and dipping one end of the brush into shellac, lay aside for a few minutes to permit the shellac to harden. Then insert the pin and tapered point of the wood until the clear working length of the pencil measures at least 1-1/2 in. from point of pin. Begin at the lower end of the hair and wind with strong thread up to within 1/8 in. from point of pin. The pin acts in the capacity of a stiffener to the pencil.

The durability and poise and elasticity of striping and lettering pencils depend very greatly upon the manner of caring for them. The striper should provide himself with a dust-proof metal box in which to store his pencil equipment. See that it is furnished with lock and key. The local tinsmith will, for a small consideration, outfit such a box with a tin tray upon which the pencils may be carefully arranged. A striping or lettering pencil should be immediately washed out in turps upon the conclusion of the work in hand. Care may well be invoked in washing, to the end that all pigment accumulations are removed from the heel of the pencil. Wipe the pencil dry in soft cotton or flannel cloths and then grease thoroughly, pressing the grease carefully into the heel of the tool. A good grease for preserving pencils in winter is pure lard; in summer, lard and mutton tallow, equal parts. The writer personally vouches for the excellence of a mixture composed of mutton tallow, 3 parts; sweet oil, 1 part. This serves as a good all-round pencil grease, suited to all extremes of temperature, and one the painter will find useful in keeping his pencils in good order.

MIXING STRIPING COLORS.

This comprises a difficult and skilled feature of the art of striping. Colors which are worked and controlled easily and dry reliably, are important aids to good striping. Therefore, in order to insure speed, shapely lines, and satisfactory color effects, the striper will find it greatly to his advantage to closely and intelligently study the composition of pigments. Some colors have the defect of being "short." In other words, they do not naturally work freely from the point of the pencil, blotching and flowing out in patches. It is not within the province of the painter to cure this ailment, but it is possible for him to remedy it somewhat. And how? By abstaining from the use of oil altogether, and depending solely upon a mixture of japan, varnish, and turpentine, the proportions of these liquids being governed by the liquids in which the colors were ground. Oil colors in carriage painting are restricted to a narrow margin of use. This specially applies to colors employed in striping, as, save in purely lead colors, the oil has a bad habit of working to the surface of the pigment. When, to meet a certain requirement or emergency, it is found necessary to use oil in the striping color, it is advisable to also add a few drops of quick rubbing varnish as a means of holding the oil in place. White, black, and some of the yellows are usually found under the head of short colors. Flake and cremnitz white are invariably designated as short colors. If such colors are to be used for fine lining, mix with a little rubbing varnish and tint the white slightly with drop black. This furnishes a fairly free working white which shows no laps.

Black may best be described as a riotous, wild-running color, strongly in need of a sturdy steadying liquid. In thinning black to a working consistency, add, say 1/4 rubbing varnish. Balanced with this proportion of rubbing varnish, a finely-ground tube black usually works handsomely. The writer would advise mixing all striping colors to the right consistency in the cups, instead of using them on the palette in a thick paste and thinning down under the pencil as fast as used. Colors furnished with the right ingredients, properly proportioned, the whole being thoroughly united and incorporated, constitute a fine working basis for effective striping.

NAMES OF STRIPES.

In all the foremost carriage and wagon centres the various styles of striping are designated by specific names. This makes it an easy matter to give an order and have it accurately executed without confusion or unnecessary delay. Appended will be found the principal lines and stripes generally employed, the medium lines and stripes only being omitted. As, for instance medium fine line, medium heavy round line, and medium stripe; these being deemed irrelevant to the illustration in hand. The first, or hair, line is the finest line used, the fine line coming next, the line thus gradually increasing in size until it reaches the broad stripe. What is known as the medium fine line is simply the fine line broadened to the extent of about 1/3 increase in size. The medium heavy round line is the round line with the width of hair line added to it, while the medium stripe is the narrow stripe increased by the addition of a fine line width. A pencil tracing exceeding 1/8 in. is termed a stripe; less than 1/8 in., a line.

As herewith shown the simple lines and stripes are seven in number, and the combination lines and stripes are presented in eight examples. In the cut of the divided stripe, distance fine line, the distance line is drawn nearer to the stripe than it is customary to allow. While there is no arbitrary rule to govern the spacing of the distance line from the stripe, it is usually drawn not less than 1/4 in. from center line or stripe. Oftentimes, too, it is placed at a distance of scant 1/8 in., as here shown.

The accompanying striping designs adapted to traps, drags, stanhopes, concords, and pleasure vehicles generally (used also on business vehicles) consist of corner and center pieces. Their representation may suggest extensions or changes, through the medium of which a wide variety of designs may be evolved. To specify the colors in which each design is best illuminated would exceed the limits accorded this chapter.

The color of the panel determines the color of the design, or should. A pleasing contrast to the body color should be sought, and in this achievement the workman's taste and art sense must be exercised in lieu of printed directions.

The panel designs, if placed on any dark surface, may be placed in white and trimmed in green, blue, vermilion, etc.; or they may be placed in carmine and tricked out in any of the many neatly contrasting colors. The finest carmine effects are obtained by glazing orange or chrome yellow with carmine. Against the fashionable blue surfaces many of these designs present fetching effects if drawn in gold, white, or king's yellow. Against yellow grounds they may be effectively shown in two or three shades of red. These suggestions apply also, in the main, to the corner pieces. The three last designs on page 184 may be laid in gold, shaded with asphaltum, high lighted with light yellow. The fine lines can be done in any harmonizing color. Some of the small solid parts of these designs can be glazed with carmine and verdigris. Some of the designs may be executed in orange, glazed with carmine and high lighted with chrome yellow. Or the broad portions may be done in some solid color and the fine lines in a slightly different shade of the same color. On blue panels the simple fine line pieces may be done with lining bronze glazed with ultramarine blue; or on green panels use chrome yellow and glaze with carmine.

In fact, there is an infinite variety of colors to be used in the development of the designs here presented, and the still other designs which it is hoped they may suggest, the controlling factor in the selection of colors being simply and at all times the color of the surface upon which the design is to be used. In connection with this must exist the law of harmony and contrast, without which any selected color scheme will prove ineffective.