Handbook on Japanning: 2nd Edition | Page 6

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."
VARNISHING JAPAN WORK.
Varnishing is the last and the finishing process in japanning. It consists

in (1) applying, and (2) polishing the outer coats of varnish, which are
equally necessary whether the plain japan ground be painted on or not.
This is best done in a general way with common seed-lac varnish,
except on those occasions where other methods have been shown to be
more expedient, and the same reasons, which decide as to the propriety
of using the different varnishes as regards the colours of the ground,
hold equally with those of the painting, for where brightness is a
material point and a tinge of yellow would injure it, seed-lac must