: Decorative Education. ration by gnereation; education is the imparting of this advancement to the mind. Uneducated, it could but assume a standing on a level with the far-back beginning. Were the decorator of a properly-trained judgment, he could be depended upon, he would be entitled to demand consideration in the province N old pro- of his training; but it happens that there is verb very scarcely, if at all, any one of the class who can truly says truthfully claim to have been educated in that, "when design, and that all the while the design of a things ar- branch of architecture (we will call it so) of rive at their the most essential value in itself, and holding worst they in addition a most important power to aid or usually take destroy the work of other branches, is ena turn.' trusted to his care. The man is permitted to Now, the do artist's work who has had none of the eduart of de- cation which the artist needs. " coration in "The principles upon which the design of England the cabinet-maker, decorator, and upholsterer has been proceeds are the same in fundamental nature coming to with those of architecture,-the use, the conits worst struction, and the beauties and harmonies of for the last form and colour. The present condition of century or this department of art is exceedingly unmore throwing away the chance which satisfactory. The most unprincipled precethey had of improving themselves by the dents govern; and design, fancy, when it study of the correct works of their pre- comes into play, is unregulated and false, decessors, its professors have endeavoured to principles completely lost sight of, or ridibe very precocious, and have, as a conse- culously misapplied. The design is done by quence, failed. What more could have been men who have no education in design. Were expected? But this is not the worst of the they not thus uneducated, it might be difmatter: the Will-o'the-wisps that they have ferent,-we might have less cause, as we cerbeen pursuing have led them so far out of the tainly should have less liberty, to complain. right road that they have lost their way back; and now, like very naughty children who have played the truant, they sit down and bemoan their fate, and wish themselves well back at school again. So far for the allegory, now for the reality. These children are old men with grey hairs and stooping shoulders, and their day has gone by; but they themselves have children-youths with strong intellects and undaunted energies, perhaps, who would wish to pursue the calling of their fathers, but not their errors. This, then, is the point. Unless efficient measures be taken to cultivate these qualities they will be lost; and if it be done at all, it must be done quickly; for talent is more fluctuating than mortality, and an average cannot be taken of the one from the other. The means of effecting these measures lie in the hands of Government; and although something has been done, more is required. Schools of Design, to be of any real service, should not be confined to particular spots, but disseminated over the kingdom, not prodigally but freely, and indeed, in some cases, they might even be incorporated with the ordinary schools. While on this subject, we will append, in an abridged form, some very appropriate remarks which we find in a late number of the Fine Arts' Journal: "No one who will take the trouble to look at the matter with a little attention can avoid being struck with our singular want of good, or even inoffensive, designs in common furniture-the beautiful in which might even be fairly claimed as more valuable than the beautiful in architecture. And also, perhaps, more extensive as a province of art,-there is so large an admission for varieties, elegancies, delicacies, enrichments, and characters. And all the more surprising is it that this opportunity should be so unimproved,-the result, not even so little of the good, but so much of the reverse. "One of the most necessary departments, therefore, for the action of the good effect of the Schools of Design which are now happily rising up, is this of cabinet-making and upholstery. We might even venture to prefer a pretty lady in a beautiful chair to a pretty lady in a beautiful gown. At all events, the chair ought not to be forgotten when the gown is receiving so much attention; and the more especially at present, when we see how very much the one design is generally inferior to the other." IVY ON CHURCHES.-To show the baneful effects of destroying ivy on walls, some years "The practice of design demands education. since the then proprietor of Netley Abbey, in The principle that taste is inherent, cannot be Hampshire, had a quantity destroyed. The imparted, and needs not to be cultivated, is es- consequence was, as the ivy decayed the sentially fallacious. The man of the most excel-stone-work mouldered and decayed, and a lent imagination that could be possessed must great portion fell down, which otherwise be trained before he can be an able man in would have lasted for many years.-Corresdesign. The world has been advancing gene-pondent of the Builder. 70 On Fresco Painting. Italians have a method of preparing coarse canvas protected by laths at the back, which has a great advantage in this respect over the others. preparing the walls of dwelling-houses. The surface of this first application should be rough, but not unequally so; and the mason should avoid leaving cavities in it. THE art of colouring in fresco is an imperishable monument, which will at all times exhibit wall be selected to paint upon, it will require Preparation of the Wall.-If a brick or stone to posterity the wisdom and profound know- to be thoroughly dry before laying on the ledge of the ancients-qualities which enabled rough coat of plaster. This first layer is comthem not merely to lay the foundation of the posed of river sand and lime in the proarts and sciences, but also, in very many portions of two parts of sand to one of lime, or cases, to so far perfect them as to leave to three parts of sand to one of lime. The thickafter generations merely the power of imi-ness of the coat is such as is generally used in tation. The specimens of this style of decoration which are deposited in the British Museum and other places, are, no doubt, familiar to most of our readers as the most brilliant, fresh, and imperishable efforts of the art of colouring ever executed by the hand of man: -in them the colours literally glow, and what in more modern pictures bear a time-decayed and musty aspect, there rather seem to improve by the lapse of ages, thus conferring the dry, hard, well-seasoned mortar, is as The ultimate preparation for painting on true immortality on the work of a hand that follows:-The surface is wetted again and had, perhaps, crumbled into dust in the time of the Pharoahs! Painting in fresco seems to have been of a later date, and as it is with this department that we have now to deal, we will at once commence the subject. harden perfectly: the longer it remains in this The wall thus coated should be suffered to state the safer it will be, especially if the lime used was, in the first instance, fresh. again, with boiled or rain water, till it ceases spread over that portion only which is to be to absorb. Then a thin coat of plaster is painted; the surface of this coat should be but very moderately rough. As soon as it begins Walls.-Professor Hess recommends as the season,) a second thin coat is laid on someto set (in ten minutes or so, according to the best materials for constructing walls well what fatter, that is, with more lime and less adapted for fresco, well-dried bricks of an sand (i. e., two parts or less of sand to one of equal hardness. The use of laths is some-lime). Both these layers together are scarcely times necessary; but a brick ground is prefer- a quarter of an inch thick. The plaster is laid able wherever it is practicable to construct on, and the surfaces are smoothed with a one, on account of its solidity and adaptability. It absorbs superfluous water, and keeps the plaster longer in a fit state for painting upon. The painting ground dries much quicker on laths, as two surfaces are presented for evaporation. The walls ought to be thoroughly dry. A wall of a brick, or a brick and a half in thickness, is best suited for painting on. Thus far for the opinion of the Fine Arts' Committee; but the subject is considered rather differently by Mr. Buss, who, in a lecture delivered at the Western Literary Institution, stated that a brick wall is not so desirable as the recipient of the plaster upon which a fresco is to be executed, as Messrs. C. H. Smith and Dyce are of opinion that the London bricks are highly charged with salts, which exude every time the wall is moistened or damped, and will effloresce upon the surface of the picture-an evil which has been encountered by some artists already. To prevent this, a hydrofuge of wax, resin, and oil should be spread over the wall previously to laying the grounds for fresco, by which the damp would be intercepted; but the safer plan would be, to use battens and laths instead of the brickwork; this mode receives additional recommendation from the fact, that none of the experimental frescoes painted upon such a framework have shown any of the defects which would result from salts or from damp. Where great lightness, he continued, or removable frescoes are required, a frame of wood, with wirework of either iron or copper, could be used, instead of the laths; and the wooden trowel: this, at least, is Cornelius's practice. Some painters like the last surface (which is to receive the fresco) to be perfectly smooth; and sometimes substitute marbledust for the sand; but this does not work so pleasantly as the sand, and is, to some eyes, disagreeably white. dering it slightly rough, is to fasten some One of the modes of renover the plaster, in all directions, lightly with beaver nap to the trowel; another is to pass a dry brush. intermixture of plaster of Paris in the mortar Professor Hess recommends avoiding the for the first rough coat, (in the finer coats it is never employed as a preparation for fresco,) and advises a moderate use of small flint pebbles. The rough coat should not be too compactly laid on, as its porousness is essential to the convenience of fresco-painting. In like manner the last finer coats should be lightly floated on, to insure their power of absorption. The following is his method of preparing the ground: lime, not in too caustic a state, and pure "The plaster for painting on is composed of quartz sand. should be well and uniformly manipulated, With regard to the lime, it and should be entirely free from any small hard lumps. The sand should be very carefully washed, to cleanse it from clayey or saline particles, and should be afterwards dried in the open air. Sand that is coarse, or unequal in grain, should be sifted; thus the plaster will be uniform in its texture. proportion of sand to the lime is best learned from experience, and must depend on the The nature of the lime. If the plaster contains too much lime, it becomes incrusted too soon, is too smooth in surface, and easily cracks; if it contains too little, it is not easily floated, the successive patches (as the fresco proceeds) are not to be spread conveniently in difficult situations, and the plaster is not so lasting. "Before laying on the plaster, the dry rough coat is wetted with a large brush, again and again, till it will absorb no more. Particular circumstances, such as spongy bricks in the wall, humid or very dry weather, &c., dictate the modes in which this operation is to be regulated. The plaster should be laid on lightly and freely with a wooden hand-float: in connecting the successive patches, some portions require, however, to be finished with an iron trowel: in this case care must be taken not to press too strongly, otherwise rust spots might appear in the lime, and even cause portions of the superadded painting to become detached. (A glass float seems to be preferable when a wooden instrument is unfit.) The plaster should be about a quarter of an inch in thickness. The surface of the last coat is then slightly roughened, to render it fitter for painting on. The wall thus prepared is to be left a quarter or half an hour before beginning to paint." (To be continued.) COPPER, TIN, &c.—From a return just issued by order of Parliament it appears that the quantity of copper ore imported into the United Kingdom in the year ending 5th of January, 1847, was 51,623 tons; and of copper manufactures (entered by weight) 49 tons odd, and (entered by value) £4,670. The net amount received in the various kinds of copper imported was about £55,000. The total exports of British copper during the same year was 15,717 tons, and of foreign copper about 550 tons, besides £536 worth of copper manufactures entered by value. The total quantity of British copper exported from the port of London was upwards of 6,197 tons; and from Liverpool, 4,360 tons. Of tin there were imported into the United Kingdom during 1846, 1,015 tons, and 3 tons 17 cwt. of tin ore and regulus. There were exported from the United Kingdom during the same period, 1,195 tons of British tin, and 1,051 of foreign. Of zinc, there were imported 7,245 tons, and of lapis calaminaris 150 tons into the United Kingdom (duty free); and exported from the kingdom, 1,212 tons of British, and 4,783 of foreign zinc or spelter. Of lead, there were imported 7,862 tons of pig or sheet lead, 724 tons of lead ore, and 12 tons 13 cwt. of white lead. There were exported from the United Kingdom in the same year 53 tons 13 cwt. of lead ore, 6,421 tons of pig or rolled lead, 1,073 tons of shot, 349 tons of litharge, 812 tons of red lead, 1,436 of white lead (all British), and 4,700 tons of foreign pig or sheet lead, and 1 ton 17 cwt. of foreign lead ore. IRON.-A premium of £1,000 has been offered by the Royal College of Chemistry, for the discovery of a method of rendering iron, when applied to ordinary purposes, as little liable to rust as copper. Bronzing. THE art of bronzing is equally useful to the cabinet-maker as the smith, the carved and turned work in furniture being frequently finished in imitation of bronze; and, if well done, has a very elegant effect, and adds much to the beauty of the article. It is by no means a difficult process; but nevertheless requires considerable care and judgment to arrive at perfection. To Bronze Figures. For the ground, after it has been sized and rubbed down, in a similar manner as if for gilding, take Prussian blue, verditer, and spruce ochre, grind them separately in water, turpentine, or oil, according to the work; mix them together in such proportions as will produce the colour you desire; then grind Dutch-metal, commonly called bronze, in the same material you grind your colour; laying it on the prominent parts of the figure, and, if done with care, it will produce a grand effect. There are several different colours of bronze, which are best imitated by the powders sold at almost all colour-shops, called bronze-powders, independent of the one here mentioned of Dutch-metal, which it will be best to purchase, as they are made, not without considerable trouble, by dissolving different metals in acquafortis, and precipitating the solutions by means of sal-ammoniac, and washing the precipitate in water, and drying it on blotting-paper. The ingenious artist will suit the colour of the bronze, by mixing corresponding colours of paint for a ground. To Bronze on Wood.-Having stained these parts intending for bronzing black, take japanners' gold size and mix with a small portion of Roman ochre and Prussian blue, go over the blacked parts lightly, then suffer it to dry till it feels just sticky to the fingers but not to come off, then with a hard ball of cotton, dipped in any of the bronze powders, rub those places that are prominent, and, if you think proper, give it a thin coat of japanners' gold size thinned with spirits of turpentine; or you may alter the colour of your bronze by mixing either more or less blue, as also other colours, as verditer green by itself, but do not put your colour on thick over the black stain, but rather glaze it on, for it is not wanted in a body, but should be rather transparent, as it makes it more of a metallic appearance. To Bronze Brass Figures for Ornaments.After having lackered your brass work in those parts you wish to look like gold, take for those parts as are intended to appear as bronze, any quantity of umber, either burnt or in its natural state, according to the colour you require, and grind it with a small quantity of spirits of wine: do the same with verditer, and also spruce ochre, keep these colours separate for use, and when wanted, take some pale gold lacker, and mix with it a portion of these ingredients till you get the colour required; then apply this mixture in the same manner as directed in lackering brass work; you may also mix with it any coloured bronze powder for the sake of variety. A little experience, and a few experiments with these compositions, will enable the workman to imitate any bronze or colour he pleases.-From Stokes's Complete Cabinet-Maker. GRATUITOUS ADMISSION TO WESTMINSTER HALL.-On Monday, the 19th instant, the public will be admitted, free of charge, to view the works of art now exhibiting at Westminster Hall. Notices to Correspondents. SHORT TIME ON SATURDAYS.-A memorial has been forwarded simultaneously to many MODE OF APPLICATION OF WAX AS A PRE- of the builders of the metropolis from the SERVATIVE OF STONE, MARBLE, &c.-Procure a joiners in their employ, asking to leave off square sheet-iron case, the sides being penetra-work at three o'clock on Saturdays, and ted with holes to admit of a current of air; the receive full day's pay. bottom of the case to be formed of iron bands, similar to those used in fire-places: at each corner of the upper part of the case there should be blocks, also of iron, with a chain of iron to pass over an iron ledger, which is placed between two tressels near the work. When this apparatus is suspended, light a fire in the case, using, in the first instance, wood and coals to light it; then feed the fire with coals till it burns brightly: you may then place it at a proper distance from the marble or stone which is to be impregnated with wax, say three inches distant from the sculptured work, and in a few minutes it will heat the stone sufficiently to enable you to apply the wax, which should be done with a hog-bristle brush; the wax being previously melted in a pipkin. Care should be taken to keep the works free from dust.-Builder. Francesco Francia was a goldsmith as well as a painter. Designs for crockery are attributed to Raffaelle. Leonardo da Vinci invented necklaces. In the gallery of Buckingham Palace is a painting by Teniers to ornament a harpsicord; and in the National Gallery there is one by Nicolo Poussin for a similar purpose. Holbein designed brooches and saltcellars. Albert Durer himself sculptured ornaments of all kinds. At Windsor is iron-work by Quintin Matsys. Beato Angelico, and a host of great artists, decorated books; and, in fact, there was scarcely a great mediæval artist, when art was really catholic, who did not essay to decorate the objects of everyday life. Beauty of form and colour and poetic invention were associated with everything. So it ought still to be, and, we will say, shall be again. GENERAL NOTICE.-In reply to numerous correspondents, we beg to state that, in addition to much other valuable information, practical articles will appear from time to time on Architecture, Building, Furnishing, Cabinet Making, Joinery, Carpentry, Masonry, Bricklaying, Plastering, Painting, Plumbing, Glazing, SignPainting, Slating, Tiling, Bridges, Gates, Fences, Garden Architecture, Road Making, Engineering, Calico Printing, Ornamental Iron-Work, Carving, Pottery, Gold and Silver Working, Jewellery, Cutlery, Chasing, Engraving, Bookbinding, Ornamental Glass-Cutting, Paper-Staining, and House Painting and Decoration. These articles will be illustrated in the first style of art, and every other means taken by which to retain those flattering opinions already passed upon the DECORATOR'S ASSISTANT by its Subscribers and the Public Press. ** We shall be happy to oblige any Correspondent with any information he may desire to possess. Letters to be prepaid, and addressed to the "Editor of the DECOBATOR'S ASSISTANT," 17, Holywell street, Strand. H. V. (Cork).-Bohemian glass is rendered valuable on account of its infusibility in the construction of the combustion tubes employed in organic analysis. Mr. Rowney, in describing an analysis which he made of it, states that, "A.though soda was found present to the extent of onefourth of the potash, the glass appears to be essentially a silicate of lime and potash, in which the oxygen in the silicic acid is to that in the bases as 6 to 1. It gave 73 per cent of silicic acid, 11 potash, 3 soda, 10 lime, with small portions of alumina, peroxide of iron, magnesia, and oxide of manganese, to make up 100 parts. We shall always be glad to receive practical contributions on any of the subjects mentioned in our "General Notice." AMICUS (Sheffield).-Your question and request are both out of our scope, our object being to present articles on Decoration, both as applied to ornamenting and manufacturing purposes; and also on Popular Science, by which we mean such subjects as may be useful or entertaining to our readers; therefore you will perceive that medical subjects are not in our line. H. GREEN (Hammersmith).-The experiment with guncotton, about which you inquire, is made by taking a few grains of the gun-cotton, and screwing it up in a piece of soft paper; then prick a few holes with a pin, and place the paper in the barrel of the pistol, the cotton towards the breech. Then fire it off, and although the cotton will explode with force enough to expel a bullet, yet the paper will remain uninjured, the newly-formed gases escaping through the pin-holes. MOSAIC GOLD.-Mosaic gold (or molu) may be thus prepared:-Take copper and zinc, equal parts, mix them together at the lowest possible temperature at which copper will fuse, and stir until a perfect mixture of the metals is effected; then add gradually small portions of zinc at a time, until the alloy acquires a proper colour, which is perfectly white while in the melted state. It should then at once be cast into figured moulds. This alloy should contain from fifty-two to fifty-five per cent. of. zinc. IRON LOCK-GATES.-At the last meeting of the British Association, Mr. G. Rennie read a paper on the iron lock-gates of Sebastopol, made by order of the Russian government, in which they were described as being 64 feet in width by 34 feet in height, made wholly of iron, and for locks which admitted 84-gun ships. VELIM SCIRE (Chelsea).—We know of no work on the The second Monthly Part of the DECORATOR'S AS- London Published at the Office of the SPORTSMAN'MAGAZINE, 17, Holywell-street, Strand (where all commu nications to the Editor are to be addressed); and to be had of all Booksellers.-Saturday, July 17, 1847. Printed by W. COOLE, Lumley Court, Strand. |