JAPANNING. 



Japanning. and dampnc> mut be carefully avoided. Two or three 

 s "V^ coats of this coarse varnish must be applied, prepara- 

 tory to laving the grounds, which contain the colour, 

 and which are made as follow*. 



Fr*bitc for a athilr ground, prepare flake white, or white 

 i^nil lead, by washing it with water, and then by grinding 

 it with one-sixth of its weight of starch ; when this 

 is dried, temper it properly for spreading, with mas- 

 tic varnish, which is prepared by dissolving matic in 

 spirits of turpentine, by a gentle heat in a water bath ; 

 or the colour may be compounded with gum anime, 

 reduced to powder, and ground first with turpentine, 

 and then ground with the colours, adding as much of 

 the mastic varnish as is necessary to make it work 

 with the pencil. When this white japan is laid on, 

 the external varnish which is applied upon it after the 

 painting or ornaments are finished, mu^t be of the 

 most transparent nature, that it may not injure the 

 whiteness of the colour. For this purpose select the 

 clearest and whitest grains from a large parcel of seed 

 lac, reserving the coarser grains fbr other varnishes; 

 take two ounces of this chosen lac, and three ounces 

 of gum anime, reduce them to a gross powder, and dis- 

 solve them in a quart of spirits of wine ; five or six 

 coats of this varnish must be laid on over the white 

 colour. The seed-lac will give a slight tinge to the 

 colour, but the hardest varnish cannot be made with- 

 out it ; when hardness is not so essential, a less pro- 

 portion of seed-lac may be used, and to take away the 

 brktleness of the gum anime, a small quantity of crude 

 turpentine may be added. Another varnish, either for 

 mixing up with the white colours, or for covering them 

 when laid on, is made of gum anime, dissolved in old 

 nut or poppy oil, by gently boiling the oil, and putting 

 into it as much of the gum as it will take up. This 

 varnish must be diluted with oil of turpentine for use ; 

 it will not bear polishing, and must therefore be applied 

 very carefully to lay it smooth. 



For blue japan e rounds, use a bright Prussian blue, 

 or smalt, or verditer, glued over by Prussian blue; 

 the colours are best mixed with shell lac varniih, and 

 brought to a policing state by five or six coats of seed 

 lac varnish. If the blue ground is bright, and the 

 shell lac varnish is laid on, it will give a green hue, 

 wing to its own yellow colour ; the varnish of oil and 

 gum anime, as above, being used for the external var- 

 nish, will have a dearer colour, but it i< not so hard. 

 Fo ttt For red japan ground* vermilion may be used to 



produce a scarlet ground, but it has a glaring effect 

 when used alone. ThU will be in some measure correct- 

 ed by glazing it over with carmine, or fine lake, or 

 even with rose-pink. For a very bright crimson, in- 

 stead of glazing with carmine, Indian lake should be 

 used ; the lake may be dissolved in the spirit of which 

 the varnish is composed, and a coat of this being laid 

 on, the shell lac varnish may be ued to produce the 

 external surface, as it will very well transmit the tinge 

 of the Indian lake. 



For yeltotv japan ground*, far bright yellow, king's 

 yellow or tnrbeth mineral should be employed, either 

 alone or mixed with fine Dutch pink. The effect may 

 be heightened by dissolving powdered turmeric root in 

 the alcohol, which is used for making the external var- 

 nish. The alcohol should be (trained off from the 

 dregs of the turmeric, before the seed lac is put in to 

 form the varnish. Dutch pink alone, if of the best 

 quality, will make a good yellow ground. 



?f gmo For grem japan ground*, king's yellow and bright 

 PnsMJin blue may be mixed to make a green, or tur 



beth mineral and Prussian blue ; and a common kind Japanning. 

 may be made of verdigris, mixed with either of the "" ""Y"""' 

 above yellows, or with Dutch pink. For a very bright 

 green, the crystals of verdipris, called the distilled ver- 

 digris, should be employed; and to heighten the ef- 

 fect, the colour should be laid on a ground of leaf-gold, 

 which renders it very brilliant. 



For orange japan grounds, mix vermilion or red leatl For orange 

 with king's yellow, or Dutch pink, or orange lake used J a P an 

 alone is a fine colour. To prepare this, take of the S" "- 

 best annotto four ounces, and of pearl ashes one pound ; 

 put them together into a gallon of water, and boil them, 

 for half an hour, then strain the solution through pa- 

 per. Make also another solution of a pound and a half 

 of alum, in a gallon of water, and mix this gradually 

 with the solution of pearl ashes and annotto; a preci- 

 pitate of the colouring matter will be formed, which 

 being dried in cakes or lozenges, is the orange lake. 



For purple japan grounds, a mixture of lake and Prus- * or P nr P le ' 

 sian blue may be used, or vermilion and Prussian blue J * r ^J > j s _ 

 for a coarser purple. 



For a black japan ground. Ivory black and lamp For a blacfe 

 black are the proper materials for this purpose. They jpan 

 should be laid on with shell lac varnish, and the exter- ground, 

 nal varnish may be of seed lac, as the tinge of it can 

 do no injury. 



For a ground of gold. Gold leaf may be laid on For a 

 over the whole surface. See Japanners GILDINO. Or pound of 

 the imitative gold or silver powder may be used with B ol<l - 

 the size there described. When the desired ground is 

 obtained, the ornamental painting is next performed. 

 The colours for painting are mixed up with varnish of 

 shell or seed lac, dissolved in spirits of wine, or other- 

 wise by varnish of mastic, dissolved in oil of turpen- 

 tine; to which gum anime may be added, as before di- 

 rected, for mixing up the colours of the white ground, 

 and which applies to all the other grounds. There is, 

 in fact, no difference between the manner of preparing 

 the colours for laying the grounds, or for painting upon 

 the ground. The pencils must be moistened either with 

 the spirits of wine or oil of turpentine, so as to make 

 the colours work. In some very nice works, the colours 

 may be tempered in oil, for the more free use of the 

 pencil, and to obtain greater dispatch. The oil should 

 previously have one-fourth part of its weight of guui 

 anime dissolved in it, or gum sandarac or mistic. 

 When this oil is used, it should !>r diluted with spirit of 

 turpentine, that the colours may lie more even and thin. 

 When the painting is to be on a ground of gold, wa- 

 ter colours may be used for the ornamental painting. 

 They are prepared with isinglass size, corrected with 

 honey or sugarcane! y. The ornamental gilding for ja- 

 panners work is explained in the article GILDING. 



External varnish. The hardest varnish is made of External 

 seed lac, as before mentioned, but has a yellow tinge. vrni.-h. 

 To make this, wash the seed lac in water to clean it 

 from impurities ; dry it, and powder it coarsely ; then 

 put three ounces of it into a bottle with a pint of rec- 

 tified spirit* <T wine. The bottle should not be above 

 two-thirds filled, and must be gently heated, and sha. 

 ken frequently, until as much of the lac is dissolved as 

 can be, and the varnish is then to be poured off into a 

 bottle, and kept stopped very close. The more highly 

 rectified the spirit is, the more lac it will dissolve. This 

 varnish must be laid on in a dry worm place, and the 

 work previously made perfectly dry : no part should 

 be crossed or passed twice over in laying the same coat, 

 if it can be avoided. 



When the outer varnish has been *a often repeated 



