H.EKAMIC STUDIO 
as difficult to apply as most forms of varnish. It should be put 
on very quickly with a full brush and not dragged where it has 
begun to set, which it does almost at once. It takes some 
experience to put on a smooth, thin coat. Two or more coats 
are necessarj^ and it should dry at least 24 hours between. 
The first coats are rubbed down with 00 sandpaper, very care- 
hiWy and evenly, and the last with fine powdered pumice stone 
on a pad moistened in oil, to a soft lustre. 
Hard oil is probably a better finish, but more difficult to 
reduce to a soft gloss. Three or four coats are necessary and 
it should dr3^ three or four days between each — a w^eek is better. 
Emery flour and water or crude oil are used for rubbing down 
each coat. And it must be thoroughly rubbed down, and 
shellac also, so there seems to be only a film on the surface 
and not a thin sheet of glass. 
When furniture is painted, and some porch and bed room 
furniture looks very well so finished, it should have three or 
four coats, not thin enough to run nor thick enough to be un- 
even. Each coat, after thoroughly drs^ing, should be rubbed 
smooth with pumice and oil. It is a good plan to put a little 
drier in the paint. If enamel paint is used as a last coat it 
should also be rubbed down to an eggshell gloss. Sealing wax 
red, a good leaf green, a grey-green and ivory white are the 
best colors for painted furniture. 
Fig. 
REPOUSSE— EMILY F. PEACOCK 
REPOUSSE, or modeling in relief, is produced by beating 
with a hammer and steel tools on the back of sheet 
metal fixed on cement or some yielding material. If only 
slight relief is required it can be obtained by beating the metal 
on wood or a block of lead, but for general work the cement is 
better. 
After the metal is annealed and the design outlined fix it on 
the cement and holding the tool as in Fig. i begin to work, 
using a large tool with rounded ends. Get the relief gradually, 
let the blows be even, one directly following another so that the 
result of your work will be a continuous surface. Students 
should practice until the trace of the tool in the metal is smooth 
and the lines from the tracer even and without a break. Ham- 
mering metal makes it brittle and in that condition it is likely 
to crack. At frequent intervals it must be heated and removed 
from the cement and annealed. This softens the metal and 
allows it to yield more easily to the blows of the tool. Heat 
the cement by passing the flame over it and put the metal back 
on the block. Also while you are working keep the metal 
about the warmth of the hand by applying the flame occasion- 
allj' to the surface. This prevents the metal from curling up. 
Fig. 2 shows a little depression in the metal. Figs. 3 and 4 
more. In Fig. 5 the metal is turned over and the hollow side 
fiUed in with cement. Turn this quickly on the block. Now 
the metal is ready to model and if much detail is required it 
should be finished like Fig. 6. 
We are indebted to Pratt Institute for these illus 
trations. 
Fig. 4. 
Fig.; 
