Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/1036

 101'2 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA AIICHITF.CTLRE. cold and solid, as the most compact and dense marble. For the composition of it the purest gypsum must be broken in small j)ieces, and then calcined till the largest frag- ments have lost their brilliancy. The calcined powder is then passed through a very fine sieve, and mixed up in a solution of Flanders glue, isinglass, &e., with the colours required in the marble about to be imitated. When the work is to be of various colours, each colour is prepared separately, and they are afterwards mingled and combined, nearly in the same manner as a painter mixes, on his pallet, the primitive colours which are to compose his different shades. When the powdered gypsum, or plaster, is pre- pared, and mingled for the work, it is laid on the shaft of the column, &c., covering over the pricked-up coat, which had been previously laid on it, and is floated with moulds of wood to the sizes required. During the floating, the artist uses the colours necessary for the marble which he intends to imitate, and which thus become mingled and incor- porated in it. In order to give his work the requisite polish or glossy lustre, he rubs it with a pumice-stone, and cleanses it with a wet sponge. He next proceeds to polish it with tripoli and charcoal, and fine soft linen ; and, after going over it with a >'wce of felt, dipped in a mixture of oil and tripoli, finishes the operation by the application of pure oil. This is considered as one of the finest imitations in. the world; the scagliola being as strong and durable as real marble, for all works not exposed to the effects of the atmosphere ; it also retains its lustre as long, and equal to real marble, without being one eighth of the expense of the cheapest marble imported." (Nicholson's Practical Builder, p. 382.) The principal scagliola worker in London is Mr. Brown, whose rich and elegant museum, in University Street, contains the most beautiful specimens of vases, columns serving as candelabras, stands for busts, and a great variety of other objects. The chief use, however, of scagliola is for columns in rooms of a very superior descrip- tion. Mr. Brown informs us that the art is brought to a much higher degree of jier- fection in London than it ever has been on the Continent ; the reason being, that there it is considered as an inferior style of finishing next to marble, whereas here it is made to serve instead of marble itself, and, therefore, more pains are bestowed upon it. 2008. The permanent Covering of the Floors of Rooms is, for the most part, of boards ; though scagliola, and various imitations of marble and stone, are common on the Con- tinent, and especially in the villas of Italy, see § 1916. Mosaic pavement is also frequently used. An improved description of pavement of this kind, invented by Mr. Wright of Shelton, has already been mentioned. Figs. 1810 and 1811 show two squares, or quarries as they are technically termed, in which the ground, or plain space, is of one colour, and the ornament inlaid is of a diflferent colour. Fig. 1809 is an octagon quarry for halls, with angle pieces, a, and centre pieces, b, in order to complete a square figure, as in fi"! 1812, whatever may be the dimensions of the floor to be covered. The angle and centre pieces are supposed to be of a different and darker colour than the ground, or plain part, of the figured tiles. The manner in which tiie inlaying of the ornament is effected is very simple, and is described at length in the llcpcrtori/ of Arts. A depres- sion is made on the surface of the tile, in the form of the intended ornament, and the cavity thus formed is filled in with coloured clay ; the tile is afterwards burned in the kiln, so that the ornament may form one mass with the rist. IIr. Wright informs us that