Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/286

 £62 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA AIICHITECTUIIE. 458 459 460 fercnt would be the effect ! In the first case, fig. 459, the vertical bond is produced, or, in other words, the roof is supported, by the squared stones at the angles, and the hewn stones forming the piers containing the windows ; and in the latter case, fig. 460, the roof is supi^orted by the pilasters, and the architrave over them ; while the windows are supported by the string courses, or horizontal bond. 533. Whitetvashing the outside walls of buildings is of very universal use, and it seems to please the eyes of persons of ordinary minds, by the contrast which it produces with the surrounding scenery. Bright whitewashing, however, has at all times been objected to by men of taste ; particularly by artists, who, having cultivated the art of seeing objects with reference to their picturesque beauty, ought to be judges of its efi^ect in scenery. Gilpin, speaking of the cottages in Wales, says, the Welsh generally " seem fond of whitening their houses, which gives them a disagreeable glare. A speck of white is often beautiful ; but white in profusion is, of all tints, the most inharmonious. A white seat at the corner of a wood, or a few white cattle grazing in a meadow, enliven a scene, per- liaps, more than if the seat or the cattle had been of any other colour : they have mean- ing and effect. But a front and two staring wings ; an extent of rails ; a huge Chinese bridge ; the tower of a church ; and a variety of other large objects, which we often see daubed over with white, make a disagreeable appearance, and unite ill with the general simplicity of nature's colouring. In animadverting, however, on white objects, I would only censure the mere raw tint. It may be easily corrected, and turned into stone colours of various hues ; which, though light, if not too light, may often have a good effect." ( Gilpin's Wye, p. 94.) Bartell directs, that, in colouring cottage walls, " every material of a strong harsh colour should be rejected. The fierce red of some kinds of bricks, and the perfect white of a wash of lime, are equally disgusting." ( Hints for Pic- turesque Improvement fur Ornamental Cottages, p. 10.) 534. The Compositions for Exterior Colouring are various. The following is said to be a very superior one : — Take 26 pounds of quicklime, slacked to a powder, and well sifted, and 28 pounds of tarras, sifted well. Mix these with a small quantity of water as quickly as possible. Beat them together with a wooden beater, upon a banker (a stone or wooden bench). Continue to beat them three or four times a day, for four (lays ; and, at the end of that period, take three gallons of bullock's blood (which should be well stirred in the catching, to prevent it clotting), and add to it, when cold, three gallons of water. Put the lime and tarras into a tub, together with the blood and water, stirring them well to make the wash thin ; when it will be fit for use. Keep stirring while using it, to prevent the tarras from settling at the bottom. Let the wall be first cleaned from moss and dirt, washing it twice with a watering-pot ; and, before it is dry, begin to lay on the composition, observing not to work it too thick. In the second washing, add two quarts more blood, properly stirred while cooling, as before, to make the wash more sizy and glutinous. If a yellow tinge be desired, put in a poimd or more of stone or Roman ochre, according to fancy. Stale milk may be substituted for blood, though it is said by some not to make the wash resist the weather equally well. 535. The common colouring in use about London iscomposed of %vhitening made from chalk or other lime, charcoal, or yellow ochre, and cojiperas, in projiortions according to the colours which it is desired should prevail. A preponderance of lampblack, or powdered charcoal produces a greyish white, which is a cold, and not in general a desirable, colour ; lime and stone ochre produce a cream or freestone colour. Lime and copperas produce a bright white at first, which, in the course of a few weeks, changes to a white, with more or less of a reddish tinge, according to the proportion of copperas introduced. 536. A whitewash which will adhere to woodwork, and preserve it from the weather, is thus composed : — To three parts of unslacked lime add two of wood ashes, and one of fine sand, or of coal ashes sifted through a fine sieve. Let these be mixed with as much linseed oil as will bring the mixture to a consistence for working with a painter's brush. If the mixture be ground together, it will be an improvement. Two coats wiU be re- quired ; the first tliin, and the second thick. The hardness of this wash increases by time. (^Smith's Art of House- Painting, p. 36.)