Page:Cyclopedia of Painting-Armstrong, George D (1908).djvu/194

186 of the hand breaks up the line. The badger gives the rest. A special comb is made, much like a hairdresser's comb, in which the teeth are cut in such a manner as to cause the hair to divide with a sharp edge at the point. This pressed on an overgraining brush will divide the hairs, and form up the streaks of color into thin lines.

Another method of producing the little lines in oak graining is to use an oak combing roller. The rollers are used as a mechanical means of printing fine lines or irregular lengths on veined work, producing an excellent imitation of

the natural grain. The roller has to be fed with a brush containing the color while rolling the work. The color used is a little blue-black and Vandyke mixed with stale beer.

After the combing is done and the paint dry, but before varnishing, a little black paint is mixed on the palette. A short, stiff, hog-hair brush is dabbed vertically upon this, so as to take up color on its end only. The brush is then held in the operator's left hand in front of the graining, with the handle about parallel with the face of the work and a few inches from it. By taking a chip of wood and drawing back the hairs with it so that they will spring