Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/249

 : 4 Mancn 22, 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS. 251 water, it may be, where water is taken from navigable rivers, more advisable both in point of purity and economy of subsequent filtra- tion, to lay down separate channels for the conveyance of domestic water, whereby the risk of sewage contamination would be re- duced. The watershed board would, in short, receive and obey a standard of purity for water supply imposed upon them by the central authority in the interest of the local sanitary authority, and would, in their turn, give a standard of purity to the local sanitary board for all sewage or other water turned into the river by them; this standard being also approved by the central authority. And so in other matters under the control of the watershed board, such restrictions as might be thought necessary to be put upon the actions of riparian owners and occupiers would be approved by the central authority, and would be in that case, it may be pre- sumed, such only as would be for the general good of the whole population of the water- shed, so that each might have his full share of the benefits of the river without injury to his neighbour. ae eee DECORATIVE PROCESSES. STAINING, GRAINING, AND INLAYING OF WOODS AND MARBLES. By AN EXPERIENCED WORKMAN. (Continued from page 214.) N our last we described the series of Breeche marbles as suitable for walls and pilasters. Of other red marbles we have Griotte, which is of a dark, rich, red-brown colour, inter- spersed with brilliant spots of vivid red as bright as vermilion. Its veins are black and deep purple, which cut up the marble into small and large oval patches, with here and there patches of transparent and solid white and gray. These latter appear to be underneath the red, just as if all the other colours had flown upon the white and gray. This appearance seems to be characteristic of all marbles. Most painted imitations of marble are done with an utter disregard to this fact. Grainers, as a rule, put in the whites and grays on the top of the other colours, thus giving the work a painty look, utterly destructive to all notion of a close representation, depth and transparency being completely ignored. We have seen work done by some of the best firms in the king- dom, in which the colourand general charac- ter of the marble has been to some degree regarded, and which at a distance has looked like the marble intended to be represented, but the illusion has miserably vanished ona close inspection. The work we are more particularly referring to are the columns and pilasters in a fashionable club house, and, of course, people in passing come into close proximity to them. Many architects and others hold that if we get the colour and character that is all that is required in imitation. Now, if the work can only be seen from a distance, as on the stage of a theatre, this kind of work will, of course, be right enough, and all that may be desired; but if the work is close to the eye, we are of opinion that the imitation should be made as close asit is possible for the artist to do it. Its being highly finished does not neces- sarily prevent its being effective at adistance; thetwo are quite compatible, but we hold that we derive a vast amount more pleasure from a well-executed imitation, than from a coarse, dauby one, whether it be of the human face divine, of still life, or of marbles. Griotte Fleuri, as its name indicates, is a kind of Griotte in which the whitesand grays are larger and more varied than they are in Griotte proper, although its markings or veins are the same in form. We may here note that all marbles have a distinct character in their veining or markings, independent of colour, which gives to each an individuality or distinction not to be mistaken, and it is only by a close study of the peculiar features of each marble that a correct knowledge can be acquired, or atrue imitation can be made. Another useful red marble is Rouge Roi, well suited for using in pilasters, columns, panels, and for inlaying. Its prevailing colour isa rich, bright red-brown, varying in tone from a deep rich brown to a light fawn-coloured red, which colour appears to be floated upon a mass of bluish gray and white which appears on the surface in large and small irregular patches and veins, semi-transparent and solid white. Some specimens of this marble are ex- ceedingly beautiful, and might with pro- priety be compared to jasper, many portions being filled with feather-shaped patches of transparent white, spotted in regular form with brilliant and minute spots of crimson. Rouge Fleuri is the same marble, but from a different quarry, the whites and grays being much larger and more florid in form. Rouge Vert, orred green, is, as it name im- plies, a red marble, with green and white veins, useful for chimney-pieces, skirtings and for inlaying. It is a most brilliant marble ; in fact, a marble which on account of its exceeding brightness of colour must be used with caution. Jasper is a well-known and brilliantly coloured red marble, being a mixture of bright red patches with green drabs, white and transparent grays, forming a beautiful marble for columns, pilasters, and inlaying. Rose Jasper is of the same nature, but of a beautiful rose tint in its gradations of tints, very useful for most purposes. We have several red marbles, which are classed as English Serpentines; these, as a rule, are akin to the red porphyry of the Egyptians, and are fast coming into exten- sive use for architectural purposes. English serpentines vary in colour according to the quarry from which they are obtained. Amongst them are several shades of green, some bright, others neutral. Others, again, are of a rich dark brown, and others red ; the prevailing character of each being, in their markings, somewhat like granite, but larger in the markings. Of green marbles we have a variety, many of them of exceed- ing beauty. Werd Antique is a very rare and valuable marble, of a dark rich green colour, filled with variously sized patches of solid white and green, upon an intricate mixture of various shades and streaks of greens. This is a valuable marble for using on pilasters, or for inlaying with other marbles. There are some slender columns at Chatsworth, the celebrated seat of the Duke of Devonshire, of this marble, which are unique of their kind, the true verd antique being now ex- ceedingly scarce. There are also one or two table tops in the British Museum which are very fair specimens of this marble. Egyptian green is another well-known green marble, of a pleasing tint of colour, its veins crossing each other, causing apparently inextricable confusion, yet having a decided lead or run of vein in one direction—a character which allmarbles have more or less clearly indi- cated, according to their nature. Vert des Alpes, or Pyrennean green, is a dark green marble, with light green veins running across it, and semi-transparent and solid white veins crossing and recrossing the green veins, forming a distinct character, and having a slightly bluish tinge on the whites*. Trish Green is a dullish greenmarble, some- times called serpentine from the fact that the run of its leading veins have a wavy, undu- lating form like the form of a serpent when in poses in his next article to give a description of the system upon which he has been in the habit of imitating the marbles above described, that that description will of necessity only give the system, without entering into minute detail, as he should otherwise occupy too much of the available space of the BUILDING NEws with matter which would possibly only be interesting to a small portion of its readers. The whole series of these articles, when complete and carefully revised, will be published in a compact form, when all details necessarily excluded here in these articles will*be added and indexed, motion. Malachite is another green marble, if we may really call it amarble. Itisa natural carbonate of copper, varied in aspect by the presence of lime, &c., and often darkened in parts by the conversion of the carbonate into the peroxide of copper. It is very rarely found in large pieces, consequently, on being joined together to form a large slab, it has the appearance of a succession of irregular rings or circles, one within the other. The green is of a light and bright hue, not so vivid as emerald green, but nearly so. It is an admir- able marble for using as an inlay in the most valuable kind of petradura work. Brescia Ficario is a most beautiful coloured marble, and is obtained from quarries in the neighbourhood of Brescia, in Italy. In the mass it is a semi-transparent white marble, cut up into large and small irregular patches by very dark bluish purple veins, and inter- spersed with patches of purple and lake tints, with veins of a greenish tinge running through and across them. Here and there are spots of bright vermilion. In fact, there are few marbles containing so many beautiful tints of colour as this one. It is valuable for using as an inlay, and for the centre of a large panel on a vestibule wall or elsewhere. Lapis-lazuli is a blue marble, so scarce and valuable that it may almost be considered as one of the precious stones. In the British Museum is a snuffbox and a small pedestal of lapis-lazuli. The rarer specimens of this marble,are veined with a gold ore, and inter- spersed with small white veins. It is from this marble that the finest and best ultrama- rine blue is made; in fact, until very recently this was the only source from which this beautiful blue pigment could be obtained, and it is still used by artists for the painting of pictures. An artificial ultramarine is now made, beautiful and permanent in colour, but still not equal to the natural colour in purity of tone. Of gray marbles we have, first, Black Bar- dilla, or Bardiglio, which, if veined lightly, may be used in blocks for staircase walls, if required to be cool. It is of a pearly-gray hue with light gray and black veins ; the surface is cut up by the veins into irregular elongated ovals with cross veins. It is ex- ceedingly valuable in inlaying as a neutral gray tint, and in combination with other marbles tends to purify and improve other colours by contrast; it is useful, also, for the stiles of panels, and for bands on the top of skirtings, &e. Dove marble is a pleasing gray marble, ex- ceedingly plain and simple in its markings ; useful in inlaying as a contrast to other marbles, which are very busy and decided in their markings. S. Ann’s is a gray, white, and black marble, very busy in its markings, and very decided in character. Used principally for mantle-pieces and for inlaying. S. Remy Blue is a useful marble. Its prevailing colour is an agreeable tint of neutral red oyer a ground of bluish gray and white, which latter tints appear in innumer- able patches ; in fact, there is almost as much gray asred, the red being on the top. The red and gray granites are too well known to need description here. We have also numerous other marbles, besides black and gold, white vein, &c., which need not be described here, as we have enumerated a suf- ficient quantity to show what a wealth of different kinds and colours we have at our command for decorative purposes. We now proceed to describe our method of inlaying imitation marbles. All grounds for inlaying of marbles should be got up with four or five coats of solid white, finished in flat or dead colour, and stippled with the end of a duster or the stippling brush. ‘This is not only the best ground for the majority of marbles, but is necessary for another reason, which will be seen further on. For the sake of clear description we will take a wall panel as an illustration of our process. We first set out the design we intend to put
 * The Author wishes to say here that, although he pur-