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Furniture Finishing
The base coat may be of any flat or gloss oil enamel or lacquer enamel which will form a harmonious background for the polychrome colors. It should be hard dry, but the various polychrome colors may be aplied while each is still wet. The various layers of color show through one another producing the mottled effect of a sunset or of an autumn forest viewed at a distance. Flat polychroming is not usually antiqued, first because the stippling is a form of glazing in itself and secondly because a skillful artist will choose and mix his colors so well that none requires softening.
A typical color combination for this work would be a tan background, stippled over with dark brown, green and red. It is also possible on lacquer work to mix various lacquer enamel shades with gold bronze in order to give an additional glinting effect. Polychrome for metal work is a specialized art (See Book V). Nevertheless most of the methods suggested for carved and stippled base polychroming will be found to apply very satisfactorily.
Crackling
A HUNDRED and fifty years or more ago furniture was painted by the use of colors mixed in oil laid on coat by coat. It was a tedious process because the drying was slow and when a smooth finish was obtained it was often thought necessary to give it a higher lustre by the use of the so-called French polish. Shellac and linseed oil were applied to a pad and rubbed on with a circular motion, the operations continuing till the desired smooth glossiness appeared.
From the point of view of modern finishing technique this is bad practice. A quick-drying, short oil, brittle finish overlays a slow drying, very elastic one with the result that in time the finish cracks and crazes, or as we say, "alligators." The cause lies in the difference in rate of expansion and contraction with extremes of temperature whereby the long oil undercoats move too fast for the top coats and these have to give way in the unequal struggle.
CRACKLING
A failure in finishing years ago has today become quaint and decorative. Special materials have been developed to duplicate it and the result is known commercially as crackling. The crackle finish is produced by means of an undercoat, a crackle coat and a finish coat. An undercoat is essential as crackling will not take place over bare wood or metal, and the undercoat must be of a lacquer nature—not paint or varnish. One or more coats may be applied as required to build up a smooth surface, usually lacquer enamel, in order to afford the desired contrast. Red crackle over black lacquer enamel gives an excellent oriental or Spanish vargueno effect, but for straight novelty work, lavender over green, blue over gray, brown over ivory, or any desired combination may be used. Similarly for a more subdued appearance black may be crackled over white or even black over black as for radio fronts, metal smoking stands and the like. The crackle lacquer should be sprayed on (never brushed) after the lacquer enamel base coat has dried about an hour.
