The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Furniture Finishing

Lacquer enamels may be used providing, of course, they are sprayed on. However, their consistency must be just right and the spray hand must be skillful in order to avoid a blurred edge which will invariably result from spraying at an angle, spraying loo thin a material or not spraying enough material on. For this reason many spray over lacquer enamelled furniture with japan or oil and japan colors which are more opaque, flow more readily and dry almost as quickly. In spraying over a stencil it is essential that the paper or fabric be as thin as possible as thick edges will cause "dusting," which has to be smoothed out by spraying on reducer.

Distemper colors may be applied with a sponge and are excellent for shaded or stippled effects.

COLOR HARMONY

The choice of color so far as harmony is concerned is one difficult to learn from a printed page. Some of us have the sense naturally, others can acquire it through study and practice, others may never hope to have it, though in no sense what is known as "color blind." The easiest and safest method is wherever possible to study nature, for nature never clashes even where all colors are used, as witness the example of the rainbow.

Stencil decorations must not arrest the eye like a circus poster, but soothe it like an autumnal landscape or a summer sunset. Single color stencils over backgrounds are appropriate as follows: blue, brown or pink on ivory; black, dark blue or dark gray on light gray; medium blue on white; yellow or blue on pink; lavender or pink on baby blue; black or red on pale green. Where two or three colors are used in the same stencil either as a picture, a floral or repeat design, extra caution is required— if too strong a burnt umber-raw sienna antique glaze should be lightly sprayed or wiped over it to cut down the boldness.

STENCIL DESIGNS

The choice of design in stencils is almost without limit. Unfortunately, due to the fact that many of us think of stenciling in connection with the very plainest patterns, the fullness of its decorative possibilities has never been entirely appreciated. As a consequence only the simplest designs are employed and these largely on the more inexpensive types of breakfast room and juvenile furniture.

Then, too, the wide choice of decalcomania transfers, simulating so closely the effect of expensive hand-painting, has curtailed the demand for stencil decoration.

The safest patterns for furniture stencils are conventional ones in single or at most two colors for the reason that more elaborate results are easier with decalcomania transfers. The greatest modern field for stencils is in painted furniture, particularly of the juvenile or breakfast room type. Such furniture is turned out in large quantities, the bulk of it frankly to sell at a price, and here stencils undoubtedly offer the cheapest and easiest method of decoration.