The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Furniture Finishing
The metal, of course, must be rendered entirely free from grease or oil and smoothed unless a texture finish, as with raised stippling, is desired. The metal is customarily given a first coat, for sealing and binding purposes, of shellac, about a two-poundcut, either white alone or mixed half and half with orange, followed while still wet by cheap gold leaf daubed on with a cloth pouch, the lathe being revolved dowly by hand.
Directly on the metal may be applied gold bronze in varnish or lacquer bronzing liquid, preferably the latter for greater clearness and lustre, oil or japan gold size for a high-grade metal leaf finish, paint or lacquer stipple paste for a texture finish, paint, color varnish or lacquer enamel for a solid color finish. All will adhere well if the materials are properly prepared and applied and may be brushed, sprayed or dipped according to the shape and size of the base. There is no objection to omitting shellac in favor of flat paint or lacquer undercoaters for finishes in solid color if this be preferred, but these primers should be specially made for use on metal.
The variety of finish effects suitable for metal lamps is almost without limit. Sometimes the entire lamp will be gold-leafed or bronzed and antique glazed; again the base and top portion alone will be so treated, the pipe portion being raised stippled and color glazed or finished smooth with paint or lacquer enamel and antique glazed, or color varnished over a flat paint undercoater, rubbed dull and polished to a high lustre. Where an ornamental vine and leaf design is found, the practice is usually to polychrome these by hand with japan colors in nature's own colors, antique glazing and protecting with a coat of clear varnish or lacquer.
Cedar chests
CEDAR chests as produced today are intended in large part to offer a decorative appearance as well as to afford mothproof storage for furs and woolens. In consequence of this it is necessary to be familiar with three types of finish which are described herewith. In all cases no finish whatsoever is applied to the interiors and that on the exteriors serves the additional purpose of helping the aromatic qualities of the wood to be concentrated inwards.
Natural.—Where the chest is to serve a primarily utilitarian purpose, the finish is applied directly to the bare wood which is of a red and white streaked character. In order to harmonize the red more closely with the white it is customary to tone the latter to a pinkish shade by means of Venetian, red in oil, reduced thin with benzine and applied with a rag. The next step is to inspect the surface carefully for knot holes which, when found, may be filled by burning in with stick shellac, sanded off smooth and level.
