STRAY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 9, 5 October 1927, Page 17

STRAY NOTES

CURTAIN EFFECTS Linen, in beautiful springlike shades, and with checked and woven borders, is being used for the new curtains. It is an attractive idea in a sunny morning room, for instance, to have the table linen emphasising the colour scheme at the window, and the curtains of peagreen or crocus —mauve are kept in countenance by tablecloth and mats of the same tender colourings. Another type of rather cottagey fast-room will have pale biscuit curtains with a bright checked bolder in black, and green. Then the breakfast pottery set will carry out the same idea and the table linen will be patterned in the same way. , . Fringed effects are . becoming noticable in house furnishings, and the sim plest-made curtains and cushions are fashioned from a new sliot matenal that is half damask and half taffeta and said to be both rain and sun resisting. The edge is merely unravelled to form a deep or narrow fringe as desired.

STAINING & VARNISHING There never was, is, or never shall be a perfectly satisfactory ™ less varnish or stain (bo it war, spirit, or varnish stain) penetrates, "sinks intae” the woodwork, as the Scot puts it; so it is imperative that the varnish ,or stain must be applied to the nude timber. The too frequent process of fi r sf applying a coat of size is to be condemned, as this product (beloved as a "lion and a blessing” by jerry-build-ers ami decorators, or, rather, desecrators”) is a suction stopper .Whether used strong or weak, it simply forms a thin film through which nothing can permeate, and sooner or later this film cracks and falls off with whatever mav be on it. . . . I prefer the water stains as being the cleaner, simpler, and quicker to manipulate and penetrate; burnt turkey umber, Vandyke brown, or burnt sienna are mostly used, though raw sienna and drop black are useful for lighter and darker shades respectively. These may bo had finely ground .in water in paste form,, and only require ttiinning out with the same medium. The rounder or thicker they are used, the darker or deeper they appear; conversely, the more they are thinned out the ’lighter or paler they become. In most cases one coat suffices but occasionally n second coat is necessary. Their consistency must be such as will not conceal the grain of the wood, and in application the brush must follow on the grain. Vandyke brown gives walnut effects, and if used rounder, the appearance of ebony. For chirk walnut and ebony, black is also useful; burnt sienna resembles mahogany and rosewood. As a relief to monotony the door and win-

dow shutter panels may be stained with burnt sienna, the stiles with Vandyke brown, and the mouldings run in with the latter also, but used rounder, in which case the wood is hidden, as in ebony. One part each of burnt Turkey umber and burnt sienna form a somewhat rich stain. Raw sienna is only called for when a pale yellow pine shade is desired. With raW umber, in addition to the others mentioned, the range of shades that may be prepared from them is ■wellnigh inexhaustible. Turkey umber is more powerful in body and a little more expensive than English, but I always found it the better of the two and the cheaper in the end. ’The stopping of nail holes in mouldings somehow always shows. For yellow and pitch pine I have seen a dozen and more different shades of stopping prepared from white lead, stiffened with dry whiting, and tinted to match the varied hues in the woods; but still it was evident. To overcome this a scumble or glazing medium was prepared from burnt Turkey umber or Vandyke brown ground in oil, thinned put to the right working consistency with turpentine, with which the moundings were run in after the completion of the stopping. Turkey umber being a drier in itself, no other is required; but in the case of Vandyke brown—always a very bad drier in oil —sufficient varnish was used with the turpentine.

In the staining of floors the preceding remarks generally . apply, but in addition to the nail holes the spaces between the boards should be stopped and levelled up.

Water stains, wherever applied, nay be given a coat of raw linseed oil two or three days after application. Jhe older the oil is the better, and it should be well brushed out or Tubbed out,” as the Scot puts- it. This binds the stain well into the wood. When quite hard and dry, the work may be either varnished or wax polished. Jn the case of front doors, they aiay t-e French polished. —John M. Fife, in the “Illustrated Carpenter and Builder.”