afford to use it, ad libitum, in the very small quantities
they require.



CHAPTER XIX

VEHICLES (Continued)

THE VOLATILE OILS

Spirits of Turpentine

IN defining the word vehicle, it was stated that it was
a liquid medium with which pigments were mixed and
properly thinned, so that they could be spread, by paint-
ing with a brush, over the surfaces to which the painter
wished to apply them; that, through their agency, the
pigments were made steadfast to these surfaces by those
adhering or binding qualities of the vehicles, either pos-
sessed inherently within themselves, or added to them by
the introduction and admixture of binding agents, as
glue or gum arabic, etc., for water; the volatile oils
serve another purpose in painting.

Their binding qualities are little better than water.
This can readily be inferred from the fact that they
evaporate entirely away, so that pigments mixed with
them alone would have about the same chance of remain-
ing upon outside surfaces as they would have if they were
mixed with water instead till the next hard rain came,
which would wash them away; or some boy, even, without
the rains, could rub the painting off with his bare hand.

The chief use of volatile oils in painting is for the pur-
pose of rectifying some defects in the fixed oils that are
used as binding vehicles in exterior painting, and for
what is called flatting in interior work.

206



VEHICLES 207

As adjuncts to linseed or poppy seed oils, they possess
the property of intimately mixing with them, and of ren-
dering them more fluid (they lessen their viscosity) and
also make the fixed oil set quicker. This enables the
painter to put on a heavier coat of pigment with less
linseed oil than would be possible without the use of the
volatile oils.

For flatting purposes they are used as the main vehicle,
A sufficient quantity of linseed oil must be used to bind
the pigment. It requires little to accomplish that purpose,
so that finishing coats of flatting are nearly entirely of
volatile oil. As flatting is usually done over a gloss
coat one containing considerable linseed oil unless
the flatting is delayed until the gloss coat has dried hard,
there will be enough tack in that to hold the flatting
thinned almost entirely with volatile oil. If, however,
one waits till it has thoroughly hardened, a small quantity
of linseed oil must be added to the flatting coat.

Spirits of Turpentine

Spirits of turpentine is the commercial term used in
the United States to designate what the painter calls
turps at the shop. In England, it is best known as oil
of turpentine, which it really is. Both names refer to the
same liquid.

It is obtained from several species of pines. That
which has been so abundantly produced in America is
derived entirely from the longleaf yellow pine of the tide-
water section of the Southern States adjoining the
Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. It is produced on a
large scale by scarifying the trees and collecting the
exuding gum which gathers at the wounds. This gum is
a highly odoriferous semi-solid resin. This is gathered
and hauled away to refining works, where it is distilled.



208 MODERN PIGMENTS

The volatile vapors are cooled and condensed into the
spirits of turpentine, while the solid parts remain as
rosin of many grades of goodness, according as it is
very light or dark colored the whitest being the most
valuable.

Spirits of turpentine is the most valuable of the volatile
oils used by the painter. Its odor, while it is strong and
penetrating, is far from being disagreeable, and unless it
is used during hot weather in a close room it is not
unhealthy as are those oils derived from petroleum
distillation.

Spirits of turpentine acts promptly upon the urinary
organs, and it is strongly diuretic in action. Some men
seem to be much more readily affected by it than others
some are so to the extent that they cannot endure to
work with it long at a time; others again have worked
with it daily for years without being detrimentally
affected by it. Persons who are troubled with kidney
diseases should be careful in its continued use. It is
not only absorbed by direct contact through the pores
of the skin, but also by the inhaling of its vapors, which
soon permeate the atmosphere of a room where it is used,
and where, as in flatting, little outside air is allowed to
enter, and then it is inhaled at every breath in large
quantities.

NAPHTHA AND BENZINE

Properties and Uses

For the purposes of painting, these two volatile oils
may be treated together. Both are so nearly the same
in composition, working qualities and odor, that they
may be regarded as the one thinning vehicle in paint
mixing. They are both derived from the distillation of
petroleum, and in early days were in very bad repute.



VEHICLES 209

They possess the properties ascribed to the volatile
oils useful in paint mixing, and described under the
heading of Spirits of Turpentine. They do not, any more
than turpentine, possess any binding properties. As
diluents of linseed oil, they are as good as and in some re-
spects better than, spirits of turpentine, and in one instance
they are not so good.

They are better, in that it takes less to accomplish the
purpose for which they are used (the only legitimate use
that can be made of volatile oils in paint), that of making
a paint more liquid spreading better.

But, phew! The smell! That is where the inferiority
comes in. Their odor is repugnant to many persons, and
to a few it is equal to a dose of lobelia or tartar emetic.
They, too, act upon the kidneys and urinary organs, but
not in such a marked manner as spirits of turpentine,
and in addition they more than tax the stomach. For
outside painting, they are better than turpentine, for the
reason, already given, that it takes less to dilute the paint,
so that more oil can be used and applied, and consequently
the paint will not flat out so quick. It evaporates some-
what more quickly and sets the paint in a shorter time
another advantage.

The better grades of these oils are treated with a view
to removing the disagreeable smell inherent in them, and
while thus treated they do not smell nearly as bad as
those which have not been deodorized; there is room for
vast improvement in this respect. There is hope enter-
tained of this. Spirits of turpentine is becoming scarcer
and higher every day, and, at the rate that the Southern
forests are disappearing under the ax of the lumberman,
it is only a question of a few years when the quantity of
it obtainable will be so small and its price will have soared
so high that it cannot possibly be employed, as it was by



210 MODERN PIGMENTS

the general painter. In quantity it will have dwindled
down to where there will scarcely be enough of it left to
supply the demand of the pharmacists of the world, who
all look to the United States for their main supply.

When that time arrives, and it is plainly in sight now,
willy-nilly, naphtha and benzine must ta"ke its place.
If completely deodorized, there will be no loss at best,
one might as well become accustomed to their use now;
and artists, decorators, and others might as well quit
shedding tears and accept the inevitable.

Aside from their uses as diluents, the volatile oils are
powerful solvents of certain gums and resins of both
hard and soft composition. Varnish manufacturers have
been most liberal purchasers and users of them for that
purpose, and increase each year, as the phenomenal
increase in their output necessarily demands more and
more.



CHAPTER XX

VEHICLES (Continued)

Varnishes, Japans, Alcoholic Solutions of Shellac, etc.
VARNISHES

General Remarks

UNDER the general name of varnishes, many differently
constituted liquids are to be found. Naturally,
according as to how these are composed and com-
pounded, they vary in their characteristics, each being
better adapted than are the others for some particular
line of usefulness. The term varnish seems applicable
to any liquid holding gums or gum-resins in solution,
which upon the loss of its volatile parts, and upon
the oxidation and hardening of its fixed oil and
gum-resins, shows a gloss upon surfaces over which they
are applied.

Some liquids will make a varnish (when properly
treated) upon drying as linseed oil will, after it has
been heated at a high heat but the gloss is greatly
improved by the addition of gum-resins of various
kinds.

In point of fact, no varnishes are made thus, and all may
be said to be composed chiefly of gum-resins; the liquids
used as solvents for these may be fixed oils, volatile oils
or various mixtures of those two, or it may be alcohol as in
the so-called spirit varnishes.

211



212 MODERN PIGMENTS

Properties and Uses

Varnishes aside from the uses for which they are
principally adapted, i.e., the finishing of surfaces with
a glossy coating, over paint put on in the ordinary way,
in graining, or over car, coach or carriage work, or over
the natural wood itself, as in hard-wood finishing, or in
enameling or japanning they are also used as a vehicle
for the direct application of pigments. Enamel painting
depends chiefly upon their use as pigment vehicles.
Iron bed manufacturers, bicycle factories and japanning
works, use them as vehicles, and they are true vehicles
in every sense of the word, with this difference, that
the fixed oils and their volatile adjuncts, are so of their
own selves while varnishes are not, but become so by
the nature of their component elements, which, as was
seen, are chiefly of those two classes of vehicles plus the
gum-resins which also act as binders.

The painting must necessarily partake of the nature of
its thinning varnish vehicle, some kinds of painting
requiring certain varieties of varnish for thinners, and
others, again, requiring different ones.

The varnishes which contain linseed oil as their principal
solvent and which have hard gums in their composition
such as gum copal are slow driers, but are elastic,
and in some degree resist the elements. Such are desig-
nated for outdoor or exposed conditions.

Then for inside work, varnishes whose main solvent is
turpentine or the petroleum volatile oils plus some lin-
seed oil for binder, will be preferably used for inside work,
as they dry hard, and being protected from atmospheric
changes and moisture they answer fairly well for the
purpose where hurry and expense are to be closely
considered.



VEHICLES 213

It is not intended in this work to give varnishes such
attention and notice as would be expected in a treatise
upon coach painting, for instance, as the only relation
in which they are of any interest in connection
with a book upon pigments is as to their use as vehicles
of them. As vehicles, their glossy properties are
secondary, in fact, of no interest whatever even to the
coach painter, with the exception of the enamelers, who
do not varnish over their wares afterward.

To resume, then, in a few words their values as
vehicles, the following advice is given: For per-
manent outdoor work, select some varnish made
from hard gum resin dissolved in linseed oil; mainly
of this description will be found the wearing body
varnishes of the carriage trade, and some of the better
carriage parts varnishes, and the so-called spar varnishes
or outside varnishes, which are made to withstand
hardships. Some few of the best grades of rubbing
varnishes are also of this order.

For work that is not exposed, the better grades
of the so-called inside varnishes are made from
less expensive gum resins, and all of softer texture
with a larger proportion of volatile oils, and will
answer fairly well. There is a wide range between
the poorest and the best, and one must be governed
by the circumstances when selecting for certain
purposes.

Some manufacturers list varnishes especially prepared
for mixing with colors. However, if one has used a cer-
tain quality of varnish with good results, he should
hesitate to continue its use, as he is likely to have
some trouble at first with even a good new one with which
he is unacquainted.



214 MODERN PIGMENTS

JAPANS

Properties and Uses

It is a very hard matter to give a true definition of
what is really meant by the term japan, notwithstanding
the daily use of it in the paint shop.

It is a varnish, and should be classed as such and with
them. As popularly known and understood by many
painters, it means to them simply a liquid drier. To the
carriage trade and to the color grinders, it means a vehicle
for the application of paint and for the grinding of it in ;
and to the japanners and to the enamelers, a baking
varnish. In the last relation, it certainly is a varnish.

It is needless to say that japans vary as much in their
composition as they do in their qualities, according to the
formulas under which they have been made, and these
are legion.

They can be divided into three classes. The first, which
the house painters chiefly use are liquid driers, and con-
sist principally of a solvent and some oxide of manganese.
These are not varnishes in any sense of that word.

The second class, which are for grinding and applying
coach colors, are properly varnishes, and of such are the
gold sizes and coach japans, and in reality should be
classed among the medium grades of varnishes. They
make good vehicles for the purpose for which they are
used. A great variety of good, bad, and indifferent coach
japans are made, and the price paid for them is not always
an indication of their quality.

THIRD CLASS

The varieties used in baking by enamelers are made
so as to stand that operation. They evaporate under
heat, and soften sufficiently to permit the coating of paint



VEHICLES 215

to level up free from brush marks and then dry with a full
gloss. There can be no doubt as to the character of
these nor of the japans used by the radiator men.
According to the gums entering in their composition, they
are either good or bad. Manufacturers of bicycles and
enameled iron bedsteads, etc., usually immerse all their
commodities in a dipping tank and stand them on inclined
drying boards, where the surplus color runs off, instead
of hand-brushing the color.

These varnishes are probably called japan from the
fact that all the small articles of bric-a-brac found on
the market have a smooth finish, usually obtained by
what is known as japanning, by baking in ovens specially
constructed for the purpose. These articles are made to
imitate in their finish the smooth lacquering put on the
same class of ware imported from Japan and China.
The name, no doubt, was transferred and applied from
the country to the finish, and means that here. In so
far it is easy enough to understand how such varnishes
can be called Japan, but why the same name is used by
the trade for mixing varnishes of the coach painter or
the liquid drier of the house painter is one of the conun-
drums which life is too short to unravel.

ALCOHOLIC SOLUTIONS OF SHELLAC

Properties and Uses

Shellac varnish as it is sometimes called, or simply
shellac, which to many means the same thing, and spirits
shellac, as it is known in the British Isles, are all one and
the same thing. It is simply shellac, either the orange
or the white, dissolved in alcohol.

It makes a fair vehicle for pigments, where speed and
quick drying are imperatively demanded. This varnish,



216 MODERN PIGMENTS

owing to the volatility of its solvent, alcohol, sets very
quickly, in a few minutes, and in a few more it is dry
and so hard that the painting done with it cannot be
brushed over without marring it.

Owing to its setting so quickly, it is very hard to apply
properly, and it requires an expert to handle it success-
fully. Its use must be confined to hurried work, and
for that it has no equal.

The above concludes the list of vehicles used in paint-
ing, at least those worthy of consideration.

There is a possibility of some others becoming very
useful at some future time, but their cost is now too great
to really entitle them to notice. Of this class is China
wood oil or Tung oil, which is said to possess very good
qualities. Should it be possible to acclimatize it here,
and its cost brought somewhere near that of linseed oil,
it might prove a dangerous rival; but it has never been
given the proper tests for endurance, etc., which would
warrant any one forming more than conjectural opinions
concerning its possibilities.

Correctives are used with vehicles, as was intimated;
and, again, some solids are binders to add to vehicles con-
taining no binding properties. The next chapter will be
devoted to these.



CHAPTER XXI
WAXES

BEESWAX

Properties and Uses

WAXES are not used as vehicles in painting, as are the
liquid vehicles, owing to their property of solidifying in
a few moments, at ordinary temperatures, as that makes
it impossible to melt them, mix them with pigments, and
apply the paint so mixed before it would have cooled and
become so hard that nothing could be done with them in
the ordinary way.

Encaustic painting, however, was known and prac-
ticed long before the present system of painting was so
much as dreamed of. The ancient civilizations made use
of it freely, and some of the work of their now unknown
artists is occasionally found in as fresh and well-preserved
a condition as when it was first applied centuries ago.

There is still some encaustic work done, but in an
amateurish way, as artists much prefer the use of linseed
oil to the slow and difficult method of applying paint by
the encaustic process.

In encaustic painting the colors are first put on with
a liquid, water will answer as well as any, and after-
ward the wax (when it has been melted by heat) is flowed
over it. A flat, hot iron is used on it to obtain a per-
fectly level surface. The finish is certainly very pleasing;
and the colors, being hermetically sealed from contact

217



218 MODERN PIGMENTS

with air, are not injuriously acted upon. It stands to
reason that for the finishing of interiors at least such
work must be permanent.

Beeswax was probably the form of wax used in the
encaustic painting of the ancients, although they were
also acquainted with the waxes derived from vegetable
substances.

Beeswax is used for many purposes by the house
painter, in fact, all forms of waxes are, not so much
as a vehicle as it is for the finishing of floors or wood-
work, and large quantities of it are annually consumed by
the paint trade.

As it comes from the melting pots', it usually is of
yellow, but often is found of a brownish tone; tlje latter
being impure, it must be rectified and bleached before it
is fit for the best work. The process of bleaching, also
raises its melting-point and hardens it.

Beeswax is a vegetable product gathered by bees from
plants, and is not an animal production as some errone-
.ously suppose it to be. It is permanent for interior
work, but when exposed to the inclemencies of the
weather upon the outside, it is partially destroyed by
oxidation.

VEGETABLE WAXES

Characteristics

Many plants produce wax, and in South America,
especially in Brazil, it is gathered from the leaves of
Copernica cerifera, where it occurs in thin sheets. It is
a regular article of commerce in that country. In China
and the Thibet there is an extensive trade done in vege-
table wax. Its melting-point is high, 185 F. But for
its limited quantity and consequent high price, it would



WAXES 219

be more extensively used here; it makes a hard wax.
Vegetable wax is used for all purposes indicated under
the heading of beeswax.

PARAFFIN WAXES

Characteristics

Paraffin waxes are the' product of petroleum distillation
and vary very much. Most of them have such a low
melting-point as to unfit them for encaustic painting or
any other purpose of the painter. Their melting-point
ranges from 105 to 180 F. The very highest qualities
of them are very good, and in one respect at least render
them superior to the vegetable waxes in that they are
not so readily acted upon by the volatile oils, nor will they
mix with them as those do. Such will consequently
make excellent binders for pigments for encaustic work
or for the waxing of floors where their hardness is greatly
in their favor. It is also useful to add to such very heavy
pigments as quicksilver vermilion, as it helps to prevent
the separation and precipitation of that pigment when
mixed in linseed or poppy-seed oils, but small quantities
of it should be used for such a purpose.

While encaustic painting is commonly done by using
the wax as a covering for the colors previously applied,
and not as the vehicle to convey them to the work, yet
there have been some very fine pictures painted where
it was used as the vehicle for the mixing of the pigment
and of its application. This requires great skill, and is
not likely to ever become popular, as both the work itself
must be kept warm as well as the vessels containing
the melted wax and pigment.



CHAPTER XXII.

SUBSTANCES USED IN BINDING PIGMENTS
GLUES

General Remarks

THE substances whose description is attempted in this
chapter are not vehicles themselves, being solid sub-
stances, but are adjuncts to liquid vehicles which do not
possess any binding properties within themselves capable
of fastening the pigments for the application of which
they serve as a medium to surfaces and which other-
wise through their lack of adhesiveness would fall down,
wash away, or blow off from them upon on the least
provocation.

In distemper painting, for instance, water is the vehicle
used, and no arguments are necessary to show that paint
applied with it would have absolutely nothing to hold
it after the water had evaporated. These binding sub-
stances are added to hold the pigments to their place, and
they become parts of the paint itself after the vehicle has
evaporated.

Among the agents which are principally used for this
purpose, glue easily holds first place, not that it is the best
of all, but because it is the most economical as well as
the handiest of any on the list. It is by long odds the
one binding substance which is most universally used,
and the quantity annually employed for the purpose is
something enormous.

220



SUBSTANCES USED IN BINDING PIGMENTS 221

It is not only employed by painters in the preparation
at the home shop of distemper colors, but the numerous
concerns which have sprung up within the past twenty-
five years with ready-prepared water paints or kalsomines
or anti-kalsomines of all sorts, prepared from gypsum,
etc., which are all ready for use by the simple addition
of either hot or cold water, these use incredible quan-
tities of it in the compounding of said ready-prepared
distemper paints. This preparation of wall water-paints
has grown up into a great industry and is extended every
year, and they are found for sale in every general store in
the land. They are uniform, handy to use, and usually give
better satisfaction than that which the average painter
is able to prepare for himself. The above is not said in
order to discourage any one from mixing his own com-
pounds, but as a statement of fact. There is no doubt
but that any intelligent painter can mix a batch of dis-
temper colors just as they ought to be; but although
this is simply done, it must be done just right. In the
hurry, which is usually the condition existing during the
busy season of the spring, trifles are forgotten or dis-
carded for want of time. Many a painter who has been
too busy to properly prepare a batch of distemper color
to be sent out on a job, sees it go out of the shop door
with misgivings as to its future. Many an eyesore and
heartache might have been avoided by the use of a well-
prepared water paint which could have been sent out to
a job without loss of time and saved a good bit of worry.

Properties and Uses

Glue is an animal product, obtained by the boiling of
hoofs, bones, cartilaginous parts of carcasses, hides, hide
trimmings from the tanneries, and even parts of flesh.
If the treatment is done at a temperature above the



222 MODERN PIGMENTS

ordinary boiling heat, the process is greatly hastened.
The various processes and manipulations are all simple
and well known, but too lengthy to give, and can be
summarized thus: Glue is the residue which remains by
boiling the animal parts referred to and afterward drying
the same when it has been cleansed of impurities by
various processes of clarification, etc.

Its binding properties are due to two distinct yet
similar compounds, gelatin and chondrin. The chemical