117. Mahogany is one of the most beautifully formed woods that nature produces. In its plain form or in its most intricate featherings, it is always pleasing to look at and its most profuse variations of form do not cause any nausea nor does one become confused or tired of them. It is found in many variations of color. New mahogany is very light toned and seldom darker than a medium buff tone. It acquires a reddish tone by age, which becomes a rich dark red in time. This redness is usually artificially supplied in the natural wood by staining. In graining it is the most usual to reproduce the rich red darker variety, and that of the light varieties is only resorted to in order to match some parts added to a room which has been finished in the light natural wood.

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118. The ground for light mahogany should be a buff more or less dark, according to the character of the finish wanted. A medium oak ground made by the addition of ochre to white lead is the most usual for light mahogany. For the darker mahogany imitations the ground should be rather reddish and much darker in tone. To the white lead base should be added yellow ochre and venetian red. For some specimens a trifle of burnt umber should be added in order to darken it, but never sufficiently to kill the red yellow tone.

119. The graining color for light mahogany is prepared by mixing raw sienna and burnt umber in distemper; that used for graining dark mahogany is made from burnt sienna and burnt umber, the manner of doing the graining in either coloring being the same. Mahogany seldom shows any regular veining, but soft tones of mottlings, rather coarse and lengthy, but these usually are not numerous in what is known as plain mahogany. The whole character can be put on in one operation and with the sponge, which by the proper pressure will make out the broad veinings, which when blended out to bring out the feathering usually suffice to give the right character to the wood. The proper use of the sponge should be practiced in order to make the color lay strong in parts where it is wanted dark, and to wipe it out thin where but little coloring is desired to show over the ground.

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In some specimens of plain mahogany many fine pores appear, and it may be well to flog a few of the lines made by the sponge lightly before blending. This must be quickly done, as otherwise it would become too dry for blending. There will be enough porousness show after the blending to make a more natural appearance than if the stippling had not been resorted to.

120. Crotch and feathered mahogany should be well studied out in order to reproduce it rightly. It is not very difficult to do the work, but as said before the operator must have a good idea of what he is going to do and should have the space to be grained all pictured out in his mind’s eye. The feathering is brought out by the proper use of the sponge and the blending of it properly afterward has much to do in the making it look natural, for if it is not done right it will make an otherwise good piece of work look ridiculous. In the natural wood these fine markings are very scarce, and never seen outside of veneers and are costly, therefore hardly ever seen except upon high priced furniture, but in the grained imitation the operator can indulge his wildest fancies in reproducing the choicest specimens of the wood at a small outlay.

121. In the crotch mahogany veneers one will frequently notice a fine set of veins which cross the mottlings or featherings in an opposite direction. They are not nearly as prominent as these, but seem to be a succession of fine paint lines. These when put in as they should be help out the graining very much, and the putting of these in is the chief object of overgraining. The coloring should be the same as that used for the graining, only thinned a trifle more and sometimes just darkened a bit more by the addition of a little ivory black in distemper. The fine lines are put in with the fan overgraining brushes from which the hair has been well thinned out, so they will separate by running through a comb into a number of parallel fine lines.

QUESTIONS ON LESSON XXII.

117. What is said regarding the graining of mahogany?

118. How are the grounds of light and dark mahogany prepared?

119. How should plain mahogany be grained?

120. How is crotched and fancy feathered mahogany to be grained?

121. How is mahogany overgrained?