127. The natural plain growth of walnut usually presents no riotousness and is rather staid and well behaved, but with a sufficiency in variation to suit the most fastidious. Not so with burled walnut or root walnut of either the European or the American varieties. One would hardly recognize them as relations of the former but by that they carry some of the colors of the plain, besides many shades more and variations of them of their own. The European varieties are usually lighter toned than the American sort, and the contorted course of the veining is somewhat more regular in appearance, otherwise the burling and knots are very much the same. The same design executed in either European or American walnut would look well if properly done. There is considerable system in the seemingly wild growth of walnut burls. Their representation requires considerable study in order to represent them naturally, not that it is very hard to do, but in order rather that it be not overdone. There is nothing that has a more vulgar look than an overdone imitation of burled walnut.

128. The student should familiarize himself with the growth of many specimens and besides he should carry an imprint in his mind of all the various natural specimens he may come across. In these studies he will no doubt have noted that the ground color or the lighter parts in the natural wood does not run uniform as in the plain wood. Some parts will require a much lighter ground than others, and good grainers take advantage of that knowledge and prepare the grounds in various shades in order to produce the effects desired. Some try to obtain these by overgraining, but while that improves the graining it will not produce the realistic effects possible by the varied colored grounds. This demands good judgment and a full knowledge of the intended work so that a boy cannot be sent ahead to do the grounding, but the grainer himself must do it according to his own conception of the intended work.

129. The graining is always done in distemper. The colors used are raw and burnt sienna, raw and burnt umber and ivory black. To these may be added Vandyke brown. The lay out is first laid out with a sponge. A different sponge should be used in each color. After all the principal features have been put on and blended properly, the work proper of putting in the details commences and is done with camel’s hair pencils, fan overgrainers, etc. It is presumed that the student has practiced these before, as he will hardly care to expose his ignorance upon a door panel where it would be very likely to put him to shame. Nothing but practice makes one perfect at this work. Yet many who have practiced it for years fail to do as good work sometimes as a novice would, because they have a false conception of it and keep on in the old rut, which was wrong from the beginning. It is not difficult of execution, but cannot be done right in a haphazard manner any more than by making lines and curves and expect to produce a good sign if not put in their proper places.

130. As hinted in paragraph 28, some grainers expect to do too much with the overgraining. They try to correct a faulty ground work and to put in many details which properly belong to the graining proper. It is possible, of course, to help very much in the correction of many faults, especially in those of bettering the mottlings, but if the graining has not been laid out nor grained pretty near right, no amount of overgraining will make it right, and more work that would have been passable is rendered worthless by overdone overgraining than from any other one cause.

QUESTIONS ON LESSON XXIV.

127. What is said of burled and root walnut graining?

128. How should the grounds be prepared for it?

129. How is burled walnut grained?

130. How is burled walnut overgrained?