Apply a coat of flat white paint to casting. When this is thoroughly dry, proceed with the color decoration. Use a soft camel's hair brush. Apply the paint thinly. Brush with an even stroke, the long way of the design, not across.
Procure a tube of oil paint in red, blue, yellow, black and white. From these five tubes, all of the various shades can be made. For example: by mixing red and blue, purple is obtained; blue and yellow-green; red and yellow- orange. If a certain shade of purple is desired, by adding more blue we get a bluish purple, by adding more red, a reddish purple.
In mixing colors, use a palette knife though shades may be developed by use of a brush. A few drops of turpentine thins paint, and makes it easier to apply.
If you are not familiar with color harmony or correct color combinations, look about you on the wall paper, tapestry or illustrations in color, and from these select the color scheme you wish to use. Try to mix your colors to correspond to the scheme you have selected.
In painting flowers, imitate or reproduce the colors of the flower itself. In decorating conventional figures, select colors that harmonize.
Shading adds greatly to the beauty of the work. When a yellow flower is painted, shade the spaces between the petals with darker yellow. High lights or prominent surfaces should be kept light, while the recesses and the low places should be dark.
The antiquing process, which adds to the beauty of this work, is produced as follows: Procure a small can of Van Dyke Brown ground in Japan. Place a little on a smooth surface, and add enough turpentine to make a thin, watery mixture.After the colors have thoroughly dried and hardened, cover the entire surface with this brown mixture, and immediately wipe off with cheese cloth or rag, leaving the mixture in the recesses.
Bronze powders may be applies in one of two ways. The usual way is to mix the bronzing liquid with the bronze powder, and apply by means of a soft camel's hair brush. Another way is to coat the casting with flat varnish, and when this becomes almost dry or "tacky," dust on the bronze powder with a rather heavy camel's hair brush. The different designs on the same piece may carry a separate and distinct shade of bronze.
If a brilliant, highly polished surface is desired, use enamel paint.
The low parts and those farthest away from you should be painted first, then apply the colors on the next highest point in the design. As, for example, No. 124. Paint the house first, then the flowers which grow across its front, then the doorstop, finishing with the foreground. After this has been done, line in the window and door frames.
To preserve painting, after it is thoroughly dry apply a coat of flat varnish or shellac.
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