Streaked Glazing Wood & Walls

¶ Streaked Glazing. This finish is done on both wood trim and plaster walls of the smooth type, as well as upon furniture. The working operation is very simple but some good taste must be exercised in selecting the colors. As a rule, but not always, the walls and wood trim are painted the same color, a light tint, mixing the paint to dry flat or semi-flat. When the ground coats of paint are dry and when the color is even all over, showing that enough coats of paint have been spread to hide the surface completely, you are ready to apply the glaze streaks. The effect to be produced is that of a very fine grained wood in which no figure or pattern is seen, only the grain. Picture 50 indicates the effect to be produced.

¶ Tinting colors ground in oil or japan, thinned with turpentine and tempered to easy working consistency with boiled linseed oil are used for this glazing. Choose a color of the same kind as is used for the ground coat, but a little darker. For instance, for an ivory white or1 cream color ground coat, mix your glazing color with raw sienna and burnt or raw umber. Mix this color quite thin. Brush the thin glazing color on to a stretch of the surface and while it is still wet take a clean, dry, soft cotton rag, crumple it up into a wad and you are ready to begin the streak glazing of the surface. Start at the top and draw the rag down over the surface, bearing down just heavy enough to leave an even streaked color on the wood. The rag should not get wet with color at any time or it will not do good work to match the first stretch done. Change rags often enough to be using a comparatively dry one all the time.

¶ When the surface has been uniformly streaked allow it to dry, preferably over night before it is finished with flat varnish, shellac or wax. One of these finishes is essential on wood trim to protect the color from being rubbed off. On walls the finish is protected with starch.

Next Page: Brush Stipple Glazing.