Color Cement Handicraft 10

Color Cement Handicraft 10

While the surface of the tile is moist, drip in the color with a brush,

spreading it to fill the required space. Thin pieces of metal (or

material that will not absorb the moisture) may be used to spread the

color, producing a smooth, even surface. The color after once commencing

to set should not be touched, and for this reason should be rather

liquid so as to permit handling without too rapid drying.

 

THE COLOR SURFACE appears better when the lines of the design remain

uncovered with color. If the color is thickest in the center of the

spaces and then bevels down as it comes in contact with the lines, the

whole tile or surface will appear more professional.

 

If color becomes blurred or disturbed, it is better to wash the whole

out under the faucet and begin anew, or remove the section at fault and

work over. No amount of patching or rubbing will perfect the surface

after it is partly dry or completed.

 

After the coloring is finished put in a tray, carefully pour water into

the tray without dropping any onto the tile and let harden for five

days. The water should reach a little more than half-way up the side.

After removing it from the water let stand until dry, polish with a soft

flannel slightly waxed to remove white sediment on surface.

 

ANOTHER METHOD WITHOUT THE LINES is to use the color directly onto

cement or concrete surface without any retaining lines. The colors may

be placed so that they intermingle or so that they just touch, or the

color spots may be separated one from another similar to stencil work.

The color for this method is mixed thoroughly with cement and water

until the mixture is a fine thick liquid or “slip.”

 

SLIP PAINTING is a method of painting a design in one or several colors

over a cement or concrete surface. The color may be slightly in relief

or if done at the proper time it can be made to become a flat stain of

color sinking into the first surface.

 

THE TWO WAYS OF SLIP PAINTING must be handled a little differently and

the best way to become familiar with these methods is to do the work.

Therefore let us work out the first method of producing a design slip

painted in slight relief as follows:

 

FIRST: Make a design for a six-inch square, the design to denote the

colors to be used. Second: on a glass place retaining bars which have

been soaked in water and oiled, leaving space six inches square into

which a half layer of neat cement is poured and then a layer of one-half

sand and one-half cement. Third: after standing for twelve hours,

release this cement tile and it will be a plain, smooth surface. This is

placed in water for an hour and the design traced upon its surface.

 

Chalk of any visible color should be rubbed on the back of the drawing

to act as a tracing medium. Carbon paper or graphite should not be used

as any greasy substance will prevent the slip painting from adhering to

the cement tile surface.

 

THE COLORS FOR THE SLIP PAINTING should be mixed so as to match the

colors of the color sketch. When matching the colors, dry a small dab of

each color on a glass to see the dried color effect.

 

TO MIX THE COLORS PROPERLY, select the color you wish, emptying a little

upon a glass or marble slab. Take a little clean water and mix with a

palette or putty knife and grind the color until it becomes a thin

liquid paste. Having ground this color thoroughly, scrape it up and

place on one side of the glass, then proceed with the next color until

you have mixed the complete palette of colors to match those on the

sketch.

 

VARYING COLORS CAN BE SECURED by mixing the mineral colors and where

hues different than those in the set are wanted they should be mixed the

same as in water colors. There is one exception to this rule and that is

in using the orange. The orange in the mineral colors when mixed with

blue will produce a violet.

 

To gray the colors add gray cement, and to lighten the colors add some

of the white cement.

 

TO PLACE THE COLOR ON THE TILE, take it up with the brush and drip onto

the cement surface, being guided by the tracing previously made. The

color should be thin enough to flow from the brush easily and not so

thick that it drips in lumps. More water should be added if too thick

and more color is added if too thin. In both instances, whether water or

color is added it must be ground in thoroughly. If the color settles on

the glass it should be stirred again to keep the mixture uniform.

 

THE RELIEF OF THE COLORS can be regulated by how much color is flowed

from the brush, and surfaces can be built up by repeating the strokes of

color. Avoid repeating a stroke after the color has commenced to set, as

a second stroke in such an instance will destroy the surface lustre.

Where colors run over the boundaries they may be scraped back or taken

off with a moist, clean brush.

 

The direct clean stroke will produce the best final results, and if

preceding each stroke a little thought is given, mistakes will be

avoided.

 

The tile surface should not be permitted to dry while working upon it

and if kept in a shallow tray of water there will be less risk of it

doing so. Water should never be permitted to fall upon or touch the

surface of the slip painting or tile as the color will be destroyed. The

tile is placed carefully into shallow water to continue hardening and in

four or five days will be hard enough to remove. After drying out of

water several days it is ready to use or it may be given a gasoline wash

or wax rub if needed.

 

Tiles will harden as they age. Those that appear to be partly chalky

when completed will harden in a month’s time, when the moisture from the

center of the tile has completely evaporated.

 

THE SECOND METHOD OF SLIP PAINTING is used where three different planes

or heights of color are wanted. For instance we will suppose that the

subject is to be a decorative design of trees and distance landscape in

three colors. This would be worked out as follows: First, cast a plain

cement tile and after removing it and while damp pour a spoonful of

color on the surface coating it with plain color as desired. This color

should be the background color of the sketch. Second, while this coating

is soft, take the lightest color (for clouds, water, boats, flowers,

etc.) and with a full brush place the color onto this soft coating. It

will blend and sink into the background color and remain equally flat.

Third, after these colors have commenced to set, with a full brush paint

in the foreground part of the design (trees, etc.), working in large

masses and building up the color by repeated strokes until the right

relief is secured. Avoid shading the parts and keep all parts flat in

tone, even though they may be in relief. It will be found that the later

color is added to the first coating the less it will sink into the

background. Any design can be worked out accordingly either in relief or

flat. A little experimenting will solve many questions, and reveal

greater possibilities. To complete the tile it is placed in shallow

water until it hardens, then let dry for several days after which it may

be given a toning wash, or gasoline wash, and a wax rub.

 

A THIRD METHOD is to take a flat surface and slip-paint a design onto it

in relief. After the color has set for a short time it can be trimmed

carefully with a knife so that the sides are nearly vertical. This will

give the slip-painting a decidedly different appearance and it may be

left this way or other color may be added so that it comes nearly up to

these trimmed sides.

 

AVOID LEAVING ANY PART OF THE SURFACE DRYING or setting when painting on

the surface; or the tile hardening in the water too long before being

painted upon, as it will prevent it from becoming durable. Surfaces can

be covered smoothly when slip-painted if the color is used very thin.

First cover the surface with a coating of the color to be used,

immediately adding more of the color and it will flow and settle evenly.

 

A slip-painted color will dry dull if placed upon a tile shortly after

it has come out of the mold. To secure a glaze to a color the tile

should remain in the water for two days before the color is placed onto

it.

 

FOR LARGE SURFACES on which color is to be slip-painted, the surface on

which the color is to go should be roughened, so that the color will

become anchored.

 

THREE DEGREES OF SURFACE can be secured by different treatment. These

finishes are, first, Dull Surface; second, Mat Surface; third, Glazed

Surface.

 

DULL FINISH is secured by putting the color into the mold. The mold

absorbing the water from the surface causes it to dry dull.

 

MAT FINISH is secured by placing the color onto the tile or vase surface

after the surface has come out of the mold and moistened in water for a

few minutes.

 

GLAZED SURFACE is secured by letting the tile or other object harden in

water for several days and then draining off the surplus water, after

which the color is slip-painted onto the desired surfaces.

 

TILE SHOULD NOT BE PERMITTED TO DRY at any time before color is added,

as the color will not become attached to the surface.

 

DO NOT FORGET to roughen the surfaces of the spaces and to add neat

cement also before dripping the color onto either the mat finish or

glaze finish tiles as described in chapter five in the paragraph on The

Glazed Color Finish.

 

[Illustration: The Majolica Tile]

 

[Illustration: Slip-Painted Tiles]

 

[Illustration: Slip-Painted Tile Methods]

 

 

 

 

[Illustration]

 

CHAPTER 8

 

Sgraffito

Color Cement Work

 

[Illustration]

 

 

SGRAFFITO is the name applied to the incised ware of the Italians, and

used by them from a very early period dating as far back as the twelfth

and thirteenth centuries. The ware was made by covering the clay body

with a layer of slip of another color, and this was then scratched

through with a tool showing the color of the ware beneath against the

superimposed surface, after which it was fired. This process has been

used from the most primitive times, but it remained for the Italians of

the fifteenth century to dignify it as an art.

 

COLOR CEMENT SGRAFFITO is produced with a layer of cement and color

being used instead of colored clay and the cement is hardened without

firing, water only being used to finish the surface to a durable

quality.

 

THERE ARE TWO WAYS to produce a sgraffito surface on a tile and these

are, the glazed surface and the dull surface tile. No mold is needed for

the design as a sgraffito design must necessarily be a freehand

production, though molds may be used for duplicating the sgraffito

effect after the original one has been made, if no undercut edges are left.