Series editors' preface - Wood Tools

154 Conservation of Furniture
copal resins (Gettens and Stout, 1966) and thus
it is unclear whether amber, copal or another
unknown resin were actually used in this
recipe.
Evelyn goes on to describe the method of
application. Wood is to be prepared clean and
smooth. Any defects are to be filled with a
paste made from gum tragacanth mixed with
an appropriate coloured pigment. Once flaws
had been filled the wood was then to be given
a coat of the varnish. Instructions are given for
the preparation of coloured varnish; red from
cinnabar, black from a mixture of calcined
ivory and green copperas (verdigris) and blue
from ultramarine. Red or black coloured varnish
was prepared by mixing one part colour
with seven parts varnish. Four coats of
coloured varnish were applied with drying
time between coats and then rubbed down
with Dutch rushes (Dutch rushes or Dutch reed
was obtained from members of the
Equisitaceae, the Horsetail family of jointed
ferns, whose stems contain large amounts of
silica). This application of four coats could be
repeated up to four or five times to give a total
of up to twenty-four coats of coloured varnish.
The final layer of coloured varnish was
smoothed with Tripoli powder and either olive
oil or water on a felt pad. Over the coloured
varnish, two coats of a modified clear varnish
without sandarac (possibly to decrease the brittleness)
were given and into this gold decoration
was applied. The gold was obtained by
filing or cutting fine gold wire of the type used
by embroiderers. Coloured details could be
added to this before the whole was coated
with an unspecified number of layers of clear
varnish sufficient to render the surface ‘like
polished glass’. Final polishing was done with
Tripoli powder, oil and felt.
Stalker and Parker (1688) provides detailed
technical instruction for the manufacture and
decoration of varnished surfaces and over a
hundred patterns in the ‘Indian’ style with
which to decorate them. So comprehensive
were the instructions that the treatise became
the definitive description of the japanning
process for amateurs, being either plagiarized
or reproduced with minor alterations in subsequent
texts for the following fifty years. The
success of the book would have been dependent
on the success or failure of the efforts of its
readers and thus it is likely that the authors
simplified the range of equipment, materials,
recipes and techniques to ensure that the
application of the Japan varnish was as
straightforward as possible.
Pear wood, close grained, free from knots,
smooth and clean, was recommended as a substrate
for japanning. However, as supplies of
this fruitwood were limited it was often applied
as a veneer. Lime and walnut presented good
alternatives, whilst oak and deal were more
problematic as they required priming with
‘plaisterers Size’ to fill the grain and smooth the
surface before japanning could begin. Stalker
and Parker were aware of the problems caused
by a thick priming layer and recommended
that such layers be well rubbed down ‘thin and
smooth and even’. An alternative preparation
suitable only for ‘the tops of tables and boxes’
was a mixture of animal glue and sawdust
which needed to be scraped flat when dry.
Although Stalker and Parker lay out general
rules for varnishing, they describe three distinct
processes depending on the colour desired.
First, for blacks and reds, seed lac varnish
mixed with pigments was recommended for
both ground and top varnish. Secondly, for
white and blue, a ground of pigment in isinglass
secured with best ‘white’ (i.e. transparent)
varnish was recommended as a means to avoid
the discoloration that would occur with gumlac.
Thirdly, for chestnut and olive grounds,
pigment in common glue size secured with
seed-lac varnish was used. In every case a
highly reflective surface, which imitated
Oriental lacquer, was the desired outcome.
Lampblack was recommended for black
grounds. For red grounds, vermilion was used
in one of three variations; on its own for
‘Common’ red japan ground; glazed with
dragon’s blood in seed lac for dark red
grounds and mixed with white lead for pale
red grounds. Blue grounds were achieved with
smalt and white with flake white applied over
a white (gesso) ground based on calcium carbonate
and isinglass. For chestnut grounds, a
mixture of Indian red or brown ochre with lead
white and lamp black was used. For olive
grounds English pink (a yellow lake derived
from a dye extracted from buckthorn berries)
was mixed with lamp black, lead white and
raw umber as required.
Seed-lac varnish is recommended by Stalker
and Parker in seven out of nine of their recipes