Graining
Graining is understood among painters to be a faux finish imitating several different species of ornamental woods, as satinwood, rosewood, mahogany, oak and others. After the necessary coats of paint have been put on to the wood a ground is then laid of the required tint and left to dry. The painter then prepares small quantities of the same color with a little brown, and boiled oil and turpentine, and, having mixed this, spreads it over some small part of his work. The flat hogs' hairbrushes being dipped in the liquid and drawn down the newly laid color, the shades and grainings are produced. To obtain the mottled appearance the camels' hair pencils are applied, and when completed the work is left to dry, and after-wards covered by a coat or two of good copal varnish. Imitation wainscot requires the use of combs of various degrees of fineness to obtain the grain (whence the process is called combing by some persons), and the flower is got by wiping off the color with a piece of rag. When dry it is over-grained to obtain a more complete representation of the natural wood, and then varnished.
If the work is done in watercolor and not in oil, beer grounds to act as a drier are mixed with the color; this sets it ready for varnishing. A patent graining machine, a sort of roller with a pattern upon it, is often used.
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