dipped in a fairly strong solution of soda in water or in turpentine. Both the soda and the turpentine should be stained with a little burnt sienna, otherwise the markings will be too staring. Hold in the left hand a rag on which to wipe the fitch, so as to prevent the fluid running down and spoiling the work. Spirit graining should not be varnished for twenty-four hours, and even then must not be rubbed too much.
When oil is the medium in oak color, raw sienna, with burnt umber or Vandyke brown, according to the depth of color required, is finely ground in linseed oil. Patent driers is then added, this acting as a megilp, giving substance or body to the color; ½ ounce of patent driers to 1 pound of color, mixed with equal parts of oil and turpentine, is the proportion. Without this megilp the color will be flat and uninteresting. To get the ribbed appearance of the grain of oak, beeswax, soft soap, lime-water and rain-water are often used when patent driers is not available. The method of preparation is as follows: Wax must be thoroughly incorporated with oil by shredding the wax into an earthenware receptacle, covering it with linseed oil and stirring with a red-hot poker till the wax is thoroughly dissolved; then add the staining color, well mix and dilute it with turpentine. An excess of wax with the color will cause the combing to stand up too much. In the natural wood the markings are depressions, but in the graining they appear as ridges of color. The markings should not, therefore, stand up more than is absolutely necessary to produce the desired effect. The lines must to a certain extent be distinct, although softened down in places. Soft soap must be broken up with either patent driers or whiting, and thinned with boiled oil, or it may be made up into a lather with plain water, and in this state mixed with oil color. The objection to soft soap is its alkaline nature, all alkalies weakening and destroying paint. Lime must be slaked in water, about 2 pounds of lime and 1 gallon of water,
