Lives and Legacies

Tag: paint

  • Marbled Paper – The (Secret) Art and Function of Paint Blobs

    The design of books today is an art form. Think about it. What will catch the reader’s eye? What cover art will convey the theme or subject of the pages inside? If you’ve ever pulled an older book off a shelf, say one owned or used by George Washington (or a descendant of the family), you might notice a somewhat drab cover with the title stamped on the front, but otherwise very nondescript. You might notice if the bindings holding the pages together are tight or loose if there’s a crease in the spine (heaven forbid!), or even if there’s a bookplate denoting the ownership of said book.

    Look at this book in our collection.

    The Life of George Washington by John Marshall, 1807 owned by George Washington Lewis, 2nd

    Do you see all the parts mentioned? Great! However, what about those paint blobs? What is that, and why do so many older books have those kinds of endpapers?

    Parts of a book

    These papers are art in and of themselves. They are typically called “marbleized” paper (the process is “paper marbling”), and the earliest known use of the technique was in 10th century Japan. The process in Japan is known as Suminagashi, which literally translates to “floating ink”.[1] The process migrated to Turkey, where artisans began using paint rather than ink. Eventually, the art form arrived in Western Europe after the Crusades and took hold in France, the Netherlands, and Germany.[2] Most historians credit the French for taking this art form to the next level, using it for books. Imagine that fancy, leather-covered book without marbled end pages…what could possibly cover the strings and glue that holds the book together? Plain paper? Non, c’est horrible!

    The art form rose to such a skill level that a specific guild was created to keep the secret from others. For those unfamiliar, a guild is an association that oversees a specific craft or trade. It is what our modern-day professional associations are to those in previous centuries. In this case, however, the marbling guild took great pains to keep their trade a secret since the technique was highly valued by bookbinders who wanted to streamline (read: make less expensive) the process. While the guild kept the process a secret for over a century, eventually, someone decided to publish a how-to guide. That person was Charles W. Woolnaugh, and his book is The Art of Paper Marbling.[3] The cat was effectively let out of the bag at this point (1851), and Woolnaugh followed up with a second book on the practice about 30 years after the first one.

    The most interesting aspect of marbled paper is that no two designs are alike. There can be many similarities from the color scheme to a feathered design, but it is almost impossible to create the same image each time. When you think about it, it is neat because each endpaper is unlike any other.

    Victoria & Albert Museum, The Whole Art of Marbling

    This image was created by using a comb (also shown) that, when gently pulled through the paint (which is floating on top), creates this arches. For single, larger arches, or even a more feathery technique, a quill or sharp-pointed device (a nail, for instance) could be used to gently manipulate the paint into a particular design. To transfer the image to paper, one would lay the paper on top of the floating paint, touch the four corners to ensure the entire surface made contact, and then gently pull up from one of the corners, letting the residual liquid drain back into the pan.

    Come try marbling yourself!

    Want to try your hand at paper marbling? Join us for our annual Fabulous Fourth at Ferry Farm event on Monday, July 4, from 10 am to 4 pm. We will be using water, carrageenan (seaweed extract), and acrylic paint to recreate the marbleizing process. You can try the comb and feather technique in red, white, and blue hues. The product will result in a bookmark with the added bonus of one of GW’s “Rules of Civility” printed on it too. Fun fact: To practice his penmanship, GW copied those rules from a French etiquette book! However, one might wonder, did his book have marbled end pages? We can only hope.

    Amy N. Durbin

    Director of Education

    [1] Ryan, L. (2021, February 18). Marbled Papers: A Brief History of an Endagered Bookcraft. UDC Library Cultural Heritage Collections. Retrieved June 21, 2022, from https://ucdculturalheritagecollections.com/2021/02/18/marbled-papers-a-brief-history-of-an-endangered-bookcraft/

    [2] Berry, G. (n.d.). Some History of Marbling. The Ancient Art of Marbling on Paper and Fabric. Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https://marbleart.us/SomeHistory.htm

    [3] Revell, S. (2016, November 2). Divers oiled colours: Exploring the history of marbled paper in the National Art Library •. V&A Blog. Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/museum-life/divers-oiled-colours-exploring-the-history-of-marbled-paper-in-the-national-art-library

  • Building George’s House: Why Red? How We Picked the Paint

    A few weeks ago at George Washington’s Ferry Farm, painters finished painting the exterior of the Washington house.  They used a red color known as “Spanish brown.” The paint is linseed oil-based and actually behaves more like a stain.  Modern oil-based paint can, in a way, be thought of as a plastic that laying atop the surface and coating the wood.  The historic pigment we used actually seeps into the wood itself and essentially stains the wood the deep red.

    Washington House without Scaffolding
    River-facing side of the Washington house at Ferry Farm.

     

    House Painting (8)
    Falling snow against the new paint on the Washington house.

    In the 18th century, the pigment came from clay mixed with red lead, an iron oxide. The paint was “made by grinding the earth into a very fine powered consistency that would then be added to the linseed oil and turpentine – the content of the dirt and the amount used ultimately determined the color” which could range from “burnt orange through reds and into browns.”

    Why did we choose Spanish brown as the Washington house’s exterior paint?  Well, we have evidence, both documentary and archaeologically, that suggests the original Washington home was this very color.

    First, our archaeologists recovered fragments of plaster with Spanish brown on them, which demonstrates the color was available and used at Ferry Farm.

    Second, Mason Locke Weems wrote “The house in which he lived is still to be seen. It lifts its low and modest front of faded red, over the turbid waters of the Rappahannock.” (Page 11)  While Weems included myths about Washington, his biography was published in 1800 meaning the house could certainly have still been standing for either him to visit or for persons who had seen the house to describe it too him.  We know the house became a ruin just after 1830.

    Finally, when paint analysis of colonial houses is done, Spanish brown is frequently encountered.  The color was extremely popular during the 1700s.  Here in Virginia paint analysis found it used at William Randolph’s Tuckahoe and in Williamsburg at Nathaniel Walthoe’s storehouse, Bruton Parish Church, and, most notably, the Peyton Randolph House.[1]

    Peyton Randolph House
    The Peyton Randolph House in Colonial Williamsburg. Credit: Wikipedia / Jrcla2

    Spanish brown was also popular beyond Virginia.  It adorned the Palmer-Marsh House in North Carolina and Sotterley Plantation in Maryland.[2]  A survey of advertisements for Rhode Island paint shops between 1760 and 1819 found it offered “in nearly every ad.”

    Palmer Marsh House
    Palmer Marsh House in Bath, North Carolina. Credit: North Carolina Historic Sites

    Spanish brown was “the ubiquitous color of colonial America” and “was cheap, probably the cheapest available – dirt cheap because it was dirt.”  Its inexpensiveness did not prevent it from being popular among the gentry class.  If possible, the Washingtons and their fellow gentry would have preferred homes of brick that symbolized “dominance, prosperity, and social status.” With this desire in mind, “red paint in its various shades can be seen as an attempt to give otherwise well-finished frame buildings the same aura of permanence that brickwork offered.”[3]

    Zac Cunningham
    Manager of Educational Programs

    [1] Susan Buck and Willie Graham, Chap. 15 “Paint” in The Chesapeake House: Architectural Investigation by Colonial Williamsburg, ed. by Cary Carson and Carl R. Lounsbury, Raleigh, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 364.

    [2] Ibid.

    [3] Ibid.

  • Photos: Building George’s House – Painting the Exterior

    Painters recently finished painting the exterior of the Washington house at Ferry Farm.  The house was painted a red color common to the 18th century and known as “Spanish brown.”  The paint was linseed oil-based just as it would have been in the 1700s.  We’ll have a more detailed blog post in a few weeks explaining how we came to choose Spanish brown as the color to use.  In the meantime, here are a few photos of the painters working as well as of the finished job.

    Getting started.
    First coat.
    Painting the dormers.
    North and east side of house complete.
    Dormers complete.
    Falling snow against the new paint.

    Learn more about the Washington House here and view other videos, photos, and blog posts about the project here.