When the work is to be flatted, that is, when it is desired that the paint when dry should present a flat or dull appearance without any gloss, the paint used for the previous coat should be rather thicker than would under other circumstances be used; it should be mixed with linseed oil and turpentine and should be rather darker than the flatting itself is to be.

Special care is necessary in laying all the coats which precede the flatting; they must be very evenly spread and must be smoothed with glass paper in order that they may be perfectly level, otherwise the smallest irregularities will appear in the finished surface, to the injury of that perfectly flat appearance in which the beauty of the work consists.

The paint used in flatting consists of white lead with which, of course, the necessary coloring matter is mixed, turpentine alone being used as the medium with which the paint is thinned. The color should be rather lighter than is required, as it darkens a little whilst drying; a brushful should therefore be tried before the whole surface is painted in order to avoid subsequent disappointment. In order to assist in drying, japanners' gold size is sometimes used instead of driers.

Although it is, of course, necessary that the coat preceding the flatting should be dry, it ought not to be absolutely hard, for it is necessary that the flatting, which is mixed with turpentine only, should slightly dissolve the surface, so as to become in a degree incorporated with it, by which much beauty and solidity is obtained, whereas, if the previous coat had become quite hard the flatting would in most cases appear streaky when dry and would be liable to crack or peel off.

Owing to the special composition of the paint used in flatting, it dries very rapidly and two men should be engaged at once in flatting a wall. A plank placed across two step-ladders, or otherwise supported, is placed in front of the wall at about half the height from the ground. One of the painters stands on this whilst the other stands on the ground. The last mentioned commences the work, painting a strip about 18 inches wide and carrying it up as high as he can conveniently reach, he works rapidly, crossing occasionally, so that no brush marks in any one direction may be visible, laying off very lightly; that is, continuing the action of his brush, withdrawing it gradually so that the points of the hairs may only skim lightly over the work.

The painter above proceeds with the operation from the line where his fellow painter left it, and carries it up to the top of the wall, the first painter meanwhile getting on with another strip, both painters being exceedingly careful that no break shall occur and that the lines at which their work join shall not be visible in the slightest degree.

Brushes called stipplers are much used; these are broad and flat, and in form resemble a hairbrush. In practice the stipplers arc gently dabbed against the wet paint, producing a level grain over the whole surface, something like the tooth on the drawing paper called not hotpressed. These brushes may be obtained of various shapes, the handles of some being continuous with the back, whilst in others it is fixed above, like that of a black-lead brush. The. adoption of either form is, of course, a matter of taste.

In Hatting a door, the panels must be finished first, great care being taken to carry the paint clean into the edges and corners. The stiles or framing should then be done. It is convenient to paint the muntins, or munnions, first; these are the upright pieces in the middle of the door. Next to these come the upper, middle and lower rails, the horizontals which cross the door, and lastly the upright stiles. or external vertical portions of the frame of the door. The brush marks, should any appear at the parts where the work is necessarily in cross directions, will correspond with the joints which would in reality exist at these parts.