Applique Or Applied Ornament

Rosettes, wreaths, medallions, and enamels are often applied to plain surfaces, and all except the enamels could be fixed by brazing, silver soldering, soft soldering, or riveting, the rivets being shown as part of the decoration as illustrated in Ch. vi, Fig. 7 (3) or hidden (secret riveting). Some old Gothic ironwork has been done by piercing the ornament out of thick metal and riveting it on to a plain background, which gives a very fine effect. In some Spanish work of this kind the effect was heightened by laying on the background a piece of red leather or velvet and then fixing on the pierced work. Doors were decorated in this manner and must have looked very rich and beautiful.

Where a number of the same small ornaments are to be applied, they may either be cast from a pattern, or stamped with a die. If the design is cut in a piece of iron or steel the reverse shape to that which is required, really making an intaglio, soft metal is easily hammered into the die so formed without the aid of a press.

Another method is to lay a piece of very thin metal on the die, then on this a piece of lead and hammer both into the die, then take out and trim off superfluous metal. In this way quite nice clean ornaments can be made. This is a very ancient method of making small ornaments, borderings, pearlings, etc. When making the die the progress can be seen by wetting the die slightly and squeezing modelling wax into the sunk portion, the wax impression when removed

I I giving the object in relief. Ornaments can also be fixed by screws, but there is always the liability of their working loose. When the applique is of china, glass, or enamel, a setting has to be made and fixed to the background, the enamel inserted and the edges of the setting pressed or burnished down on to the enamel; sometimes a loose setting can be made which, holding the object independently, can then be screwed or riveted to the base, so avoiding the burnishing down of the edges of the setting on to the pearl, stone, or enamel.

Bidri Ware

There is another form of inlaid work which is called Bidri ware, as it was made at Bidar, a city north-west of Hyderabad.

The articles are cast in pewter and the designs are chiselled out and silver hammered in. It is blackened by the application of a solution of salammoniac, saltpetre, salt, and copper sulphate. The design is then rubbed up and the ornament is left in white on a black background. Niello is black on a white background.

Bronzing or Metal Colouring is an art which produces very beautiful results on metallic objects, and to obtain an insight of what is possible in this direction the work that has been executed by the Japanese should be well studied. They are certainly unrivalled in this branch of metalwork. The chemical colouring or bronzing of metals requires a knowledge of metallurgy and chemistry, and to produce beautiful results the possession of artistic taste on the part of the operator. The colouring of the object is affected by the purity or otherwise of the metal, the temperature of the solution used, as well as by the purity or impurity of the chemicals used in making up the bath.

The most important point in connexion with the bronzing of metals is that they must be scrupulously clean and of a uniform colour and smoothness before being immersed in the bronzing solution.

Any article made of brass, bronze, gunmetal, or similar alloy may be brought to many shades of brown by the following method: Thoroughly clean the object by boiling in a strong caustic potash solution and well rinsing in three waters; then dip in a solution of nitric acid 2 parts, sulphuric acid 1 part, hydrochloric acid 1/2 pint to each gallon of dip. Again rinse well in three waters. If the object does not come up a bright uniform colour, well scrub with silver sand and water and repeat the acid dip. When a nice bright colour, dip in a solution of a quarter of an ounce of potassium sulphide to one gallon of boiling water, if it does not come right the first time scour with silver sand and water, and repeat the dip in the sulphide solution; to produce a very dark shade wipe over with a piece of rag that has been dipped in a weak solution of the acid dip; swill well in two or three waters and dry out in hot sawdust. To produce a blue colour as well as a variety of shades of brown, clean, scour, and dip, as described above, and dip in a boiling solution of hyposulphite of soda 4 oz., acetate of lead 2 oz., water 1 gal. Dissolve these separately and add the lead solution to the hypo solution. To produce a steel colour, clean, scour, and dip as before and immerse in a solution made as follows: Arsenic 8 oz., blue copperas 2 oz., carbonate of iron 2 oz., verdigris 2 oz., spirits of salts 7 lb., then scour well with sand and water and repeat and dry out in hot sawdust. If the colour is too light, blacklead as you would a stove. This can now be turned a dark green if required by lacquering with green lacquer. All these bronzes when finished should be brushed over with beeswax or lacquered.

To redden brass articles to match copper, clean, scour, and dip as before, wrap up the article well in thin iron wire and immerse for a short time in the old acid dip. That is, the acid dip that has become too weak to give the bright colour owing to use, but is still used for pickling.

Note

The potassium sulphide should be in dark greenish-yellow lumps and be kept in an airtight bottle.

Chasing and carving usually go together, as ornamental work that is made in the solid is usually, if made in iron, forged as near as possible to the shape required, then chiselled out and finally smoothed up with punches and bent files called rifflers. Figures that have been cast are finished off by the latter process. Men who do this kind of work are calledChasers,but they can usually do embossing as well as modelling (this class of work is really modelling in metal). Examples of this kind which would be modelled, cast, and then chased are illustrated in Ch. ix, Figs. 9, 10, 11.

Damascening is the term usually applied to metalwork that has been inlaid with gold or silver, and is of Oriental origin, and was established at Damascus during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, first century a.d. The word is also applied to work which is made of a peculiar kind of steel of a watered or striated appearance. This appearance is obtained by welding together a piece of iron and steel. By repeated twisting, doubling over, and welding together a pattern is obtained which is brought out by the application of sulphuric acid and water.

Another method of damascening which is not such a good one as that indicated above, but was largely practised in later times, is to cross-hatch the whole of the design to be inlaid with a graver which leaves a number of sharp points. Gold leaf is then applied in successive layers and burnished down on to the points, which keys the metal to the ground.

Fine wire can also be applied in the same manner, working out the design as you go along, tapping the wire down with a light hammer which keys it into position. But this is really a form of onlaying, not inlaying. Another method which gives the effect of damascened work is stencilling the spaces of the design with a compound which is not affected by acids and electroplating the object with gold or silver.

Electroplating', or the electro deposition of metals, is coating one metal with another by means of the electric current, and the process is roughly as follows: The article to be electroplated is first thoroughly cleansed by washing in a hot solution of caustic soda and then suspended on a copper wire which is fastened to a copper rod, resting on the edges of a tank containing a solution of the metal to be deposited. There is a similar rod or set of rods at the other end of the tank which holds suspended in the solution a series of plates or anodes, as they are called, of the metal to be deposited. The path the electricity takes is through the rods and pieces of metal called the anodes, then through the solution to the articles to be plated which are called the cathodes, and through the articles back to the dynamo or battery; when the process is finished or enough metal has been deposited on the articles, they are taken from the solution, washed, scratch brushed, and finished. The thickness or amount of the metal deposited is measured by weighing the article before and after plating, or by the time it is in the bath. The metals mostly used for electro deposition are gold, silver, copper, nickel, cobalt, brass, and zinc.