skin / coating / facing
skin / coating / fresco
skin / coating / paint
skin / coating / paper
skin / coating / spackle
skin / coating / stain
skin / coating / thinner
skin / coating / varnish
skin / coating / whitewash
- facing: Any non-structural material (e.g. wood, stucco, plaster, metal, terra cotta, etc.) that acts to cover a less attractive or rougher wall surface.
- harling: Rough-cast render on a wall, made with sand, lime, water, and fine gravel.
- incrustation: The covering of anything with an outer shell or “crust.”
- wax: A paste of various ingredients, in proprietary form, for surfacing finished wood floors and other woodwork, linoleum, etc.
- arricciate: The middle coat of three-part fresco painting, the first coat being rinzaffato, the final coat, intonaco.
- arriccio: The coat of plastering, either the first or second coat in Italian practice, ancient and modern, as preparation for painting in fresco, but not the finishing coat or intonaco. Modern practice seems to be about five parts of sand to one of lime, and the coat of plastering, when applied directly to the brick, about half an inch thick.
- buon fresco: See fresco.
- fresco: Paintings done on walls using water-based pigments that are added to plaster and applied over a freshly spread plaster. The earliest frescoes are Minoan (1600 B.C.).
- fresco painting: Painting on fresh, wet plaster. All sorts of mural paintings, from encaustic to distemper, and indiscriminately and wrongly called frescoes…
- fresco-secco: Also see secco.
- intonaco: The fine finish coat of plaster made with white marble dust to receive a fresco painting.
- Pompeian red: The deep red of Pompeian frescoes.
- secco: See fresco secco.
- actinic ray: A ray of light, as ultraviolet, that produces photochemical effects, as the yellowing, chalking, and disintegration of paint coatings.
- alkyd paint: A paint in which the vehicle is an alkyd resin.
- anticorrosive paint: A paint or primer specially formulated with rust-inhibiting pigments to prevent or reduce the corrosion of metal surfaces. Also called rust-inhibiting paint.
- baked finish: Paint or varnish requiring baking at temperatures above 150 degrees Fahrenheit for the development of desired properties.
- basecoat: A first coat of paint or other liquid finish applied to a surface.
- blister: A defect in the form of a slight projection of a surface detached from the body of the material, caused in manufacturing or by weather or other agencies, as the protuberance sometimes formed on the face of a casting, due to the presence of an air bubble just below the surface; or the loose, slightly raised portions of a coat of paint which have become detached from the material to which the paint has been applied, due to defective workmanship or other causes.
- body colour: A color or paint having body, i.e., rendered heavy and opaque; especially, in water color work, a paint mixed with white.
- bronze powder: Metallic powder used in decorative painting and the like, and by which are produced what is commonly but wrongly called “gilding” in many different tints of gold, and also “silvering,” “bronzing,” etc.
- calcimine: A cold-water paint of whiting, glue, coloring matter and water, used chiefly on plaster ceilings.
- camaieu: In French, a cameo; hence, in French and adopted into English, painting in monochrome; especially that done with the desired effect of giving a somewhat deceptive appearance of relief.
- casein paint: That in which a casein solution takes the place of the drying oils of common paints. For outdoor use, lime and cement supply the hiding property; for inside work, lime, powdered chalk, or kaolin. The paint is sold as a powder, to be mixed with water for use.
- caseine painting: That in which a casein solution takes the place of the drying oils of common paints. For outdoor use, lime and cement supply the hiding property; for inside work, lime, powdered chalk, or kaolin. The paint is sold as a powder, to be mixed with water for use.
- chipolin painting: The imitation in painting of cipolino marble; hence, of any marble of light gray or greenish veins.
- cissing: In painting, a preparatory operation for graining wood.
- clearcole: A priming or sizing material used in Great Britain, white lead ground in water with glue.
- coal tar: A viscous, black liquid formed during the distillation of coal, used for paints, waterproofing, and roofing.
- coat: A single layer of surface covering, as of paint or plaster.
- coating: According to English usage, the aggregate of several coats of paint, varnish, or plaster, applied in close succession as rapidly as permitted by good work. In U.S. usage, same as coat; or the operation of applying a coat.
- colorfast: Having color that will not fade or run with washing, age, or exposure to light, especially sunlight.
- coverage: A measure of the area over which a gallon of paint may be spread at a given thickness, usually expressed in square feet per gallon. 2. The amount of weather protection provided by the overlapping of shingles or slates.
- covering power: The ability of a paint film to conceal any marks, pattern, or color on the surface to which it is applied.
- crawl: A fault in painted work, when freshly applied paint tends to overlap rather than keep to a plane surface. Also see creep.
- creep: A fault in painted work, when freshly applied paint tends to overlap rather than keep to a plane surface. Also see crawl. 2. The gradual and permanent deformation of a body produced by a continued application of stress or prolonged exposure to heat. Creep deflection in a concrete structure continues over time and can be significantly greater than the initial elastic deflection.
- diorama: A large painting, or a series of paintings, intended for exhibition to spectators in a darkened room in a manner to produce by optical illusions an appearance of reality. 3. A building in which such paintings are exhibited.
- distemper: Cheap type of paint for walls and ceilings, consisting of whiting (e.g. ground chalk) mixed with size (i.ee. Weak glue), and water, sometimes tinted. It was also used on facades but needed frequent renewal.
- drying oil: An oil possessing to a marked degree the property of taking up oxygen from the air and changing to a relatively hard, tough, and elastic substance when exposed in a thin film to the air.
- dye: A soluble coloring material that imparts color by absorption.
- eggshell: Having little or no gloss, producing a finish midway between semigloss and flat.
- encaustic painting: Literally, a painting which implies the application of heat either during or subsequent to its execution…
- epoxy paint: A paint having an epoxy resin as a binder for increased resistance to abrasion, corrosion, and chemicals.
- filling-in stuff: A species of sizing rubbed into the pores of any fibrous or porous material in order to provide a good surface for painting or varnishing. Compositions prepared especially for woodwork are called wood fillers.
- finish: Exterior or interior millwork. 2. The final treatment of a surface, as eggshell finish on paint, brushed-brass finish, etc.
- fire-retardant paint: A paint specially formulated with silicone, polyvinyl chloride, or other substance to reduce the flame-spread of a combustible material.
- flaking: A fault in painting; the peeling off of the coating.
- flatting: Painting with a coat of paint without gloss, presenting a dead surface when dry; usually mixed with turpentine with little or no linseed oil. Also, dabbing a still wet coat of paint with a stiff brush to conceal the usual brush marks, and to produce an even-appearing surface.
- flatting agent: A material added to paints, varnishes, and other coating materials to reduce the gloss of the dried film.
- flatting coat: A coat of such painting as will produce the effect of flatting.
- gesso: A mixture of gypsum plaster, glue, and whiting; applied as a base coat for decorative painting.
- gesso duro: In Italian art, gesso of superior quality, taking a hard finish and used for casts from works of sculpture. Bas-reliefs made of this material and usually painted for further protection of the surface were made in considerable numbers during the 16th and 17th centuries…
- gloss: Of painted surfaces, a highly polished finish, such as that given by certain enamels without afterpolish.
- gouache: A method of painting, using opaque pigments pulverized in water and mixed with gum. 2. A painting so made. 3. An opaque color used in the process.
- grain: An out-moded practice of imitating the grain of woods with paint. See also comb grain and edge grain. 2. Composition and texture, particularly as of stones. 3. The direction, size, arrangement, and appearance of the fibers in a piece of dressed wood.
- graining: An out-moded practice of imitating the grain of woods with paint. See also comb grain and edge grain. 2. Composition and texture, particularly as of stones.
- grisaille painting: Grisaille usually include either foliate (oak, maple, rose, etc.) or geometric (usually strapwork) patterns. Strips of color were sometimes added to the monochrome of grisaille.
- ground coat: A primer or basecoat of paint intended to show through a topcoat. Also called ground color.
- ground color: A primer or basecoat of paint intended to show through a topcoat.
- heat-resistant paint: A paint specially formulated with silicone resins to withstand high temperatures.
- hiding power: The ability of a paint film to conceal any marks, pattern, or color on the surface to which it is applied. Also called covering power.
- high gloss: Having a brilliant sheen or luster.
- impasto: In painting, the thick laying of pigments.
- intumescent paint: A coating that, when exposed to the heat of a fire, swells to form a thick insulating layer of inert gas bubbles that retards flame spread and combustion.
- japanned: Painted and varnished in imitation of Oriental lacquer work.
- jaspered: Marbled, mottled, veined, and colored paint finish to represent marble, as on a dado or column-shaft.
- kill: To cover knots or other resinous parts of wood with shellac to prevent the resin from “bleeding” through later coats of paint.
- lacquer: A coating for wood or metal, formerly made by dissolving shellac in alcohol, with or without the addition of coloring matter; more recently, of cellulose esters or ethers in a volatile vehicle.
- latex paint: A paint having a latex binder that coalesces as water evaporates from the emulsion. Also called rubber-base paint, water-base paint.
- lead and oil: Popular name for white lead (carbonate of lead) as a pigment in linseed oil, forming a paint widely used before the present improved techniques of paint making.
- linseed oil: One of the most commonly used paint oils, processed from flaxseed.
- lithopone: Zinc sulphate and sulphate of baryta, used as a white paint pigment.
- marbelized: Painted or stained to resemble marble.
- mineral spirits: A volatile distillation of petroleum, used as a solvent and thinner for paints and varnishes.
- mistcoat: A thin, sometimes pigmented coat applied to a finish coat to improve its luster.
- mural painting: In its literal sense, the painting of wall surfaces and ceilings with patterns or subjects. The discussion of this subject falls conveniently under certain separate headings, which, however, cannot be entirely kept apart, but to an extent include each other…
- oil paint: A paint that contains drying oil or oil varnish as the basic vehicle.
- oil painting: That painting which is done with colors mixed with oil – usually linseed oil, with or without a drier.
- opus topiarium: See topiarium opus.
- paillon: The reflecting metal base for transparent lacquer, or gilded base for translucent coloring.
- paint: A mixture of pigment in a liquid vehicle which, spread thinly on a surface, dries to form an opaque solid film.
- paint system: A combination of one or more coatings selected for compatibility with each other and the surface to which they are applied, as well as suitability for the expected exposure and desired decorative effect.
- painting: The work of covering any surface with colors as described under paint, or with pigments mixed with water and glue, called water color, kalsomine, or distember…
- photochemical: Of or pertaining to the chemical action of radiant energy, especially light.
- pigment: A granular substance used to color paint.
- prime coat: A basecoat applied to a surface to improve the adhesion of subsequent coats of paint or varnish.
- primer: A basecoat applied to a surface to improve the adhesion of subsequent coats of paint or varnish. 2. A liquid for improving the adhesion of a sealant to a substrate.
- priming: A ground coat in painting.
- quadratura: In Baroque interiors and derivatives, painted architecture, often continuing the three-dimensional trim, executed by specialists in calculated perspective.
- red lead: Tetroxide of lead, widely used as a pigment in linseed oil for painting metal as protection against rust.
- rubber-base paint: A paint having a latex binder that coalesces as water evaporates from the emulsion.
- rust-inhibiting paint: A paint or primer specially formulated with rust-inhibiting pigments to prevent or reduce the corrosion of metal surfaces.
- satin finish: Having a moderate, satiny luster, producing a finish midway between high gloss and eggshell.
- sealer: A basecoat applied to a surface to reduce the absorption of subsequent coats of paint or varnish, or to prevent bleeding through the finish coat.
- semigloss: Having a moderate, satiny luster producing a finish midway between high gloss and eggshell. Also called stain finish.
- setting coat: The second or third coat, i.e., generally the final coat, in painting.
- solvent: The volatile part of a paint vehicle that evaporates during the drying process.
- stereochromy: A method of painting in which water glass serves as the connecting medium between the color and its substratum.
- stippling: In surface painting, the use of the brush point, a sponge, or the like, to secure a texture unlike that given by brush strokes or spraying.
- tempera: A rapidly drying paint consisting of egg white (or egg yolk, or a mixture of egg white and yolk), gum, pigment, and water; especially used in painting murals.
- topiarium opus: A wall painting representing trees, shrubs, and trelliswork, as at Pompeii.
- topcoat: The final coat of paint applied to a surface. Also called finish coat.
- undercoat: A primer or intermediate coat applied to hide the color of the substrate and improve adhesion of the topcoat.
- vehicle: A liquid in which pigment is dispersed before being applied to a surface, to control consistency, adhesion, gloss, and durability.
- water paint: A paint that contains water or water emulsion as the vehicle.
- water-base paint: A paint having a latex binder that coalesces as water evaporates from the emulsion.
- wax painting: That done with a medium composed of wax dissolved in an essential oil, such as turpentine…
- white: Having a surface which reflects light as it is received, without change in its spectral quality; hence, having a surface nearly or approximately perfect in this respect…
- white lead: Common name for the paint pigment of lead carbonate and lead dioxide.
- whitewash: A creamlike solution of slaked lime in water, applied as a paint.
- whiting: A chalk pigment used in paint and putty.
- black paper: Any of various papers, felts, or similar sheet material used in construction to prevent the passage of air or moisture.
- felt paper: Any of various papers, felts, or similar sheet material used in construction to prevent the passage of air or moisture.
- lining paper: In general, same as sheathing paper. 2. More specifically, in paper hanging, a paper used to cover walls underneath the decorative hangings.
- paper: See building paper.
- tar paper: Heavy paper covered or impregnated with tar, used especially for waterproofing and windproofing buildings.
- oil stain: A stain made by dissolving dye or suspending pigment in a drying oil or oil varnish vehicle.
- opaque stain: An oil stain containing pigments capable of obscuring the grain and texture of a wood surface.
- penetrating stain: A stain that penetrates a wood surface leaving a very thin film on the surface.
- pigmented stain: An oil stain containing pigments capable of obscuring the grain and texture of a wood surface. Also called opaque stain.
- spirit stain: A penetrating stain made by dissolving dye in an alcohol or spirit vehicle.
- stain: Color in a dissolving vehicle, which, when spread on an absorptive surface, penetrates and gives its color to the wood or other material.
- staining: See stain.
- water stain: A penetrating stain made by dissolving dye in a water vehicle.
- oil of turpentine: A colorless, volatile oil obtained by distilling oleoresin from various conifers and used as a thinner and solvent for paints and varnishes.
- spirits of turpentine: A colorless, volatile oil obtained by distilling oleoresin from various conifers and used as a thinner and solvent for paints and varnishes.
- thinner: A volatile liquid used to dilute paint or varnish to the desired or proper consistency for ease in application.
- turpentine: A colorless, volatile oil obtained by distilling oleoresin from various conifers and used as a thinner and solvent for paints and varnishes. Also called oil of turpentine, spirits of turpentine.
- Chinese lacquer: A natural varnish obtained from an Asian sumac, used to produce a highly polished, lustrous surface on wood. Also called Japanese lacquer.
- copal: A resin from several tropical trees, used in varnishes.
- dead: Flat, dull, without brilliancy, as varnish which has been rubbed so that it has little or no gloss; flat, as a coat of paint. 2. Without variety; without important features, as a blank wall. 3. Without spring or elasticity; impervious to sound, as a floor which has been made non-conducting. 4. Without motion; quiescent, as a more or less stationary load as distinguished from the load due to persons or movable furniture. 5. Without action; without independent power of motion, as a dead bolt. 6. Useless; no longer serving the original purpose, as a flue which has been closed up. 7. Not electrically connected to a source of voltage. 8. Without resonance, as a room free from echoes and reverberation.
- drier: A varnish-like liquid that is added to paints or varnishes to hasten their drying; driers are usually metallic compositions, available also in solid form.
- flamboyant finish: A decorative coating achieved by applying transparent colored varnish or lacquer over a polished metal substrate.
- French polish: A finish for wood secured by repeated rubbing with shellac or a varnish gum dissolved in an abundance of alcohol.
- gold size: A varnish used to attach gold leaf or foil to a surface; it turns sticky quickly on application, and then sets slowly.
- japan: A resin varnish used chiefly as a drier in paints.
- Japanese lacquer: A natural varnish obtained from an Asian sumac, used to produce a highly polished, lustrous surface on wood.
- lac: A resinous exudation of an East Indian insect, used as a base of shellacs, varnishes, and lacquers.
- lacker: A coating for wood or metal, formerly made by dissolving shellac in alcohol, with or without the addition of coloring matter; more recently, of cellulose esters or ethers in a volatile vehicle.
- marine varnish: A durable, weather-resistant varnish made from durable resins and linseed or tung oil.
- oil varnish: A resin dissolved in an oil.
- polyurethane varnish: An exceptionally hard, abrasion-resistant, and chemical-resistant varnish made from a plastic resin of the same name.
- shellac: A type of varnish consisting of loc carried in alcohol as a solvent.
- shellac varnish: A spirit varnish made by dissolving purified lac flakes in denatured alcohol. Also called shellac varnish.
- spar varnish: A durable, weather-resistant varnish made from durable resins and linseed or tung oil. Also called marine varnish.
- spirit varnish: A resin dissolved in alcohol.
- varnish: A liquid composition which is converted to a transparent or translucent solid film after application as a thin layer.
- limewash: Same as whitewash.
- shikkui: A plaster, mortar, stucco, or whitewash, made from a mixture of lime and clay and having the consistency of glue; used in traditional Japanese construction.
- yeso: A gypsum whitewash widely used in Mexico. Not to be confused with gesso, which see.
Also see Architecture index.