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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: flossie1 on Wednesday 22 May 13 16:24 BST (UK)
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An ancestor of mine was a 'grainer' in 1851 and then an 'ornamental painter' in 1861. I am not quite sure what each would entail. I am not sure about a grainer and perhaps ornamental painting was decorating statues / walls. I may be totally off in both, can anyone help please?
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you're very close - use Google or similar search engine ... use those words plus occupation - to get a full definition.
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I believe a grainer was someone who used to paint wood ..... to look like wood! I remember in my childhood my grandparents' house had doors which looked as though they had been varnished to within an inch of their lives, and then some kind of texturing was added to make it look like woodgrain.
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There were two types of Grainer, one who specialised in decorating tin boxes and trunks to resemble wood, and one who painted wood, stone, iron, etc. to imitate the grain of wood, or veining of marble.
Stan
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I believe a grainer was someone who used to paint wood ..... to look like wood!
It was very popular in the 1950s, I remember my mum had loads of it done around the house. I didn't like it, to me it looked - what it was - fake wood.
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See definition here for Painter and Grainer:
http://www.census1891.com/occupations-p.htm
Carol
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Grainer and marbler, imitator of wood and marble; paints wood stone, iron, etc. to imitate the grain of wood, or veining of marble; in graining, paints surface with flat colour, uses steel combs, pieces of rag or cotton wool, and his own fingers to give appearance of graining and knots; in marbling, applies various colours to stone or other surfaces with brushes, "A Dictionary of Occupational Terms"
Stan
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I can remember this fashion in painted doors using a woodgrain effect when I was growing up...I think varnish was used with rags and a comb as Stan describes....the colour we had was an awful tan shade.
Carol
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See http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/decorative-paint-technique-woodgraining-instructions/index.html
Stan
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That brought back memories Stan...anybody who was nobody had it done back then...almost like wall cladding ;D ;D ;D
Carol
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It was also called scumbling, it must have been a fashion in the 1950s, I can remember doing it on one of the doors in my parents house.
Stan
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Yes...thanks for that.....I was trying to remember the name...my Uncle used to do it too...it kind of left a raised pattern to the touch.
Carol
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I didn't realise it was a '50s thing, I had assumed it was earlier.
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Scumbling was not just a 50s thing. Graining and marbling are a very old professional processes.
Stan
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anybody who was nobody had it done back then...almost like wall cladding
Reminds me of my mother who always wanted to be one better than the neighbours - she had formica put on our kitchen walls in the 1950s :o I have no idea where she got that idea from. A few years earlier, when we moved into a new house built by a builder friend of my father's, she had the bathroom tiled with black tiles. ::) all my friends used to come to see the bathroom.
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Gosh this is a blast from the past. All the woodwork in our house was subjected to scumbling in the 1950s as my Mum must have thought it was wonderful. As a small child I remember watching the 'scumbler' at work with rags and something like a comb. It was fascinating to watch.
At a later date she also had a wonderfully dark mahogony dressing table stained (or scumbled) a horrible light tan colour.