Glossary M ; painting and decorating terms

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Cautionary Notice! Paint used on woodwork up until the 1960's and until later on metalwork(red lead or red oxide) often contained lead which is now considered harmful. Appropiate care must be taken when sanding and stripping off old paint which may potentially contain lead compounds.

Glossary of Decorating terms and Painters jargon.

Registered and Trade Mark names are shown in green.

Period styles and decorating Styles are shown in blue.

M
Macedonian Bianco. A white marble from Macedonia.
maggie. British tradesmen term for magnolia emulsion
Magicote. A jellied one coat paint. Crown Berger limited. The technical term for this kind of paint is 'thixotropic'. That is a paint which will become liquid upon stirring but will revert to jellied form when left to stand.
Makrana A fine grained pure white marble from Makrana in India.
Malachite. 1.The brightest and most naturally occurring green pigment known in olden times. It was ground to a powder. 2. The imitation of malachite as a decorative finish.
Malbutter. An old-fashioned name for meglip(see below).
Manilla paper. An oiled paper used to make stencils.
Marble. Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. It is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material.
Marbling Using paint to imitate natural marble.
Mastic. Commercially made compound used for sealing joints.
Mastic-gun.The applicator for tubes of mastic, decorators caulk, gripfill etc. Usually referred to simply as a 'gun'.
Matt finish. A non-shiny surface after paint has dried. Called 'matte' in USA.
Meglip. A mixture of mastic varnish and linseed oil. It makes the paint very glossy and easy to spread but discolors and becomes brittle with age.
Memphis. A style influenced by Art Deco and Pop art, incorporating bright colors and shocking shapes, from 1980 to 1988. Formed in Milan, by a group of Italian architects and designers, to challenge the current use of colors and shapes.
Modge Podge. Medium used in decoupage; all-in-one sealer, glue and finish. Dries clear.
Mordant. Mordants is the name given to the various binding materials (such as tannic acid, alum, urine, sodium chloride) used as an adhesive coat for attaching decorative metal, either in leaf or powder form, to a surface .
Muntin. The central stile of a panel door.
Mural.Wall painting, often on a large scale. Murals are the oldest style of decoration known and often still exist in ancient cave dwellings.