| 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.
O
Ogee. A double elongated letter 's design' associated
with the Gothic style of architecture.
Oil paint. A paint which is not water-based and can
be diluted with turpentine or white spirit.
Olive. Olive-green; a muted green color.
Opacity. Covering power of paint.
Op art. Using geometric shapes to create optical illusions.An
art movement originating from the sixties, which creates the illusion of
moving images. Sixties designers used op-art on everything from chairs to
whole interiors in black and white to give a disorientating, hallucinatory
feel.
Optical Illusion. Trompe l'oeil.
Orange. Colour made by mixing Red and Yellow.
Orange Peel Effect. The texture left by many rollers when applying emulsion or latex paints.
Oriel Windows. Narrow windows in a bay shape that open
using the cantilever principle (a downward force only at one end). They are
often found on the first floor to let light into a stairwell or hallway.
They usually have small leaded panes of coloured glass. The modern equivilent
are known as Velox.
Oriental. Styles coming mainly from China, Japan and India.
Ormolu. A type of gilt decoration that was used extensively
in the Baroque and Rococo periods, especially during the reign of King Louis
of France. It was made by mixing powdered mercury with gold to make a paste.
The paste was applied onto bronze, then the object was fired to evaporate
the mercury, leaving the gold. It was an extremely expensive method but this
didn't stop Louis XIV using it everywhere at Versailles, from clocks to
chandeliers.
Oval. Egg shaped.
Overalls. Normally white for painters and either Boiler-suit
or Bib-and Brace
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