scagliola (as scalyiola)

[Italian scagli nola, dim. from scaglia = scaglia (q. v.).] A hard, polished plaster, colored in imitation of marbles. " Scagliola is prepared from powdered gypsum mixed with isingla , alum, and coloring matter into a paste, which is beaten on a prepared surface with fragments of marble, . The surface prepared for it has a rough coating of lime and hair. The colors are laid on and mixed by hand, in the manner of fresco, and in imitation of various kinds of marbles. When hardened, the surface is pumice-stoned and washed; it is polished succe ively by tripoli and charcoal, tripoli and oil, and oil alone." Knight: Pract. Dict. Mechanics. scaith, s. [SCATHE.]