The Invention of Lithography Part 26

As soon as it was dry, I drew the design on it with a black crayon made of tartar, gum, a little sugar, and a good amount of lampblack, or I used the ordinary black Paris crayon or a fine English lead pencil. Then the design was etched, after which alum water was poured over it, and it was set aside to dry.

As soon as it was absolutely dry, I coated it with fatty color, and then cleaned the stone with oil of turpentine and gum solution. If I wanted an exceedingly smooth surface, I ground the stone gently; but then the design had to be etched deeply.

The good results of these two experiments led me to the following process: By following my instructions exactly the worker can produce striking imitations of wash as well as crayon drawings, and at the same time unite the greatest possible ease of drawing as well as certainty of good impressions, so that this process really deserves to be called one of the very best of all printing-methods.

The outlines of the drawing must be drawn on the finest and thinnest paper that can be obtained. Then a very finely polished stone is prepared with aquafortis and gum, or, better still, with phosphoric acid, nutgall, and gum, cleansed with water and dried. Then it is coated very thinly with tallow, which is patted with a very clean leather ball or with the hand, so that it shall be very uniformly laid over the stone. Everything depends on the thinness and uniformity of this tallow coating. Then the stone must be smoked with a wax torch or a tallow candle. The durability of the ground depends on this smoking, as without it a very thin coating of tallow would be penetrated by the acid.

Now the stone is ready for the design. It must not be touched by so much as a finger. The designed paper is pasted to the stone at the ends, without pulling, as the least motion would injure the stone's surface.

The arrangement of elevated supports for the hand (previously described) is needed for the succeeding work. The drawing is then done on the paper with Paris chalk, delicate Spanish chalk, an English lead pencil, or with a small piece of lead. All that is drawn on the paper will impress itself on the stone underneath and remove the ground at those places, thus opening the surface for etching.

When the drawing is finished, it is etched and covered as with the etched process, and afterward is printed as in that process.

When sufficient practice has made one a master of this style, it will be amazing what great perfection, what miniature-like delicacy, and also what strength can be obtained by proper etching.

Besides, this latter process is applicable in combination with the etched process.

VII

TOUCHE DRAWING WITH ETCHING INK

This method is very useful for filling-out etched or engraved designs, also for correcting and completing the various aquatint processes.

Dip a little brush into lemon juice mixed with a little lampblack and draw the design on the finely polished and prepared stone. The acid will eat little holes into it, which will take color if the lemon juice is washed away as soon as it has completed its etching, and the etched part has been dried and rubbed-in with fat color. To produce darker shadings it can be laid on the same place twice, and for lighter shadings the acid either is washed away sooner or diluted with water.

I do not doubt that a skillful chemist could invent an etching ink which would be even more perfect, and then a drawing could be washed on the stone as easily as on paper, which would mean immense advance for the art.

CHAPTER III

MIXED METHODS

Stone-printing has the unique property, owned by no other process, that it is possible to print relief and intaglio simultaneously. This property makes possible so many combinations of the two processes that a book might be filled with their description. I a.s.sume, however, that the reader will have understood the entire science of the new art from what I have said, and that his own reflection will tell him what methods to use or to combine for each of his purposes. I limit myself, therefore, to a few leading methods, thus giving some fundamental idea of the manipulations.

I

PEN DESIGN COMBINED WITH ENGRAVING

This can be utilized in two ways:--

When the pen drawing is finished and etched, the stone may be coated with red gum covering and the needle used to draw-in the finest lines.

The printing is the same as with pen work. The second way is to make the engraved or etched part of the design first, and after the stone has been rubbed-in with acid-proof ink, cleansed and dried, to draw-in the rest with the pen and chemical ink. As soon as the design is properly dried, it is etched a little and prepared, and otherwise handled like an ordinary pen drawing.

Both ways carry the advantage that the pen can be used for those parts best done with the pen, and the engraving-tool for those parts best done with it. The latter is especially excellent for very fine and elegant script, such as t.i.tle-pages, the finest strokes being made first with the needle and the broader ones with the pen.

II

INTAGLIO DESIGN WITH RELIEF TINT

This has been described thoroughly in our chapter on etched work.

III

INTAGLIO AND RELIEF WITH SEVERAL PLATES

As already shown, intaglio and relief can be printed on one stone.

Therefore it is evident that the two methods can be utilized still better for several plates, for instance, printing on an etched design with one or more plates that are tinted in relief, or by printing over a crayon or pen design in relief a tone plate in aquatint in intaglio.

How to do this has been explained in the descriptions of relief and intaglio methods.

IV

TRANSFORMING RELIEF INTO INTAGLIO AND VICE VERSA

This is, so to speak, the test of a good lithographer, as it is the most difficult of all methods, and demands exact knowledge of all manipulations. I will try to explain it with a few examples.

EXAMPLE I

_To etch a transfer into intaglio_

Prepare a finely ground plate with phosphoric acid and gum, wash very well with water, and let it dry. Now transfer to it a design made with soft ink or crayon, or a fresh copper-plate impression. Let the stone rest for a few hours, that the fatty colors may take hold well. Coat it with clean gum water, and with a rag dipped into acid-proof ink try to rub about as much color on the design as appears to be required to make it withstand some etching. This etching is done with pure aquafortis which in addition has a little alum mixed with it. Etch only enough to eat away the uppermost parts of the prepared surface that have not been permeated with fat. Pour clean water over the whole stone and coat it with strong soap-water that is permitted to dry on it. Finally, clean away the soap with oil of turpentine. Ink-in with acid-proof color which will color the whole stone. Now as soon as it is wiped gently with a rag dipped in gum solution and weak phosphoric acid, the whole design will appear in white as if it had been made with preparing-ink. If the stone is inked now with acid-proof ink and treated exactly as instructed in the article on the use of preparing-ink, the design that was in relief originally will be found in intaglio.

This process is capable of great perfection and can produce true masterpieces especially if the stone is treated finally with the engraving tool.

EXAMPLE II

_To etch into intaglio a design made with chemical fatty ink or crayon_

Etch and prepare the clean stone with phosphoric acid and gum. Then put on the design with ink or crayon, and perform the succeeding etching and other manipulations exactly as in the preceding case.

EXAMPLE III

_To etch into intaglio any design etched into relief_

In the two examples given, the plate is etched with phosphoric acid before transfers or designs are made on it. As the weak etching with aquafortis and alum does not penetrate the places where there is fat, these retain their phosphorus-preparation, and thus are not so readily destroyed by the succeeding application of soap, whereas the etched parts immediately drink in the fat as soon as the soap touches them.

In stones designed in the ordinary way, where the design does not lie on the prepared surface, but has really penetrated well into the stone, the transforming is somewhat more difficult, but can always be done after practice by using the following means:--

Wash the stone with water and then coat chemical ink or strong soap-water over it and let it dry. Then clean the stone with oil of turpentine and ink-in well with acid-proof color. Dip a linen rag into gum water and phosphoric acid and endeavor to wipe away the color from the relief design. After wiping to and fro quickly a few times, try with the finger if the design will not whiten, or if the wiping with the acid must be continued. Care must be taken not to injure the ground through too much pressure. When the design gets pretty white, ink the stone with firm acid-proof ink, and then treat as in the preceding cases.

In this way designs in relief that have not turned out as desired can be changed into intaglio, and then, by the use of successive coatings and etchings, as described before, improved by making gradations of tones.