A Treatise on Etching Part 5

"In that case it is to be hoped, for the sake of my apprentice hands, that I shall never have many bitings to do. Just look at my fingers!

They are in a nice state. The prettiest yellow skin you ever saw!"

Oh, don't let that color trouble you; it will be all black by to-morrow.

"Much obliged to you for this bit of consolation!"

Besides, it will take you a week to grow a new skin. In future you must soak your fingers in pure water whenever you have got them into the acid. You might have used india-rubber finger-gloves; they are excellent to keep the hands clean, but it is not worth while to trouble about them for the present, as we are almost done.[10] I think you may now stop out all that remains, with the exception of the darkest places in the foreground, to which we must give a final biting.

There! Now we've got it! Withdraw your plate for the last time, and as there are some very widely s.p.a.ced lines in this tree in the foreground, you will risk nothing by giving them a final touch with pure acid. The strongest accent in the landscape rests on this spot; it determines the color of the whole. By this application of pure acid we shall get a vigorous tone, a powerful effect.

I may as well tell you here that it is sometimes advisable to add a small quant.i.ty of pure acid to the bath towards the end of the operation, so as to increase the activity of the biting on certain parts of the plate without running into excess. But as the place now under consideration is restricted, we shall adopt another means, so as to limit the action of the acid to the given point. See here: I let fall a few drops; the pure acid eats into the copper with great vehemence; the metal turns green, and the ebullition subsides. Now take up the exhausted liquid with a piece of blotting-paper, and let us commence again. Under these newly added drops of fresh acid, the varnish is ready to scale off, the lines sputter, and a.s.sume a strange yellow color; these golden vapors announce that the operation is finished.

What follows, is the task of the printer; his press will tell us whether we have won, or whether we have been mated. Clean the plate with spirits of turpentine, using your fingers, or with a very clean old rag (calico, if possible), if you are afraid to soil your hands. Be sure to have the plate well cleaned, but take care not to scratch it.

The acid, which may be of use hereafter, we will turn into a gla.s.s bottle with a ground stopper, and will store it in some safe place.

CHAPTER IV.

FINIs.h.i.+NG THE PLATE.

43. =Omissions.--Insufficiency of the Work so far done.=--The result you have obtained, I tell my pupil, as he shows a proof of the _first state_ of his plate to me, is not final. Your work needs a few retouches and slight modifications, not counting the little irregularities which I had foreseen, and which it will be easy enough to repair. We will proceed in order. (See Pl. I^_a_). To commence with, here are certain parts which are sufficiently bitten, and which, nevertheless, are indecisive in tone, and do not hold their place. I allude to the columns and to the trees in the further distance; one feels that there is something wanting there, which must be added. You must, therefore, re-cover your plate, in the manner already known to you, either with transparent ground, or with ordinary etching-ground, just as if the plate had never yet been touched by the needle.

44. =Transparent Ground for Retouching.=--The white or transparent ground or varnish[11] admirably allows all previous work to show through. It is preferred to the ordinary ground for working over parts that have been insufficiently bitten, on account of its transparency, which leaves even the finest lines visible, while under the ordinary ground these lines might be lost entirely. It will be an easy matter for you to combine the new work with the old; the very slight shadow thrown on the copper by the transparent ground will give a blackish appearance to your lines, which may serve as a guide to you, and, with your proof before your eyes, you will readily succeed in finding the places which need retouching. To make a.s.surance doubly sure, you can indicate the retouches on your proof with a lead-pencil.

The transparent ground has occasionally been found to crack and scale off, when left in the bath for a long while, or when strong acid is used. But as you are only going to use it for light and, consequently, short biting, you need not fear this danger. Another inconvenience, which may easily be prevented, consists in the presence of small bubbles of air, which appear on the varnish as soon as it begins to melt. Heat the plate just to the proper point of melting, and dab it vigorously for some length of time, until the varnish cools; then hold the back of the plate flat to the fire; the varnish melts again, and the rest of the bubbles disappear. If some of them should prove to be obstinate, cover them very lightly with the brush, as otherwise the acid will penetrate through the pa.s.sages thus left open, and will make little holes in the copper, which, on removing the varnish, will cause an unpleasant surprise. You shall hear more of this further on.

45. =Ordinary Ground used for Retouching.--Biting the Retouches.=--Ordinary etching-ground, such as we used in the first instance, does not show the work previously done as well as the transparent ground, but the later additions are seen all the better on it. It may be used in its natural state, or it may be smoked. It is preferable to the transparent varnish, whenever the work already achieved is deeply bitten, and hence easily seen.

In the present case my advice is that you use the ordinary ground.

Having made your retouches, introduce your plate into the bath, and proceed as before, by partial biting, endeavoring, as much as possible, to obtain the same intensity of tone. These additions, thus bitten by themselves, will mingle with the lines previously drawn, and now protected by the varnish.

It is hardly possible to judge of the additions, especially on transparent varnish, until they have been bitten in. But, if you should then find that you have not yet reached your point, you can revarnish the plate once more, and complete the parts that appear to be unfinished.

I must also call your attention to the fact, that all lines drawn on transparent ground seem to thicken most singularly, as soon as the acid begins to work. But do not let that deceive you.

Now look at this spot in the immediate foreground (Pl. I^_a_), which has a somewhat coa.r.s.e appearance. It is much softer in the original (represented by Pl. II.). You must add a few lines, and must bite them rather lightly; they will mingle agreeably with the energetic lines of the first state. You may put the large trees through the same process, and you will find that they gain in lightness by it. Later on, when you have acquired more experience, you will occasionally find it handy to make these additions between two bitings. You will thus reach the desired result without the necessity of regrounding your plate.

Sometimes, when using strong acid for these retouches, the lines first drawn are also attacked by the liquid. In that case, stop the biting immediately, and rest contented with what you have got. It is not difficult to understand why these revarnished lines should commence to bite again, more especially if they are deep: the acid, finding the edges of the lines (which are sharp and angular, and therefore do not offer much hold to the varnish) but indifferently protected, attacks them, without going into their depths. The ravages thus committed along the edges of the lines may be quite disastrous; and it is well, therefore, whenever you revarnish a plate, to give additional protection to those parts which are not to be retouched, by going over them with stopping-out varnish.

46. =Revarnis.h.i.+ng with the Brush.=--Instead of revarnis.h.i.+ng with the dabber, the ground may also be laid with the brush. For this purpose you can use the stopping-out varnish mixed with lamp-black. Spread a coat of varnish all over the plate, using a very soft brush; if the copper should not be perfectly covered on the edges of the deeply etched lines, add a second coat of varnish. Do not wait till the varnish has become too dry before you execute the retouches, which, of course, must also be bitten in as usual. Mixed with lamp-black, the stopping-out varnish allows even the finest lines to be seen, which would not show as well if the varnish were used in its natural state. Many engravers use this varnish instead of the transparent ground.

47. =Partial Retouches.--Patching.=--For partial retouches and for patching the stopping-out varnish is also used, but in a simpler and more expeditious way. Cover the part in question with a tolerably thick coat of varnish, and when you have finished your retouch, slightly moisten the lines with saliva, to prevent the few drops of acid which you supply from your bath with the brush from running beyond the spot on which they are to act. If pure acid is used,--which is still more expeditious,--the effervescence is stopped by dabbing with a piece of blotting-paper, and the operation is repeated as long as the biting does not appear to be sufficient. For very delicate corrections it is advisable not to wait until the first ebullition is over; but it must be left to the feeling to indicate the most opportune moment for the application of the blotting-paper. If you proceed rapidly and cautiously, you can obtain extremely fine lines in this way, as you have had occasion to see under other circ.u.mstances (see paragraph 40, p. 25).

You may recollect that I spoke of lines which had not bitten: I alluded to this spot in the middle of the bridge (see Pl. I^_a_). You did not bear on your needle sufficiently, and hence it did not penetrate clear down to the copper; consequently, after having compared the proof of the first state with the original (Pl. II.), you must do the necessary patching according to the instructions just given to you.

48. =Dry Point.=--Whenever it is necessary to retouch, or to add to very delicate parts of the plate, such as the extreme distance, or any other part very lightly bitten, it is safer to use the _dry point_, as in such cases retouching by acid is a most difficult thing to do. The tone must be hit exactly, and without exaggeration.

Your plate offers an opportunity for the use of the dry point: the sky and the mountain are partly etched; you can improve them by a few touches of the dry point.

The dry point is held in a perpendicular position, and is used on the bare copper. It must be ground with a cutting edge, and very sharp, so that it may freely penetrate into the copper, and not merely scratch it.

You cut the line yourself, regulating its depth by the amount of pressure used, and according to the tone of the particular pa.s.sage on which you are working. For patching, it is more frequently used in delicate pa.s.sages than in others, as, even with great pressure, the strength of a dry point line will always be below that of a line deeply bitten. In printing, the dry point line has less depth of color than the bitten line, as the acid bites into the copper perpendicularly at right angles; while the furrow produced by the dry point, which offers only acute angles, takes up less ink, although it appears equally broad.

This inequality disappears if a plate in which etched lines and dry point work are intermingled is re-bitten; the difference in tone is then equalized.

On the other hand, the difference in the appearance of etched lines and dry point work produces curious effects. Thus, if a pa.s.sage which is too strong and appears to stand out is to be corrected, a few touches of the dry point will be sufficient to soften it, and to push it back to another distance.

The dry point is not only used for retouching; it is sometimes employed, without any etching, to put in the whole background.

49. =Use of the Sc.r.a.per for removing the Bur thrown up by the Dry Point.=--The dry point work being finished, the _bur_ thrown up by the instrument must be removed. The bur is the ridge raised on the edge of the line, as the point ploughs through the metal; you can satisfy yourself of its existence by the touch. In printing, the ink catches in this ridge, and produces blots. The bur is removed by means of the _sc.r.a.per_, an instrument with a triangular blade, one of the sides of which, held flat, is pa.s.sed over the plate in the opposite direction to that of the stroke of the point, and so as to take the line obliquely.

You need not feel any anxiety about injuring the plate; the touch will tell you when the bur has disappeared. In the case of dry point lines crossing one another, each set running in a different direction must be drawn as well as sc.r.a.ped separately, in the manner just described; otherwise you will run the risk of closing the lines which cross the path of the sc.r.a.per, by turning the bur down into the furrows.

50. =Reducing Over-bitten Pa.s.sages.=--So much for the additions. We will now pa.s.s on to the very opposite: the shadow thrown by the parapet, and the ground between the man and the woman, have been _over-bitten_. These parts do not harmonize with the neighboring parts, and are stronger in tone than the corresponding parts of the original.

To remedy this, there are four means at your command:--

The Burnisher.

Charcoal.

The Sc.r.a.per.

Hammering out.

51. =The Burnisher.=--As these pa.s.sages are limited in extent, and not very deeply bitten, you may use the burnisher to reduce them. Moisten it with saliva, and take only a small spot at a time, holding the instrument down flat. If you were to use only the end, you might make a cavity in the copper. The burnisher flattens and enlarges the surface of the copper, and consequently diminishes the width of the line. The tone, therefore, is reduced.

On fine, close, and equal work the burnisher does excellent service, the effect being a.n.a.logous to that of the crumb of bread on a design on paper.

It is less efficacious on deeply bitten work, because it rounds off the edges of the lines as it penetrates into the furrows, and thus detracts somewhat from the freshness of tone,--an unpleasant result, which, in very fine work, is beyond the power of the eye to see.

You may use the burnisher to get rid of certain spots produced in the foliage by lines placed too closely together, and by the same means you can reduce those exaggerated pa.s.sages in the stone-work of the right-hand column.

You can also burnish these useless little blotches in the mountains.

52. =Charcoal.=--Whenever it is necessary to reduce the whole of a distance, the use of charcoal is to be preferred. Charcoal made of willow, or of other soft woods, which can be had of the plate-makers, is used flat, impregnated with oil or water; it must be freed from its bark, as this would scratch the plate. It wears the metal away uniformly, and does not injure the crispness of the lines. Rub the pa.s.sage to be reduced with the charcoal, regulating the length of time by the degree of delicacy you desire to attain. At the beginning soak your charcoal in water, so as leave it more tooth; then clean it, and continue with oil, which reduces the wear on the copper. The eye is sufficient to judge of the wear; the way in which the charcoal takes hold of the copper, and the copper-colored spots which it shows, may serve as guides. As the effectiveness of the different kinds of charcoal varies, these divers qualities of softness and coa.r.s.eness are utilized according to the nature of the correction to be made. It is well to know, also, that it takes hold much more actively if used in the direction of the grain, than transversely. You may, according to circ.u.mstances, commence with a piece of coal having considerable tooth, continue with another that is less aggressive, and wind up with a somewhat soft piece. The heavier the charcoal the coa.r.s.er its tooth, the lightest being the softest. The plate must be washed, so as to keep the charcoal always clean; as otherwise the dust produced, which forms a paste, will wear down the bottom of the furrows, and the result, in the proof, will be dull and reddish lines.

Charcoal is also used to remove the traces of the needle in those parts of the plate in which changes were made while the drawing was still in progress.

53. =The Sc.r.a.per.=--The sc.r.a.per is more efficacious than the burnisher in the case of small places that have been deeply bitten. If the sc.r.a.per is sufficiently sharp, it leaves no trace whatever on the lowered surface of the copper.

To sum up:--

_Charcoal_ and _sc.r.a.per_ are used to remove part of the surface of the copper. The furrows, having been reduced in depth, receive less ink in printing; the lines gain in delicacy in the impressions.

The _burnisher_ simply displaces the copper; _charcoal_ and _sc.r.a.per_ wear it away. It follows that they must be used with discernment.

54. =Hammering Out (Repoussage).=--These three means are employed when a moderate lowering of the plate is required. When it becomes necessary to go down to half the thickness of the plate or more, the result will be a hollow, which will show as a spot in printing. In that case recourse is had to the fourth means; that is to say, to hammer and anvil. Get a pair of compa.s.ses with curved legs (_calipers_); let one of the legs rest on the spot to be hammered out; the other leg will then indicate the place on the back of the plate which must be struck with the hammer on the anvil. In this way places which have been reduced with charcoal or sc.r.a.per may be brought up to the level of the plate; but if the lines should be found to have been flattened, which would result in a dull tone in the proofs, it will be best to have the part in question planed out entirely, and to do it over.

55. =Finis.h.i.+ng the Surface of the Plate.=--The charcoal occasionally leaves traces on the plate, which show in the proof as rather too strong a tint. You can get rid of them, by rubbing with a piece of very soft linen, and the paste obtained by grinding charcoal with oil on a fine stone.