The Progress of the Marbling Art Part 12

APPENDIX.

Colored AND Decorated Edges.

ACCORDING TO THE

NEWEST DISCOVERIES

BY

Eminent Specialists.

STARCHED EDGES.

STARCHED EDGES.

A great similarity to marble edges have the so called starched edges.

To produce this kind of an edge no especial practice and no important preparations are necessary, but it permits of many varieties.

For this purpose, books already cut are placed into the hand press, and in such a way, that the edge is horizontal.

Dissolve a small quant.i.ty of pure rice starch in water until it has the consistency of a paste, add the different colors, which must be soluble in water in order to color properly, such as carmine or vermilion, cinnabar, Turkey, burnt umber, Prussian-blue, ultramarine, etc.

When the color added has been carefully united by stirring with the solution of starch, throw, by the aid of a small whisk, the solution so colored in drops that are not too small on the edge placed horizontally, so that the edge is covered as uniformly as possible.

As soon as the starch thrown on is dried, sprinkle on by the aid of a sprinkling brush and sieve, a darker color over the whole surface and allow the whole edge to dry again, then brush off the superfluous starch, and the colored and spotted edge will appear with veins interspersed.

The edge will be more effective and more similar to marble, if, for example, bluish-gray colored starch and then other starch mixed with red, the former in small the latter in larger drops, are thrown on so that the edge is quite well covered. Finally, a dark-brown color is sprinkled over the whole surface.

Such edges have the effect of bluish-gray marbling imitations which are interspersed by dark veins. If you sprinkle on fluid gold bronze i. e.

bronze finely ground in gum-arabic, instead of the dark-brown color, you obtain the celebrated gold veined edge in connection with the starched edge.

Unsized paper is the best for producing starch edges because it quickly absorbs the moisture of the starch and color.

To sized paper the color does not stick so readily and for that reason often runs together. To prevent this, moisten the edge before applying the starch color, with some ox-gall, and allow the first color to dry thoroughly before applying the second.

The Production of Colored Edges.

THE PRODUCTION OF COLORED EDGES.

The beautiful marbled edges have nearly driven every other kind of edges entirely out of the market.

Aside from marbled edges, colored edges are mostly used. They will keep their place on account of the simplicity of their production and their bright coloring effects.

Red-edges, especially when prettily made, give a dignified aspect to a book, so to speak, and they are therefore frequently and properly employed.

Our highly developed color industry offers to us a very great number of red colors, especially the carmine, vermilions and cinnabars, all of great value in our trade. These colors will not fade, the former carmine possesses great intensity, and cinnabar has the power to obliterate colors underlying it.

When cheap colored edges are to be produced even aniline colors can be taken into consideration. For instance, eosine is a red color, which used by itself or in combination with carmine and other red colors makes a beautiful color for edges but it will fade on exposure to the sun.

The preparation of these colors is of importance. Genuine carmine should, after the different pieces have been crushed, be ground for a short time with a little spirits of ammonia and then allowed to stand until completely dissolved. To dilute it, a thin solution of gum or water (the best is rain water) may be used. If too much spirits of ammonia has been employed the color will a.s.sume a bluish hue.

The heavy cinnabar makes a more powerful binding medium necessary, the best being a paste of starch or a solution of gum-arabic. Careful crus.h.i.+ng and a thorough grinding of the color are essential.

Genuine carmine has a red color with a slight bluish cast whereas cinnabar approaches yellowish-red. A pleasing, pure red can be produced by using Turkish red. A bright l.u.s.trous shade is obtained by adding some red aniline color.

If edges have to be colored blue, use ultramarine blue for dark, or cobalt blue for light.

Both colors must be mixed with gum-arabic or paste by grinding, and, if necessary, be diluted with water.

To produce yellow edges, chrome yellow is mostly used. It is for sale in all different shades from the brightest greenish-yellow, to the darkest orange-yellow.

In using it, like any other mineral or earth colors, it is finely ground and mixed, for use, with paste.

Green edges are often produced by using Schweinfurt's green or silk-green. By mixing light chrome-yellow with cobalt-blue, a beautiful rich green results.

For brown and black the well known colors umber, sepia, vegetable lamp-black, drop ivory-black and others are employed.

The color for producing violet edges can be best obtained by mixing cobalt-blue with Turkish-red or carmine.

It is always the most essential part of the process to grind the color uniformly with the paste, if it is desirable to obtain an edge of the same intensity of color.

A peeling off of the color while the edges are being burnished is due to a lack of paste, or of a too great consistency or too insufficient fineness of the color.

Recently our industry has taken this article in hand and furnishes a large number of beautiful, cheap and well prepared colors for producing edges which can be bought more profitably than they can be laboriously made.

As all colored edges, to give a beautiful effect, must be burnished after coloring, it is advisable to execute the coloring while the books are in the press, place the books after their front edges have been cut, by the aid of gilding boards into the hand-press and with a soft brush apply the color thinly. If the color does not thoroughly cover on one application, the operation must be repeated after the first coat has completely dried. When a uniform color is obtained allow the edge to dry in the press and then burnish it well with a broad burnisher.

By using a little wax you will render the burnis.h.i.+ng more successful.

The color will sometimes enter into unsized or wood paper notwithstanding heavy pressure.