NOTES
BY THE TRANSLATOR.
[1] (p. 2.) To these associations may be added the German Etching Clubs at Düsseldorf and at Weimar, which issue yearly portfolios of plates executed by their members, and the American Etching Clubs at New York and at Cincinnati. The New York Etching Club was organized in April, 1877, with Dr. L. M. Yale as its first president. At this writing Mr. James D. Smillie is the presiding officer of the club, which has about twenty-four members, including many of the leading artists of New York. The Cincinnati Etching Club is composed almost entirely of amateurs. Its president is Mr. George McLaughlin. Quite lately an Etching Club has also been formed in Boston, with Mr. Edmund H. Garrett as president.
[2] (p. 3.) Benzine is preferable to turpentine for most of the operations of the etcher, but more especially for cleaning soiled hands. It is advisable to use turpentine only when the benzine proves insufficient to remove the last traces of ground or ink from the lines.
[3] (p. 9.) Something about tools and materials has already been said in the Introductory Chapter, [p. xiv]. What is left to be said follows here:—
Copper plates, from visiting-card size (at $1 per dozen), to any required size can be bought of, or ordered through, the firms named on [p. xiii], or of Mr. Geo. B. Sharp, 45 Gold St., New York. Mr. Sharp will send price-lists on application. The plates usually sold, at least of the smaller sizes, are made of an alloy, not of pure copper. These alloy plates are cheaper and bite more quickly than those of pure copper, but it happens occasionally that they do not bite evenly, owing to want of homogeneity in the metal. Still, they are extensively used, and amateurs will find them preferable to the more expensive copper plates.
Etching-ground. A recipe for a cheap and yet a very good ordinary ground has been given on [p. xv]. The transparent ground consists of
| 5 | parts, | by weight, of | white wax. |
| 3 | „ | „ | gum-mastic. |
Gum-mastic costs about thirty-five cents an ounce. Melt the wax first, and add the gum-mastic in powder gradually, stirring all the while with a clean glass or metal rod.
Stopping-out varnish. (See [p. xvi.]) There is a varnish sold at painters' supply-stores under the name of “Asphaltum Varnish for Sign-Writers' Use,” which does very well. In Boston Asahel Wheeler sells it at fifteen cents a bottle.
Needle-holders are unnecessary if the points described on [p. xvi] are used.
Burnishers are sold at the hardware-stores, or by dealers in watchmakers' materials. They ought not to cost above fifty cents apiece.
Scrapers. Same as burnishers. Price not above $1. Some dealers ask $2, which is exorbitant.
A lens can be obtained of any optician. In Boston they can also be had of A.J. Wilkinson & Co., hardware dealers, 184 Washington St., at prices varying from $1 to $1.50.
India-rubber finger-gloves are unnecessary if you use the “plate-lifter” described on [p. xvii].
Nitric acid. Messrs. Powers & Weightman's “Nitric Acid, C. P.” (i. e. chemically pure), recommended on [p. xvii], is 42 degrees, and Messrs. P. & W. inform me that the strength is tolerably uniform. If you are an enthusiastic etcher it will be best to buy a seven-pound bottle, which is the next largest to the one-pound bottles.
Tracing-paper, gelatine, chalk, and sanguine can be obtained at the artists' material stores.
Emery-paper. Hardware-stores. Price four cents a sheet.
Roller for revarnishing. See Note [5].
To the tools and materials mentioned by M. Lalanne the following must be added: Whiting, benzine, turpentine, alcohol, willow charcoal. The last-named article can be supplied by Mr. Geo. B. Sharp, of 45 Gold St., New York, before mentioned.
(p. 11.) I wrote to M. Lalanne to find out the ingredients of the petit vernis liquide and vernis au pinceau, but he says that he does not know, and that the recipes are a secret of the maker of these varnishes. The asphaltum varnish mentioned on [p. xvi] and in Note [3] does excellently well, however, both for stopping out and retouching. After it has been fanned (see [p. xxi]) until it has thickened sufficiently not to stick to the finger when touched, but before it is quite dry, it can be worked upon with the point. If not dry enough, which will manifest itself readily as soon as you have drawn the first line, fan again. If it were allowed to dry absolutely, it would chip off under the needle. There is a liquid ground, made by Mr. Louis Delnoce of the American Bank Note Company, New York, which—so Mr. Jas. D. Smillie informs me—is used for retouches by the engravers of the company, is applied with the brush, is a very quick dryer, tough, and resists acid perfectly. Mr. Delnoce sells it in ounce bottles at seventy-five cents each.
(p. 12.) The roller for revarnishing, spoken of by M. Lalanne, and also recommended by Mr. Hamerton, cannot be bought in this country. Nor—with all due deference to the great experience of M. Lalanne—is such a large and expensive roller necessary. The rollers used by our most experienced etchers—Mr. Jas. D. Smillie, for instance—are little cylinders of India-rubber, about one inch in diameter and one and one-half inches long. They cost from 50 cents to $2 each. But these rollers cannot be used with etching-paste. The oil of lavender in the paste attacks the rubber and destroys it. As to the manner of using the India-rubber roller see Note [12].
(p. 20.) The use of bordering wax is not advisable. But as some etchers still employ it, I add a recipe for making it, which was kindly communicated to me by Mr. Peter Moran of Philadelphia:—
| 3 | lbs. | Burgundy pitch. |
| 1 | lb. | yellow beeswax. |
| 1 | gill | sweet oil. |
Melt together and then form into strips.
(p. 21.) Etching is the most individual of the reproductive arts (or rather of the multiplying arts, the German vervielfältigende Künste), even in its technical processes. Therefore nearly every etcher has his own ways of doing, and few agree on all points. Many etchers do not think it necessary to weaken the acid as described in the text. But be sure to let it cool after it has been mixed with water, before you immerse your plate!
(p. 22.) It would take altogether too long to wait for the perfect drying of the asphaltum varnish, nor is it necessary. Fan it, as described in Note [4], and as soon as it ceases to stick you can again immerse your plate.
(p. 25.) I have never been able to notice this turning dark of the lines, although I have had plates in the bath for several hours, and some of my artist acquaintances whom I have consulted on the point, have confirmed my experience. Possibly the phenomenon described by M. Lalanne may be caused by impurities in the acid.
(p. 27.) If the reader will make use of the device for lifting the plate into and out of the bath, which I have described on [p. xvii], there will be no necessity of burning his fingers. With a little precaution, and a plentiful use of benzine for washing and cleaning, the daintiest lady's hand need not suffer from etching.
(p. 29.) For directions for making this ground see Note [3].
(p. 38.) To make the varnish, or rather etching-paste, recommended in the text, a warm-water bath is not absolutely necessary. Take any small porcelain or earthenware vessel (a small gallipot is very convenient, because the etching-paste can be kept in it for use), and set it upon a metal frame, easily made of wire, so that you can introduce a spirit lamp under it. Break up a ball, or part of a ball, of ordinary etching-ground, and throw it into the pot. Heat the pot carefully, so as just to allow the ground to melt. When it has melted, add oil of lavender (worth thirty-five cents an ounce at the druggist's), drop by drop, and keep stirring the mixture with a clean glass rod. From time to time allow a drop of the mixture to fall on a cold glass or metal plate. If, on cooling, it assumes the consistency of pomatum, the paste is finished.
As I have said before, this paste cannot be used with the India-rubber rollers recommended in Note [5]. With these rollers the regrounding must be done with the ordinary etching-ground with the aid of heat. Warm your plate so that you can just bear to touch it with the hand, and allow some of the ground to melt on a second, unused copper plate. Also warm the roller slightly. Then proceed as M. Lalanne directs in his fifty-seventh paragraph. The slight changes in the proceeding, which grow out of the differences between cold and warm ground, are self-evident.
It is hardly necessary to say that the roller can also be used for laying the first ground. But it is of no use on any but perfectly smooth, straight plates, as it cannot penetrate into hollows. When it is not available the dabber must be employed in the old manner.
(p. 39.) Some engravers prefer the dabber to the roller even for regrounding entire plates. In that case the ground is spread on the margin of the plate, if that be wide enough, or on a separate plate, and is taken up by the dabber. The plate to be regrounded must of course be warmed as for laying a ground with the roller, and care must be taken not to have the dabber overcharged with ground.
(p. 40.) In default of the charcoal-paste, rubbing with the finest emery-paper will do to remove the polish.
(p. 40.) I cannot direct the reader to a copper-planer, and therefore it will be best to give some directions for removing faulty passages. The following paragraphs are copied bodily from Mr. Hamerton:—
“The most rapid way is to use sandpapers of different degrees of coarseness, the coarsest first, and then the scraper, and, finally, willow charcoal with olive oil. The charcoal will leave the surface in a fit state to etch upon.
“This scraping and rubbing hollows out the surface of the copper, and if it hollows it too much the printing will not be quite satisfactory in that part of the plate. In that case you have nothing to do but mark the spot on the back of the plate with a pair of calipers, then lay the plate on its face upon a block of polished steel, and give it two or three blows with a hammer (mind that the hammer is rounded so as not to indent the copper).”
(p. 48.) The process here alluded to is the one used by Mr. Haden. The mordant is the so-called Dutch mordant, and the manner of making it is thus described by Mr. Hamerton:—
“First heat the water by putting the bottle containing it into a pan also containing water, and keep it on the fire till that in the pan boils. Now add the chlorate of potash, and see that every crystal of it is dissolved. Shake the bottle to help the solution. When no more crystals are to be seen, you may add the hydrochloric acid. Make a good quantity of this mordant at once, so as always to have a plentiful supply by you.”
For a full account of the Haden process see Mr. Hamerton's “Etcher's Handbook,” or the second edition of his “Etching and Etchers.”
This Dutch mordant is preferred to nitric acid by many etchers,—even when working, not in the bath, but in the ordinary way, as taught by M. Lalanne,—because it bites down into the copper, and hardly widens the lines. “From my experience,” writes Mr. Jas. D. Smillie, in a letter now before me, “I unhesitatingly prefer the Dutch mordant for copper; it bites a very fine black line, it is not so severe a trial to the ground, and it does not need constant watching.”
Mr. Smillie, however, uses the mordant much stronger than Mr. Haden. He has, in fact, invented a process of his own, which, in a letter to me, he describes as follows:—
“I draw and bite as I progress; that is, I draw in the darkest parts first, give them a good nip with the mordant, wash the plate and dry it, and then draw the next stage. I can thus, by drawing lines over a part that has already been exposed to the mordant, interlace heavy and light lines in a way that I could not by any other process. I etch upon an unsmoked ground, and as the Dutch mordant bites a black line, I see my etching clearly as it advances, By holding the head well over the plate, the lines can be very distinctly seen as they are drawn. After a little experimenting, the etcher will find the angle at which he can see his unbitten work upon an unsmoked ground without trouble. Mr. Hamerton's formula seemed to me too weak, so I am experimenting with
| Muriatic acid, | 1 | ounce. |
| Chlorate of potash, | 1-5 | „ |
| Water, | 5 | ounces. |
“This is the mordant I am now using, and I have found it to work well. Still, as I am not a scientific chemist, and my knowledge is entirely empiric, I am prepared to believe any chemist who may tell me that I might do as well, or better, with more water.
“Generally I do not get all the color I wish by the first process, as I can see without removing the ground; so, when my etching is finished, I reverse the engine and begin stopping out and biting upon the original ground, as it is ordinarily done. I do not use the black asphaltum varnish for stopping out, but a transparent varnish that is simply white resin dissolved in alcohol. If applied very carefully, and allowed time to dry, it is perfectly clear and transparent, and the relations of all parts of the plate can be seen,—the stopped out as well as the bitten lines,—but to a careless worker it presents many troubles. It is so transparent that it is hard to see what is stopped out and what is not, and if washed with very warm water, or before it is thoroughly dry, it turns cloudy and semi-opaque. I have no trouble with it, and could not get along without it. I make it myself,—have no formula,—adding alcohol until it is thin enough to flow readily from the brush. It has a great advantage over asphaltum varnish, as it does not flow along a line. It is viscid enough to remain just where it is put, and is as perfect a protection as any asphaltum varnish.”
Mr. Smillie heats his bath on the plate-warmer, but not to exceed 80°, or at most 90°. Such a bath of hot mordant acts much more quickly than a cold acid bath, less than two minutes being sufficient for the lightest lines.
(p. 50.) Gravers are of different shapes, according to the nature of the line which they are intended to produce. They are sometimes kept at the hardware-stores, as, for instance, by A. J. Wilkinson & Co., 184 Washington St., Boston. This house also issues an illustrated catalogue of engravers' tools.
(p. 52.) M. Lalanne, it seems to me, does not do full justice to zinc plates. Very delicate lines can be bitten on zinc if the acid is sufficiently weakened. I have found that one part of nitric acid to eight parts of water, used on zinc, is about equal to one-half acid and one-half water, used on copper for about the same length of time. Zinc plates can also be bought of Mr. Geo. B. Sharp, 45 Gold St., New York. As to the length of edition that can be printed from a zinc plate, see Note [27].
(p. 52.) This is not strictly correct. The “manière de crayon,” as practised by Demarteau and others, differs materially from soft-ground etching. A ground was laid and smoked as usual, and on it the drawing was produced, by a variety of instruments, such as points, some of them multiple, the roulette, the mattoir, etc.
(p. 55.) There is another method of getting what may be called a proof, i. e. by taking a cast in plaster. Ink your plate and wipe it clean, as described in Note [22], and then pour over it plaster-of-Paris mixed with water. When the plaster has hardened it can easily be separated from the plate, and the ink in the lines will adhere to it. To make such a cast you must manage a rim around your plate, or you may lay it into a paper box, face upward. Mix about half a tumbler full of water (or more, according to the size of the plate) with double the quantity of plaster, adding the plaster, little by little, and stirring continually. When the mixture begins to thicken pour it on the plate, and if necessary spread it over the whole of the surface by means of a piece of wood or anything else that will answer. Then allow it to harden.
(p. 55.) The chafing-dish and the ball (or dabber) are now replaced by the gas flame and the inking-roller in most printing establishments. But if you desire to do your own proving, you will have to use a dabber, the manner of making which is described in the [next note].
(p. 59.) If there is no plate-printer near you, but you have access to a lithographic printing establishment, you can have your proofs taken there. “Lithographic presses,” says A. Potémont, “give perfectly good and satisfactory proofs of etchings.”
Not every printer can print an etching as it ought to be printed. A man may be an excellent printer of line engravings and mezzotints, and yet may be totally unfit to print an etching. I would recommend the following printing establishments:—
New York: Kimmel & Voigt, 242 Canal Street.
Boston: J. H. Daniels, 223 Washington Street.
If you desire to establish an amateur printing-office of your own you will need, in addition to the tools and materials already in your possession:—
| A press, | A dabber or ball, |
| A plate-warmer, | Rags for wiping, |
| An ink-slab, | Printing-ink, |
| A muller, | Paper. |
The press. The presses used by professional plate-printers will be thought too large and too costly by most etchers. There is a small press sold by Madame Ve. A. Cadart, 56 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris, of which a representation is given on the next page.
This press, accompanied by all the necessary accessories,—rags, ink, paper, plate-warmer, dabber, etc.,—sells in Paris at the price of 150 francs (about $30). There is an extra charge for boxing; and freight, duties, etc., must also be paid for, extra, on presses imported to this country. The publishers of this book are ready to take orders for these presses, but I cannot inform the reader what the charges will amount to, as no importations have yet been made by Messrs. Estes & Lauriat.
There is also a small press invented by Mr. Hamerton and made in London by Mr. Charles Roberson, 99 Long Acre, which sells on the other side, for the press only, at two guineas for the smallest, and four guineas for a larger size. These presses are smaller than the Cadart presses, and, according to Mr. Hamerton, are “very portable affairs, which an etcher might put in his box when travelling, and use anywhere, in an inn, in a friend's house, or even out of doors when etching from nature.”
A small press has also quite lately been introduced by Messrs. Janentzky & Co., of Philadelphia, which costs only $16.50 (without accessories), and is well recommended by those who have used it.
The press is not complete without the flannels spoken of in the text ([p. 56], § 87). There is a kind of very thick flannel specially made for printers' use. But if this cannot be had (of some plate-printer) any good flannel with a piece of thick soft cloth over it will do well enough.
In adjusting the press care must be taken that the pressure is neither too great nor too small. This is a matter of experience.
The plate-warmer is a box made of strong sheet-iron, into which either a gas-jet or a small kerosene lamp can be introduced. If you happen to have a gas-stove, and can get an iron plate of some kind to lay across the top, you will have an excellent plate-warmer.
The ink-slab. Any smooth slab of marble, slate, or lithographic stone, about a foot square, will do.
A muller. This is a pestle of stone, flat at the bottom, used for grinding colors or ink.
A dabber or ball. Take strips of thick cloth or flannel, about four or five inches wide; roll them together as tightly as possible, until you have a cylinder of two or three inches in diameter; bind firmly by strong twine wound all around the cylinder; then cut one end with a large sharp knife, so as to get a smooth surface. After the dabber has been used for some time, and the ink has hardened in it, cut off another slice so as to get a fresh surface.
Rags for wiping. Fine Swiss muslin and the fabric known as cheese cloth make good rags for wiping. They can be bought at the dry-goods stores. As they are charged with some material to make them stiff and increase the weight, they must be washed before they are used. When they have become too much charged with ink they may be boiled out in a solution of potash or soda in water. The Swiss muslin costs about twelve cents a yard, the cheese cloth about five.
I had a lot of rags specially sent to me from Paris, as I wished to see the difference between the soft and the stiff muslin. The parcel contained a collection of pieces of a sort of Swiss muslin, evidently old curtains, and some pieces of old cotton shirting, some of which had done duty at the Hôtel des Invalides, still bearing its stamp!
Printing-ink and paper. (See Notes [23] and [24].)
To ink the plate, place it on the plate-warmer and allow it to become as hot as your hand can bear. Then take up the ink from the ink-slab with the dabber and spread it all over the surface, moving the dabber along with a rocking motion, but not striking the plate with it. Take care that the lines are well filled. Sometimes, in the first inking of the plate, it is necessary to use the finger to force the ink into the lines.
In wiping the plate the first operation is to remove all the superfluous ink from the surface by means of a rag. What follows depends on the kind of impression you desire to get. If you want a natural, clean, or dry proof, as these impressions are variously called (i. e. an impression which shows only black lines on a perfectly clear white ground), charge the palm of your hand with a very little whiting or Spanish white, and with it finish the wiping of the plate. This operation will leave the surface of the plate perfectly clean and bright, while the ink remains in the lines. If you desire to have an even tint left all over the plate, avoid the use of the hand, and wipe with the rag only. Plate-printers use their rags moist, but for printing etchings a dry rag is preferable, as it leaves more of a tint on the plate. Note, also, that the rag must be tolerably well charged with ink to enable you to wipe a good tint with it.
The margin of the plate, even if a tint is left over it, must always be wiped clean. This is best accomplished by a bit of cotton cloth charged with whiting.
For the rest, nothing is left but to experiment according to the hints given in the text by M. Lalanne.
(p. 59.) If you can, buy your ink of a plate-printer or of a lithographer. That used by book-printers will not do! The trouble is that the ink used by ordinary plate-printers is of a disagreeably cold cast, as it is mixed with blue. Etchings ought to be printed with a warm black, and sometimes, especially in the case of somewhat over-bitten plates, with an ink of a decidedly brownish hue. Inks are made of linseed-oil varnish (i. e. linseed oil that has been boiled down or burned), and the blacks mentioned in the text. There are various qualities of varnish according to its consistency, varying from thin through medium to stiff. If you wish to mix your own ink, you must try to procure the materials of some plate-printer or lithographer. For varnish use the medium, for black the Francfort. The burnt Sienna (which you can buy at any paint-shop) is used only to warm up the black. Lay some of the dry color on your ink-slab, add a very little of the varnish, and mix with the muller. Then add more varnish until the ink forms a tolerably stiff paste. The grinding must be carefully done, so as to avoid grittiness. Besides, if the color is not thoroughly well incorporated with the varnish, the ink will not stand. To preserve the ink for future use, put it into some vessel with a cover, and pour water over it. The water standing on top of the ink keeps it soft. Otherwise the varnish would harden.
(p. 60.) The heavy Dutch hand-made papers are still preferred by most people for etchings; but it is very difficult, if not impossible, to procure them in this country. The paper known as Lalanne charcoal paper, which is likewise a hand-made paper, can be bought at the artist's material stores. Good drawing-paper will also answer. The worst, because most inartistic, of all, is the plain white plate paper. The paper used for the etchings in the American Art Review, first made especially for this journal according to my suggestions, has excellent printing qualities, although, being a machine-made, unglued paper, it lacks some of the characteristics of the Dutch hand-made paper. But its texture is very good, and it takes up the ink even better than the Dutch papers.
Japanese paper can be procured of the firms named on page xiii.
Dry paper will not take a decent impression, and the sheets to be used for printing must therefore be moistened. To prepare the ordinary paper, take three or four sheets at a time, and pass them slowly through clean water contained in a pail or other vessel. Wet as many sheets as you may need, lay them on top of one another, place the pile between two boards, and allow them to lie thus under tolerably heavy pressure for at least twelve, or, better still, for twenty-four hours. The paper will then be ready for use.
To prepare Japanese paper, lay each sheet between two wet sheets of ordinary paper, and let it lie as before.
(p. 60.) Épreuves de remarque. The remarque usually consists in leaving unfinished some little detail in an out-of-the-way corner of the plate. After the épreuves de remarque have been printed, this detail is finished. A person who cannot tell a good impression from a bad one, or does not know whether a plate is spoiled or still in good condition, without some such extraneous sign, has slight claim to be considered a connoisseur.
(p. 62.) New York is, for the present, I believe, the only place where steel-facing is done in America. I can recommend Mr. F. A. Ringler, 21 and 23 Barclay Street, New York.
(p. 62.) Zinc plates can be steel-faced, but the facing cannot be renewed, as it cannot be removed. The zinc plate on which Mr. Lansil's little etching, given in this volume, is executed, was steel-faced. It is feasible also, the electrotypers tell me, to deposit a thin coating of copper on the zinc first, and then to superimpose a coating of steel. In that case the steel-facing can be renewed as long as the copper-facing under it remains intact.