CHAPTER XIV
Tin-plate Decoration
Suitable Designs—A Variety of Effects—Gold Lacquer—Super-position of Colours—Embossed Effects—Embossing Plates—Lacquers.
It is usually and rightly supposed that the most effective results in Tin-plate Decoration are produced from designs which are lithographed for that specific purpose.
Designs which are specially arranged for Paper Printing can be used so long as the effect produced by the transposition from right to left does not affect its application, or render the same impossible. This, of course, applies more particularly to designs in which lettering appears, but at the same time it may affect designs of an essentially pictorial character in an equally important manner; for it must be remembered that a drawing for Tin-plate Printing must appear on the lithographic stone exactly as it is impressed on the metal, and not, as in Paper Printing, reversed from right to left. This naturally simplifies the drawing on stone, and to some extent enables the draughtsman to dispense with the reversing mirror when copying.
The primary object of this short chapter will be to point out some of the characteristic features of Tin-plate Decoration, so that such methods as are usually adopted by the artist and the printer may be modified or amplified to meet any peculiar requirements of work in hand.
A greater variety of effects can be attained on the polished metal plate than it is at all possible to produce on paper.
A gold effect, the result of lacquer printing, is especially striking. In a similar manner an excellent translucent lustre can be imparted to almost any colour by taking away the white opaque ground, and thereby producing a peculiar semi-transparency which is both pleasing and effective. Lacquer printed over white produces a buff colour, which can be used as a second yellow or to form the base of a flesh. The colour of the lacquer is softer and less obtrusive when printed under instead of above the white. The super-position of colour generally, as described in Chap. XII. [page 70], is peculiar to tin-plate printing, and suggests the advisability, if not the necessity, of a special design. The advantages of such super-position are obvious and substantial. Under ordinary commercial conditions it is almost impossible in tin printing to obtain the same intensity of tones in the printed colours as in paper printing. Some such strengthener as the super-position of suitable colours is therefore necessary. The work of the lithographic draughtsman is in this respect of a somewhat unusual character; but a little intelligent consideration will render its execution on these lines comparatively easy and satisfactory.
As already stated, yellows can be accentuated by a super-position of lacquer, and in the same manner blues and greys add intensity to black. Red can be strengthened by a foundation of lacquer, also flesh and yellow, either singly or in combination. The drawing of lacquer and white formes should receive the most careful attention. They should fit each other accurately, even to the most minute details; for the slightest overlapping will be revealed by the presence of a very assertive buff colour, while any deficiency in combination will leave a not less striking margin of bright tin exposed.