Bromoil printing and bromoil transfer

by Emil Mayer

When the first inking up is finished, the addition of ink of the same consistency is continued until the print is completed or will no longer take ink, which, as has already been pointed out, is known by the fact that the newly applied ink no longer adheres, but that the brush removes it from the print. Then one proceeds to a further dilution of the ink by taking more soft ink with the brush and adding it to that already mixed, and continues the work. The use of the unmixed soft ink is not even necessary in many cases. If, however, it proves to be necessary, it should be used, but with care, for a brush stroke which puts too much soft ink on any part of the print, especially in the shadows, causes a patch. The beginner will work most easily and successfully if he always keeps the applications of ink as delicate as possible and obtains depth only by a repeated and even coating of ink, fully distributed every time. If a place should still turn out to be too dark, one can try removing the excess of ink, if it be a hard one, with a clean brush. If a dark patch is formed by too vigorous application of a mixed or even a soft ink, another brush should be dipped into the hard ink, dabbed out, and the spot removed with this brush. Moreover, such places can as a rule be easily rectified after the second soaking of the print, which will be described presently. If the fault cannot be removed in this way, the ink must be partially or entirely removed, according to the instructions in Chapter III, [page 73], and the work begun anew. This should be done without hesitation by the learner if the application of the ink does not succeed as he desires; the prepared print can be used for practice like a school slate by washing it off after each attempt with a solvent of the greasy medium.

For the application and the hopping off of the ink for large areas of the print one should always use the whole working surface of the brush. Smaller surfaces or outlines should be worked up with the front edge of the slantingly-cut brush; in laying on the ink one should never continue with the point, because this bends and gives unpleasantly sharply defined ink edges. In order to cover a place with ink very thoroughly, one should hold the brush firmly, give it a slight twist and then raise it up straight and slowly. If it is desired to coat a whole print evenly with ink, it should be applied in stripes over the whole print, the brush being pushed forward and not necessarily completely lifted up from the surface. The brush is pressed down firmly, the pressure relaxed a little, the brush moved forward half its width, then pressed again, and so on. In this way with a little experience there may be produced perfectly even ink stripes which bring out the outlines of the image and which are made close together until the whole print has been gone over, when one begins with the hopping. With papers with marked structure these stripes are best made in the direction of the structure and not at right angles. Especial care should always be taken that the shadows of the print, which take the ink most easily, are not too strongly inked up, and one should try by light hopping to bring out all the desired details at the very first application of the ink. When the shadows have once taken too much ink, it is not easy to clear them up by brush work alone. The inking up of large deep shadows must always, therefore, be very carefully done. Such parts of the picture are the most strongly tanned and therefore take the ink very readily and hold it very tenaciously. They should therefore never be touched with a brush freshly charged with ink, but one should work on the heavier shadows only when the brush has given up the greater part of its ink to the less sensitive parts of the image. Even then it always contains enough ink for the darker parts of the print. The first application of ink in the shadows, especially, ought never to be heavy and cannot be kept too delicate. When the desired details in the shadows appear to be well defined, they should then be strengthened. But even this should not be effected by a single thick coating of ink, but by successive additions of thin ink films and hopping after each.

Especial emphasis must be laid on the statement that all details, which it is desired to have in the finished print, must be brought out by the first application of the ink. If parts of the image are strongly inked up before the desired details have appeared, it is difficult to develop these later. On the other hand, detail, which has been brought out in the first inking, cannot be suppressed by any further skilful application of ink, but only strengthened.

These phenomena can on the other hand be successfully used to prevent the appearance of undesirable details in the picture. If for artistic reasons one desires to suppress detail and work flatly, the parts in question should be inked up from the start more strongly and evenly, and the hopping be either entirely omitted or stopped before the details which are to be omitted are brought out.

For beginners especially, it is useful in applying the ink, as well as in hopping, to lift the brush after every few strokes and examine the results obtained, so as to decide on further procedure.

One should accustom oneself to examine the print from time to time at a certain distance, while it is being worked on; for the correct impression as to whether the tonal values are correctly chosen, can be gained only at a greater distance; it is then seen more easily and clearly whether or not individual parts of the print carry too much or too little ink.

Particular parts of the print, which one wishes to have more contrasty, should be gone over after the hopping with a wiping motion of the brush; the ink is thus removed from the raised parts of the relief. If one goes too far in this, the inking can be done over again in the usual way.

If it is desired to free a brush from the soft ink, it should be dipped into hard ink specially spread on the palette for this purpose, and dabbed out well on a clean place, and this operation repeated two or three times, using each time another part of the palette. At the end of this manipulation the brush will practically no longer contain anything but hard ink.

When one has once learnt the initial steps of brush technique, in the course of time one fails to notice the difference between the laying on and the hopping off of the ink. The hand in time acquires an instinctive handling of the brush, which takes care at once of both the application and the distribution of the ink; if the proper relation between the consistency of the ink and the degree of swelling of the gelatine has been hit upon, a simplified handling of the brush comes of itself, because then the application of the ink is especially easy.