Bromoil printing and bromoil transfer

by Emil Mayer

The transfer printer must always keep in view the fact that he must prepare the way for his final artistic results in all previous phases of the technical preparation of his print. He will, for this reason, in a careful and well planned working up of the negative, bring out the characteristics and feeling of his ideal result by toning down or suppression of such parts of the picture as may be necessary, a task which has nothing in common with the process generally called retouching. He will also make the bromide print, whether by contact or enlarging, with greater deliberation and care than is used in most cases. Too much reliance in this respect is often placed on the omnipotent technique of bromoil, which allows us to carry out the most far-reaching alterations on the print. This can certainly be done; but perhaps this way is even more difficult than taking every necessary precaution right from the start and producing it correctly—in one word: creating it.

Far too little use, for example, is made in enlarging of bolting cloth, chiffon, or some such open-meshed fabric which, according to requirements, may be used with wide or narrow mesh, or even doubled, two pieces in contact [preferably with the threads at an angle of 45°.—Trans.]. Used with discretion, this gives valuable assistance in producing an artistic softening of contours and contrasts. The same purpose is attained in perhaps even greater perfection, by using the procedure recommended by L. Vernouille of Vienna. In this method of enlarging two sheets of tissue paper, of the size of the enlargement, are laid upon the film side of the bromide paper, and the exposure is made through these two sheets. It is important that the time of exposure be exactly determined; this is about double that of the usual enlargement. The tissue paper must be perfectly white and free from imperfections, black specks and folds, etc.

Besides these tricks a slight want of sharpness may be used to give the desired effect, or also the interposition of ruled screens between the film and the negative.

If it is desired that the bromoil transfer shall show a canvas effect similar to that of oil paintings, the simplest procedure is as follows. A piece of cloth is cut from a material which has the necessary structure, slightly larger than the size of the print, and laid flat on a stiff support such as pressboard. Then a new piece of carbon paper, such as is used in typewriting, as thin and free from faults as possible, is cut to the same size, immersed in water, allowed to drain, and placed smoothly on the material; a second sheet of pressboard is then placed on top and the whole subjected to a strong pressure, say between the rollers of a burnishing machine or washing mangle; if one has not these, then in a copying press. The carbon paper shows when dry the perfect structure of the material. If this structure paper is now placed between the paper and the negative, or in enlarging in contact with the paper, the bromide print shows this structure together with a very plastic rounded image, and a longer exposure is not necessary. I consider this procedure better than the use of the commercial structure screens, since one is free in the choice of the material from fine lawn to the coarsest canvas, while among the commercial articles there is seldom one which is quite satisfactory, and of course no such variety.

The final size of the picture must be drawn on the bromide print in pencil before the bleaching, for the positions of the edges cannot be determined on the bleached-out print, especially when the bleaching is complete. After the bleaching and drying are finished, the pencil marks should be cut through with a sharp knife on a glass plate, and the print is thus given the desired size. From this point on, one should be most careful not to touch the print with the fingers, except on the back, which can be easily done with a little care, by always lifting up the edge with a knife.

It is immaterial what bromide paper is used. It may have any surface, be thick or thin, though thick paper is to be preferred. For prints and transfers which should show the greatest possible fineness and modeling, it is better to choose a smooth bromide paper.

The prepared print is swollen and pigmented as in making an ordinary bromoil print. It is not necessary, when planning to make a transfer, to produce a higher relief by a warm water or ammonia bath, which requires the use of softer inks and limits artistic freedom in working up. One’s whole attention must be focused on a single point: the shadows must be clean, the lights pure white. If this condition be neglected a good transfer cannot be expected. Deviations from this fundamental requirement are only permissible for those who have absolutely mastered the printing technique, and who, therefore, can foresee the results with certainty.

One must take into account the fact that the transfer process has a very marked tendency to lower the tones. The high lights and fine half-tones always appear somewhat darker in the transfer than in the bromoil print, while the shadows, with correct printing, remain the same. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to lighten up the high lights and the fine half-tones just as much as they lose in brilliancy in the transfer. Obviously no description is of any value on this point; a few experiments made for this purpose will quickly put one on the right track.