Brown.—Sepia gives a nice tint, and burnt umber a very hot tint. Raw umber gives a brighter brown, bistre a brighter still.
Neutral tints are obtained by mixing Prussian blue, lake and gamboge.
In using painters’ colors, it is advisable to avoid, as much as possible, the heavy ones.
Tints of any desired depth may be made by using a finely-ground white ink as a basis, and toning it with the color desired.
Varnish tints are made by adding color to full-bodied, well-boiled printers’ varnish, using a little soap and drying preparation to make them work smoothly and dry quickly.
In mixing tints to print with, the muller should be used to rub in the colors thoroughly, otherwise the work is liable to be streaky. It is advisable to mix no more of a tint than is needed for the work in hand. Most colored inks work best if applied to the rollers a little at a time, until the depth of color desired is reached, as colored inks distribute slower than black, and are more liable to thicken upon and clog the type when too much is taken at once.
Hints on “Casting Up.”
The most simple and effective contrivance for casting-up work is, for every printer to set up, in vertical parallel lines, the m’s of each font in his office, with figures in succession beside them, and work them upon good hard paper, but little wet or pressed, which ought to be dried very gradually. If the cast-up work printed with the same type as these measures very little variation will be found; for if the measure and the measured page do vary from the measurement, the one is compensated by the other. But even this method can scarcely be trusted in setting the price with the compositor, since the difference between a thin and thick space will carry an en quadrat, and thus may give the turn in the 500 letters, so as to make 1,000 difference.
How to Ascertain the Quantity of Plain Type Required for Newspaper.
To ascertain the quantity of plain type required for a newspaper, magazine, and other work, find the number of square inches and divide the same by four; the quotient will be the approximate weight of the matter. As it is impossible to set the cases entirely clear, it is necessary to add 25 per cent to large fonts, and 33 per cent to small, to allow for dead letter. This, of course, is only approximate, but will be found sufficiently close for all practical purposes.