The transparent spots, and any parts which should be altered, are retouched with the material of the tissue dissolved in warm water; the whites are cleared with a scraper; and any parts which are not intense enough, or which should be blended by the addition of half tints, are worked on the proof—to which a tooth has been given by rubbing with cuttle-fish powder—by means of a stump and an appropriate color, a mixture of lamp-black and carmine, for example, in very fine powder.
The proofs can also be colored by chemical means (see further on), or with water colors employed with a solution of chrome alum, 1 to 200 of water, or gilt, silvered or bronzed with metallic powders applied with the gilder's size thinned with turpentine on the proof previously coated with a thin layer of alumed gelatine.
Second Transfer.—To transfer, a sheet of enameled or simple transfer paper is immersed in tepid water until the gelatine is softened and feels slippery to the fingers. The support is then placed under water at ordinary temperatures—not under 16 deg. C. (60 deg. F.)—for two three minutes, then rubbed with a camel brush to remove the air bubbles, which might be formed on the surface of the image, when, without draining, the gelatinized paper is laid upon it, covered with the thin oil cloth, and pressed into contact with the squeegee, commencing in the center to the sweep off the water, then repeating the operation for the other half, as explained to apply the tissue on the provisory support. When the whole is quite dry, which requires three or four hours, the edges are cut with a penknife and the whole stripped off. It may happen that the proof is covered with minute, silver-like brilliant spots, which are nothing else than very small air bubbles interposited between the carbon proof and the transfer paper. [pg 101] They are caused by the gelatine paper not having been sufficiently softened or not laid on the proof with proper care. The defect may also arise from the transfer paper coated with not sufficiently thick gelatine.
To transfer on any rigid material, the proofs on flexible supports are coated by floating on the following gelatine solution, then allowed to dry, and, when wanted for use, immersed in tepid water to soften the gelatine and secure adherence:
| Gelatine | 50 parts |
| Water | 400 parts |
| Solution of chrome alum, 4:100 | 6 parts |
Development on Absorbing Materials.—The development of carbon prints on absorbent material—such as canvas and palettes to be painted in oil, etc.—cannot be made in the ordinary manner on account of the impossibility to eliminate entirely the chromic salt which tinges the material yellow. To turn the difficulty, it suffices to wash off in several changes of cold water all the unaltered bichromate from the prints on their removal from the printing frame, and to proceed as usual, or the prints can be allowed to dry and transferred at some future time.
Canvas should be prepared by brushing with a solution of aqueous ammonia in alcohol, 5:20, to remove greasiness until the thread is apparent, and, when dry, rubbed with sand to grain it—or to give a tooth, as it is termed—then rubbed dry with a solution of soluble glass, 1 to 10 of beer.[32]
Palettes should be rendered impervious, or nearly so, by flowing upon them a solution of alumed gelatine, which is allowed to penetrate into the pores of the wood and the excess scraped off when solidified, when the surface may be whitened, if necessary, as for printing on wood box, q.v.
Opals, porcelain, or ivory should be prepared with the following substratum:
| Gelatine | 50 parts |
| Water | 400 parts |
| Chrome alum, 4:100 | 6 parts |