The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-11-20

| this inverted mushroorn-iooking dab6er Pick
| peck dabs up and down, aud back wards and tor
/ wards, over the treacle-like streaks OF etching
1 ground, until the latter have become beautifully
i manipulated into one harmonious and legellun
/ very much in appearance, as to color, ike Sne
top of hot cross. bum One more operation, anu
the etching-ground will be complete b,EnE
| ing wax taper-which, to yield good oo9y
of flame, has been doubled up lntp "a aaSoIs
SO as to make caple Of eight wlcks, ane ny or
gently twisted together ard pro1gi oniS not ouite
pearance of peppermint sues, ong nO. f1ttsS ft
| SO white to lock at--PickpecE makes OF Ine
steel plate. by holding IL ut arms length alott
temporary ceiling above hs nea1 & ous stosi w' ae Eae
| turned downw wards Beneath this eXtemporiZed
| ceiling Pickpeck fickers the lighted wax taper
of eight wicks to and tro, so that the smoke
| orisipSg srou, the wax-taper flame ascending to
| The steeI-nlate ceiling that smoke sinks into
| end onalgamates itself with the etching-ground,
| which is still meltingly hot; the consequence of
| his last performance is. when the steel plate
| becomes cold, that the mixture of wax-taper
smoke and melted etching-ground has produced
a polished lacquer-hke coating on the steel
plate, causing 1t to resemble well-japanned
piece of black tea-traY.
The steel plate being quite cold, and the
etchng-ground perfect enough to satisfy Pick
peck-who is very fastidlous in all these opera
tions-he prepares to turn off the tracing"
Putting the glass paper, upon which the coun-
tenance of the wise Bunglebutt has been cut,
or scratched, or traced, over piece of white
paper, but with the tracing uppermost, Pick
peck proceeds to sprinkle little lead-pencil
dust on 1t, and then, with a small piece of cot
ton rag, sweeps, or brushes, as much of the
lead-pencil dust into the traced lines as they
will hold. He soon ascertains when each line
is well filled, by their suddenly appearing black,
owing to the W hite paper underneath the trans
parent sheet of geatine, or glass paper.
And now to effect the transfer OF the tracing
on to the etching ground. The glass paper, on
which is the counterfeit presentment" of the
tremendous Bungebutt, is laid with the traced
side downwards upon the etching-ground itself,
and, when it is fastened IN position, Pickpeck,
with one of his choicest burnishers, proceeds
to burnish over the upper or non'traCed-upon
side of the glass paper. The pleasing result OF
tins operation is, that, as the burnisher passes
along, it presses the lead.pencil dust out of the
lines Of the tracing on to the etching-ground,
and all so perfectly that upon the removal of
the glass paper, the eye of Pickpeck beholds
every line of the tracing shining like threads
OF silver on the black iapanned-looking etching
ground.
Now the yalorous Pickpeck can com
mence his etching; that is to say, he, with
his etching-graver, begins to .perlorate the
etching-ground with divers and innumerable
dots, dug down into the steel, along the trans
IN outline the fgure-head of the profound Bun
glebutt Pickpeck arraLges his dots accord
ingly along the lines aforesaid, just as his
judgment conceives they will best carry out in
an artistic manner, this mueh-desired repre-
sentaton. The etching completed, the bright
dots dug into the steel-brlght because sur
rounded and relieved by the black etching
ground-now blaze away until the etching
seems to represent a kind of starry ornament
turned upside down, and composed of countless
lllumlnatlon-lamps on small scale.
The etching completed, Pickpeck has nothing
to do but to iprepare himself, and the steel plate,
for the "bting-ln"--a process whereby q certain
acid, called nitric antagonstc to steel in all its
notions, will do in few minutes, what even an
eneraver could not accomplish so well, were he
to labor no end of days. But, before bitng-in,
the steel plate must be walled" and then
stopped out"
For the purpose of walling the plate, Pick
peck gets small pan of lukewarm wafer, into
which he puts the wallwax, or bordering-waX,
as it is yariously called; the same being COM
pound of common pitch and bee swaX, in equal
proportions. When this wall-waX is sufficiently
softened by the warmth of the water, Pickpeck,
upon his table, rolls it out, until 1t looks like an
eXt1a-long piece OF stick-iquorice, but not quite
so big in its circumference; then with the thumb
an the first finger of both hands he presses
the round stick OF wall-waX TO a fiat about
the eighth of an inch in thickness to one inch in
breadth. The next thing to be done Is 10 place
this fiat strip of wa-waX on Its side edge, round
the entire etching; where 1t somewhat resembles
a little great wall of China, made Of hardbake,
but without the almonds. The edge OF the
wall-waX resting on the steel plate, pelng Sc
curely pressed down, so as to cause 1t to adhere
firmly to the plate, and not allow the acid to
escape beneath the wall, the remainder OF the
plate-between the wall and the etching
although IT Is already COV0TSu WIFI
ground, is nevertheless now covered over with
a coating OF Brunswick black, fresh from the
bottle, and laid on with camel-hai brush;
the Brunswick black being carried round the
base of this little great wall OF China with every
possible Scare, the smorea aefectually, by such
attentive stoppng-Out, to keep the acid within
bounds, and thereby prevent "loul bltng"-a
kind of accident most repugnant to the soul OF
PickpeCk. On the left side OF the steel plate,
while erecting the wall, and while the wax is
still warm and pliable, Pickpeck, by dexterous
action of his fingers presses out spout to allow
of the acid being poured off the plate with in
| creased facility.
At length the stopping-ou being perfectly
| dry, with a small-spouted jug half full OF ma
| lignant-sme ling acid grasped in his left hand,
| Pickpeck looks one moment down upon the
| bright shining dots of his etching; the next
| moment the deed is done; the acid is poured on
to the etching-contned within the limits OF
| the little great wall of China. The etching
| ground and the Brunswick black being both
| impervious to all acidical attacks, the acid
| has nothing TO do but to tumble, headforemost
| into the dots dug through the etchingground
| into the steel below. The acid no sooner tum-
bles into the dots, than they almost Immediately
| lose their brightness; just as though the acid,
| being so pugnaclously inclined towards steel,
| had suddenly given every individual bright DOT
| black eye. Anyhow, the acid is fighting Tor
| Its life in these dug.Out dot holes; the acid Is
tearing off minute particles of steel, and throw
| ing them up out of the dot holes in such multi
tudes as to cause a brownish cloud to be seen
hoating about the little lake, the pungent odor
from which has already begun to tickle the nose
OF Pickpeck. But the time mas now come toI
| Pickpeck to Interfere. Swiftly he pours off the
acid from within the little great wall of China
rapidly supplying the place of the acid with
| pure water; which operation he repeats again
and again, so as to wash thoroughly the dots
| that have been so much belabored by the VIC
lent conduct of the acid Upon pouring off the
water and drying up the few bubbles that have