The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-01-17
HOW oHRoMos ARE MADE.

nO A'IuoStdPhy Is the ART OF PRINT
ing pictures from stone, il eolors. The
mos. dif6cnlt branch Of it--Which is now
generally implied when chromos a.e spok-
en- OILS the art of reproducing oil paint,
ings. When a chrome is made by q
competent hand. It presents an exact
Counterpart of the original painting. with
the delicate gFadations of tinls aud shades,
and With much Of the spirit aud lone of a.
production of the brush and pale. 81
70 understand how chromos aie made,
the art of photography must first be brief
ly explained. The stone used in litho-
grabbing is a species of limestone found
IN Bavaria. and is wrought IN o thick
slabs W th finely polished surface. The
drawing is made upon the slab with a ort
of coiored soar. which adheres' to the
stone, and enters into chemical comb
nation With it after the application of GER
tain acids and gnme- When tho draw
ing is complete, the slab is put on the
press, and carefully dsmpeneds with q
spohgsg 81 The oil collar Tor 5ink) is then
applied with a common printers roller.
OF course. the parts of the slab which
contain no drawing. being wet. resist the
ink: while the drawing itself. being oily,
repels the water, but retains the color APP
plied.a II isIthus that, without raised
surface or ipeision--as in eommon print
ing. wood cuts, and steel engrayipgs--
li:hograPhy produces printed drawings
from perfectly smooth stone. -
10 In chrome. the first proof is light
-greund'tini, covering neally all the sur
face. 1t has only faint shadowy re
semblanGe to the, completed picture. L
Is IN fact rsther shadow than an outline
The next proof. from the second stone,
contains all the shades ofsaaother color
This process is repeated again and agsin
and again; occasionally as often as thirty
times. We saw one proof, in visit to
Mr.. Prapg's establishmeL,-a & CUP Of
c .ttle-that5 bad passed through the press
Twelve atimes;j and it still bore "a. greater
resemblance TO spoiled seolored photo
graph than 10 the charming picture which
t subsequently, became. The number Of
I'm pressions, however. does not necessari.
ly indicate tie number OF icolors in a
painting, beoause the colors and tinIs are
greatly multiplied by combinations Gre
ated in. thetprocess of printing one over
another. In twenty-five impressions. i.
is sometimes necessary and possible. to
produce buudred distinct shades.
- The last impression is made BIZ an en-
graveG stone, which produces that resem
barce to canvas noticeable in all of Mr.
Prapg's finer specimens. English and
German chromos, as a rule, do not attempt
TO give this delicate fnal touch, although
it would seem TO be esse ntial in order to
make perfect imitation of a paintir G.
90 The paper used is white, heavy "plate
paper" as the test quality, which has
to pass through heavy press. sheet by
sheet, before its SUI face is fit 10 receive
an impression.
q TIE process thus briefly explained, we
need hardly add, requires equally great
sill aud judgment at every stage. A
single error is instantly detected by the
prac.iced eye IN The finished specimen.
The production of chrome, if it is at all
complicated, requires several months
sometimes several years-of careful pre-
paration. The mere drawing of the diff
ferent and entirely detached parts on SO
many different stones is Of itsell work
that requires an amount of labor and a
degree of skill, which, TO person unfa-
,miflar with the process. would appear in
redibie. Still more difficult, and need
ing still greater skill. is the process, of col
oring. This demands knowledge which
artists have hitherto almost exclusively
monopol1zed, and. in addition 10 il. tie
practical familiarity of apriuter with me-
chanicaI details. ';Drying" and 'sregis-
teriUg" are as important. branches of the
arr of making chromos as drawing and
colcring. On proper registering, for ex'
ample, the entire possibility Of producing
picture at every stage of its progress
depends. reg eripg" is that part OF
a pressman's work which consists in SO
arranging the paper in the press, that il
shall receive the impression on exactly
the same spot Of every sheet. In tooI
work, each page must be exactly opposite
the page printed on the other side of the
sheet, 10 order that the impression, if OF
thin paper. may not .sshow through
In newspaper work this is of less impor
! lance, and often is not attended to will
any special care. But in ohromo.litho'
graphy. The difference Of a hairs breadth
lessly mix up the co!ors.
+ After the chrome has passed through
J the press, 1t is embossed and vanished
and then put up for the market. Thes
final processes are for the purpose o
breaking the glossy light. and of soften
ing the hard outlines which the pictur
receives from the stone. which impart
to il the resemblance of painting o
canvass. nszl Ta -ess
| Ga Mr.. Prang began his business in tn
bumblest way, but has rapidly increase
his establishment. until he now employ
fifty workmen-nsarly all of them artist
+ and artisans Of the most skillful class
and 10 preparing to move into large
building ct Roxbury. He uses eightee
presses; and HE sales are enormous ii
catalogue now embraces large humble
tof Album Cards, about seventy sets {
, twelve in each set; beautiful series
4 illuminated .'Beaiitudes's and 'sScriplI
: raj Notices. an endless list of our gre
men, aud of men not So great after 81
OF Juveniles, notably, q profusely illu
trated edition of .sOld Mother Hubbard
:. ! and of half chromos and chromos prope
Fsit's ftChickers.' Ducklings y al
EQUALS, were the FIRST chromos Oh
q met an instant and wide recognize
Ninetees thousand copies of the ..Chic
,, ems alone we're sold. BIicher's Ear
il, Autumn on Esopus Greek" is one of Il
s. best ebromoe ever made on a small sea
L The t.BuHfuch' = and the "Linuet" (afi
Il Crnikshank are admirable. There a
other chromos which are less successfl
!, and one or two that are not successful
II ali; but they are nearly eli excellent copi
ar of the originals with which the defe'
: must be charged. aaFI