The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-01-03
How Chromos are Nade.
From the Boston Daily Advertiser.

Chrome lIth9gIaply IS the ART OF
printing pictures from stone, IN col0rs.
Tie most difficult branch Of it
which IS now centrally Implied when
chromos are spoken offs the art of
reproducing oil and ater-color paint
ings. When a chrome is made by a
competent hand, it presents an exact
counterpart Of the original painting
with the delicate graduations of tints
and shade, and with muchof the spir-
it and tone. of a production Of the
brush and pallet.
| To understand how. chromos are
made the art Of TYPOGRAPHY must first
be briefly explained The stone used. In
lithographing IS a species of lime
stone found IN Bavaria, and Is wrought
into thick slabs with finely polished
surface. The drawing is made upon
the slab with a sort Of colored soap,
! which adheres to the stone. and en-
tiers into a chemical combination
| with it after the applica tion of certai
acids and gums. When the drawing
is complete, the slab is put on the
press and carefully dampened with
sponge. The oil color Cor ink is then
applied with common printers
roller. o. 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 applied. 1t is thus
that, without a raised surface or In
cisions-as IN common printing, wood
cuts and steel engravings-litho-
graphy produces printed drawings
from perfectly smooth stone.
In chrome the first proof is light
ground tint, covering nearly all the
surface. 1t has only faint, shadowy
resemblance to the completed picture.
1t is in fact rather shadow than an
outline. The next proof, from the
second stone, contains all the shades
of another color This process is re-
peated again and again and again;
occasionally as often as thirty times.
We saw one proof in a visit to Mr..
Prang's establishment "a group of
cattle-that had passed through the
press twelve times; and it still bore a
greater resemblance to a spoiled cell
ored photograph than to the charming
! picture which it subsequently became.
The number of impressions, however,
does not necessarily indicate the num-
Der of colors in a painting, because
! the colors and tints are greatly null
,splied by combinations created In the
process of printing one over another.
In twenty five impressions it is some
times necessary and possible to pro-
duce hundred distinct shades.
The last impression is made by an
engraved stone, which produces that
resemblance to canvass noticeable in
all of Mr.. Prang's finer specimens.
| English and German chromos, as a
rule, do not attempt to give this deli
cate final touch, although it would
seem to be essential in order to make
a perfect imitation of a painting.
The paper used is white heavy plate
paper" of the best quality. which has
to pass through heavy press, sheet
by sheet, before its surface is fit to re-
ceive an impression.
The process thus briefly explained,
we need hardly add, requires equally
great skill and judgment at every
stage. A single error is instantly de-
tected by the practiced eye in the
finished specimen. The production of
chrome. if it is at all complicated,
requires several Notwithstanding
several years-of careful preparation.
The mere drawing of the different
and entirely detached parts on so
many different stones, is of itself a
work that requires an amount of labor
and degree of skill which, to a per-
son unfamiliar with the process,
would appear Incredible. Still more
difficult, and needing still greater
skill, is the process of coloring. This
demands a knowledge which artists
have hitherto almost exclusively
monopolized; and, in addition to it,
the practical familiarity of a printer
with mechanical details 6 Drying )"
and registering are as important
branches Of tie art of making chro
mos as drawing and coloring. On
proper regis rering, for example. the
entire possibility of producing a pic
depends. Registering is that part
of a pressman's work which consists
of so arranging the paper in the press
that it shall receive the impression
on exactly the same spot Of every
sheet. In book wor k each page must
be exactly opposite the page printed
on the other side of the sheet, in or
der that the impression, if on thin
paper, may not show through" In
newspaper work this is of less i'm
portance, and often is not attended to
with any special care. But in chrome
TYPOGRAPHY the difference of a hair S
breadth would spoil picture, for it
would hopelessly mix up the colors.
After, the chrome has passed
through the press it is embossed and
| vanished. and then put up for the