The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-16
CRAYON
How Frauds Are Practiced by the Use of
Touched-Up Solar Prints.
P~ittsburg Dispatch.

AOuShSh-OB Via ia
Pittsburg Dispatch.
There are few who can tell when they are
getting a crayon portrait these days remarked
an artists supply warehouse proprietor yester-
day.
Are there many counterfeits''
Come now-but how is the general public to
know, to he suref' resumed the gentleman. o
course, there are frauds p~racticed in crayon por-
traits. There is a fine picture. That is a genu-
inc crayon, and is worth $40. Its size is thirty
by fifty inches. The high lights are the pure
whiteness of the paper, and every bit of shading
is done only with crayon."
"How are the limitations NADER
by what is known as solar prints. Some
twelve wears ago it was discovered that a small
card photograph could be enlarged to any size
by an application of the same scientific prin-
ciples as Were used in taking the likeness Of any
person. Inc difference was, instead of reducing
life size by mathematical and accurate proper
tons to the object reproduced on a small card,
this diminished object could be enlarged by a re
versal of the lenses. You look through a tcle-
scope, and by one way it enlarges and by the
other diminishes the object toward which it IS
directed. Solar prints are the eulargementS Of
card photographs, and they are made by a re
versal of the contracting lenses. The artist, or
more likely a canVaSser, gets an order for a
crayon, and the photograph from which the
picture is to be taken, is sent to New York or
some other point where this work is done.
and it returns inside of a week or SO en-
largcd and ready to be touched up
with crayon. The solar print is a photograph,
and the high lights of the picture are therefore
OF a blush tint. The first thing to be done Is
to destroy that ~telltae work. 1t is done by
taking a quantity of pulverized crayon and rub
bling it thlnly and industriously over the tinted
places with u piece of kid or soft cloth. Posi-
bly, the background is shaded or tinted with
India ink or water eolors. Three minutes
work with a brush does that, and then comes
the shading of the likeness. The photograph
may have been sufficiently shaded already,
so the first process of rubbing the picture
will the fine crayon dust has finished that part
of it. The clothing and dark lines are
heavily marked with crayon where needed,
and toned down here and there until Il very lit
tie bit of work has converted the photograph in
to so neat a crayon portrait that l defy any one
but an expert to detect the fraud. Not one out
of twenty of these pictures are genuine crayonS.
There are two processes for the manufacture of
solar prints. The old way is on silver, but the
are said to last longer, and will not turn yellow
so readily"
Then the solar print is an inferior artieleP
while the likeness may be better, very
frequently they 90 not keep their color and are
sure to fade after being in use about ten years
or so. But they are so eleverly made that few
can tell the deception. They do not cost as
much, and there is a larger profit in them. We
can get them made for S. apiece, the size being
30xoO inches, but when we order a number
together they cost much less. Counting the
work of the artist. and then rating the sale of
the article at $50 and up to $50, there is a liberal
margin. A number of ladies who are art students
do a great deal of this work, but the artists and
photographers are the ones who make fine profits
out of them. The genuine crayon sells for no
more, and the profit is that much greater on ac-
count of the saving of time. painstaking and
labor. The Eastern prints are much better, and
are clearer than those made here, and for that
reason are preferred"