Wichita eagle., 1886-08-21
THE ETCHER'S ART.
THE TOOLS HE WORKS WITH AND
THE EFFECTS HE PRODUCES.
An Artist Gives the History OF an Etch-
inE-Preparing the Ground-Drawin.
on the Gelatine Platc."Biting In"
ho


on the Gelatine PIatc-"Biting In"
the Lines.
"Let me give you in a connected story the
history of an etching from the time the cop
per plate is placed in position for work until
it leaves the hands of the printer In the
first place, the copper plate is thoroughly
washed with turpentine, or, better, with ben
zine, for the former is little too thin This
is to remove any grease. The plate is then
heated, commonly by burning under it heavy
etching paper, or, if the plate is a large one,
by spirit lamp. 1t is heated to such a tenn
perature that water win roll off in globules
When the plate is sufficiently heated prepa-
ration known as etching ground is applied.
This is a composition which comes prepared
in the shape of round ball. about the size of
black walnut, and is made of asphaltuu,
beeswax and oil of lavender This compost
ton is carefully tied up in silk, and through
this silk the etchiS; ground oozes on to the
plate, where it is laid with a roller. After the
ground is applied and has sufficiently cooled,
it is smoked, in order TO give the etcher a
black surface on which to work The smok-
ing is done with a twisted wax taper, can
dies, or in fact any substance which viii pro
duce the desired effect. When the plate is
cold the ground is perfectly hard. SO much
for the first part Of the process, that Of pre-
pairing the plate.
OUTLINE OF THE DRAWING.
The etcher is now ready for work in
earnest He takes q drawing, which, Of
course, may be original or a copy, and etches
its fac-simile on the plate before him. If he
60 %ol-1
which is usually the case, he does not copy
the drawing directly on the plate, but takes
an intermediate step. Over his drawing be
fastens perfectly hard transparent gelatine
composition, and with his etching point
etches the drawing on this, exactly on the
principle of the transparent slate of our nur
sery days The gelatine plate is removed.
and presents a rough and scratched surface.
1t is lightly scraped, but so lightly that the
indented lines are not disturbed or effaced.
These lines are filled with red chalk. The
selatine plate is then reversed and placed on
the etching ground of the copper plate. a
burnisher is applied, which transfers the
chalk to the etchers form or upon the plate.
Thus the etcher has a perfect outline of the
drawing on the plate on which he is to work.
In this way he is guided in his task, and his
work is expedited.
The etcher now begins to use the tools of
his trade. each of which is known as an 'etch-
ing point With these instruments the sub
ject is again etched, this time on the etcher's
ground. Where the etcher wishes to obtain
the darkest effects fewer lines are etched and
are made further apart to enable them to
tand a longer bite by the acid OF course
the acid bites into the copper plate only where
the etching point has scratched through the
etcher's ground to the original copper plate.
If the plate on which the artist is at work is a
small one, it is placed in a pan and the acid is
than poured on. If, however, il is a large
one, there is put around the edge of the plate
what is known as a frame of wall wax in
one corner of which is placed spout for con-
venence in pouring off the acid
''BITING IN THE LINES.
The first application of the acid is weak.
1t bites clean and delicately. 1t leaves the
sky lines, the distance lines, and, in general,
the lighter part of the picture. After these
lines are bitten the acid is poured off, and the
ground washed with water. Then the parts
which the artist does not wish to have longer
acted upon by the acid are covered with a
'stopping-out varnish. The next application
of the acid is stronger, in order to obtain the
heavier effects. So the artist continues stop
ping-out one place after another until the
plate is sufficiently bitten, and until he has
reached the foreground. When the entire
plate has been sufficiently bitten, or, in other
words, when the picture has been etched into
the copper plate by means of the acid, the
wax wall is removed and the plate thoroughly
cleaned with benzine. Now he can go to the
printer and see what he has If some of the
lines prove too heavy, little instrument
known as the burnisher VIII reduce them The
lines can even be run out entirely If the
lines are not strong enough, a new rebiting
ground can be put on wherever desired and
the changes made
when the last touches have been COM
peted the plate is sent to the publishers The
publishers send it to an electrotyper to have
a steel face put on. This is done 10 protect
the plate, which would otherwise soon be
worn out on the press. The operation of
electrotyping the plate is SO delicately done
that when steeled the picture which it prints
could not be distinguished from the picture
printed before the operation by the original
copper plate. The finest lines are coated :;
lines which are hardly visible to the naked
eye, and which originally have the appearance
of hair New York Commercial Adver-
fiSa,.