Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-06-19

WOMEN As Eee0HAvERs.
rae Promises and xlnisss.es. q shs
Work Clearly DeAnsd.
Engraving to-day II not mere copy
ingsit 10 smart in itself. which should
not be attempted by s,sny persons ex-
cept those who have ! good acqnaini-
as.ce with drxwinx. and also some
Artistic talent To be sure. If any en-
graver wants 10 be mere copyisf II
the lines. he can earn his living. His
task will be the cutting Of designs for !.
patent reports--a kind Of work poorly
remuneratcd- The Chinese co,yist
has his merits. and there :nre many
Chinese out Of China The well -paid
wood-engravers Of TODAY must have
originality. for 1t is originality In .
certain sense which accrues TO his
benefit, although he may appar .nily
only carry ont the inspiration Of an
other. To engrave with skill req uires
art instruction in the widest sense.
There must be accuracy IN drawing,
an acquaintance with effects. knowl-
edge Of TINS. shadows, and the power
to supplement tile crudeness or The
vagueness Of the original design with
effects Of oae's OWL
A woman can make q living BY d .
ing what is called fashion or stock
work. but when rngravcrs get
into that style Of work it spells them
for the higher grades OF engraving.
Unless woman can devote two or
three years to nothing but practice
work. she might as we'll never have
begun her career Size may get into
mn Office. but unless she Is willing 10
accept much less pay than =
| man she will not Fl position. II
she wants to do picture work. that IL.
engraye from photographs or wash
drawings, she had batter make up h"r
mind to study three years without cx-
| s,ecting remuneration. 1t seems nat
ural, after woman has gone through
athreo years course IT engraving. to
ask for work at an Office. She will in
all probability be refused. The reason
given is that men are preferred Oaly
two or three women in New York
have come up to the high standard OF
men in wool engraving One Of tn 80
has been working harl for ten and an
other for fifteen years Wome 4 ara
7 apt to be weak in style, and the first
requisite in wood engraving is
6rmness and clearncss. A nice little
line here and fine line there amount
10 nothing. Each line must rep-
resent something. and show that it
! was not put there to fill up space.
4 The fault wi h the general run Of
women engraver, is that they do not
se'ect special kind of work. I
should advise women to take special
work, and sticking to that. they might
hen. make modest reputation. Lot
j them try to became landscape, figure
dr portrait engravei's. but not attempt
I'LL three OF til, Sc Mt one timo The
/ grentest compliment that can be paid
woman is to tell her that she works
like man. That mean. she has a
mans bo,dness and ifirmness of touch.
II a woman wants to become an en-
gravcr. sho must devot SIX hours a
day to her engraving, and two more
to drawing, making eight hours a
day. Very few men or women are
willing to do this. At first there
should be drawing from the cast. with
charcoal in broad style. AS the
pupil advances she must keep up her
engraving. later on. drawing from
life. Drawing and engraving mus
go on together.
It is good plan to take the work
of some leading engraver aud study
his method Of treatment. i know Of
soma women who. following this plan.
have acquired fair reput ation. II
then. a woman has some talens and
perseverance,. there is no reason
why she should not attempt wood
engraving. 1t is, however, use
TO study engraving. Her future is too
short for that. Fourteen is not too
young for girl to begin. for it il
easier then to learn how to handle tn,
tools. have known some who hav,
spent their first year in acquiring
facility with the tools. 1t seems al
easy matter, but no one knows how
, d ffi cult it is until tried. In the cours
of instruction women are apt to de
rend overmuch on their teachers
!, They are afraid to cut face or han,
! without the help of their master. l
r hey make up their minds to cut
face or hand without aid, they woult
see how much ensier the next on
!. could be engraved. Advice how TIL
'sork is to be done does the pupil NOR
Q, oil than patterns set for her Pupil
who rely solely upon their instructo
never have style of their own.
might be supposed that l do not favo
|, women rs wood engravers. What
do think is this: that it is n great mis-
AXE for so many women to adopt tn
, profession when they have no allen
i for drawing Competition exists be
cause there are so many women VIII
:, work like machines. = Harper's Baza,