Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-02-04
Low. aoM 4 CHRONIC IS MADE.
An Interesting Process with VINE" 70"
People Are Familiar

-
People Are Familiar
w..se fans of thousands of chromos, which
,.a ,,ixan away by every enterprising busi-
nass man. vet / venture the assertion that
y.rv few know how they are produced. 10
,rorarlv produce chrome the photographer
inst he an rapport with the artist. lie must
analvze the picture, fully realize the combi-
nations of colors and the spirit OF the WORK
Having determined just how many oasic
cnlors enter into the picture, the artist com
,nences his work by preparing litnograpn'c
stone for each separate color. me artist
commences his work by making delicate ana
elaborate inl, tracing of the picture; not only
;ts general outlines, but the minute and In
tricate touches and shades OF color OF wh'cn
Il is composed. The tracing paper is chem
;oallv prepared so that the lines upon 1t can
ha readily transferred to stone. A press Is
amnloyed to transfer the impressions on the
r.ner TO the stone, considerable pressure
ha;np used. Thousands of impressions can
than he taken from the stone by SIMPLY run
ming an ink roller over it.
The tracing thus transferred forms what Is
known as the key stone. Suppose there are
twenty colors in the chrome. This number
of impressions is taken from the key stone ana
each carefully busted with red chalk. A DIN
offset of the entire tracing is then pressed on
each one of these stones.
The drawing then begins, and often occu-
pies many mouths, Each stone is to be
printed in a separate color, and therefore
must contain not only all that is necessary OF
that color of the picture, to the minutest de-
tnil. but all of the compound colors, made by
printing one or more over others. A variety
Of pradations of color from its full strength
to the faintest tinting can be produced on
each stone, just as in using an ordinary pencil
or crayon on drawing paper. These various
colors are, of course. worked up in black by
the artist, and 1t is the printer who applies
the colors The lines on each separate stone
are etched with the wash of nitric acid and
gum arabic. and are ready for the presses.
The printer must be as skillful as the artist
in applying his colors, and must fully realize
the blending and effect of each color. As
fast as each color is printed it is submitted to
the artist, who has thus a progressive proof
of the work.
It has been probably noticed that lines
cross each other on the margin of a chrome.
These are the registering marks; and enable
the PRINTER to place the sheet in the same
relative position every time new stone is
used and new color applied. These lines
are drawn in the original tracing and appear
on each stone When the first color is print
ed very small holes are punctured in each
sheet at the intersection of these lines, very
fine holes are also drilled in corresponding
positions on each of the subsequent stones,
and the holes in the paper are to correspond
precisely with the holes in the stone, anG
thus as each additional color is put on a per-
feet register is secured and each color falls
Just where it belongs.
The next process is to make the chrome
have rough surface like an oil painting. A
stone is now prepared which has rough sur
face. similar to canvas. The chrome is then
laid upon it and passed through press with
heavy pressure When it comes forth it is
an exact imitation of the painting. 1t is
then vanished, and thus you have the chro-
mo ready for the mSrket
The world is yet practically dependent on
one quarry in Bavaria for its photographic
stone. Stones have been found in France,
England, Canada and the United States, but
none possess the qualities of the best German
stones bed of photographic stone has been
found in Sequatchie valley, not far from
! Chattanooga and the Investigations so far
Indicate that it will yield stone of a very fine
quality. IL it should prove so, it will be lit
| orally a gold mine The finer quality OF
stone is today worth thirteen cents per pound,
and is very scarce. Nashville Tenn,) Times.