The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-10-01
TN WOMAN'S BEHALF.
A NEAT AvOcATlON.
It Pays Well. II Easily Learned and
EsDecialiv Adapted to Women.

A NEAT AvocATioN.
Il Pays Well. Is Easily Learned and II
Especially Adapted to Women.
A woman's natural delicacy of touch
is scarcely anywhere more valuable
than in the re-touching of Photographic
negatives, an occupation which women
find pleasant and profitable. A mega
tive. in all the finer kinds Of photog-
raphy, is q glass plate. specially pre-
pared, on which the image of the one
photographed appears inversely; all the
light portions-face, hands, etc-ap-
pearing dark or black. while what is to
be dark in the finished picture appears
light or white. Wrinkles and facial
blemishes are often greatly exagger-
ated, and appear in the negative per-
fectly white.
1t is to improve the picture by remov-
ing or softcning these blemishes, that
the plate is sent to the ''retoucher. !"
The process consists in filing in, with
skillful touches of a fine-pointed PEN
Gil, all the inequalities and irregulari-
ties Of the surface, molding and smooth
ing the face as much as desirable,
while preserving the likeness. The
retouched plates are sent back to the
photographer, who makes the prints
from them.
The work is not difficult to learn. One
girl Of my acquaintance took less than
q dozen lessons. and in six weeks from
the time she received her first instruc-
ton was able to obtain negatives from
gallery Mt very fair pay. and in the
busy seasons was offered more work
than she could do Her case may have
been exceptional, but think that any
bright woman, with good eyesight, can
become fair retoucher in three months
practice.
Residents of New York city can take
advantage of the free course of instruc-
ton offered by the Cooper institute,
but for those who must pay, the terms
OF instruction vary. The friend previ-
ously mentioned met with one photog-
rapher who asked seventy. five dollars
to allow his retoucher to instruct her;
in another place twenty-five dollars
was the price demanded. She finally
found kind-hearted woman retoucher
who gave her the lessons she needed at
the reasonable rate of one dollar apiece,
and afterwards assisted her by friendly
criticisms.
An outfit for doing ''piece-work" as
the work taken away from the photo
graph gallery is called, may be provided
ut small expense. A retoucher's desk
costs from five dollars up; but one may
be made by anyone handy with tools,
for much less than this. A small bot
tie of 'retouching fluid" few Siber-
ian graphite pencils, piece Of emery
paper on which to sharpen these, and q
magnifying glass for fine work, are all
the tools necessary for the beginner.
The pay for negatives taken away
from the gallery is from twenty to
thirty cents piece for cabinets" and
more or less for other plates, according
to size. Eight to ten negatives is fair
days work. though retoucher in gal
lery will sometimes do half dozen or
more negatives in the evening, besides
the regular days work. But this is, of
courss, exceptional, and involves, more
over, dangerous strain on the eyes.
A first-class retoucher, regularly en-
ployed, commands salary of from SIS
to SIS q week; beginner could scarcely
expect as much as the lower sum; but q
woman with any aptitude for the work
should become first-class retoucher in
year.
| II q woman be so situated that she
can not leave home, she may earn many
dollar at ''piece-work," specially dur.
ing the Christmas holidays, when there
is always q demand for extra help Al
retouching.
| While think am safe in stating my
opinion that really first-class retouch.
er can always find work at a reason.
able remuneration, it is naturally not
to be expected that every woman who
desires employment can become q re.
TOUGHER. But the work is Of sort
specially adapted to women.-Ladies
Home Journal.