DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0341
ENGRAVING. 327
attained with the aqua-fortis alone. The strongest shades will also require additional strength,
and must therefore be deepened by slight strokes of the graver. The graver is the only tool
that can be depended upon in finishing small subjects which require neatness. The best manner
of preparing it is by changing its situation in the handle, so that the belly part of it which was
lowermost becomes uppermost; then by turning the handle in the hand, the point acts upon
the copper from a greater elevation, which is preferable; as dots only, and not strokes are
required, the too! is managed in this position with much greater ease and freedom. This part of
the operation consists only in covering the copper with dots, in a manner lighter or heavier,
proportionate to the colour required. When one covering of dots is scraped off, another must
be inserted, and so on ; by this repetition a proper grain and sufficient masses of shade are
procured. Though the process is tedious, it requires no very great skill in the artist: care,
attention and practice will enable him to succeed.
This species of engraving admits of greater variety in the mode of executing it than either
etching or engraving with the tool. Of those who profess it every one has a peculiar method of
performing some particular part. In large subjects, and also in those where a general effect only
is wanted, and great exactness is not required, some persons use various tools for facilitating their
work, such as wheels having single or double rows of teeth at their edges, cradles resembling a
mezzotinto grounding-tool, but made with teeth, and sometimes others constructed according to
their own minds: but these tools, though more expeditious than the graver, seldom produce a
very good effect, and can never be depended upon, in any degree, for accuracy or neatness.
They are however much used by the French engravers in chalks, where this part of the art was
first invented, and is still performed with good success. Their set of tools for this purpose
amounts in the whole, when perfect, to near 40 articles; and it must be confessed that the pro-
ductions of the French engravers very often more nearly resemble original drawings in chalk,
than the engravings of the English finished solely with the graver: but, on the other hand, the
English productions in this line are universally allowed, by every country in Europe, to possess
a certain neatness, accuracy, and mellowness of style, which are sought for in vain in the chalk
eno'ravino's of our rival neighbours.
It will sometimes happen, particularly to him who is not well practised in the art, that those
parts which were intended to be dark fail in their proposed effect, which is sometimes the fault
of the tool, the ground, or the aqua-fortis, but is more frequently owing to the inexperience
of the artist. When this is the case, the plats may be re-bitten by heating the plate, and at a
convenient part thereof melting a quantity of ground, and with a dabber carefully by degrees
transplanting it, by beating it gentty to the parts proposed, so that the surface only of the
copper may be covered, and the hollows or excavations of the work may be free and clean.
When the plate is cold, it may be re-bitten with aqua-fortis as before. It is advisable not to
smoke it in this operation, lest the heat of the candle or lamp melt the ground into the work.
This method of re-biting the work is used not only in engraving in chalks, but in every species
of engraving where aqua-fortis is used, and in every kind of etchings and is among the secrets
of the superior engravers.
To clean engraved strokes, they should be washed with a little spirit of turpentine ; if the
dirt is of long standing, soap-lees poured on the plate while it is heating will be very effectual
in clearing away the dirt. But it must be immediately washed off with plenty of .cold water,
otherwise
attained with the aqua-fortis alone. The strongest shades will also require additional strength,
and must therefore be deepened by slight strokes of the graver. The graver is the only tool
that can be depended upon in finishing small subjects which require neatness. The best manner
of preparing it is by changing its situation in the handle, so that the belly part of it which was
lowermost becomes uppermost; then by turning the handle in the hand, the point acts upon
the copper from a greater elevation, which is preferable; as dots only, and not strokes are
required, the too! is managed in this position with much greater ease and freedom. This part of
the operation consists only in covering the copper with dots, in a manner lighter or heavier,
proportionate to the colour required. When one covering of dots is scraped off, another must
be inserted, and so on ; by this repetition a proper grain and sufficient masses of shade are
procured. Though the process is tedious, it requires no very great skill in the artist: care,
attention and practice will enable him to succeed.
This species of engraving admits of greater variety in the mode of executing it than either
etching or engraving with the tool. Of those who profess it every one has a peculiar method of
performing some particular part. In large subjects, and also in those where a general effect only
is wanted, and great exactness is not required, some persons use various tools for facilitating their
work, such as wheels having single or double rows of teeth at their edges, cradles resembling a
mezzotinto grounding-tool, but made with teeth, and sometimes others constructed according to
their own minds: but these tools, though more expeditious than the graver, seldom produce a
very good effect, and can never be depended upon, in any degree, for accuracy or neatness.
They are however much used by the French engravers in chalks, where this part of the art was
first invented, and is still performed with good success. Their set of tools for this purpose
amounts in the whole, when perfect, to near 40 articles; and it must be confessed that the pro-
ductions of the French engravers very often more nearly resemble original drawings in chalk,
than the engravings of the English finished solely with the graver: but, on the other hand, the
English productions in this line are universally allowed, by every country in Europe, to possess
a certain neatness, accuracy, and mellowness of style, which are sought for in vain in the chalk
eno'ravino's of our rival neighbours.
It will sometimes happen, particularly to him who is not well practised in the art, that those
parts which were intended to be dark fail in their proposed effect, which is sometimes the fault
of the tool, the ground, or the aqua-fortis, but is more frequently owing to the inexperience
of the artist. When this is the case, the plats may be re-bitten by heating the plate, and at a
convenient part thereof melting a quantity of ground, and with a dabber carefully by degrees
transplanting it, by beating it gentty to the parts proposed, so that the surface only of the
copper may be covered, and the hollows or excavations of the work may be free and clean.
When the plate is cold, it may be re-bitten with aqua-fortis as before. It is advisable not to
smoke it in this operation, lest the heat of the candle or lamp melt the ground into the work.
This method of re-biting the work is used not only in engraving in chalks, but in every species
of engraving where aqua-fortis is used, and in every kind of etchings and is among the secrets
of the superior engravers.
To clean engraved strokes, they should be washed with a little spirit of turpentine ; if the
dirt is of long standing, soap-lees poured on the plate while it is heating will be very effectual
in clearing away the dirt. But it must be immediately washed off with plenty of .cold water,
otherwise