DOI Heft:
No. 229 (April 1912)
DOI Artikel:Salaman, Malcolm C.: A new school of colour-printing for artists
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21156#0206
New School of Colour-Printing
and, as every etcher knows, heat tends to soften the
metal. Separate boxes are kept for the use of
asphaltum or of resin, and the pupils are taught
very thoroughly every detail in the laying and
fixing of grounds, of biting and stopping-out, for
on the successful aquatinting of the various
patterns of tone on the several plates, the general
result of the colour-printing largely depends. The
light tones, for instance, are generally deeply bitten,
the lightness depending upon the tint. Mr. Lee
Hankey himself, by the way, often uses various
textures for laying his grounds, such as silk or
cambric handkerchiefs, canvas, and so on, but I
do not know whether he encourages experiments
of that kind on the part of his pupils at the school.
When the key-plate is etched with the outline and
the various plates are aquatinted, a most important
point is securing an absolutely accurate register, so
that the several plates may be superimposed with
perfect exactness. This was the problem which Le
Blon, with his remarkable colour-printed mezzotints
in the seventeen-twenties, never rightly solved,
while the eighteenth-century French colour-printers
could not manage it without leaving holes in the
margins of their prints. Mr. Lee Hankey and Mr.
Dawson, however, have solved this problem of
register, so that- they and their pupils can print
one plate over the other with unfailing exactness.
For the coloured inks, they grind the ordinary
refined colour-powder with strong oil until it
reaches a thick consistency like treacle. Taking a
hint from an allusion, in our own “ Old English
Colour-Prints,” to the eighteenth-century printers’
occasional device of dusting a little dry colour on
to the moist to heighten tones, Mr. Lee Hankey is
now engaged on experiments with printing from
dry colours, and, from the results so far, he thinks
the achievement of greater transparency quite
possible. The application of the colours to the
aquatinted portions of the plates, the careful
wiping away of superfluous colour, the warming
of the plates and passing them through the press,
185
and, as every etcher knows, heat tends to soften the
metal. Separate boxes are kept for the use of
asphaltum or of resin, and the pupils are taught
very thoroughly every detail in the laying and
fixing of grounds, of biting and stopping-out, for
on the successful aquatinting of the various
patterns of tone on the several plates, the general
result of the colour-printing largely depends. The
light tones, for instance, are generally deeply bitten,
the lightness depending upon the tint. Mr. Lee
Hankey himself, by the way, often uses various
textures for laying his grounds, such as silk or
cambric handkerchiefs, canvas, and so on, but I
do not know whether he encourages experiments
of that kind on the part of his pupils at the school.
When the key-plate is etched with the outline and
the various plates are aquatinted, a most important
point is securing an absolutely accurate register, so
that the several plates may be superimposed with
perfect exactness. This was the problem which Le
Blon, with his remarkable colour-printed mezzotints
in the seventeen-twenties, never rightly solved,
while the eighteenth-century French colour-printers
could not manage it without leaving holes in the
margins of their prints. Mr. Lee Hankey and Mr.
Dawson, however, have solved this problem of
register, so that- they and their pupils can print
one plate over the other with unfailing exactness.
For the coloured inks, they grind the ordinary
refined colour-powder with strong oil until it
reaches a thick consistency like treacle. Taking a
hint from an allusion, in our own “ Old English
Colour-Prints,” to the eighteenth-century printers’
occasional device of dusting a little dry colour on
to the moist to heighten tones, Mr. Lee Hankey is
now engaged on experiments with printing from
dry colours, and, from the results so far, he thinks
the achievement of greater transparency quite
possible. The application of the colours to the
aquatinted portions of the plates, the careful
wiping away of superfluous colour, the warming
of the plates and passing them through the press,
185