THE INKING-UP
THE PRODUCTION OF THE DIFFERENTIAL SWELLING.—In the chapter on the
bleaching we fully explained the processes which take place in the
gelatine film under the action of the bleaching solution, and that
the most important result of the bleaching process, aside from the
disappearance of the silver image, is the formation of different degrees
of swelling corresponding to the primary image, which in their totality
form the tanned image produced in place of the photochemical image by the
bleaching.
_For the success of the bromoil print, it is now of the utmost importance
that the different capabilities of swelling, now latent in the gelatine
film_, should be satisfactorily utilized. It is obviously possible to
produce this swelling in very different degrees. The colder the water
used for the swelling, the smaller the difference between the lights
and shadows, while the warmer the water the more this difference is
accentuated. If, for example, a print prepared for the bromoil process
is placed in _cold water_ and allowed to swell for some minutes, the
existing capacity for swelling will only be excited to a slight degree.
The high lights of the invisible image only take up a little water,
and when dry are differentiated from the shadows under oblique visual
examination by a very delicate gloss or not at all. If this picture is
now worked-up with greasy ink, a print is obtained with _a short scale
of gradation, and its tone values are usually less satisfactory than
those of the original bromide print_. If, on the other hand, the print
is placed in _very warm water_, the swelling of the gelatine reaches
a maximum. The high lights are very much swollen, even the half-tones
are somewhat raised, and the shadows, which do not absorb water, appear
sunken. The result of the swelling in such warm water in this case is
the formation of a very pronounced relief, that is not only visible, but
is almost perceptible to the touch. If such a picture is inked up, a
bromoil print is obtained, _the contrasts of which are much stronger than
those of the original bromide print_. Between these two extremes there is
obviously a whole series of intermediate stages, the suitable employment
of which permits of the most varied gradations.
As already mentioned, the capacity for swelling of the different makes
of bromide papers is not the same in baths of the same temperature. This
fact, however, argues neither for nor against the usefulness of the
various bromide papers. It makes necessary, to be sure, a certain care
in the use of a paper, the qualities of which are unknown. If one has
to deal with such a paper, the prepared print should first be soaked in
quite cold water; it should then be removed from the water, placed on
a support, dried in the manner to be later described, and examined by
oblique illumination as to whether the high lights show by a slight gloss
that they have absorbed water. This will be the case if the image shows
well swollen high lights; if they are not present, it will hardly be
possible to find distinctly glossy places. In any case one may begin with
the inking-up, prepared, as will be explained later, to increase the
swelling if necessary during the inking-up by immersion in warm water. If
on the other hand, the print, when taken from the cold water, distinctly
shows places where differences of swelling are shown by a gloss or even
a delicate relief in the film, the work may be proceeded with, without
further trouble.
Under any circumstance one should be careful at first in the production
of the differential swelling. _There should rather be no relief than too
pronounced a one_; for differences of swelling that are too small can be
easily and satisfactorily increased during the work; on the other hand it
is scarcely possible again to reduce too strong a relief. While learning,
or when using an unfamiliar brand of paper, it is therefore advisable
to allow the sheet to swell first in cold water and to carefully begin
the inking-up. Only if this is not satisfactory, should a warmer bath
be used and the inking again tried. This method is, however, dealt with
more fully in the section of Chapter III, entitled “Different Methods of
Working” (page 85).
THE PROPERTIES OF THE RELIEF AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE CHARACTER OF THE
PICTURE.—In order that the following explanations may be understood,
an important property of the prepared and dried gelatine film must be
mentioned.
The film of the prepared print, in which the differences of swelling
necessary for the formation of the bromoil print are latent, develops
variations of relief when it is placed in water. Then the untanned
high lights absorb water, as already described, while the hardened
shadows do not absorb it. The result of this process is the formation of
those swellings, which, when they have attained a certain degree, are
characterized by the formation of a relief.
A definite degree of swelling corresponds to a definite temperature of
water. This swelling disappears again if the film is dried. _The gelatine
has, however, acquired the property of again attaining the same degree
of swelling when immersed in water at any time after drying, even if the
temperature of this water be a good deal lower._ A print, for example,
on which a certain relief has been produced in water at 35° C. (95° F.)
and which has given up this water again because of drying, again attains
the same relief if immersed in ordinary tap water at 10° C. (50° F.). If,
however, this print after drying is immersed in water at 40° C. (104°
F.), that is in hotter water than that first used, a still higher relief
is obtained, and again in a similar manner, after drying, it will attain
this higher relief when immersed in water at any lower temperature.
_The degree of swelling that is once attained can, therefore, so far
as the resistance of the gelatine film will permit, be increased, but
it cannot be reduced_, if the print as a whole is not subjected to a
tanning, as with formaldehyde, a process that is not easily controllable.
This peculiarity of gelatine makes it necessary to go to work carefully
in the formation of the relief, so as not to carry the latter too far.
If the work is begun on a too low relief this can be easily increased
to the necessary height, as will be shown later, absolutely without any
regard to any inking up that may have been done. _On the other hand, if
the formation of the relief has once been carried too far, as a rule the
print can not be used_, although reduction of the excessive swelling by a
tanning agent may be attempted.
The property of the gelatine film, just described, offers a further
convenience for the bromoil worker; for he can bring the bleached and
dried print to the necessary degree of relief in water of suitable
temperature, and, if he does not wish to work it up at once, it can be
dried and laid aside until needed. In working-up such prints he is then,
as a rule, relieved of the necessity of obtaining warm water.
_The question how far the swelling of the film has to go or in other
words what kind of a relief should exist, if any_, in order to obtain a
harmoniously graduated bromoil print, is extremely difficult to answer.
A few practical trials quickly give the ability to judge this correctly.
If a well-modulated negative is used, one in which the differences of
gradation between the high lights and the shadows are not too great, the
swollen gelatine film after drying should show a very delicate but still
noticeable relief; yet the high lights of the print should scarcely be
raised above the shadows, and should not show too marked a gloss.
The visibility of the relief is essentially determined by the character
of the print. The more contrasty the bromide print was, the more easily
are the different degrees of swelling made apparent by the formation of a
visible relief. A picture with sharp outlines and great contrasts, such
as an architectural study, easily gives a distinct relief visible in all
its details. Pictures with softer gradation, as, for instance, delicate
portraits, behave differently. One can not expect a striking relief in
such prints. If this should be forced by warming the water, the bromoil
print may easily attain an undesirable harshness. With portraits, one
should therefore be satisfied when the outline of the profile against
the background, the contours of the eyes and the mouth, are raised to
a barely visible extent from the gelatine base. At the same time very
dense parts, like a white collar, a lady’s light dress, lace, etc., may
show a very distinct relief, even when the sharper lines of the face
scarcely stand out in relief. Yet even in such cases the features can
be recognized by the different gloss of the high lights and shadows
under oblique observation. Naturally some attention must be paid here to
the particular views of the operator. If strong contrasts are desired,
greater differences of swelling must be used; if, on the other hand,
softly modulated effects are sought, distinct relief must be avoided. In
any case it is advisable not to attain this at once, but to get it as
needed during the working-up by the use of water gradually increasing in
temperature.
_It must be laid down as an axiom that the efficiency of a relief should
never be judged by the eye alone, but should always be carefully tested
out by inking-up with the brush._ The degree of swelling is correctly
estimated at the first attempt when, in inking-up, the picture appears
quite clearly after a little hopping, and this may happen if the
character of the image is right, even though no relief could be seen.
_The stronger the relief formed by warming the water, the more contrasty
the bromoil print will be._ Nevertheless there is a certain limit which
should not be overstepped. If the print is warmed in the water bath so
much that an excessive relief, which can almost be felt with the finger,
is formed, in which deeply cut lines alternate with highly glazed places
in relief, then the high lights are so saturated with water that under no
circumstances will they take ink; even the softest inks will not adhere
to them. Thus we obtain harsh highlights without details, while the
deeply sunken shadows literally fill up with ink and become sooty. If the
formation of the relief has been driven so far, it is not advisable to
treat the print with ink.
The forcing of the relief to the extreme possible limit is only justified
when working with a flat negative, in order to obtain as rich a gradation
as possible from a flat print. Also, this should not be done all at once
before the commencement of the inking-up, but effected gradually during
the work. Working in this way, extraordinarily successful results can
be obtained and the contrast of the bromoil print can be made far more
rich than that of the original bromide print. The limit lies only in the
resisting power of the gelatine film and the flatter the bromide print
was the sooner this is reached.
The upper limit of temperature permissible for the water can hardly be
defined; it depends entirely on the hardness of the gelatine film. It may
happen that it is necessary gradually to go almost to the boiling point.
Films that are hardened right through will withstand even boiling water
without forming a relief.
If, in warming the print, the melting point of the gelatine is
approached, those parts which are but slightly tanned, such as the high
lights, and especially any unexposed edges, begin to show a granular
structure, and finally, when the heating is carried further, to melt.
_In the development of the relief great care should be taken that no
part of the print remains dry_, and, if the film is placed face down,
air bubbles should be avoided. If the print is placed face up in the
dish, no part of it should project above the water, as it will then not
absorb enough water; if the swelling has already taken place and a part
of the film projects above the water (and this frequently happens, as
the print, which at first lies on the bottom of the dish, after some
time rises to the surface), the relief of the exposed parts goes down
after some time, since the water evaporates from them into the air. Such
insufficiently swollen parts, or those which have dried out, behave
exactly as though they had been tanned more than the other parts of the
surface. They have been able to absorb little or no water, or have lost
the absorbed water by evaporation. They therefore take the ink, like the
tanned shadows, far more readily than they would if they had retained
the right amount of water, and far more ink adheres to them than should
be the case and than adheres to the correctly swollen parts of the film.
Thus patches of different form and size are formed at these places by
the stronger adherence of the ink. Yet by renewed soaking of the print
in the water these neglected places may be easily brought anew to the
correct degree of swelling, and as far as concerns small spots caused by
air bells, can be easily corrected. If larger patches of the film are
insufficiently swollen, after the application of the ink they are usually
much darker than the rest of the surface, and in such cases it is not
always easy to obtain again the necessary evenness of the ink; it is then
often necessary to ink up the whole print much more strongly than was
originally planned, or to remove the whole film of ink.
Besides the warm water bath there is also another means at our command
to produce the differences of swelling. This is the use of _ammonia_.
A. & L. Lumière and Seyewetz, in a treatise published in 1913, on the
resistance of gelatine to alkalis, found that cold solutions of ammonia
did not attack gelatine but caused it to swell more.
If a bleached print is immersed in an aqueous one per cent solution of
ammonia, the film attains in a very short time _the highest degree of
swelling of which it is capable_, without the gelatine in the high lights
being softened or damaged. The estimation of the height of the relief,
which is so important for the successful carrying out of the inking, is
scarcely possible with the ammonia bath, as it is extremely difficult
to gauge its action. Therefore, it should only be used in those cases
in which the highest swelling is absolutely necessary, as for instance,
when using papers which have been strongly hardened in the manufacture,
or with prints with very poor contrasts. A further application is with
the transfer process, in which on the one hand it permits of the use of
very soft inks and on the other hand enables one to keep the gelatine
very resistant. Full details on the transfer of bromoil prints will be
found in a later chapter. In very extreme cases, one may try to combine
the action of the warm water and the ammonia bath, and use a warm ammonia
bath. The ½ to 3 per cent solution of sodium carbonate recommended by E.
Guttmann acts even more energetically than the ammonia solution.
As is obvious from the foregoing remarks, it will be as well to work
usually with water baths and leave the ammonia bath for a last resource,
the more so as in the swelling of prints in this bath certain troublesome
phenomena may appear, which do not occur when using the water baths.
Sometimes the bleached image reappears in the ammonia bath in a brown
color; sometimes small white spots appear on the prints which will
not take the ink and which, as can be determined by examining them by
transmitted light, also exist in the substance of the paper; finally the
gelatine film sometimes swells all over, so that the ink is not taken
up anywhere. Prints which are failures in consequence of the use of the
ammonia bath, should be dried and can be again treated in a warm water
bath.
THE UTENSILS.—For the application of the ink the following are required:
_Brushes._—A best quality oil-printing brush with very elastic hairs
cut on the slant, the so-called stag’s-foot brush, should be used. To
apply the ink, a brush should be used with a working surface of from 1½
to 2½ cm (⅝ to 1¼ in.) diameter; by diameter is meant the length of the
longer axis of the elliptical surface produced by the slanting cut of
the brush. For working-up very small surfaces or for placing accents of
color, a brush of about ½ cm (³⁄₁₆ in.) measurement should be used. In
certain cases still smaller brushes may be useful. Such brushes are only
used for working up details; they are only aids for special work. For the
application of the ink generally, only the larger brushes should be used.
It is far more difficult to apply the ink evenly with small brushes than
with the larger ones, so that their use may cause needless discouragement.
The application of the ink is effected by placing the whole working
surface of the brush charged with ink on the print, and then slowly
lifting it up; this results in a deposition of ink corresponding to
the working surface of the brush used. The smaller the brush the more
often it must be applied, and therefore, the greater the probability
of irregular inking, especially in those parts where the brush marks
overlap. Also small brushes are handled less conveniently than larger
ones and smear easily. The first thing to do in inking a bromoil is to
obtain a good, even, thin film over the whole surface, to get a general
impression of the whole effect. Only then is one in a position to judge
how the tone values should be varied. The use of too small a brush unduly
protracts this first operation and makes it difficult.
The brushes should be elastic but not too soft. Too soft brushes smear,
that is to say, they deposit the ink in a thicker layer at their edges
than in the middle and produce elliptical rings of ink, which must always
be evened out by hopping.
In determining the size of the brush, the size of the bromoil print must
be taken into account. Generally it is easier to work with brushes of
from 1½ to 2½ cm (⅝ to 1¼ in.) in diameter. For large sizes up to 30
× 40 cm (12 × 16 in.) brushes of even 4 or 5 cm (1½ or 2 in.) may be
used. Such brushes are not cheap, but are practically indestructible, if
they are properly cleaned every time after use. The brushes are sold in
tubular paper cases; these latter should be preserved and the brushes,
after cleaning, put back into them, so that they are covered and the
hairs do not get ruffled.
In order to preserve the brushes and keep them in good working order,
they must be cleaned as soon as the work is finished, otherwise the ink
left in them sets and makes the hairs brittle.
Brushes of long swine bristles with cut ends may also be used; with these
especially, clean prints are quickly attained. They are superior to hair
brushes of poor grade.
_The cleaning of the brushes_ is best effected as follows: Pour
into a deep dish a _readily volatile_ fat solvent, such as benzol,
trichlorethylene, carbon tetrachloride (carbona), etc.; but not
turpentine, for if this be used the brushes cannot be used sometimes for
days. Dip the brush into the liquid and press out the solvent on the
edges of the dish, and stroke the brush vigorously on a piece of lintless
linen, which should be used for this purpose only. The solvent can be
used, ignoring the opacity which it soon assumes, as long as it will
dissolve the ink. Only the hairs of the brush should be dipped in the
solvent, but not the binding, as in some cases the cement with which they
are fastened may be attacked.
_The Inks._—Theoretically, any ink prepared with a fatty medium is
suitable for bromoil printing. In order to give satisfactory results, the
inks must satisfy two conditions: they must have the correct consistency
and their medium must be soluble in benzol. As regards the consistency
of the ink it should be noted that the prepared film in its swollen
condition, that is when the lights are saturated with water, absolutely
repels greasy inks only when this swelling attains the highest possible
degree; a case which one seldom needs and which will usually have to be
avoided. If this swelling is not carried to the limit, the high lights,
in spite of the water they hold, will take up the greasy ink, yet usually
only when the ink is very soft. _The swollen high lights thus repel ink
of thicker consistency, while they take the softer inks more easily in
proportion as they become thinner._ That the tanned shadows also take
hard ink is natural, for they do not contain, or contain only to a very
small extent, the water which repels the ink. From these considerations
it follows that in many cases satisfactory results cannot be obtained by
using ink of only one consistency.
_The hard or heavy ink_ should have about the consistency of table
butter, and it should be possible to spread it into an even smooth film
on a glass plate with light pressure. _The soft or light ink_ should have
about the thickness of honey and should spread under the knife without
noticeable pressure.
_Collotype or copper-plate printing inks_ of various makes are frequently
usable. As a rule, however, they must be tested as to their usefulness
for our process; their consistency is frequently too hard, and sometimes
they are not taken up by the film or cannot be distributed well, even
when they are considerable diluted with linseed oil varnish, in spite of
an apparently correct consistency.
The nature of the ink is not only influenced by the greasy substance used
as a medium, but also by the material of the coloring matter itself. This
is why many inks, in spite of their apparent softness, work tenaciously
or “short,” while sometimes inks of hard consistency smear.
If occasionally the dilution of an ink of too hard consistency appears
necessary, this is best effected with linseed oil varnish, which,
however, should not contain any driers. If the work has been begun with a
stiff ink of a certain shade and it is desired to retain this tone to the
end, it is advisable not to use a thin ink for dilution, but to thin down
the stiff ink with varnish.
_Inks of too hard nature_ are not practicable. Such were necessary in
the oil-printing process. In the bromoil process, which is much less
sensitive to the consistency of the ink, their use merely means a
needless loss of time. An ink of correct consistency is easily taken up
and produces quick drawing without smearing, while too hard inks are
difficult to apply and soon refuse to take if they are not diluted.
It is extremely simple and advantageous to prepare the inks oneself, as
outlined by E. Guttmann in Chapter VIII, p. 177. The process recommended
by him is to place the powdered colors on a matt glass plate and rub
up with varnish by means of a muller or pestle. This procedure is
considerably facilitated, if, according to my suggestion, a few drops
of a readily volatile oil-solvent be added. The ink is thus immediately
liquefied and can be quickly and perfectly rubbed up. The solvent
evaporates during the grinding, which is much easier than in the old way,
and the ink again acquires the desired character without suffering in any
way.
_As a palette for the ink_ the best thing is a piece of waxed or
parchment paper, fastened on a white support, such as a card. Such a
palette has the advantage that after use it can be discarded without
cleaning. Moreover the color value of the ink can be fairly easily
determined on it. If necessary old negatives, or other glass, may be used
as a palette, and their use also makes cleaning unnecessary, which is an
unpleasant and messy job.
A small quantity of ink should be taken and distributed as thinly and
evenly as possible on the palette. A thick layer is not convenient, as
then the brush takes up too much ink and too much is deposited at a time
on the bromoil print. The film of ink should show as smooth and uniform
a surface as possible; thicker ridges should be avoided, because the
brush is thus more strongly inked in spots and therefore transfers
the ink unevenly to the print. The distributed ink should be perfectly
homogeneous and flexible. A thin layer of ink sets to a skin on its
surface after a short time and then cannot be used.
This setting also takes place in the body of the ink and becomes evident
by the formation of a delicate skin or hard crumbly particles on the
surface of the ink. These must always be removed; such hardened inks can
only with difficulty be distributed on the palette. Finally it should be
mentioned that hard inks may be slightly softened by warming.
THE SUPPORT.—A stout glass plate or drawing board should be used as a
support, and inclined at an angle of about 30 degrees by propping up at
the top; _a damp and elastic pad_ must be placed on the glass or board.
_This pad is not for the purpose of keeping the print damp during the
working-up, as is usually stated_; on the one hand this is superfluous
in view of the possibility of repeated soaking, which is to be described
later, and on the other hand it would not produce the desired result. It
is erroneous to suppose that the water which passes from the damp support
to the paper side can equalize the loss of water which the film suffers
by evaporation from its surface. The pad should, therefore, only be so
damp that the bromoil print adheres firmly to it, when under the brush.
The pad should absorb and hold moisture; but this should not be imparted
to the brush when it touches the pad in working-up the edges, otherwise
water will be carried on to the print and cause spots. _For this reason
damp blotting paper or filter papers should be absolutely rejected for
the pad._ If such papers are used for the damp pad, the brush, which in
working the edges must inevitably touch them, will not only take up water
but also the paper fibers and, transferring them to the print, cause
trouble. Moreover, sheets of paper in a damp state are difficult to lay
smooth and are scarcely usable.
The best material for the pad is the _copying sheets_ used for copying
books, which consist of two layers of linen with an intermediate film of
rubber. Such sheets have the advantage that when damp they always remain
flat and smooth. A damp piece of linen, doubled and smoothed out, is also
simple and certain. The pad must lie absolutely flat, because any ridges
become most unpleasantly visible in inking-up, particularly with thin
papers, as the brush always slips from the highest parts of the ridges
and causes inequalities in the print.
REMOVAL OF THE WATER FROM THE SURFACE OF THE PRINT.—After the prepared
print is removed from the water and laid on the pad, the water adherent
to its surface must be removed. This is best effected in the following
way: Take a large, absorbent, lintless cloth, spread it smoothly over
the print, and press it gently with the flat of the hand. By repeating
this, the water is easily removed without endangering the film; whether
the drying is complete can be judged by _examining it obliquely. The
freedom of the cloth, used for drying the print, from fluff and lint is
of great importance._ If the cloth gives up fibers to the surface of the
print, these cannot be seen at first. In inking-up, innumerable minute
dark spots and lines appear on the film, as the deposited fibers take
the ink very strongly and thus suddenly become visible. It is frequently
erroneously assumed that such troublesome defects come from the brush.
This is seldom the case; on close examination these fibers will be seen
to be particles of the textile material. When possible, linen that has
been frequently washed should be used for the drying.
When the water is to be removed from a print that has already been inked
and again soaked, care should be taken that the cloth is freed from any
folds by damping and subsequent drying, for such folds can, when pressed
on the print, damage the film of ink. Although this is not of material
importance, as such faults can be easily evened out by hopping, yet
these small precautions avoid unnecessary trouble. Sidewise or wiping
movements of the cloth should be carefully avoided, especially if the
print has already been inked, because the ink is unnecessarily smeared by
the wiping. After removal of the cloth one should make sure by examining
the print obliquely that the water has been completely removed from the
surface.
It is advisable to keep several cloths ready for drying off the film, for
this will have to be done fairly frequently during the work. _Care should
be taken to remove most carefully every trace of water; water which is
picked up by the brush causes spots_, for the drops of water in the brush
keep the ink away from the points of contact. In such cases it will be
seen that white spots make their appearance in different parts of the
print, continuously shifting their position during the work. By perfect
drying off, these phenomena, which are in any case not necessarily
important as regards the final result, can be avoided. In drying off a
print already inked-up, the cloth will as a rule remove some ink from
the surface; such cloths should not be used again until they have been
washed, because they may transfer ink to a place where it is not wanted.
THE BRUSH WORK.—The prepared print, lying flat on the pad, and with its
surface freed from adherent water, should now be inked up.
Before beginning the application of the ink a little stiff ink, at least
as large as the working surface of the brush, should be placed in a
corner of the palette. This should be spread out flat, thin and free from
ridges; then the knife should be wiped and a little soft ink spread in
another place.
The brush should now be pressed down on the _hard ink_ already
distributed on the glass plate, and the ink dabbed very carefully from
the brush on a clean place of the palette. _One should never go with
the brush direct from the ink itself to the print, as this will form a
spot which it is difficult to work out. It is of the greatest importance
always to work with a brush that has been well dabbed out and in which
the ink is evenly distributed._ If the brush has not been sufficiently
dabbed out it leaves on the print a quantity of small, much darker and
usually linear particles of ink, which cannot be distributed or are only
removable with difficulty. Such spots must then as a rule be removed by
the method described on page 72.
The whole brush technique is based on the following principle: if the
brush charged with ink is placed on the print and allowed to remain there
for a moment, and then _slowly_ lifted up, the ink remains on the image.
If it is set down sharply and _quickly_ lifted (the so-called “hopping”),
it removes ink. In the first inking-up of a print, the swelling of
which has been correctly carried out, the application of the ink may be
effected by a gentle dabbing. A very thin film of ink is thus produced
and almost simultaneously correctly distributed.
The brush should always be held by the extreme end between two fingers,
never by the middle or near the hairs. _The more lightly and more
delicately the brush is managed the better it works._
It is best to begin the work at some characteristic place of the picture,
which is well known to the worker; the ink should first be spread as
delicately and evenly as possible on a small spot, avoiding, as far as
possible, going over the same place twice with fresh ink. When the place
selected has been covered with a light film of ink, the surface should
be hopped over with light movements, when, with correct preparation of
the print, the outlines will soon appear. _A bromoil print correctly
prepared_, and with swelling suitable to the ink used, _is easily
recognizable by the fact that the image appears delicately but distinctly
under the very first strokes of the brush_. If this does not happen even
after some time, either the degree of swelling of the print is too low
or there is some fault in the preparation of the print, such as, for
instance, unsuitable paper, a poor bromide print, errors in bleaching,
etc. The longer the hopping continues, the more distinct the details
should become. Then the application of the ink should be continued in
places adjacent to those already worked up, until finally the whole
surface of the print has been evenly gone over with ink and the image is
visible in all its details, although still very thin and delicate. It is
advisable to use a rough print from the negative as a guide.
_Beginners usually make the mistake of jumping from one spot to another
without filling up the intervening parts._ This makes the work more
difficult. Inking up should be carried out continuously by passing from
those places already worked on to those not inked up. If it is noticed
that the places which were first inked up appear too pale compared to
their surroundings, since they have still too little ink, they should
be inked up more strongly. Too dark spots should be evened out with the
brush by removing the excess of ink and depositing it on the less inked
parts. The amount of ink used on the print is very small; that which is
first taken up by the brush lasts for a long time. It is not necessary to
have frequent recourse to the ink spread on the palette by the knife, but
is much better to take up, as long as possible, fresh ink from the spot
on the palette on which the brush was dabbed.
_On the other hand, however, every application of the brush to the print
should actually deposit some ink on the print._ If those parts touched by
the brush do not increase in intensity, _it must be determined whether
the dark places on the palette from which ink is supposed to be taken,
are actually giving up ink_; for if the film of ink remaining on the
palette is too thin, fresh ink must be deposited and distributed on it by
the brush.
Care should be taken not to overload the brush with ink, for then
the hairs stick together, distribute the ink badly on the print and,
moreover, frequently leave large coherent particles of ink on the film,
thus causing spots. As the brush is cut on the slant, it may happen that
in dabbing out the brush on the palette and in the application of the
ink to the print, the front and longer part of the brush is used more
strongly. Then the ink collects at the back edge of the brush and causes
spots when the brush is used more vigorously.
In many cases it is possible to complete the print with the hard ink
alone. _If it is noticed that the hard ink does not take well on the
print and is removed again in lifting the brush_, its consistency is too
stiff for the work. One should not then continue to use it, but should
_soften the ink_ in the following manner: First place the brush in the
hard ink and dab it out well in another place on the palette. Now dip the
ends of the brush hairs carefully and very lightly into the soft ink and
dab out the very small quantity of the soft ink taken up by the brush on
the same spot, on which the hard ink has been previously distributed.
There is thus formed on the palette as well as in the brush a mixture
of the two inks. Now try carefully whether the now softened ink adheres
well to the print, by placing the brush lightly on a light place of the
print. If it leaves behind a _light_ trace of ink without any trouble,
the consistency is correct; but if this does not happen, the ink must be
diluted again in the same way with the soft ink. If on the other hand
the brush leaves behind a _strong_ trace of ink from a light touch, the
ink is too soft and requires the addition of some hard ink. _It is not
advisable to mix the soft and hard inks on the palette with the knife, as
it is very difficult to strike the right consistency in this way._
This applies to all mixtures and dilutions of the ink which may be
necessary in the course of the work, as in strengthening a colored ink
with black, or in the preparation of any desired tint by admixture of
different inks, and finally in softening inks with varnish. In all these
cases mixing of the inks on the palette with the knife puts too much ink
into use; also, as long as the ink is on the palette, one cannot estimate
with the necessary exactitude either the tint or the consistency. The
correct procedure is rather first to go with the brush to the first
color and distribute this on a clean place, then set the same brush in
the second color and make the mixture on the palette by dabbing. Then the
mixture thus obtained should be tested as to its shade of consistency
by gentle application to the print, and more of one or the other ink
added in the same way with the brush. It should be noted that inks of
a soft consistency go a very long way; the whole surface of the brush
should never be dipped into such inks, but only the point of the brush.
Softening of the inks with varnish should be effected in the same way.
When the first inking up is finished, the addition of ink of the same
consistency is continued until the print is completed or will no longer
take ink, which, as has already been pointed out, is known by the fact
that the newly applied ink no longer adheres, but that the brush removes
it from the print. Then one proceeds to a further dilution of the ink
by taking more soft ink with the brush and adding it to that already
mixed, and continues the work. The use of the unmixed soft ink is not
even necessary in many cases. If, however, it proves to be necessary, it
should be used, but with care, for a brush stroke which puts too much
soft ink on any part of the print, especially in the shadows, causes a
patch. _The beginner will work most easily and successfully if he always
keeps the applications of ink as delicate as possible and obtains depth
only by a repeated and even coating of ink, fully distributed every
time._ If a place should still turn out to be too dark, one can try
removing the excess of ink, if it be a hard one, with a clean brush. If
a dark patch is formed by too vigorous application of a mixed or even a
soft ink, another brush should be dipped into the hard ink, dabbed out,
and the spot removed with this brush. Moreover, such places can as a rule
be easily rectified after the second soaking of the print, which will
be described presently. If the fault cannot be removed in this way, the
ink must be partially or entirely removed, according to the instructions
in Chapter III, page 73, and the work begun anew. This should be done
without hesitation by the learner if the application of the ink does not
succeed as he desires; the prepared print can be used for practice like a
school slate by washing it off after each attempt with a solvent of the
greasy medium.
For the application and the hopping off of the ink for large areas of the
print one should _always use the whole working surface of the brush_.
Smaller surfaces or outlines should be worked up with the front edge of
the slantingly-cut brush; in laying on the ink one should never continue
with the point, because this bends and gives unpleasantly sharply defined
ink edges. _In order to cover a place with ink very thoroughly, one
should hold the brush firmly, give it a slight twist and then raise it
up straight and slowly._ If it is desired to coat a whole print evenly
with ink, it should be applied in stripes over the whole print, the brush
being pushed forward and not necessarily completely lifted up from the
surface. The brush is pressed down firmly, the pressure relaxed a little,
the brush moved forward half its width, then pressed again, and so on. In
this way with a little experience there may be produced perfectly even
ink stripes which bring out the outlines of the image and which are made
close together until the whole print has been gone over, when one begins
with the hopping. With papers with marked structure these stripes are
best made in the direction of the structure and not at right angles.
_Especial care should always be taken that the shadows of the print,
which take the ink most easily, are not too strongly inked up, and one
should try by light hopping to bring out all the desired details at the
very first application of the ink._ When the shadows have once taken too
much ink, it is not easy to clear them up by brush work alone. The inking
up of large deep shadows must always, therefore, be very carefully done.
Such parts of the picture are the most strongly tanned and therefore take
the ink very readily and hold it very tenaciously. They should therefore
never be touched with a brush freshly charged with ink, but one should
work on the heavier shadows only when the brush has given up the greater
part of its ink to the less sensitive parts of the image. Even then it
always contains enough ink for the darker parts of the print. The first
application of ink in the shadows, especially, ought never to be heavy
and cannot be kept too delicate. When the desired details in the shadows
appear to be well defined, they should then be strengthened. But even
this should not be effected by a single thick coating of ink, but by
successive additions of thin ink films and hopping after each.
Especial emphasis must be laid on the statement that _all details_, which
it is desired to have in the finished print, _must be brought out by the
first application of the ink_. If parts of the image are strongly inked
up before the desired details have appeared, it is difficult to develop
these later. On the other hand, detail, which has been brought out in the
first inking, cannot be suppressed by any further skilful application of
ink, but only strengthened.
These phenomena can on the other hand be successfully used to prevent the
appearance of undesirable details in the picture. If for artistic reasons
one desires to suppress detail and work flatly, the parts in question
should be inked up from the start more strongly and evenly, and the
hopping be either entirely omitted or stopped before the details which
are to be omitted are brought out.
For beginners especially, it is useful in applying the ink, as well as
in hopping, to lift the brush after every few strokes and examine the
results obtained, so as to decide on further procedure.
One should accustom oneself to examine the print _from time to time
at a certain distance_, while it is being worked on; for the correct
impression as to whether the tonal values are correctly chosen, can
be gained only at a greater distance; it is then seen more easily and
clearly whether or not individual parts of the print carry too much or
too little ink.
Particular parts of the print, which one wishes to have _more contrasty_,
should be gone over after the hopping with _a wiping motion of the
brush_; the ink is thus removed from the raised parts of the relief. If
one goes too far in this, the inking can be done over again in the usual
way.
If it is desired to free a brush from the soft ink, it should be dipped
into hard ink specially spread on the palette for this purpose, and
dabbed out well on a clean place, and this operation repeated two or
three times, using each time another part of the palette. At the end of
this manipulation the brush will practically no longer contain anything
but hard ink.
When one has once learnt the initial steps of brush technique, in the
course of time one fails to notice the difference between the laying on
and the hopping off of the ink. _The hand in time acquires an instinctive
handling of the brush, which takes care at once of both the application
and the distribution of the ink_; if the proper relation between the
consistency of the ink and the degree of swelling of the gelatine has
been hit upon, a simplified handling of the brush comes of itself,
because then the application of the ink is especially easy.
When, with papers of rough surface, the grain of the paper remains white
in the shadows, in spite of hopping, such places should be treated by
going over them with the inked brush with light pressure _with a rotary
motion_.
_Practice teaches that there is always a definite consistency of ink
which corresponds to a definite degree of swelling_ and with this the
print may be executed from start to finish. If the operator has learnt
by experience what ink consistency corresponds to the existing swelling
of the film, he will prepare his ink of the suitable consistency, and is
then in a position to carry out the work uninterruptedly without any new
mixing of the ink.
It is a little difficult for the tyro to answer the question as to _when
the application of the ink should be stopped_, that is to say, when the
print may be looked upon as finished. There is frequently a temptation
to consider the print finished when it is very delicate yet completely
visible in all its details. The beginner often lacks the courage to apply
more ink at this stage; he usually believes also that the print will
take no more ink, because, as has been mentioned above, the part of the
palette from which he has hitherto taken the ink, gives up no more. Such
prints, which recall sketchy pencil drawings, deceive one during the
work, but only satisfy later if this particular technique is suited to
the character of the picture, which is certainly not always the case.
One must therefore carefully consider during the work whether one should
actually stop.
The second danger lies in the opposite direction, and is due to the fact
that, led on by the constantly increasing vigor of the image, _one cannot
rightly decide when to stop_. The danger here is that one is tempted by
the vigor of some part of the picture to make the other parts also as
strong in color, until by such continued action the print is immersed in
the deepest gloom, which becomes still more gloomy after defatting the
finished print. Such excess must be avoided as a rule. Experience and
taste soon teach one to hit the happy mean.
The first, delicate and general application of ink, which may be
considered as a guide print, is in many cases somewhat wearisome,
especially when the picture has large areas of rich, deep shadows. With
correct preliminary treatment of the print there are no real difficulties
in the preparation of such a guide print. Yet the work, especially with
large sizes, is really time-consuming and also offers, when considered
from the artistic standpoint, but little interest, since the actual
creative work of the operator only begins after the guide print is
finished; only then is he in a position to actually give expression to
his artistic feelings by suitable inking of the different parts.
Since, therefore, the work in the preparation of the guide print is
actually quite mechanical, it is natural to make use of any means which
enables one to facilitate and hasten this work.
For this there may be used, but only by the expert worker, a method based
on the following considerations:
If an ink of suitable consistency is dissolved in a suitable solvent,
such as benzol, carbon tetrachloride, trichlorethylene, etc., the
pigment is very evenly disseminated in this solvent. If the latter again
evaporates, the ink deposits in an even coating, unchanged in its nature.
It is therefore, possible, in the first application of the ink, to use
such a solvent on the print and by its aid the wearisome mechanical work
of the first inking may be rapidly and easily carried out.
In practice the method of procedure is as follows: there is first
produced, on the print which is to be worked up, a relief which is
vigorous enough to sufficiently develop all the detail in the shadows.
An ink which is fairly stiff for this degree of swelling is chosen; the
brush is first dipped in the solvent and then into the ink, which has
been thinly spread on the palette. After a few dabbings on the palette
the ink solution with which the brush is charged is spread on the print
with a hopping motion and distributed with the same brush as evenly
as possible. If the distribution becomes difficult in consequence of
evaporation of the solvent, the brush should be again dipped in the
solvent, and then the distribution can be easily completed. The film of
ink thus obtained should be fairly thin, but must not be quite even.
After the complete evaporation of the solvent, the ink is worked up with
a clean brush, with which the guide print can be finished without trouble
and in the briefest time.
There are also other variations of this method of the application of
dissolved inks. For instance, one may first apply some ink with the
brush to the print and then distribute it with a second brush dipped in
the solvent; one may also prepare a solution of the ink in a dish and
paint it on the picture, or bathe the whole print in a solution of the
ink. All these variants, especially the last two, have, however, certain
disadvantages, so that the procedure first outlined is to be preferred.
After the guide print is prepared in this way, the further application of
the ink is carried out in the normal manner.
The solvent is most conveniently chosen so that it is not too volatile,
as for instance heavy benzol. But it ought not to contain any oil. When
placed on the surface of the hand, it should evaporate fairly slowly, but
without leaving any trace of grease.
Certain failures, which sometimes appear in this process, must be
mentioned. If the film of ink is too thin, it can be repeated without
further trouble in the same way, with rather more ink. If, on the other
hand, too much ink is applied, a complete image is immediately formed
without any possibility of the shadows being worked up. In this case the
ink must be again removed by the solvent. If individual parts of the
picture are too dark, from too much ink, it is sufficient to go over
these parts with a brush dipped in the solvent, in order to clear them up.
If, after evaporation of the solvent, great irregularities in the
distribution of the ink are seen, as for instance, spots and streaks
which cannot be easily worked out, the print should again be placed
in water; after drying off, the evening-up may be carried out without
difficulty.
If in hopping with the second clean brush the image does not appear at
once without trouble, either the relief was too low, or the ink too soft,
or the solvent contained oil.
The ink can obviously be placed on the bromoil print not only with the
brush but with any other suitable ink carrier, such as _rollers_. Yet by
this the process is rendered _more mechanical_ and deprived of all those
great advantages, which distinguish it from all other printing methods.
_Especially, the possibility of local treatment is mostly lost_; the
unlimited command of the tonal values and the structure of the ink can
only be guaranteed by the use of the brush. The only offset to this loss
is a gain in speed. Agility, however, is not sought after in artistic
labors. If one wants to prepare a lot of prints quickly, it is better
to use the bromide process, which is especially suitable for such a
task, and thus save the trouble of the bleaching and the other processes
necessary in making bromoil prints.
RESOAKING OF THE PRINT DURING THE WORKING-UP.—_Resoaking the print during
the inking up, without regard to the existent film of ink, is one of the
most important aids in the bromoil process._
This procedure is based on the following considerations: It has already
been pointed out that the prepared gelatine film possesses the property
of again assuming after drying the same degree of relief which was
imparted to it by the warm water bath. When a swollen print is taken
out of the water and placed on the pad for working up, evaporation
immediately begins at the surface of the film; the gelatine, therefore,
continuously gives up water to the surrounding air during the work,
and more quickly in proportion as the air is drier and warmer. As has
already been mentioned, the damp pad does not alter this, since the
supply of water from the pad through the paper is not sufficient to
restore the water content of the film. Therefore, while one inks up one
part of the print, all other parts gradually lose their water; and since
it is this water which renders the gelatine, after its tanning, capable
of repelling or taking the greasy ink, the work gradually becomes more
and more difficult. The gelatine film, which feels smooth when the film
is removed from the water, especially in the high lights and any exposed
margins, becomes gradually leathery. It may still take ink, but the
distribution of this, and especially the development of the drawing and
the details, become more and more difficult.
_If, however, the print, which is partly or entirely inked up, is again
placed in water and this time in cold water, the gelatine film very
rapidly absorbs this and again attains the same degree of relief that
it had at first._ Sometimes it appears as though a marked clearing up
of the image takes place in the water; the high lights become cleaner,
and many details appear in the shadows which were not visible during the
working-up. On the other hand, with some inks the picture appears to
become weaker under the water. This, however, is only an illusion and is
of no importance, as in drying, or in again going over the picture with
the brush, the image again attains the previous depth and color and still
greater clearness.
Here also, one must take care that the print is _completely immersed_ and
that no air bells adhere to the film, since those places to which the
water does not have access do not reswell, and on further work may give
rise to spots. In removing the print from the water the inked-up surface
should not be touched with the fingers, or finger prints will remain in
the ink. The print should therefore be taken hold of by the edges.
While the print is soaking in the water, the bringing out of the details,
especially in the shadows, may be facilitated by stroking those parts
with the tip of the finger or a swab of absorbent cotton. In the same way
dirt which has collected on the surface during the work may be removed.
In the latter case one may also use more vigorous friction, even though
the ink film is thus removed, since the removal of the troublesome
particles is more important than saving the thin film of ink, which can
be easily renewed.
The print is then removed from the water, placed on the pad, and dried as
previously by spreading over and pressing down a lintless cloth, although
because of the film of ink any wiping action should be avoided. Then when
the brush work is resumed, it can be completed in an extraordinarily easy
manner.
It should be specially noted that the print must be _worked up after this
second soaking with the same brush as before, which need not be recharged
with ink_. Only after the print has been hopped in this way, should fresh
ink be applied.
During the work, the bromoil print, as a rule, will scarcely retain the
necessary degree of dampness longer than a quarter of an hour, and not
this long in dry and warm weather.
_The resoaking of the print should be undertaken without hesitation as
often as any difficulty in the distribution of the ink is met with; for
this saves a great part of the brush work_, and almost automatically
brings out contrasts and details. Especially while learning the process
and later with more difficult prints, the work is most conveniently
divided as follows: first application of the ink and distribution
by hopping, as long as it is easy; resoaking the print; drying off
and hopping anew with the brush not freshly charged with ink; second
application of the ink and hopping of the ink now applied; another
soaking, and so on. The operation may be repeated as often as desired
without the film taking any harm.
Because of the possibility of always bringing the print to the correct
degree of relief during the brush work by means of resoaking, _there is
absolutely no limit to the size of the bromoil print_. One can simply
finish a part of a print of any desired size and then, after another
soaking, go on to the next part and so on until the whole print is inked.
If the relief of the film corresponds to the desires of the operator,
the bromoil print may be finished completely in this way. _If it is
seen that the relief is not sufficient to give the desired modeling and
contrast, the resoaking may be effected with warmer water than was used
at first._ Yet, until the worker has completely mastered the process,
this should be done carefully and the temperature of the water gradually
raised by adding hot water, in steps of not more than five degrees, until
the requisite relief is attained. The use of a _thermometer_ is here
absolutely essential, for the estimation of the temperature of the water
by the hand is quite unreliable and may lead to the greatest errors. This
applies to all water baths used in the bromoil process. At this point it
should be noted that a print, which on account of its characteristics has
to be placed at the beginning in very hot water to attain the necessary
relief, is usually covered with very tiny air bells, which can easily
be overlooked; they must be removed by wiping under water so as to avoid
troublesome spots.
If the relief of the whole print is satisfactory, but, because of the
character of the negative, a few places in the deep shadows do not show
the necessary details, the desired shadow detail might possibly be
attained by increasing the whole relief, yet at the same time the relief
in the rest of the image would be carried too far. In such cases, the
places which should be relatively more swollen can be separately more
highly swollen while the rest of the surface of the print retains the
original relief, by pressing on them a cloth soaked in warm water or a
suitably formed swab of absorbent cotton. A still stronger effect is
obtained when such places are painted with a water-color brush charged
with a one per cent solution of ammonia, either on the film or, after
previously marking the outlines, on the back.
When the relief of the gelatine has been increased by soaking in water
which is warmer than that used for the first bath, certain precautions
must be observed in removing it from the water. It frequently happens,
when using certain inks, that _the water which runs from the film causes
streaks and spots_, and that evening these out is at least troublesome
and frequently very difficult. This action, which does not occur when
resoaking in a bath of the same or a lower temperature, is explained
by the fact that the greasy medium of the ink is liquefied by the high
temperature of the water, and runs down irregularly or mixes with the
water and is carried off by it. There are thus formed on the film of ink
marks which show the form of the streams of water which have run off.
Such troubles may be avoided by bringing the support close to the dish
in which the print is soaked, lifting the print out of the water as far
as possible in a horizontal position and placing it in the same position
on the support, and immediately spreading the previously dried cloth
over it and carefully drying. By observing this precaution, the running
off of the water from the film, which is the cause of this difficulty,
is prevented. Any traces left by the cloth, used for drying off, can be
easily evened out again by the brush.
By making use of this soaking of the print during the work, the bromoil
printer _is absolutely unlimited in the time used for his work and is not
driven by any necessity for haste_. He can continue his work in peace and
without hurry, and devote himself to any particular part of his picture
at will, without being afraid that other parts will meanwhile lose their
capacity for being worked up.
THE REMOVAL OF THE INK FROM THE SURFACE.—If, in the application of the
ink, a fault occurs, which for any reason cannot be corrected with the
brush, or if one sees in the course of the work that the ink film is
not satisfactory in tonal values or shading, the print would have to be
discarded, if it were not possible to remove the ink without damage to
the film. This is feasible, however, without any special difficulty; one
need not, therefore, throw away such a print, but after removal of the
ink can again ink it up, but this time with avoidance of the previous
fault.
_If there are only small faulty places, the ink may be removed from the
print as it lies on the pad, as follows_:
Cut a small piece of transparent, waxed paper, or, lacking this, of thin
smooth white paper of approximately the shape of the overinked spot, but
slightly larger, and place it on the faulty spot, turning up a little
corner so as to be able to lift the paper again. Then rub with the finger
tip carefully and pull off. The ink is thus removed from the bromoil
print and transferred to the paper. If the removal is not complete, the
operation is repeated with a second piece of waxed paper. If very small
places, as, for instance, the eyes of a portrait, have to be dealt with,
the rubbing should be done with a round stick, such as a penholder.
_By inking again, the part that has been thus removed may be replaced
without any trace of a correction._
If the whole film of ink is to be removed from a bromoil print, _a soft
dry cloth or better still a swab of absorbent cotton should be soaked in
benzol or other solvent, and the picture washed with it_. The medium of
the ink is dissolved by the benzol and the ink taken up by the wiping
cloth.
Every stroke must be made with a clean portion of the swab, which must
frequently be soaked again with benzol, otherwise the ink dissolved by
the benzol and taken up by the swab will be again put down on the paper.
If, after washing with benzol some traces of ink still remain on the
film, the print should be _immersed in water, but only after the benzol
has completely evaporated not only from the film but also from the fibers
of the paper_, and it should then be gently wiped with the finger. Even
if the film still shows a slight tint after this, the working-up may
be begun again successfully, since the traces of the previous inking
disappear under the new application of ink.
This complete removal of the ink with benzol may also be repeatedly
effected. _Beginners can, therefore, use any prepared print several
times for experiments._ But experts should not think of washing an
unsatisfactory print with benzol. Those who possess a transfer machine
can remove the film of ink mechanically in the simplest way by transfer.
_If it is desired to remove the ink from very small portions of the
print_, this is most easily effected by repeated use of _art-gum_, which
should be sharpened to a point. After every application of the art-gum,
a fresh surface of the gum must be used, so that the ink is not again
transferred to the picture. It should be noted, however, that repeated
use of the gum on the same spot may cause blisters.
FAILURES.—To assist the beginner, some possible failures will be here
described.
It may happen that during the inking _the print becomes covered with
fibers and small hairs of the most different shapes_. This phenomenon
may sometimes become so troublesome that a successful print appears
problematical. It is frequently _incorrectly assumed_ that these
impurities are _caused entirely by the brush_. Hairs that have fallen
from the brush are always recognizable as such, for they are straight,
relatively thick, lie entirely on the surface of the film, and can be
easily removed. When there is an excessive appearance of _fibers_, they
are due to the use of an unsuitable cloth for drying. The fibers are of
the most different shapes, from dots to recurved and entangled lines.
From the fact that they always appear most strongly and frequently during
the inking up, it is frequently erroneously assumed that they are caused
by the brush used for the inking, or that dust is deposited from the air;
this is not so. A dirty brush may be to blame; mostly, however, they are
fibers of very different shapes, which are brought on to the damp and
somewhat tacky gelatine film by the pressure of an unsuitable cloth,
which is not free from lint, and they are held fast by the gelatine and
torn from the cloth as this is lifted. At first these thin and almost
transparent fibers are not visible. But they take the ink, and thus it
happens that they seem to appear in ever increasing numbers during the
inking. If _individual_ fibers (which may come from an otherwise suitable
cloth), or brush hairs that have fallen out, have to be removed, this is
readily effected by _art-gum_, worked to a point with the fingers. With
such a point long fibers can be very easily lifted from the film, while
the tiny cloth fibers cling very firmly to the film. A small white spot,
where the gum point has touched, remains, as this removed the ink also
from the gelatine. Such points can be completely closed up by repeatedly
going over them with the brush.
Single hairs or fibers lying on the surface may be allowed to remain,
when they occur in places where for any reason one must not destroy the
ink film; they can be very easily removed from the film with a sharp
instrument in the after treatment of the finished print; usually they
leave scarcely any mark.
If, on the other hand, the fibers have appeared in large numbers, the
print should be immersed in water and one should try to remove them
by gentle friction with the tip of the finger, which is generally
successful, even if the film of ink is also removed at the same time. If,
however, the fibers adhere so firmly that they cannot be removed in this
way, which is particularly likely to happen in the shadows, the whole
coating of ink must be removed in the manner outlined in the previous
section, page 73.
The only safeguard against the appearance of this difficulty is the use
of a material as free from lint as possible for drying the film.
It may happen that _the print takes the first hard ink instantly and
very readily_, but that even with long hopping clearness of the details
is not obtained; the picture indeed shows up well, but remains muddy,
as even the high lights retain the ink and become darker with further
application of the ink. Then, as a rule, the requisite relief has not yet
been attained, and the print must be placed in warmer water. If all the
instructions for the development of the bromide print, the bleaching and
the swelling have been adhered to, and success is still wanting, then the
fault lies in the paper, which was hardened too much in manufacture. The
bromoil process is based on the fact that the shadows are tanned more
than the high lights, and that then the tanned places take up more ink
than the untanned. If the whole film was completely hardened from the
start, there cannot be more tanning added by the bleaching, and the ink
will take everywhere, in the lights and in the shadows.
_If the high lights of the picture completely repel any grade of ink_,
while this adheres thickly in the shadows, then the formation of the
relief has been forced too far.
If the print _takes the ink neither in the high lights nor the shadows_,
there is either a fault in the preliminary preparation, as, for instance,
bleaching in too warm a solution, or one too strongly acidified, or the
print has been acted on too energetically by the ammonia bath. In the
last case the print may be dried and again swollen in water.
_If large or small irregular spots_ which take the ink more strongly
than the surrounding parts, _are formed during the inking_, the reason
is either that the prints have lain one on top of the other in the
preliminary baths, or the film has been prevented from swelling by air
bubbles, or by having risen out of the water. Thus certain places are
less well prepared or are not swollen, and therefore behave as though
they had been more strongly tanned, that is to say, they take even the
first ink strongly and stand out from their surroundings as spots and
streaks. Sometimes such spots are improved by putting more ink on the
print; if they are not of large area and are in the less important parts
of the picture, they may be ignored, as they can be removed from the
finished print without special trouble, as will be explained later. If,
however, the spots have a large area, or occur in an important part of
the picture, for instance, in the eyes of a portrait, it is preferable
to stop further work. As a matter of fact, all such blemishes may be
removed by after treatment of the print, but the trouble entailed by the
correction of large faults is greater than the work of preparing a new
print.
Sometimes darker spots or streaks of irregular outline show themselves
during the work, which from their shape cannot be ascribed either to air
bubbles or to partial sinking of the relief. Then there are probably
irregularities in the gelatine coating, for which the preliminary
treatment of the bromide print is not responsible.
If the print shows a satisfactory relief, but still takes the ink
badly or not at all, the reason is in the incorrect composition of the
bleaching solution, or the _omission of the intermediate drying_ after
bleaching.
Finally it may happen that the image _appears_ almost _as a negative_
during inking-up, since the high lights take the ink quicker than the
shadows. This phenomenon appears when the intermediate drying after
bleaching has been omitted, or if _the work has been begun with too soft
an ink_. In such cases, if too much ink has not been applied, the fault
can be corrected by further working-up with a hard ink. If this is of no
use, all the ink must be removed from the faulty places in the manner
already described.
If during the inking-up _small irregular white spots in groups_ show
themselves and shift their places, then there are drops of water in the
brush or on the print. The print should be dried, the brush also, and the
spots hopped dry and worked over.
_Yellow or brown spots and patches_, which often appear during the work,
increasing in number and continually enlarging, or even penetrating
through the film into the fiber of the paper, are to be ascribed to the
fact that particles of amidol were deposited on the film before the
soaking of the print. When these particles dissolve in water they cause
the trouble just described. If there are merely scattered spots of this
kind which have not penetrated the paper, they may be scraped out of
the finished print and then retouched. The real remedy, however, is in
keeping the amidol carefully closed and as far as possible not in the
same room as the prepared prints.
_Ink streaks_, which a print treated with a soft ink shows when it is
taken out of the warm water, only appear when the print is placed in a
slanting or vertical position; they can be avoided by taking the print
from the water and immediately bringing it into a horizontal position on
the support and rapidly drying, so that the water cannot run off.
The failures caused by the use of the ammonia bath were described on page
46.
ALTERATION OF THE CHARACTER OF THE PICTURE BY THE INKING.—If the inking
is carried out exactly according to the previous instructions, which have
been given chiefly for the benefit of beginners, the result will be a
picture which, as regards gradation, will be like the original bromide
print before it was bleached. The finished bromoil print, produced by
a perfectly even application of ink over the whole picture by means of
successive additions, each thoroughly worked over with the brush, differs
from the original bromide print in coloration, structure, more extended
gradation, and change in the character of its surface. As the worker
is at liberty to stop at any desired stage of the work, he can obtain
from the original bromide print, according to his taste, a delicate
light-toned bromoil or a very rich and highly modulated print, or any
intermediate stage between these two extremes.
Yet these possibilities by themselves alone would not justify the
conversion of the original bromide print into a bromoil. The substitution
of a new photographic positive process for an old one is only justified
if the new process accomplishes something essentially different and above
all something better. But absolutely uniform working over of the bleached
bromide print with greasy inks does not completely fulfil this postulate.
Mere changes of gradation of the whole picture or of its color can
certainly be attained by simpler photographic methods. The extraordinary
advantages of the bromoil process lie in other directions.
_Bromoil printing, for instance, permits us to ink any individual part of
the print more or less, or even not at all, at will_; it is possible to
give enormous brilliance and aerial perspective to the high lights; they
may show when finished every tonal value represented in the negative;
it is also possible to darken them to an extraordinary extent by the
application of more or softer ink. On the other hand, the shadows may
be kept perfectly light by omitting to ink them or by very delicate
treatment, or, by successive applications of the ink, they may be
strengthened to very great intensity and yet retain all their details.
_The worker has wide opportunity for control in the local treatment of
his prints. His dependence on the negative is limited to the drawing,
while in the treatment of the tonal values he is absolute master._ Most
of the other positive processes are dependent on the negative for their
extremes of depth and of delicacy; the bromoil process does not know
this dependence. If it is desired to obtain a delicate picture from any
negative, one uses only a little ink, and hops it off thoroughly; then
there may be obtained from even _the most contrasty negative a delicate
print, but one thoroughly worked out in all its details_. On the other
hand, there is practically no limit to the continued application of ink;
the film is still capable of taking up more ink, long after the limits
of artistic pictorial effect have been passed. The result is that in
the bromoil process _vigor and depth of the shadows can be produced
in any desired intensity_. The most striking advantage of the process
lies, however, in the possibility of changing the tonal values of any
individual portion of the print at will.
If for example, a negative was used in making the original bromide
print which had been taken without any attention to the requirements
for getting correct tones, by suitable treatment in making the bromoil
one can obtain an approximately correct print without special trouble,
since one can, for instance, convert an absolutely clogged-up sky, which
is pure white in the bromide print, to a suitable grey tone by the use
of soft ink, and at the same time lighten foliage which is too dark; a
flat print, wanting in plasticity, may be improved by making objects
in the foreground more vigorous, and accentuating appropriate parts of
the middle distance. It is easily possible to supply the lacking aerial
perspective of certain kinds of prints. In portrait work in the bromoil
process, skilful workmanship renders one absolutely independent of the
nature of the background. A light background can be made dark, a dark
one light. In portraits taken out of doors, the small details of the
background that are out of focus or obtrusive may be omitted, toned
down or completely remodeled. Unpleasing details of the clothing or the
hair can be omitted or so far softened down that they are no longer
disturbing. We are able to accentuate certain parts of the picture to
make them dominant, while other parts of the image may be treated very
sketchily; in short, the possibilities of control which this process
offers are almost inexhaustible.
I will now try to outline the methods of carrying out some of these
modifications, as far as is possible without practical demonstration.
The beginner is first of all recommended to use a proof print from the
negative as a check, so that he may have a clear idea as to what changes
he needs to make, and so that further, in carrying out his ideas, he does
not change neighboring parts of the print which should remain unchanged.
The simplest example of control is the _lightening of the shadows_. This
is done by very careful application of the ink, which is stopped before
the shadow parts become too dark. One should avoid touching such parts
later with the brush, when it is charged with soft ink.
If light portions are to be made darker, the procedure depends upon
the size of the parts involved. Extensive parts of the picture in high
relief, as for instance the sky, should be gone over as evenly as
possible with a suitable soft ink, and with this, simultaneously, by
going lightly over the lighter places and applying it more heavily here
and there, clouds may be put in. The evenness of the inking is of the
greatest importance here, as it cannot later be hopped off very much;
frequently in such cases the ink only lies on the surface, without
adhering firmly; if left untouched, it combines intimately with the
surface when the print is dry, but is easily removed by hopping. It is
possible to change the outlines of neighboring parts of the image; if too
dark edges are formed, they can be easily softened by after treatment of
the finished print. In some cases it may be necessary to add considerable
quantities of varnish or linseed oil to dilute the ink. The darkening of
too light places may be also effected by dabbing ink with the brush on
the finished dried print, which the print then naturally takes all over.
_If tiny light patches are to be made darker_, the point of the large
brush, or if necessary of a very small brush should be used, avoiding
any disturbance of surrounding parts, as far as possible. Such changes
are difficult only when the bright spots that are to be worked out are
in immediate contact with very dark parts. The process is much simpler
when parts of the print of medium tones, which are surrounded by lighter
parts, are to be darkened. If, for instance, the eyes of a portrait are
to be darkened, ink should be applied to the whole of the eye with a
small brush, and then hopped off. A tree trunk, which must be brought
out in relief, should be covered throughout its whole length with soft
ink, and the ink should then be worked over, by hopping it from the
lighter toward the darker parts. In practice, the bringing together of
neighboring tones, which differ considerably in value, can be easily
effected by _hopping off the ink from the darker parts_ with a brush
that has not been freshly charged with ink, _and depositing it on the
lighter parts_. The lightening of too dark places can also be attained by
going over them with a perfectly clean brush that has not been dipped in
the ink. Isolated high lights can be accentuated by touching them with
a pointed water-color brush, dipped in water; then the film swells and
repels the ink. _Stained high lights or too dark middle tones_ may be
lightened by wetting a brush of proper size by means of a wet cloth and
then lightly hopping with this the places which are to be corrected. The
brush picks up the color, but must be immediately cleaned by rubbing it
on a clean portion of the palette, after which it may be again wet and
used again. Clouds can be worked into dark parts of the sky in this way.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE INK.—Independently of the surface of the paper on
which the work is done, _the structure of the coating of ink can be
influenced by the nature of the brush work_. If a brush well charged with
ink has its full surface placed firmly on the gelatine film and then
slowly lifted up, an impression of the surface of the brush remains; the
individual hairs or groups of hairs of the brush have each deposited a
part of the ink that they had taken up, and a very coarse-grained spot
of ink is produced. If we now hop, that is, dab with quick light blows
of the brush, the ink begins to be distributed, since it is taken away
from the lighter parts and taken up by the shadows. The drawing of the
picture _thus appears under the brush, at first with a very coarse grain
and without many details_. The longer one hops and thus distributes
the ink, the finer becomes the grain, and it especially becomes much
finer on the addition of softer ink. _The bromoil printer hence has it
completely within his power to limit the division of the ink to any
desired coarseness of grain_, assuming, of course, that he has suited
the consistency of the ink to the degree of relief, and is therefore
able to completely finish the print with the original ink without
adding any softer. Prints may thus be prepared, which because of their
coarse structure, resemble certain graphic methods. But, when this is
intended, the application of the ink must be carried on as evenly as
possible from the beginning, so that it needs very little hopping off,
for any considerable amount of hopping unavoidably produces a finer
grain. Even if the use of softer inks is necessary, a coarse structure
can be obtained by suitable brush work. _The longer, however, the ink is
distributed by hopping, the finer becomes the structure of the ink film_
and the smoother the surface.
_The most perfect smoothness is also attainable_, if it is desired for
any reason. For this a not too volatile solvent should be used, such as
heavy benzol. The method of using this is as follows: when the print has
been fully inked and is complete, though still somewhat coarse-grained,
a cloth should be wet with the benzol, and the brush lightly pressed
thereon and then passed quickly over the desired parts of the picture. At
first a smeared spot is formed on the surface of the print; by continued
gentle hopping the spot is gradually worked out, and by continued working
we get a fineness of detail, equal to that of printing-out paper. It is
true that even the highest lights acquire a delicate film of ink, so
that a print treated in this way is somewhat low in key. If the hopping
with the brush charged with benzol is not continued until the finest
possible grain is attained, a misty effect may be produced, with some
suppression of the finest details; a method which is frequently useful in
the production of landscapes.
By suitable ink and brush technique the effect of any other known
photographic printing process may be attained in bromoil printing, from
the rich-in-detail gloss of collodio-chloride paper to the characteristic
effects of gum-bichromate. Yet the far-reaching possibilities which
bromoil places at our command really only begin where most of the other
processes end.
DIFFERENT METHODS OF WORKING.—In the following pages some of the
different methods of technique, which the bromoil process permits, will
be briefly sketched. Obviously, however, the description of these methods
cannot be made complete without practical demonstration. Nor can all
conceivable methods of working be mentioned, as individual treatment of
the process can be varied in many ways.
We will first describe the method of working which is most suitable _for
the beginner_, because it offers tolerable certainty to those who have
not yet mastered the process.
The beginner, in order to obtain good results, must start with a bromide
print as clean and well-modeled as possible, and its high lights should
not be fogged in the least. He should place the print, bleached and
prepared exactly according to the methods detailed in this book, in water
at about 18° C. (65° F.), leave it there for a few minutes, dry its
surface, and begin the application of the ink with the stiffer ink, which
should be thinly applied and then worked over until the hopping brings
out no further detail. If the drawing of the image does not quickly
appear upon hopping the print, and the result is only a detailless patch
of ink, the original temperature of the soaking bath must be increased.
Then the print should be again immersed in the water, left for two
minutes, and again dried. The work of hopping is now continued with the
same brush with which the print was originally treated, _and without its
having been again put into the ink_. As a rule the mere placing of the
print in water again will have increased the contrasts, and new details
will have appeared, which can be considerably accentuated by now going
over with the brush. Only when the print has been again worked over,
should fresh ink be carefully applied with the brush; this should then
be distributed by hopping, and the print again soaked in water. The
procedure thus outlined: application of the ink, hopping, soaking, going
over it with the empty brush, fresh ink application, hopping, soaking,
and so on, is continued as long as the print gains in strength and depth,
without becoming dull or muddy. If, however, this point is reached, the
inked print should be immersed in water at a rather higher temperature
and left in it for some minutes. The print is then further treated with
the brush, without fresh inking, and will soon become much clearer in
the high lights. If the clearing thus obtained is not sufficient, the
temperature of the water bath should be increased by a few degrees, but
not more than 5° C. (9° F.) at a time. As the high lights become clearer
it may happen that the stiff ink will no longer be taken up. Then it is
necessary to soften it a little. This method of working will guarantee to
the beginner the attainment of good results with tolerable certainty.
HARD INK TECHNIQUE (_Coarse-grain Prints_).—If it is desired to prepare a
bromoil print of _rough surface and coarser character_, the worker must
be able to finish the print exclusively with a relatively hard ink. For
this it is necessary to determine by trial the temperature of the water
bath at which the film of the print acquires a relief which is absolutely
suitable for the stiff ink. When this degree of relief has been found,
the print should be inked up strongly but evenly from the very start, so
that one is not compelled to go over individual places several times with
the brush. Thus the coarse structure of the ink is obtained. The use of
hog’s bristle brushes is also efficacious in coarse-grained work.
SOFT INK TECHNIQUE.—This method of working is used on the one hand for
the preparation of low-toned misty effects, on the other hand to obtain
fully and richly modeled prints. In the first case the bromide print
should be correctly exposed, but not completely developed; while in
the second case it should be thoroughly developed. The print is then,
according to the choice of the operator, either brought at once to a
fairly high relief, or only gradually raised to the same relief during
the application of the ink. Then, in the course of inking, a point is
soon reached at which the stiffer ink is repelled by the high lights
and perhaps also by the lighter half-tones, and during the hopping is
again taken up by the brush. Then the ink should be carefully softened
with linseed oil or varnish, and the whole print gone over with the
softer ink. Prints which are executed in the soft ink technique are
characterized by a specially fine velvety surface after defatting.
SKETCH TECHNIQUE.—If one proposes to completely work up certain parts
of a print and leave the rest treated in a sketchy manner, and possibly
to omit some parts altogether, one should begin by working up the part
which should stand out. Thus, in a portrait, the head should be first
worked up; then proceed systematically, with the ink remaining in the
brush, to sketch in the clothing and the background, and perhaps leave
unimportant parts of the print completely untouched. To facilitate the
work, disturbing details or a too prominent background may be removed
or reduced on the bromide print, before bleaching, with dilute Farmer’s
reducer. If, when the work is finished, the parts that have not been
inked are visible through their relief and glossiness, these traces of
the uninked picture completely disappear in drying, if the original
bromide print was not developed too vigorously. If one contemplates
producing a vignette, it is absolutely unnecessary to obtain this by the
use of masks or vignetters when making the bromide print. The effects
which result from the suitable treatment of the bromoil print are far
more free and beautiful.
If certain parts of the picture are to be accentuated and all the rest is
to be rendered visible, even if only sketchily, one may also work in the
reverse way. The whole picture should be given a thin coating of ink, as
even as possible, which should be hopped only just enough to barely bring
out the drawing. Then work out those parts, to which attention is to be
directed, keeping as closely as possible to the outlines. When these, the
most important parts of the print, are finished, it is frequently seen
that the rest of the picture is too delicate. This should then be gone
over again with the ink as at first, without completely working it up,
until the correct tonal value is attained. Then the necessary harmony is
obtained by going over the outlines with the brush.
LARGE HEADS.—The far-reaching possibilities of the bromoil process offer
special advantages for the free modification of tones in portraits. It
is advisable to take the portraits with a neutral or dark background.
The only exception is when a head is to be done in red chalk, when a
white background is preferable. Starting from such a negative in bromoil
printing the background may be kept, according to choice, either light or
very dark, or be shaded. One precaution should, however, be observed in
every case; before starting on the head itself, the background should be
worked in lightly from the margins toward the head, so that no dark line
may be formed when working on the outlines of the portrait. If this shows
during the work, it must be worked down to harmony with the background at
once before it gets too dark. One can, therefore, from a given negative,
produce at will either a fully worked-up head against a dark ground,
or a light, sketchy image on the light background of the paper, or any
intermediate stage.
If, as previously suggested, parts of the picture are to be treated
sketchily, while others are to be fully worked up, the parts which should
appear sketchy are allowed to remain coarse-grained, while the structure
gradually becomes finer in passing into the worked-up portions. No
portion, however, should be made perfectly structureless. Bromoil prints
thus worked up are much more artistic than those pictures which are known
by the name of photo-sketches. The latter usually show a head, printed
with all the gradation and fullness of detail given by printing-out
paper. The tone becomes gradually lighter toward the edges, where we
find some strong lines, imitating the character of a line drawing, all
surrounded by a perfectly white background. To the trained eye the
technique of such photo-sketches is abominable, for the contrast between
the inimitable detail of the head and the perfectly blank background is
so great that it cannot be bridged over by the effort to imitate the
manner of an etching. On the other hand, such problems can be solved in
an artistic way with our process, for the head may always be produced
in a rather coarse grain, so that it dovetails harmoniously into the
sketchily treated surroundings.
OIL-PAINTING STYLE.—If it is desired to prepare portraits which resemble
reproductions of oil paintings, one should proceed as follows: the head
should be first inked in considerably deeper than it should appear in the
final print; then, if the head is on a light background, it will appear
vigorous, even if not much ink is used. If, however, the background
is dark and heavy, the inked-up head will appear considerably lighter
because of the contrast. For this style of work it is best to select a
warm dark brown ink. When the head is finished, some very soft ink of
the same shade should be placed very thickly in the corners and margins
of the picture, and this should be worked from all sides towards the
head, which naturally must not be touched with the soft ink. Finally the
blending of the head with the background should be very carefully done.
In the lower part of the portrait the clothing should blend into the
background in a similar manner; only one must take care in making the
negative that no light pieces of drapery or accessories are used, because
they cannot be easily completely covered. Any lighter accents, which may
be desired in the background, should be made by removing the ink with
a clean brush. One may thus make the head stand out in a dark oval, or
attain similar painting effects. Prints prepared in this way ought not to
be defatted, as they then lose their similarity to oil paintings. They
must be left to dry for several days, in a place free from dust, until
the thickly-applied ink has hardened.
NIGHT PICTURES.—Twilight and night effects can be easily obtained from
ordinary negatives by carefully swelling the bleached print so that the
differences of relief existent in the print are only slightly brought
out. Then the capacity of the lights and shadows for taking the ink is
not so very different, and the gradation is shorter. A second possibility
of obtaining the same effect is offered by using mainly soft ink, which,
as is well known, adheres to a certain extent even in the high lights of
the print; only the soft ink must be applied very carefully and thinly in
the shadows, so that these do not become choked up with ink.
In this way one may make night pictures from daylight exposures,
accurately corresponding in tone values to night exposures. Previous
practice has been to use either underexposed negatives or overexposed
prints for such effects; in both cases the night effects were gloomy,
but false in tone values, and usually without details in the shadows. In
bromoil printing the gradation can be shortened as described, without
loss of drawing, and one can simulate perfectly the short scale and
mysterious gloom of night. If the too dense sky of the negative cannot
be sufficiently darkened by the use of soft ink, its inking should be
postponed till the print is dry.
PRINTS WITH WHITE MARGINS.—If it is desired to obtain bromoil prints
with _margins of the natural paper_, the negative should be masked with
clean-cut black safe-edges of lantern slide binding strips, or one may
use a mask, and print or enlarge on a sheet of bromide paper large enough
to leave unexposed margins of the desired width. In making enlargements
the mask, cut out of rather thin card, should be pinned on the enlarging
screen over the sheet of bromide paper. After bleaching such a print the
tanned image will appear slightly depressed within a strongly swollen,
white frame of less tanned gelatine. The inking is done without any
attention being paid to this unprinted edge. In consequence of its strong
relief this gelatine does not take any ink from the brush, or, at most, a
mere trace. When the print is finished, the ink is easily wiped from the
white margins by means of a damp cloth, which removes this ink with the
greatest ease. The finished and dried print is enhanced in effect if a
plate mark is impressed in this wide white margin.
THE SWELLED-GRAIN IMAGE.—Coarse-grain printing in bromoil has previously
depended on a very carefully determined relation between the degree
of relief of the film and the consistency of the ink, which had to be
so chosen that the ink was not very easily taken up by the film. If
inking was then skilfully done, the structure of the face of the brush
was visible to a certain extent all over the print and gave the effect
of a more or less coarse and irregular-grained image. It was obviously
necessary for the success of a print of this type that no portion of
the image should be gone over several times with the brush, for, if
this was done, the structure was obliterated and the spot in question
became smooth. Since, also, the requirement that the degree of relief
must be rather high for the chosen consistency of the ink could never
be fulfilled by the shadows, since these always take the color easily,
we often obtained an undesired smoothness of effect in the shadows. For
this reason typical coarse-grain prints could not always be produced with
certainty.
I therefore endeavored to improve the technique of bromoil in this
respect and to work out a grain method which could be depended upon with
certainty in every case. The basic thought was that _the fundamental
basis for making a coarse grain print should be a part of the film
itself_, and I endeavored to prepare the latter so that a grain structure
could be produced which should equally underlie all parts of the image.
Such a grain structure can theoretically be obtained in the following
way: if we allow a properly prepared uninked bromoil print, which has
been brought to the proper degree of relief, to dry off a little and
then spray it by means of an atomizer with extremely fine liquid drops,
the film will again swell up under every drop, but only under these;
and when we ink up, we obtain a definite grain effect which, however,
only persists if the inking is completed before the sprayed-on water
grain again dries out. Such a relief grain is not permanent, because the
subsequently swollen portions of the film cannot retain the difference
in swelling. This process, therefore, has only experimental interest and
practically can be used but rarely.
To make the swelled grain useful, the secondarily swollen points of the
film must permanently retain the difference in swelling which has been
imparted to them.
To attain this end, I start from the fact that portions of the gelatine
which are treated with alkaline solution will swell much more in a bath
of warm water than spots which have not been thus handled. If, therefore,
the desired grain can be applied to the film by means of an alkaline
solution, all the elements of the grain will swell up more strongly in
the water bath than their surroundings, and will therefore protrude
above the rest of the film and thus attain and retain a better degree of
swelling than the latent tanned image.
The next step was obviously a practical treatment of the film by spraying
it as evenly as possible with extremely fine drops of an alkaline
solution. It soon appeared that the greatest attention must be paid
to the type of apparatus with which the spraying was to be done. Any
atomizer whose spray combines fine and coarse drops is useless. Any
atomizer which is worked by blowing with the mouth or by intermittent
blasts of a pump is unsuitable, for at the instant when the stream
of air is interrupted, a certain quantity of liquid remains in the
mouthpiece and is thrown out by the next blast of air in the form of
coarse drops. Therefore, only continuously functioning atomizers can be
used, preferably those types which are actuated by double rubber bellows.
Only with such atomizers is it possible to count with a fair degree
of certainty on the production of a system of uniformly fine drops.
Ammonia, which has previously been generally used in bromoil printing as
a swelling agent, cannot be used to produce such a grain, because the
ammonia gas volatilizes in great part in its passage through the air. A
five per cent solution of potassium carbonate has been found to be most
satisfactory.
The next question is at what stage of the process the swelled grain
should be produced. Making it on the dry print is not permissible,
because the droplets are taken up too greedily by the dry film and
diffuse quickly and irregularly. The safest method of working is to place
the bleached and dried print in cold water until it becomes limp, then
blot it off until quite dry on the surface, and then treat it.
The practical method of producing the swelled grain is as follows: the
print, which has been swelled in cold water and thoroughly dried off, is
placed on a horizontal support and the atomizer set in action; as soon as
it works with complete uniformity, it is passed back and forth across the
print as evenly as possible under continuous observation, until the whole
print is uniformly covered with a layer of extremely fine drops. The most
important precaution is the continuous observation of the print while the
spraying is being done, and this is best done by having the light fall on
the print at as small an angle as possible. The practical way to do this
is as follows: the print is laid on a table near the window. The operator
sits in front of the window and gets both his eye and the atomizer very
slightly above and in front of the print. Under these conditions there is
a reflection of light in every single drop, which makes the observation
of the distribution of the drops very easy. At the instant when the whole
film seems to be uniformly covered with dew, the atomizer is quickly
turned away from the print.
It is necessary to be thoroughly familiar with the action of the atomizer
which is being used; with most atomizers the finest drops, on account of
their lightness, fall downwards not very far from the mouthpiece, while
others project their finest drops to a greater distance. The sprayed
print, which naturally cannot be touched on the film side, must be left
undisturbed for a certain period, which must be determined by experiment,
for it depends, among other things, on the temperature of the room and
the peculiarities of the paper which is used. An approximate idea may
be had by considering these points: the longer the potassium carbonate
solution lies on the print, the more the finest drops evaporate, while
somewhat larger drops continue their action, so that the grain becomes
coarser through longer action. A coarse grain can also be obtained by
the use of coarse drops. If the drops are allowed to dry completely, the
diffusion produced during this longer time results in an extra swelling
of the whole film, without any grain effect.
After a sufficient time has elapsed, the potassium carbonate solution
is removed from the film by rinsing or blotting off, and the print
is swollen to the necessary degree. It is obvious that much lower
temperatures must be used for this than if the print had not been treated
with the graining solution, for the drops of the potassium carbonate
solution cover a considerable fraction of the surface of the print.
The fact that the greater portion of the surface of the print has been
affected by the spray makes it apparent that the alkaline solution
cannot be replaced by a tanning solution, for the greater portion of the
film would become less capable of swelling if such a solution were used,
and therefore the latent tanned image would be destroyed. When the print
is blotted off after swelling, it should show a scarcely visible relief
when looked at by light falling from the side. The actual effect of the
grain cannot be perceived until after the inking has been done.
The prints obtained in this way have, if the treatment has been
successful, a very beautiful grained structure which extends over the
lights and shadows quite evenly. It is possible to work on such a print
quite normally without having to harmonize the degree of relief and the
consistency of the ink with great accuracy. Especially is it possible to
work up any given part of the print as long as desired with the brush
without endangering the structure; on the contrary, it is improved by
this treatment. For bromoil transfer, there are the following special
advantages: every new transfer has exactly the same coarseness of grain,
if this is imparted to the film once for all. In combination transfer,
the grain persists in spite of the fact that several impressions are made
on the same paper, because the swelled-grain elements are re-impressed in
the same spots, if the registration is accurate.
Finally, it might be well to mention a few causes of failure which
frequently occur in the first experiments. If the print appears to be
covered with many small white spots at a certain distance apart but not
in contact, the grain is too heavy and therefore does not take up enough
ink. In this case, after rinsing, the print may be sprayed once more,
carefully and not too heavily.
Larger white spots on the print show that when the grain was made large
drops were produced by the atomizer. If such drops are noticed while
spraying, the print should be immediately placed in water, dried off and
sprayed again. If the print shows spots of rather large area which do
not take ink and only show irregular ink spots here and there, it has
been sprayed too long, that is, too much potash solution was applied, and
the print is then useless as it cannot be corrected. In addition, such a
print may be easily recognized after swelling, for a coarse grain pattern
will be clearly visible on the film.
This swelled-grain process permits of very beautiful and characteristic
results, yet, like all variations, it assumes a solid knowledge of the
bromoil process, and must be practically used over and over again before
it can be applied with certainty.
MIXING THE INKS.—As has already been mentioned, we have at our command
for bromoil not only black and brown, but any other color of ink in
various shades.
As a rule, however, colored inks are somewhat too bright to be used pure;
moreover, as a rule they can only be had commercially in a fairly soft
consistency. This is actually no disadvantage, as one is often forced
by the consistency of the ink to do what is counselled by good taste,
that is to tone down the colored ink with hard black ink. It is not
practicable to make a mixture of hard black ink with the colored with the
knife on the palette, because it is difficult to hit the exact shade with
certainty in this way. It is better when using green, blue or any other
colored ink _to mix the inks with the brush on the bromoil print itself_.
First one should go over the whole print very delicately with hard black
ink and almost complete the drawing by hopping. Then the work should be
continued as would be done if we were mixing hard and soft ink, merely
replacing the soft black ink by the colored one. Then the work should be
continued with the mixed ink; if the exact shade has not been hit, more
or less of one or the other color is taken up by the brush until the
desired color effect is obtained.
It is immaterial that those parts of the print on which one has tested
the mixture show a little too bright or too dark a tone. By going over
these again with the final correct color these places, though perhaps
only after resoaking, will reach the proper tone, as the ink in the brush
and that already on the print quickly mix to a uniform value.
If, in the course of the work, it appears that the mixture of this and
the colored ink, the color tone adhere properly, it is not advisable
to attempt further softening by the addition of soft black ink. By the
mixture of this and the colored ink, the color tone already decided on
will be altered. In such a case varnish or linseed oil must be used to
soften the mixed ink.
POLYCHROME BROMOILS.—Prints of two or more colors have previously been
made, aside from the three-color process printed from three-color
separation negatives, chiefly by the gum-bichromate process, by coating
the print successively in different colors. After each coating the
negative was printed, usually with masks, and the unnecessary parts of
each colored coating were washed away during development. The preparation
of a polychrome gum print is extremely tedious and uncertain. Not the
least of the difficulties is the fact that in consequence of the
addition of the chromate the color effect cannot be determined with
accuracy until the print is finished and the chromium salts are removed.
Moreover, as a rule the color layers are perfectly distinct and the color
mixtures formed by their juxtaposition must be accepted as they happen to
come. A correction of the colors during the work is not easily effected.
_The bromoil process, on the other hand, is in its very essence
preëminently suitable for work in several colors, and offers all the
possibilities which have previously been lacking. Without any special
preliminary preparation the worker can apply any number of different
colors to one and the same print at one sitting; he can harmonize them to
each other during the progress of the work, combine neighboring colors by
working them into each other on the print and easily correct any error
that may occur._
It is true that the execution of a bromoil print in polychrome requires
complete mastery of the process; an indispensable condition is a perfect
command of the handling of brush and ink. Therefore, experiments in
polychrome bromoil printing can only be recommended to those who have the
monochrome process absolutely at their fingers’ tips.
If a negative is to be printed in several colors, the worker must first
be absolutely clear as to his artistic scheme and know exactly in what
color each individual part of the print must be executed; he must further
be sure that the chosen colors harmonize with each other. He will not
always be satisfied with the colors to be found in commerce, but must
prepare the necessary inks for himself.
At first pictures should be chosen which contain large areas of uniform
coloration, and as few colors as possible should be used. If you are not
perfectly familiar with the print, it is necessary to have a proof as a
guide, so as not to overstep the outlines of the different parts of the
image which are to be individually colored.
The best way of setting to work is as follows: first select the color
necessary for one or more of the larger areas of the picture, for
instance green for the foliage, and work up these areas completely,
until they have acquired the requisite vigor and detail. Such parts of
the outlines as are adjacent to lighter, and hence more strongly swollen
parts of the print, need be given no special attention, for color that
does not belong on them may easily be removed again with the damp cloth,
as previously mentioned. On the other hand it is well to work carefully
with every outline which lies next to a darker part of the picture which
is finally to be of another color. Here it is best not to apply the
ink right up to the boundary, but to complete the inking with a small
brush only after the adjacent parts are coated with their own color. If,
however, such outlines are overstepped and the adjacent parts are colored
with an ink that should not be applied to them, this should be removed
with a very wet cloth, twisted to a fine point, by gentle rubbing.
During this the print should remain on the pad. If the incorrectly inked
portions are small in area the ink may be removed with art-gum.
When the first large areas are finished, the print should be again
soaked in water, as it will probably have dried somewhat, then dried
off, and another part of the picture dealt with, with a fresh color.
If the adjacent colors are properly chosen, the result, with objects
which have no sharp outlines but merge into one another, will be that
the adjacent parts will spontaneously blend into a harmonious transition
of color. Parts of the picture which have the same basic color must not
be done throughout in one and the same shade; thus large stretches of
vegetation, which extend into the distance, should be executed in front
in a yellowish green, and should be shaded back into a bluish green and
insensibly into blue in the distance; such transitions can be effected
without difficulty. If in the shadows there are small parts which require
another color, they should be inked with a very bright color, which is
then reduced by going over the whole surface at one time.
If it is found that a mistake has been made in any color, that part of
the print may be cleared of ink as described on page 72, and the work
repeated. If it should finally appear that individual colors are too
glaring or that the whole color scheme is too harsh, it is possible to
go over individual parts or the whole print with some suitable color, so
that the colors already applied are improved by a slight admixture of
this covering color.
Such a procedure shows most emphatically what advantages there are in the
possibility of mixing and toning down the colors on the print itself. As
a rule, to tone down too bright colors, these portions or even the whole
print are gone over with black ink, but if necessary other colors may be
used for the same purpose.
Thus, for instance, a picture in which there are brown roofs,
yellowish-green foliage, a sky of a pronounced blue shade and water of
another blue, can be made harmonious by going over the whole print very
lightly with the blue of the sky. Thus the vegetation will lose some
of its yellowish tone, and all other colors, without losing their own
characteristics, will acquire a certain unity. If the sky parts of a
picture are swollen too much, their uniform inking is not easy. Then it
is advisable to ink up the sky only on the dry print, as is suggested on
page 112.
Because the tonality of any color, which has already been applied, can
be altered with the brush, polychrome bromoil printing affords very
great possibilities. Obviously good taste and a sound color sense are
indispensable requisites, for without them there is danger of producing
the undesirable effects characteristic of certain colored postcards. It
may also be remarked that the colors, after defatting, have a somewhat
less pronounced brilliancy, as they lose their gloss.
In polychrome bromoil printing, the choice of too small sizes is not to
be recommended. The larger the picture is, the larger also are the areas
which may be uniformly treated and, therefore, the easier it is to keep
within the outlines.
Within the limits of this chapter, it is not possible to teach polychrome
bromoil printing, only to outline its fundamentals. The unlimited freedom
which it offers will certainly in the course of time produce many
excesses in color. For this, however, we should condemn, not the process
itself, but those who have abused it. In general it will be as well not
to approach too closely the actual colors of the objects represented,
but to work for the attainment of artistic effects. We must, however, in
any case avoid even the most remote imitation of the painter; we cannot
arrive at the solution of the problem of natural colors on paper by the
polychrome bromoil process.