PhotoHistory

From: THE PRACTICAL PRINTER
A COMPLETE MANUAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING

By: Charles W Hearn 1874

MEDALLION AND ARCH-TOP PRINTING

These are very popular styles for printing from the negative, both on account of their beauty and because by their use the photographic printers are enabled to prevent defects in the negatives from printing.

These are advantages which we sometimes have, and for which they are peculiarly adapted. For instance, a negative with a black velvet background is broken along the upper part of it in one place, and in another part of the plate it dried before exposing.

These defects are in such a part of the negative, that a proof printed from it plain cannot be trimmed unless these defects show, so much as to spoil the otherwise fine print. Such a negative then cannot be printed plain, and since vignetting it is not a very easy thing to do, on account of the very black background, we can most advantageously print it in either the medallion or the arch-top style.

Besides the above, there are hundreds of cases in which the use of the medallion and arch-top are indispensable.

To some the making and use of the medallion and arch-top are a source of continued trouble and vexation, and the successful photographer is very often hearing complaints from his less skilled brother photographer of his inability to make and use them satisfactorily. The reason of this is because he is careless as to what he uses in making or cutting them out, and not using them rightly after they are made.

Mr. John L. Gihon, a well-known photographer, knowing the difficulty which many have experienced in the making and use of the medallions, has made for the trade some very fine medallions and masks or cut-outs of different sizes. To those who are unable to make them for themselves, or those who prefer to buy rather than to make them, we recommend the use of his, believing they will fully meet the expectations of the purchaser.

The common card oval ferrotype mounts are very often used by some photographers in the making of the medallion and mask.

Some use a knife and cut around on the inside of the mount, but as the soft cardboard is very readily made nicky, and thus gives this nicky appearance to the cut-out, this way of making them is not advisable. It is better to buy such as are neatly made, like Mr. Gihon’s.

In the place of using a knife and cutting around on the inside of the mount, some place this mount on a piece of sensitive plain paper and print the inside of it quite dark, thus leaving the unexposed part of the paper white.

After cutting a little on the circumference of the dark inside with a sharp knife, the rest of the mask is carefully cut from the medallion with a pair of shears, the point of which is pressed through the aperture made by the knife. The cutting of the medallion and mask in this manner requires a very steady hand to have the result of your labor worth using.

In making the medallion, or arch-top, I have always used brass mats of different sizes. These mats or guides are perfectly even and true, and are made of metal, so as to permit the knife being used around the inside, without any material damage to it, if only ordinary care is exercised in its use. The “cut-outs” are made of different sizes.

The regular size for ordinary card work, when the head is not the so-called “Berlin,” should be 2 x 2-3/4 inches oval. A size smaller is used when we do not wish to show as much as in the other; size, 1-5/8 x 2-5/16.

A size very much used for small heads is 1-3/16 x 1-3/4.

One of the most convenient of all of the different sizes is 7/8 x 1-1/4. It is most excellent for the purpose of printing negatives of babies, taken sitting in their mothers’ lap.

A carte arch-top, size about 1-7/8 x 2-3/8 inches, is about the only size or style arch-top that is used for the carte de visite, and for other sizes your taste will dictate, such as the Victoria or the Imperial.

Common yellow envelope-paper is best to make these medallion and arch-top cut-outs of, as this paper utterly excludes all light that will discolor the sensitive paper. If you prefer to use sensitive paper that is not fit for printing purposes always use the plain and not the albumen paper, because the latter will get curled up considerably, so much so as to make it very troublesome to handle.

When you have selected your paper, and have laid it on a glass, then place your brass mats on the paper, and with a sharp knife cut a quick, clean, and even cut around the opening on the inside, leaving sufficient paper on all sides of the mats for the purpose of masking the sensitive paper in printing the different sizes, such as the carte de visite, Victoria, Imperial, or larger sizes, as the case may be.

In cutting the last part of the medallion or arch-top considerable care should be given to see that the knife enters in at exactly the place where you first commenced to cut, because often at this part of the cutting there is apt to be a nick in the cut-out, if it is not carefully guarded against.

The cutting out of these medallions and arch-tops may probably be very difficult at the first few attempts of the beginner, but if he perseveres he will find that a little practice will soon enable him to do it successfully.

Every mask or inside will fit its own medallion or outside (i. e., the one that it was cut out of) better than it will any other one, and if the printer will remember this I do not think he will ever meet with anything but good results.

When the cut-outs are cut, and before they are moved, they should be marked in such a way that the printer can find the mask that was cut out of any particular medallion at will, for this is absolutely necessary if he wishes to obtain beautifully shaded lines on his prints.

The way I always do this is to mark on one end of the medallion H, which means the head of it, and directly under it some name by means of which I can easily tell it from the others of the same size. On the same end of the mask, and on the same side of the paper, we also mark H, and directly under this the name which was written on the outside from which the mask was cut.

To explain more understandingly what I mean, let us suppose that we have finished cutting a medallion and mask and that they lay before us just as cut.

Now, on the upper part of the outside we will mark H, and directly under it, and also on the outside, “Heathen Chinee.”

Now, also, on the upper part of the mask we mark H, and under this “Heathen Chinee.”

I will remark here that it is very essential to have the marks on the same side of the paper, and also at the top of each. The importance of this will readily be seen further on, when the crescent line is to be shaded on the print.

I spoke above about care being exercised in making cut-outs; that the knife enters in at exactly the place where you first commenced to cut, because often at this part of the cutting there is apt to be a nick in the cut-out if you are not careful to avoid it.

In laying the outside on the negative to print from, always lay the side marked H up and close to the negative, leaving the unmarked side of the paper for the sensitive paper to come in contact with.

In laying them on considerable care and judgment should be exercised, so as to give a proper balance to the position and proportion to the print.

The principal faults that occur in laying these medallions and arch-tops on the negative for printing are:

• 1st. The head is apt to be too high up, or too low down, in the medallion or arch-top.
• 2d. The body looks as though it was either falling backwards, forwards, or sideways.

The nose or the mouth, as a general thing, should be in the center of the opening, although this is, of course, open to exceptions.

To avoid the necessity of having to place the medallion on the negative for every print, I stick the corners on the negative by means of a very little of a thin solution of gum-water. I use it thin so that it will readily come off when you wish it, but will adhere to the negative without any trouble or danger of slipping while the boards are being filled. In case it does not come off, dampen the place a little with your tongue.

In sticking the medallion on to the negative, only stick it by the extreme tips of the two upper corners.

Now, a print having been printed in the medallion, which we will suppose to have been the Heathen Chinee, we will proceed to shade the crescent line on it.

Take a nice piece of glass of suitable size, care being taken that it has no bad bubbles in it, and lay the marked side of the mask on it, after having previously wet the center of it with a little gum. The drying should not be hurried up over a flame unless the paper with the glass is under pressure in the printing-frame, because it is not apt to dry smoothly unless it is done in that manner.

The air-bubbles between the surface of the paper and that of the glass should be rubbed away with the finger before drying. In laying the gum-water on the paper do not touch a place larger than the nail of a little finger.

When the gum on the paper is dry the glass should be cleaned on both sides, and then laid on the print that is to have the line shaded on it, the whole of which is then to be laid on a flat printing-board.

There is considerable difference of opinion as to which side of the print the line is to be shaded, but the majority of photographers agree that it ought to be on the side of the darkest part of the face, so as to give brilliancy and vigor to the print on account of the contrast.

The size of this line varies according to the intended size of the finished print. Avoid large lines on cartes de visite prints.

On large prints, such as 11 x 14, &c., a proportionately large line is wanted, and when done nicely the effect is really beautiful. The size of the line on these prints, 11 x 14, should not be more than one-fifth, or less than one-tenth of an inch wide at the widest part. For 14 x 18 the size should vary from one-fifth to one-fourth of an inch wide at the widest part. For Imperial cards the size of the line should be about one-twentieth of an inch; and for the small cards the size should be about one-thirty-second of an inch wide.

Having determined as to which side of the print the line should be, the exact place on the side is governed by the direction the light falls on the face, and which is only ascertained by the studying of the negative or print.

The way I should advise the beginner to shade the crescent line is as follows :

Lay the inside or mask on the print so that it will cover exactly every part of the printed picture, leaving only the white outside exposed, which, if you were to imagine the medallion or arch-top to be laid exactly on the print as it was in printing it, you will see that the mask lies exactly in its own medallion or arch-top as it did when it was cut, and consequently a splendid and true line can be obtained. In laying the mask on the print, always have the end marked H up to the head of the print, since the end marked H of the outside or medallion was placed at the head part of the negative in printing the print.

Always bear the above remark in mind, and considerable annoyance in printing these styles of prints can be saved.

Now, as you have the mask fitted exactly on the print, try in one move to place the mask over in the direction you have decided upon having the crescent line appear. In moving this over there will be a dark line on the other side of the print, which should, in all cases, be exactly as large as the intended white line. Bear this in mind.

The reason why you should be careful and have the mask placed over in the right direction in one move is, because you will be more apt to have both lines alike, which, if the mask lay in a different direction from what the outside did in the printing, the result will not be so good. It is for this reason that I have advised the beginner to have his mask fit the print before he moves it to shade the line, and also to move it in one move, as this will give the desired result without fail.

The required shade in printing the border of the print is ascertained by looking at the background, and then permitting it to darken as near half way between white and the tone of the background as you can judge. Many photographers prefer to have it tinted very slightly.

If the background is very light, then print the outside black.

In shading the print never let the background and the border be of the same shade, for it will make the print appear flat and feeble. Failures in this direction are as common in medallion printing as bad and irregular lines, and a printer who does not take care to prevent the one, rarely does the other, for they generally go together.

I do not give the above as anything entirely new, but judging from the very bad, irregularly-shaded medallions and arch-tops that are too often seen, I think it could be adopted by many with profit.