PhotoHistory

From: THE PRACTICAL PRINTER
A COMPLETE MANUAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING

By: Charles W Hearn 1874

FANCY MEDALLION AND ARCH-TOP PRINTING.

This fancy printing is sometimes very beautiful when the designs for making them are neat and pretty. In selecting designs for this work be guided by good taste, and do not strive after complicated and glaring designs when the simple and delicate ones are always the object of the tasteful printer.

There are very few designs for this fancy printing more beautiful than that of the fine parallel lines that we are so familiar with in the French writing-paper. Besides the parallel lines, a few others of a delicate design are used very appropriately. Always have the size of the intended prints and the fancy design in harmony with each other, i.e., the larger the size of the print the larger should the design be, and vice versa. It would be ridiculous to have large designs intended for an 8 x 10 size photograph used on the common card, as well as it would be to have small designs on large prints.

I have seen a few frame photographs printed in the fancy arch-top and medallion style that I liked very much, because the design for this fancy work was so very appropriate for the size of the print. Generally speaking, however, these designs are intended simply for the carte de visite and the Imperial; sometimes, too, for the Victoria when that style print is made, but they are very seldom used for anything larger.

The making and use of these medallions and arch-tops intended for this style of printing are exactly the same as was described in the preceding chapter, with the exception of the placing of the paper, with the design upon it, upon the print, and then shading the line upon the print by means of the inside mask, as usual.

There is also another way, which will be described further on.

The paper suitable for this work is known as the French writing-paper, the thinnest of which should be obtained. A sheet of two or three different kinds will answer very well for a beginning.

Cut the sheets up to the proper size, and after placing your print upon a flat printing-board, put one of these different kinds of designed paper over the whole print, which will be almost entirely covered. Now take the proper mask and proceed to make the crescent line on the print. This is rather difficult at first, owing to the very indistinct print under the white writing-paper, which thus renders the shading of the line rather troublesome. By pressing the white paper in close contact with the print underneath in laying on the mask, and going to a part of your printing-room where you can plainly see your work, you will find that you will have no trouble whatever.

In printing this outside let it darken to the same shade as you would in making plain medallions and arch-top prints; and what I said in regard to plain medallion-printing, about tinting the border to the same shade as the background of the print, is also applicable in this style of printing, the result being equally as bad, with the exception, perhaps, in this ease, that there will be a kind of a fancy flatness to the prints, instead of a plain one.

Besides the above, there is also another way to print these which is, perhaps, easier, because the French paper can be dispensed with, as the glass to which the mask is stuck answers the place of the paper.

A very thin negative indeed is made of, say some moss, and developed, fixed, washed and varnished as is usual in negative making.

The masks are attached to the face of the negative, but it would be better if they were not stuck at all, for the negative will, in a short time, be ruined by so doing; and after adjusting the mask the whole is then placed out to print as in ordinary plain medallion-printing. The negative being very thin, the border will darken very rapidly, as quick, if not quicker, than when French paper is used.

PRINTING IN GRAY.

This term is generally applied to photographs which have been, or are to be printed first in the vignette style, and then the surrounding white border has been, or is to be, printed or tinted a little. The whole appearance of the mounted print is very often quite pleasing, the darker draperies, &c., of the print being of a rich warm tone, while the slightly tinted border will be of a “gray”-ish tone. When skilfully done, this “printing in gray” is a good thing, and serves to give variety to the printer’s results instead of the monotonous appearance they have in some galleries.

In the first place, in the vignetting of the negatives that are to be printed in this style, do not show too far down in the draperies, although considerable halo may be shown around the head. The reason why the draperies should not be printed too far down is, because in tinting the border the action of the light on the white sensitive paper develops the print in a measure where, in the first place, nothing of the draperies were visible. Bear this in mind.

While the tinting of the border of the vignette print is carried on, the lights of the print would be very much discolored if they were not protected from the white light, and consequently a cut-out or mask is made, which answers the purpose admirably. To make this mask, cut a piece of spoiled sensitive paper a very little smaller than the figure, as regards the hair, dark draperies, &c., but not a particle smaller in regard to the face. Do not cut too far down in the draperies, or in tinting the print will be spoiled.

The print to be tinted, having been removed from the vignette-board, is then placed in a flat printing-frame, in which a clean glass has been previously placed. Another glass of a larger size is then obtained, to the under surface of which is attached this cut-out, and then, placing the glass so that the cut-out on it will cover the figure in the print, we commence to tint the border of the print, keeping, in the meantime, the glass constantly on the move. It will take about five to ten seconds to tint all that is required.

In moving the cut-out during the tinting of the border, be sure that no part of the face is so exposed to the light as to discolor it.

Always be careful not to tint the border so much as to occasion flatness. A very little tinting is all that is required.

Cotton is generally used by experienced printers in place of cutouts, but I should not advise the beginner to attempt it until he has had several months’ experience in printing.

VIGNETTE CAMEO AND MEDALLION VIGNETTE CAMEO FEINTING.

To print these beautiful styles a negative should be made expressly for them, having an ordinary size figure, somewhat smaller than the “Berlin head.”

To print in cameo, the same idea holds good as in printing medallions, &c., i.e., to show sufficient of the body to balance the head, but very little more.

A ring made as described below, and called a “cameo ring,” should be stuck to the negative that is to be vignetted by the extreme corners, as if you were to print it in the ordinary medallion style, and after placing the sensitive paper on it, the negative is then ready to be vignetted.

In choosing the vignette-block, or in making the cardboard vignetter for it, bear in mind that a much smaller one is needed than if it were to be printed in the ordinary vignette, and consequently pick out such a one as will show enough of the body to balance the head, and no more, although we might, if we were not printing this style, choose a block that would blend the print out to the very edges.

The reason why this should be heeded is because the finished vignette print, when pressed by the cameo press, ought not to have any of the halo show beyond the pressed-out surface, if you wish a very fine effect as is then the case, and the ring being placed on the negative, prevents the halo from printing out further than where the ring is placed, and since this ring is made from the cameo press itself, it will, of course, when carefully pressed by it, give us the effect we wished, viz., all of the printed paper is pressed forward while the white border retires. It is almost needless to state that the halo should blend out quite softly, both in the draperies and elsewhere, so that there will not be a harsh appearance in the print, on account of its being stopped abruptly, hence the need of a small but deep printing-board and a piece or two of tissue-paper (according to its quality) for blending it.

In making the medallion vignette cameo, proceed as above, with the exception in the above case, that whereas the print is finished as regards to the printing when it is removed from the board, in this case there is to be an outside or border printed in, which may be of a variety of shades, as circumstances may permit. In making the cameo ring, place the die of the cameo press on a glass, with the paper that you are to make your cut-out of placed under it, and then with a sharp knife cut a quick and clean cut all around the inside of the guide.

In using the cameo ring, proceed as if you were printing the ordinary medallion, and in shading the outside, bear in mind to use the right mask for the cut-out used in printing the prints. If the background is very light the border should either be lighter or darker, but never of the same shade.

When the prints made are medallion cameo and are not printed in the vignette, then the background is darker than what it would be if vignetted, and consequently the border can be printed lighter than the background; but when, as is very often the case in printing the prints in vignette, the background is very light, then the border is generally printed until it bronzes, so as to give a decided contrast; this produces an effect quite pleasing.

A new (or revived old) style, more especially for the Imperial card, but can be used in the smaller card printing, has lately come in vogue. The negative is printed in a vignette, feathering out very softly, until the medallion which was previously placed on the negative (varnished side) stops it, but very faintly so, and then a faint border of the same shade as the very edges of the halo is printed, and the print when finished is very fine.

The exposure to the light, when printed as just described, should only be about two to three seconds, a second more often spoiling the print.

There are a number of cameo presses in the market. Chute’s Universal Cameo Press, which is adapted to cabinet or Imperials as well as cards, is the best.

The beauty of the above styles of printing seems to be generally acknowledged by at least the patrons of the galleries in which I have printed, if one might be allowed to judge from the orders that were continually being given for them.