66 



The Harness Makers' Guide. 



appear, in fact, as if just carved out of a piece or block of wood. 

 It is really marvellous to notice the different tastes that some 

 people have for monograms, amongst them, 

 some of high artistic intelligence. One, for 

 instance, will adopt a style as severe 

 as another's is ornate and complicated, 

 and whilst some like huge designs, 

 the monograms of others are of infinitesimal pruportions. The 

 handles used for this work are not round, and there is nothing at 

 the bottom of the hand to catch against the article you are 

 engraving. 



It is difficult to engrave a medal- 

 lion or coin. To try and hold 

 it seems absurd, therefore it must 

 be a fixture. Get a small tin 

 box, bl( eked and very firm ; heat 

 the lid till it will melt a piece 

 of engraver's wax (such as is 

 used for brass door plates, etc.), 



melt enough on the lid to hold the coin, and drop the latter on 

 the wax when hot ; then let it get cool. It will then be ready to 

 operate upon, and will not be easily moved. Silver mounts, etc., 

 are difficult to sketch on with pencil, especially where monograms 

 are wanted, but this can be easily overcome by putting your finger 

 on a piece of Russian tallow or hard fat, and smearing it over the 

 surface, which may then be sketched upon wi.hout scratching it. 

 To try and put the reader into the way of sketchin i 

 a monogram is a verv difficult thing, as no two 

 letters will go toge>her in exactly the same way. 

 Perhaps the plainest monograms, of which this is 

 \^l I \ Y n^ another variety, are "The Roman." It looks a 

 /r^im^^-nl ^'sry easy matter to sketch a monogram of this 

 '-^ ' ^ description, but it requires the most careful handling, 

 ^s imperfections here show up more distinctly than in many of the 

 more complicated varieties. 



Embossed monograms for notepaper and cards which are raised 

 upon the paper are, of course, struck up from dies which descend 

 upon the paper when it is resting upon a 

 bed of gutta-percha. 



The time taken over a monogram, 

 naturally enough, depends upon the size 

 and the amount of labour to be put into 

 it. Some monograms would take as lon-^ 

 to sketch on the article as another would 

 to engrave. The wholesale prices of 

 engraving monograms, etc., are as 

 follows: — Cypher monograms on mounts, 

 etc., 3s. 6d. each; fancy two-letter blocks, on mounts, etc., 

 4s. 6d. ; inscriptions on small plated articles, per dozen letters, Is. ; 

 coats of arms, 7s. 6d. and 10s. 6d. each ; double lined two- 

 letter cyphers and monograms, bv the dozen, 6s. The sizes of 



Steel Munogram Dik. 



