40 



transitions of light and shade, and for drapery, or in 

 textile fabrics, such as silk, satin, or laces. In stipple 

 engraving the effect is produced by the cutting of small 

 dots, the shadows being made by increasing the number 

 and size of the dots. This process is often combined 

 with line engraving. Sometimes a small mallet is used 

 to strike lightly upon the plate, and beat down the im- 

 pressions to the right depth, producing the same effect as 

 the use of the burnisher in line engraving. 



Mezzotint engraving is a more recent invention than 

 line, and the process is entirely different. A mezzotint 

 plate prepared for a design presents a surface entirely 

 roughened by minute indentations in the metal, and by 

 a bur raised by the tool with which they are made. To 

 lay a mezzotint ground the engraver uses an instrument 

 called the cradle, a piece of properly tempered steel, with 

 a spherical face cut into sharp points, and fitted to a 

 handle, by which the pointed face is worked over the sur- 

 face of the plate until the needed bur is obtained. A 

 proof taken from the plate in this state would present an 

 intensely black tint ; if the slightest portion of the ground 

 be scraped off it would be marked in the proof by a 

 lighter tint, a pure white only being obtained by entirely 

 removing the ground and burnishing the metal. The 

 work of the artist, therefore, consists in availing himself 

 of the nature of the ground to scrape out his picture from 

 black to white, which is effected by lancet-shaped scrapers 

 and burnishers of various forms and sizes. To prevent 

 accidental encroachment upon portions of the ground 

 desired to be kept black, the engraver touches such parts 

 with a brush filled with asphaltum or india ink, removing 

 it again when the work is sufficiently advanced to allow 

 of it. 



A plate for aquatint engraving is prepared by pouring 



