ENGRAVING. 





tween the lines, till they are equally and 

 completely covered ; if the plate is con- 

 siderably heated, the ground \yill spread 

 with more facility over the various inter- 

 rupted surfaces. Carelessness or inatten- 

 tion will instantly ruin this process, and 

 the whole of the plate : a border of wax 

 must surround the parts to be re-bitten, 

 and a channel made to carry off the aqua 

 fortis without injuring those already com- 

 pleted. Supposing the operations of etch- 

 ing and biting the plate entirely finished, 

 nothing more remains than to examine it 

 attentively, and improve it with the 

 graver and dry point. 



Stipling, or engraving in the dotted 

 manner, was in a great measure intro- 

 duced by Bartolozzi, whose works in this 

 way are astonishingly numerous, exclusive 

 of those to which his name is affixed, and 

 not the products of himself. Some pasto- 

 ral scenes, with figures, when printed in 

 colours, have a pleasing effect ; and small 

 portraits stipled will bear examination ; 

 but historical subjects, which have great 

 breadth of shade, A appear to no advantage 

 engraved in this manner. Stipling is per- 

 formed by etching the plate with dots, 

 and biting it, laying the shades with a 

 tool for the purpose, using the graver and 

 the dry point, and scraping off the rough- 

 ness thus occasioned. 



Engraving in Jlquatinta. The print 

 from an aquatinted plate resembles a 

 neatly finished drawing in Indian ink; 

 this effect is produced by corroding the 

 plate between the particles of a material 

 entirely different from tfee etching ground. 

 The first step in this process is, to prepare 

 a plate exactly in the way already de- 

 scribed, and etch the outlines of the sub- 

 ject to be aquatinted, which are to be 

 slightly bitten, and the plate thoroughly 

 cleansed. The substance used to form 

 the grains of the subject (which may be 

 common resin, burgundy-pitch, asphal- 

 tum, gum-mastich, or gum-copal, either 

 separate or mixed) should be reduced to 

 a fine powder and sifted, put into a piece 

 of muslin, and holding it high above the 

 plate, it must be struck against any sub- 

 stance held in the left hand, till the show- 

 er of dust thus produced has covered the 

 plate equally throughout ; preserving it 

 carefully in this situation, the plate is 

 to be heated sufficiently to melt the 

 powder, which will make the grains as- 

 sume a circular form, and contract, 

 leaving, when cold, a beautiful surface 

 fit for the aqua fortis. Common resin 

 is generally preferred for this part of 

 the operation, but gum-copal is less lia- 



ble to be broken loose from the plate 

 during the process of biting. 



The drawing to be copied must serve 

 as the future basis of proceeding, which 

 is to be imitated in the following manner , 

 the perfectly white parts of the intended 

 print are to be covered on the plate with 

 the varnish mentioned in etching, by the 

 use of a camel's-hair pencil , a border of 

 wax must then be raised, and the aqua 

 fortis, diluted, poured on ; the same me- 

 thod is afterwards practised in the stop- 

 ping out before recommended, except 

 that the depth of the corroding cannot 

 be so great as in the line manner. 



In order to obviate any difficulties 

 which occur in procuringsufficient depths 

 of shade, a method has been invented, 

 that enables the artist to produce an ef- 

 fect almost equal to the decisive touches 

 of a brush filled with colour in drawing, 

 which is the use of a liquid made with 

 water, treacle, or sugar, and fine washed 

 whiting, exactly of the consistence of In- 

 dian ink, and laid on the granulated sur- 

 face with a pencil, in the same free man- 

 ner adopted on paper; after the above 

 composition is thoroughly dry, the whole 

 plate must be covered with a thin, weak, 

 varnish of mastich, turpentine, or asphal- 

 tum, and, when dried a second time, the 

 aqua fortis is to be applied, which imme- 

 diately breaking the varnish and whiting, 

 will corrode the plate precisely in the 

 marks of the pencil. The border of wax 

 may be removed by heating the plate 

 gently, and the ground varnish, &c. by oil 

 of turpentine ; a little fine whiting and a 

 clean rag will then render the plate fit for 

 the printer. 



As the manner of procuring the grain 

 by heating the powdered substance 

 scattered over the plate is liable to ob- 

 jections, on account of the difficulty of 

 making the particles assume the desired 

 coarseness, or the reverse, and the en- 

 graving so produced rapidly wearing out 

 in the printing, another has been con- 

 trived, far more certain and satisfactory. 

 In this mode, common resin, mastich, or 

 Burgundy pitch, is dissolved in highly 

 rectified spirits of wine of the best quali- 

 ty, each of which produces different 

 descriptions of grains ; but these sub 

 stances may be mixed in such propor- 

 tions as the artist prefers, and he must re- 

 collect that the resin makes the coarsest ; 

 to satisfy himself in this prrticular, the 

 grain of every proportion should be tried 

 on useless pieces of copper. Having a 

 solution to his mind, it must remain un- 

 disturbed till every impure particle has 



