Stipule, Crayon, and the Dot-Processes. 



41 



F. STIPPLE, CRAYON, AND THE DOT-PROCESSES. 



Process. 



The essence of stipple -engraving is the rendering of tone by a 

 conglomeration of dots or short strokes (flicks) . The plate is first covered 

 with the ordinary etching ground, and the contours and a light indication 

 of the main shadows dotted through the ground with the etching needle 

 (or with one or two bound together), or with the simple roulette (a 

 toothed wheel as shown in fig. 13, a). This preliminary part of the work 

 is bitten with the acid. The subject is then completed and given 

 brilliance by dotting or flicking directly on the surface of the plate with 

 the point of the stipple-graver, i.e. a graver specially curved for use in 

 this process. Eoulettes (of various shapes) may also be used directly on 

 the surface of the plate. 



Crayon (or clialli) engraving is closely allied to sti^^ple, but it aims at 

 rendering the quality of the lines of a chalk drawing, rather than mere 

 surfaces of tone. Various forms of roulettes with grain corresponding to 

 the texture of chalk, and the mace-head or mattoir (an instrument with 



Fig. 13.— Eoulettes. (a) The simple Roulette ; (b) the Matting-wheel. 



butt-end provided with . irregular points), as well as etching needles, are 

 used through the ground to prepare the plate for biting ; and as in stipple 

 the graver, dry-point and roulettes are also used directly on the surface. 

 Stipple and crayon-engravmg are of course constantly combined, the face 

 of a portrait often being finished in pure stipi^le like a miniature, while 

 the body and accessories are lightly sketched m the crayon manner. 



Pastel-engraving is essentially the same process as crayon-engraving, 

 but the effect of a coloured pastel is obtained by printing from several 

 plates (see below, Colour-prints, p. 50). 



Long before the discovery of stipple or crayon -engraving, a method, 

 analogous in its effects, that of 2^'^^'^^(^^^''^^'^9^^(^'^'^''^9^ been used 



chiefly by goldsmiths and engravers of ornaments. The dotting -pu7ich 

 with a single point (a tool used constantly by the map -engraver), is 

 generally set in a handle, and worked by pressure of the hand alone. 

 Punches, particularly those of the broader heads, with or without hatched 

 or grained ends, are also used with the hammer. 



History. 



The earliest indications of methods comparable to stipple (though 

 without the aid of etching, an essential part of stipple proper), is seen in 

 the engravings of G-iulio Campagnola (about 1482-after 1514 ; see Line- 



