breadth of the shadows by dots ; which having 
bit to a proper depth with aqua fords, they 
take off the ground used in etching, and 
having laid the mezzotinto-ground, proceed 
to scrape as above. 
When your plate is ready for taking a 
proof, or impression, send it to the copper- 
plate printer, and get it proved. When' the 
proof is dry, touch it with white chalk where 
it should be lighter, and with black chalk 
where it should be darker : and when the print 
is retouched, proceed as before for the lights; 
and for the shades use a small grounding- 
tool, as much as you judge necessary, to 
bring it to a proper colour ; and when you 
have done as much as you think expedient, 
prove it again ; and so proceed to prove and 
touch till it is entirely to your mind. 
Engraving in aqua lint a . — Aqua tinta is a 
method of producing prints very much re- 
sembling drawings in Indian ink. 
1 he principle ot the process consists in 
1 corroding the copper with aqua fortis, in such 
I a manner, that an impression from it has the 
appearance of a tint laid on the paper. This 
I is effected by covering the copper with a 
1 powder, or some substance which takes a 
I granulated form, so as to prevent the aqua 
I fortis from acting where the particles adhere ; 
| and by this means cause.it to corrode the 
copper partially, and in the interstices only. 
When these particles are extremely minute 
and near to each other, the impression from 
the plate appears to the naked eye exactly 
| like a wash of Indian ink; but when they are 
| larger, the granulation is more distinct: and 
las this may b<? varied at pleasure, it is capable 
lot being adapted with great success, to a 
■ variety of purposes and subjects. 
'This powder, or granulation, is called the 
I aqua-tinta grain, and there are two general 
| inodes of producing it. 
We shall first describe what is (failed the 
I powder-grain, because it was the first that 
I was used. 
| Having etched the outline on a copper- 
plate, prepared in the usual way by the 
coppersmith, (for which seethe article Etc h- 
in g) some substance must be finely powdered 
and silted, which will melt with heat, and 
when cold will adhere to the plate, and resist 
the action ot aqua fortis. Fhe substances 
which have been used for this purpose, either 
separately or mixed, are asphaltum. Burgundy 
pitch, rosin, gum-copal, gum-mastich; and, 
in a greater or less degree, all the resins and 
gum-resins will answer the purpose. Com- 
mon rosin has been most generally, used, and 
answers tolerably 7 well ; though gum-copal 
makes a grain that resists the aqua fortis 
better. 
The substance intended to be used for the 
grain, must now be distributed over the plate 
as equally as possible ; and different methods 
of performing this essential part of the ope- 
ration have been used by different engravers, 
and at different times. 
i he most usual way is, to tie up some of 
the powder in a piece of muslin, and strike it 
against a piece ot stick, held at a considerable 
height above the plate ; by this, the powder 
that issues falls gently, and settles equally 
over the plate. Every one must have ob- 
served how uniformly hair-powder settles 
upon the furniture after the operations of 
the hair-dresser This may afford a hint 
jtowards the best mode of performing this J 
engraving. 
part of the process. The powder must fall 
upon it from a cons iderable height, and there 
must he a sufficiently large cloud of the dust 
formed. The plate being covered equally 
over with the dust, or powder, the operator 
is next to proceed to fix it upon the plate, by 
heating it gently, so as to melt the particles. 
This may be eliected by holding under the 
plate lighted pieces of brown paper rolled 
up, and moving them about till every part of 
the powder is melted; this will be known by 
its ciiange of colour, which will turn brownish. 
It must now be suffered to cool, when it may 
be examined with a magnifier, and if the 
grains or particles appear to be uniformly 
distributed, it is ready for the next part of 
the process. 
lhe design or drawing to be engraved 
must now be examined, and such parts of it 
as are perfectly white are to be remarked. 
Those corresponding parts of the plates must 
be covered, or stopped out as it is called, 
with turpentine-varnish, diluted with turpen- 
tine to a proper consistence to work freely 
with the pencil, and mixed with lamp-black 
to give it colour; for if transparent, the 
touches of the pencil would not be so dis- 
tinctly seen. The margin of the plate must 
also be covered with varnish. When the 
stopping out is sufficiently dry, a border of 
wax must be raised round the plate, in the 
same manner as in etching, and the aqua 
fortis properly diluted with water poured on. 
I his is called biting in, and is the part of the 
process which is most uncertain, and which 
requires the greatest degree of experience. 
When the aqua fortis has lain on so long that 
the plate, when printed, would produce the 
lightest tint in the drawing, it is poured off, 
and the plate washed with water and dried. 
When it is quite dry, the lightest tints in the 
drawing are stopped out, and the aqua fortis 
poured on as before, and the same process is 
repeated as often as there are tints to be pro- 
duced in the plate. 
Although many plates are etched entirely 
by this method of stopping out and biting in 
alternately, yet it may easily be conceived, 
that in general, it would be very difficult to 
stop round, and leave out all the finishing 
touches ; as also the leaves of trees, and many 
other objects, which it would be impossible 
to execute with the necessary degree of free- 
dom in this manner. 
To overcome this difficulty, another very 
ingenious process has been invented, by 
which these touches are laid on the plate 
with the same ease and expedition as they 
are in a drawing in Indian ink. Fine washed 
whiting is mixed with a little treacle or sugar, 
and diluted with water in the pencil, so as to 
work freely ; and this is laid on the plate 
covered with the aquatint ground, in the 
same manner and on the same parts as ink 
on the drawing. When this is dry, the 
whole plate is varnished over with a weak 
and thin varnish of turpentine, asphaltum, or 
mastich, and then suffered to dry, when the 
aqua fortis is poured on. The varnish will 
immediately break up in the parts where the 
treacle mixture was laid, and expose all those 
places to the action of the acid, while the rest 
ot the plate remains secure. The effect of 
this will be, that all the touches or places 
where the treacle was used, will be bitin 
deeper than the rest, and will have all the 
631 
precision and firmness of touches in Indian 
ink. 
After the plate is completely bit in, the 
bordering-wax is taken off, by heating the 
plate a little with a lighted piece of paper; 
and it is then cleared from the ground and 
varnish by oil of turpentine, and wiped clean 
with a rag and a little line whiting, when it is 
ready for the printer. 
The principal disadvantages of this method 
of aqua-tinting are, that it is extremely dif- 
ficult to produce the required degree of 
coarseness or fineness in the grain, and that 
plates so engraved do not print many impres- 
sions before they are worn out. It is there- 
fore now very seldom used, though it is occa- 
sionally of service. 
\\ e next proceed to describe the second 
method of producing the aquatint ground, 
which is generally practised. Some resinous 
substance is dissolved in spirit of wine, as 
common resin. Burgundy pitch, or mastich, 
and this solution is poured all over the plate, 
which is then held in a slanting direction till 
the superfluous fluid drains off; and it is laid 
down to dry, which it does in a few minutes. 
If the plate is then examined with the mag- 
nifier, it will be found that the spirit, in 
evaporating, has left the resin in a granulated 
state ; or rather, that the latter has cracked 
in every direction, still adhering firmly to the 
copper. 
A grain is thus produced with the greatest 
ease,' which is extremely regular and beau- 
tiful, and much superior for most purposes to 
that produced by the former method. After 
the grain is formed, every part of the process 
is conducted in the same manner as above 
described. 
Having thus given a general idea of the 
art, we shall mention some particulars neces- 
sary to be attended to, in order to ensure 
success in the operation. The spirit of wine 
used for the solution, must be highly rectified, 
and of the best quality. What is sold in the 
shops, generally contains camphor, which 
would entirely spoil the grain. Resin, Bur- 
gundy pitch, and gum mastich, when dissolved 
in spirit of wine, produce grains of a dif- 
ferent appearance and figure ; and are some- 
times used separately, and sometimes mixed 
in different proportions, according to the taste 
of the artist, some using one substance and 
some another. In order to produce a coarser 
or finer grain, it is necessary to use a greater 
or smaller quantity of resin ; and to ascertain 
the proper proportions, several spare pieces 
of copper must be provided, on which the 
liquid may be poured, and the grain ex- 
amined, before it is applied to the plate to he 
engraved. After the solution is made, it 
must stand still and undisturbed for a day or 
two, till all the impurities of the resin have 
settled to the bottom, and the fluid is quite 
pellucid. No other method of freeing it 
from those impurities has been found to 
answer; straining it through linen or muslin, 
only fills it with hairs, which are ruinous to 
the grain. The room in which the liquid is 
poured on the plate, must be perfectly still 
and free from dust ; which, whenever it falls 
on the plate while wet, causes a white spot, 
which it is impossible to remove without lav- 
ing the grain afresh. The plate must also 
be previously cleaned, with the greatest pos- 
sible care, with a rag and whiting, as the 
smallest stain or particle of grease produces a 
