. Ariadne florentina; six lectures on wood and metal engraving, with appendix; given before the University of Oxford in Michaelmas term, 1872. . ing, is a coarsesubstance, easily cut; and in metal, a finesubstance, not easily. Therefore, in general,you may be prepared to accept ruder and moreelementary work in one than the other ; and itwill be the means of appeal to blunter minds. You probably already know the difference 76 III. THE TECHNICS OF between the actual methods of producing aprinted impression from wood and metal; butI may perhaps make the matter a little moreclear. In metal engravi
. Ariadne florentina; six lectures on wood and metal engraving, with appendix; given before the University of Oxford in Michaelmas term, 1872. . ing, is a coarsesubstance, easily cut; and in metal, a finesubstance, not easily. Therefore, in general,you may be prepared to accept ruder and moreelementary work in one than the other ; and itwill be the means of appeal to blunter minds. You probably already know the difference 76 III. THE TECHNICS OF between the actual methods of producing aprinted impression from wood and metal; butI may perhaps make the matter a little moreclear. In metal engraving, you cut ditches,fill them with ink, and press your paper intothem. In wood engraving, you leave ridges,rub the tops of them with ink, and stamp themon your paper. The instrument with which the substance,whether of the wood or steel, is cut away, isthe same. It is a solid ploughshare, which,instead of throwing the earth aside, throwsit up and out, producing at first a simpleravine, or furrow, in the wood or metal, whichyou can widen by another cut, or extend bysuccessive cuts. This (Fig. i) is the generalshape of the solid ploughshare:. Fig. I. but it is of course made sharper or blunter atpleasure. The furrow produced is at first thewedge-shaped or cuneiform ravine, already so WOOD ENGRAVING. JJ much dwelt upon in my lectures on Greeksculpture. 77. Since, then, in wood printing, you printfrom the surface left solid; and, in metal print-ing, from the hollows cut into it, it follows thatif you put few touches on wood, you draw, ason a slate, with white lines, leaving a quantityof black ; but if you put few touches on metal,you draw with black lines, leaving a quantityof white. Now the eye is not in the least offendedby quantity of white, but is, or ought to be,greatly saddened and offended by quantity ofblack. Hence it follows that you must neverput little work on wood. You must not sketchupon it. You may sketch on metal as muchas you please. j^. Paradox, you will say, as usu
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjec, booksubjectengraving
