Read Ebook: Wood Engraving by Beedham R J Gill Eric Contributor

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The highly-polished surface of the wood will not take the pencil or brush unless prepared, and the best medium for this is flake-white and finely ground brickdust in equal proportions. An amount sufficient to cover a threepenny piece is enough for a block of 6 inches by 4 inches; add one or more drops of water, and rub thinly and evenly with the fingers until it starts to dry.

Chinese white may be used in the place of flakewhite. It can be used without the brick-dust and applied to the wood by the fingers as before or spread evenly by means of a soft flat brush passing by direct strokes over the surface. This method will be quite effective, but will not give such an even appearance as the brick-dust and white.

Indian and Chinese ink rubbed up in water and a fine camel hair brush are used for drawing, or a pencil may be used. The best is one of medium hardness. Too soft a pencil rubs out easily and soon gives a dirty appearance to the drawing; one too hard is liable to bruise the wood.

All drawing on the wood must be reversed. Even in cases where this is not necessary it is well to remember that the print from the engraving will be a reverse of the drawing. Make reversing a habit. Much annoyance may thus be avoided, for it is easy to produce an awkward absurdity, which, though not apparent to other people, spoils one's own enjoyment of the work. All lettering must be reversed. A view of the drawing in a mirror before commencing to engrave will reveal any incorrectness in reversing.

The engraver is to remember that the production is to be an engraving and not a drawing; that it is to have the character of an engraving--an engraving manifest and not an imitation of another drawing, half-tone, or any other process. Let the dependence be on the engraving tools rather than the pencil. As far as possible draw direct on to the wood. If this, by the nature of the subject, is impossible, it may be necessary to trace on to the wood.

Another method is to scrape some red chalk finely on to a separate piece of paper and rub it well on until the paper is evenly reddened. Place the reddened surface next the wood underneath the tracing--it need not be fixed--and proceed to trace as before. This method will produce a faint red line and will be useful when, as sometimes happens, the subject is to be reversed in the final print.

These faint outlines must be made stronger, the drawing completed, by means of camel hair brush and Indian ink or by pencil. Any shading can be put into the drawing by means of these, always remembering that it is to be finally expressed in terms of the engraving tool. To draw on the wood is awkward without some support; a piece of wood as high as the block will be necessary on which to rest the hand.

ENGRAVING

Fig. 13

The tool has to be held in such a way that none of the fingers nor the thumb is underneath it. The handle rests in the lower part of the hand, the fourth finger in the groove of the inner part of the handle and the third finger by its side; these two fingers touch the handle and keep it in position within the hand. Following the third and fourth, the two forefingers rest on the outer side of the blade while the thumb, extending beyond the fingers almost to the point, is on the inside. The thumb is the only part of the right hand that touches the block. The fingers touch each other in natural order: there need be no space between any. The tool should be laid flat upon the table, and may be taken up in one movement . Seen from below it should then show as Fig. 15. Held in this way the tool will pass flat over the wood without any obstruction from any part of the fingers or hand.

Fig. 14

Fig. 15

The block is held on the sandbag by the left hand, generally towards the corners, which allows the greatest freedom for turning. When cutting straight lines the block is held stationary, the tool-hand cutting forward; when cutting curves the block is turned round, the tool-hand remaining in one position. There is no hard rule in this, the hands acting flexibly for each other, but it can be seen at once when engraving that a circle cannot be cut unless the block is turned round in precise ratio to the cuts of the tool, while to cut a straight line the wood cannot advance to the tool's point.

Engrave the lines one under the other, not one above the other; for circles it is much more easy to start the cut at the top than to start underneath, though to be able to start underneath is sometimes useful. The flat part of the handle should be just above the surface of the wood in cutting lines or tints, but this does not apply to all work; the angle at which tools are held must be determined by the shapes to be taken out. Do not attempt to cut a long line with one cut, but with a succession of short ones, and do not cut too deeply, or the line or wood on which the belly of the tool presses will be bruised and will print broken instead of clean and definite. If the tool be sharp the wood will chip out crisply at each cut; the lines should be cut out, not pushed or pressed out. Blunt tools are more responsible for slips than anything else except perhaps a disturbed mind.

Should there be any danger of rubbing the drawing during engraving, cover the block with a piece of thin paper after the manner of a tracing, first making a small hole where work is to commence.

The craftsman is advised to practise by engraving something definite, something that can be used. Aimless cutting and digging about on bits of wood leads nowhere, for it is a very simple matter to cut a line that need not be cut in any particular place, whereas to cut the lines exactly to the subject, to produce something that is required is not only getting experience, but the result is known at once in success or failure.

Fig. 16

Fig. 17

Roughly speaking there are four different kinds of engraving, of which any variations and combinations can be made. The first and most natural is to cut white lines on black, and in many cases the subject will be sufficiently expressed without further work; Fig. 16 is cut in this way. Fig. 17 shows the background tinted or shaded, that is, lines cut one under the other. Fig. 18 is the black letter cleared away leaving it white, while Fig. 19 shows all wood cleared away except outlines. Bold simple lettering is an excellent subject to begin with. See that the corners are joined cleanly: little jagged bits left in look slovenly and print in a dirty manner.

Fig. 18

Fig. 19

Fig. 20

The larger tint-tools and scaupers are used for scauping or clearing, that is, for clearing a wide line round the work and cutting away all wood not wanted. While doing this it is essential to protect the surrounding work from the belly of the tool by a thin piece of card . It must be thin yet of sufficient substance to withstand the pressure of the tool, for the work is done by levering out the wood as well as cutting it. Card soon wears out. A thin piece of hard wood or bone will do well if smoothed and bevelled off a little on the edge to be used under the tool. The thickness should be about that of a penny. When scauping start the cut a little away from the work gradually approaching until the tool has cleared away all unnecessary wood. Smaller pieces must of course be taken away by the smaller tools. It is a good plan to extend the first finger of the left hand over the block until it presses against the end of the thumb of the tool hand. This position gives great control and prevents much slipping.

Fig. 21

Fig. 22

Fig. 23

With the scauper clear a line round the work a little more than its own width. This is sufficiently wide to enable a proof to be taken. If all the wood is taken away it is almost impossible to proof some subjects without a hand-press, for this wood supports the roller and burnisher and gives protection to the work while proofing.

Where a light tint shades into white as in a sky or light parts of a dress it is necessary to lower the edges in some way before cutting, otherwise the hard edge is apt to catch the ink and cause a smudgy objectionable line instead of running cleanly into the white. To avoid this, lower or scrape the hard edge into the scauping taking care not to damage the surrounding wood. It can be done by the sharp edge of spitstick or tint-tool, or the edge can first be lowered by a flat scauper and then scraped smoothly into the scauping by the sharp edge of the engraving tool. The Section Fig. 24 shows the sharp edge lowered into the scauping.

Fig. 24

The depth of the clearing indicated in the Section is exaggerated for purposes of clarity. If the scauping is too deep bruising of the sides is likely; if too shallow the print will pick up the ink from the ridges at the bottom of the scauping which have touched the ink roller.

PROOF TAKING

Place a little printer's ink on a slab and spread it out thinly with a knife, then roll until distributed evenly and thinly. Avoid rolling out too much ink at once; more can be added easily, but to take away means cleaning the whole with turpentine and rag, or scraping with a knife. If a dabber be used, beat the ink, which is placed more in the centre of the slab, until quite even. The amount to roll or dab on to the block will be discovered quite easily after a trial or two--too much ink will blur the work; too little will print grey. Place the paper on the inked block without slurring it, and on the paper drop a thin piece of card--a postcard will do--hold down by the left hand and rub on the top of the card with the burnisher until an impression is taken. The print can be examined from time to time by lifting a corner, holding the remaining paper down firmly with the left hand on the card. More burnishing must be applied to those parts which have not taken the ink. If the engraved lines be fine, light pressure must be given to the burnisher lest the lines be bruised, whereas if the parts are black heavier pressure must be given. A little oil rubbed on one side of the card--the side on which the burnisher is to be applied--then rubbed off again, will allow the burnisher to slide over with ease and prevent sticking; while if the burnisher is applied without the card, bruising is liable to occur to fine lines. India paper is excellent on which to take proofs by hand. Other kinds can be used if free from ridges and not too thick. The thicker the paper the greater will be the difficulty in getting a print, for the ink does not stick it to the block, as is the case with thin paper, and any examination of the print nearly always moves the paper out of position and "doubling" is the result.

This first print is often called the "overlay." It shows not only the engraving but all the surrounding wood and pieces between that have been too large to be cut away by a scauper. To take a proof of the engraving only, these black pieces on the overlay must be cut out cleanly with a sharp knife or the point of a tint-tool, and, after inking the block again, these pieces are placed on their corresponding parts on the wood. They are thus blocked out--overlayed--by the pieces of paper cut from the first print. Place fresh paper on the block and proof as before, greater care however is necessary to prevent "doubling." Where plenty of black is in the engraving the process is simple, but if the subject is of thin lines, such as fine lettering, it is a somewhat delicate operation. In this case the less it is examined whilst the proof is being taken the better.

PREPARING BLOCK FOR PRINTER

Fig. 25

If the block is to be sent to the printer all unnecessary wood has to be taken away, and if there are large surfaces this is best done by gouge and mallet. First saw the block square to within 1/4 of an inch of work, then fix it in a vice or clamp to a bench. Use the gouge as a chisel, never forgetting to have the cutting edge pointing towards centre of block. If used towards the edges pieces of wood will suddenly chip away and the last stroke of the mallet will, perhaps, ruin the work, though an experience of this kind is seldom repeated. The block will have to be turned about in the vice to enable the gouging to be made towards the centre and care must be taken to hold the gouge high enough just to clear the work and so prevent bruising. The wood must be taken away deeply. If cut too shallow, the ridges formed by the gouge will pick up the ink from the roller which ink again will be picked up by the paper whilst proofing. Any edges or small pieces that the gouge cannot clear away must be trimmed off with the scauper, the card being used to protect the work.

PLUGGING

If some small mistake has arisen such as a deep bruise, false cut, slip, etc., it can be made good by plugging, that is, by the insertion of a new piece of wood where the mistake has occurred. This requires skill and care, for the new piece of wood must fit in exactly, otherwise a white line will show all round it. For very small plugs the simplest method of making a hole is to get a carpenter's nail, round or square type, according to the shape of the plug required, file the sides to the right size and flatten the bottom, finally getting the edges and bottom sharp and smooth on the oil-stone. Drive this into the wood, about 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch according to the size of the plug. Take the nail out again by a straight pull to avoid bruising the sides, and if the nail has been properly shaped, a clean hole with sharp edges will be the result. Into this hole insert a piece of boxwood, trimmed to exact size by means of a flat tool or chisel, then gently hammer with a piece of wood until the bottom of the hole is felt. To dip the end of the plug into thin glue or gum before insertion will help to keep it fast, but small plugs accurately trimmed will hold without glue. For larger plugs glue must be used.

Fig. 26

Two or three plugging nails, made ready and kept for the purpose, will be all that are required for smaller plugs. The holes can also be made by drills such as are used for fretwork. Larger plugs must be scauped or chiselled out, taking care that the sides go straight down and that the edges are without a bruise. The larger the plug, the deeper must be the hole, the depth for large plugs being half-way through the block. Plugs on the extreme edge of the block require more care but the difficulties can nearly always be overcome by a little ingenuity. A drop of water placed on a bruise will often bring it to the surface again. Hot water is still more effective, while, if the bruising is deep and general, steaming the whole surface is the best method though it makes the wood rotten and disagreeable to cut on afterwards.

The beginner should commence with patterns and pictures of white lines on black. The normal development of this first method is the silhouette with white lines upon it. Having attained skill with gravers and scaupers he may proceed to engrave patterns and pictures of black lines on white, first in plain outline, and then, last of all, he may attempt the modelling and elaboration of the general surface.

NOTE ON WOOD-CUTS

The method of wood-engraving which is described in this book is distinct from that known properly as "wood-cutting". The "woodcut" is done with a knife on the long grain of the wood instead of the end grain. It is necessarily done on soft wood and is therefore less suitable for use in conjunction with type in a printing press, except for large work. But the wood-engraver should certainly practise the art of wood-cutting also and for the purpose he will require, in addition to some planks of pear wood or a similar fine-grained wood, a knife and several wood-carver's chisels and gouges--the first for cutting lines and edges and the latter for cutting away the background. The knife is the most important of these tools and the best form is like a very fine carpenter's chisel with a small handle, such as can be grasped in the fingers, a short blade about one inch long, three-eighths of an inch wide and as thin as that of a pen-knife, with the cutting end ground at an angle of about 30? with the upper edge.

It is held very much as a pen is held for writing and, of course, the cut is made always in the direction which does not burr the grain of the wood just as a skewer is sharpened by cutting towards and not away from its point.

Although in connection with the printing press the wood-cut has not the same usefulness as the wood-engraving on account of the soft wood necessarily used and the impossibility of doing the finest work with the same degree of precision, nevertheless, as an independent art that of wood-cutting is on an equality with any other, and, in one respect, the fact that only soft wood can be used is an advantage; for such wood, pine or pear, is more easy to get than a hard foreign wood like the Turkish box-wood. The wood-cutter may therefore go into his own back garden for his material and is independent of the foreign merchant. The difficulty of the wood-engraver in this matter is, however, not quite insuperable, for, if properly seasoned and prepared, holly or blackthorn are quite good for end grain work and, though not as hard as boxwood, make a very fair substitute.

Winter, from a sketch by Verrall, by R. J. Beedham

March, by Mrs. G. Raverat

The Cottage, by Robert Gibbings

CREDITS

January 6, 2014

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