CHAPTER IX

QUICK INK PICTURES

When you happen to drop ink on paper you may be using, do not look disconsolate and feel uncomfortable. Make a joke of the accident by turning the blot into something funny. Fold the paper over the ink-spot, press the two sides together; then open the fold, and you will find the dull, round blot transformed into a queer, comical-looking object the like of which was never seen on land or sea. The strange thing about these oddities is that try as you may you cannot coax any two ink-drops to change themselves into the same shape; they utterly refuse to do so. Experiment with them and you will soon realize that each has its own independent idea regarding the figure it will assume, insisting, when you press it, upon taking the matter into its own hidden hands and turning into whatever it pleases. The various results are generally decorative and might often be used with good effect for book-plates.

=If You Have a Group=

of three or four ink-drops, they may be controlled to a certain extent. Hold the paper so that the wet ink will trickle downward, and you can join the blots together, elongating the design; then, when the paper is folded lightly, if you press the ink with short, gentle strokes out sidewise the tiny splashes tend in that direction, and an upward movement will cause the ink to spread upward—sometimes in little streaks, again in a bulging way, giving an uneven, undulating boundary. Should the paper be folded across the ink the result would be a single figure, while an allowance of an eighth or quarter of an inch space before creasing the paper gives two designs, one a duplicate because a print of the other. A similar method of making ink-impressions is to splash the fluid on the paper with a paint-brush and then to fold and press it; or, group drops of ink with the splash of a brush and press the two sides of the paper together.

The ink-impressions may be made to take the form of

=Landscapes and Marines=

Often very pretty effects can be produced in this simple manner. Fig. 244 is a suggestion showing a stretch of sky with mountains as a background and points of land jutting [Illustration: Ink Marine. Fig. 245.] out into the sea for the middle distance, while the foreground is entirely of water, which reflects the distant purple hills. The picture is readily made, but the work must be rapid to insure success, as delays cause the ink to dry in spots, which ruin the design. Fold through the centre a piece of blank, unruled paper from a large-sized writing pad; open it and on the upper portion mark the sections according to diagram Fig. 245. The dotted line indicates the crease through the centre of the paper and gives the distance at which the first sections should be placed above the fold. With a lead-pencil lightly trace the divisions: have ready a bottle of ink, a common water-color brush, a glass of water and a clean dinner-plate. Dip the brush in the ink and dab it on the plate several times; then do the same with the water, mixing ink and water together. Try the strength of this mixture on a scrap of paper; if it corresponds to the tone of the second point of land in Fig. 244 (or A in the diagram) it is ready for use. B and D (Fig. 245) require a degree lighter than A, so mix more water than ink on a clean place in the plate. C (Fig. 245) is the faintest mountain and needs the most water mixed with ink. Use ink as it comes from the bottle for E (Fig. 245), the nearest point of land, as that is the darkest portion. Test the three tones and keep changing them, adding more water as needed, until you are satisfied that each one is of the required strength; then wash the brush clean and be sure everything is ready for the work. Having once commenced, you cannot stop an instant until the sketch is finished; understand exactly what you intend to do and how you are to do it before beginning, as there will be

=No Time for Deliberation,=

and you must work as fast as possible. Dip the brush in the lightest tone of diluted ink, have it well charged with the fluid, and in swift strokes paint C. Without stopping, take up the next lightest tone on the brush and sweep in B and D, then the darker, A, and finish with E in pure ink. Fold the paper immediately, and, holding it down flat on the table with the left hand, press with the right; rub the paper all over again and again, being sure to cover the entire surface in order to print the mountains on the lower portion of the paper. The study will then be finished with the exception of the sailing-vessel, which may be indicated with a few strokes. Bring the brush to a fine point and trace in ink the lines of Fig. 246. First make the central vertical line, then the slanting line on the right-hand side which joins the mast a short distance from the top, from the same point extend two lines down on the left. Fig. 247 is the hull of the vessel, and the straight line crossing it a short distance from the top denotes the narrow space to be left white. Fig. 248 shows the complete outline of the craft, intentionally made as simple as possible, to enable any girl to introduce the boat into the sketch without difficulty. As is seen in Fig. [Illustration: Fig. 249.] 244, the boat is filled in with black and duplicates itself in the shadow reflected on the water, but the shadow must be made with the brush; it cannot be printed from the boat. The chrysalis of the

=Ink Butterfly=

(Fig. 249) was made of two or three ink-blots and a splash of ink from a paint-brush. This chrysalis did [Illustration: Fig. 250.] not in the least resemble a real one, but when the paper was folded along the edge of the ink a butterfly appeared.

On soft-finish paper write any word you choose; then, while the ink is wet, fold the paper, and upon opening it you will find

=An Odd Design=

Figs. 250 and 251 were made in this way; both from written words which represent most desirable states of mind. When you can gain Fig. 250 you will surely have Fig. 251.

=The Fantastic Horses=

(Fig. 252) gave no hint of what might be expected when they were first seen in the form of a group of shiny black spots, and it was only after opening the folded paper that they revealed their true character as extravaganza animals with legs different in length and extraordinary eyes.

You can make creatures wilder in appearance than these, and in this way form a collection of pictures of the animals you have never known.

Fig. 253 represents

=A Pair of Birds=

of a peculiar kind, found nowhere but inside ink-bottles. Others may come from the same source, but none will be precisely like these. Try the experiment of ink-drops on pieces of muslin; work rapidly and you will be delighted with the results.

If you are fond of

=Nature Study=

and happen to have vines or any other kind of house plants, you can make valuable ink sketches from them. Break off a few pieces of the main growth. Take one at a time, and with the left hand hold the spray either in the bright sunlight or lamplight in such a way as to cast a distinct clean shadow upon the paper pad that is placed beneath it. With a brush dipped into the ink, paint over the shadow; be careful to follow every turn and twist of leaf and stem, that the sketch may be true in every detail. You will find the work to be quick and easy and the results satisfactory. In no other [Illustration: Fig. 254.] way can better characteristic growth of the various specimens be obtained. Notice carefully Fig. 254, [Illustration: Fig. 255.] and it will give a true idea of the plant; and Fig. 255, how naturally and gracefully the vine turns in curving lines. Fig. 256 gives sprigs from four different plants. Can you name them? All the studies are decorative and furnish original designs for embroidery, [Illustration: Fig. 256.] or wood-carving, but, best of all, you can make and use this kind of ink-pictures as illustrations for the book in which you write down your notes on Nature study, and so be able, after describing a plant, to give an original, realistic picture of it.

Small specimens can be painted with ink, root and all forming one picture, but larger plants must be separated at the centres and a study made of each part, the two halves being placed side by side on the same piece of paper.