Part 19
Other colours may be made,—viz., lake and Indian red, which produce a deep red; verditure and indigo, for blues; orpiment, pink, yellow ochre, for yellows; verdigris and green verditure, for green, &c. All these colours should be ground with soft varnish, being in themselves driers, or they will choke up the form. The consistency of the ink must be governed by the quality of the work to be executed. For a posting-bill or coarse job, the ink should be very thin, the proportion of varnish being much greater than required for fine work. Should the work be a wood-cut, or small type, the pigment should be made as thick as possible.
The best colours for printing are those of the lightest body and brightest colour.
HOW TO USE DRY COLOURS.
To produce fine qualities of coloured printing inks by mixing pure dry colours with varnish, the printer will do well to give heed to the following particulars:—
1. No more should be mixed at a time than will be required for the job in hand.
2. Coloured inks should be mixed upon a slate or marble slab, by means of the muller, and never upon an iron or other metallic table. The table, before mixing, should be thoroughly clean, and perfectly free from the slightest soil or trace of other inks.
3. For working coloured inks, the roller should not be too hard, and should possess a biting, elastic face. When change of colour is required, it should be cleaned with turpentine, and a moist sponge passed over the face, allowing a few minutes for the roller to dry before resuming its use.
For bronze printing, the roller should have a firm face, or the tenacity of the preparation may destroy it; yet it must have sufficient elasticity to deposit the preparation freely and cleanly on the type.
4. Various shades may be produced by observing the following directions:—
BRIGHT PINK INK.—Use carmine or crimson lake.
DEEP SCARLET.—To carmine add a little deep vermilion.
BRIGHT RED.—To pale vermilion add carmine.
DEEP LILAC.—To cobalt blue add a little carmine.
PALE LILAC.—To carmine add a little cobalt blue.
BRIGHT PALE BLUE.—Cobalt.
DEEP BRONZE BLUE.—Chinese.
GREEN.—To pale chrome add Chinese blue; any shade can be obtained by increasing or diminishing either colour.
EMERALD GREEN.—Mix pale chrome with a little Chinese blue, then add the emerald until the tint is satisfactory.
AMBER.—To pale chrome add a little carmine.
DEEP BROWN.—Burnt umber, with a little scarlet lake.
PALE BROWN.—Burnt sienna; a rich shade is made by adding a little lake as above.
5. GOLD PREPARATION. Print as with ordinary ink, then put on the bronze powder with a broad camel-hair brush; allow the impressions to remain a short time for the preparation to set, then clean off the superfluous bronze: the impressions will be much improved if passed through rollers.
HOW TO MULTIPLY COLOURS.
A printer who has on hand a stock of yellow, carmine, blue, and black inks, may produce other colours and shades by intermixing as follows:—
Yellow and carmine, mixed, will give Vermilion. Carmine and blue Purple. Blue and black Deep blue. Carmine, yellow, and black Brown. Yellow and blue Green. Yellow and black Bronze green. Yellow, blue, and black Deep green.
Lighter shades may be obtained by adding proper proportions of white ink.
CONTRAST OF COLOURS.
It is wrongly supposed that the art of arranging colours so as to produce the best effects in printing is entirely dependent on the taste of the operator; for harmony is determined by fixed natural laws. The increasing demand for decorative or ornamental work renders it of some importance to the letter-press printer to make himself acquainted with these laws; as, without some attention to them, the most elegant designs of the type founder, and the finest inks that can be made, may yield but an indifferent, if not a decidedly unpleasing, result.
The following remarks will be of use to persons to whom the subject is new; but for a thorough explanation of it they should refer to Chevreul on _Colours_,—a valuable work in the French language, which has been translated into English.
I. We may, in the first place, consider WHITE LIGHT as composed of three primary colours—blue, red, and yellow—duly blended; these three, in an infinite variety of proportion, serving to produce all the hues in creation. If we take any two of these primaries and mix them, we have a _secondary_ colour. Thus, blue and red form _violet_, blue and yellow give _green_, red and yellow make _orange_. Each of these secondary colours harmonizes perfectly with the primary which does not enter into its composition. Violet, for instance,—itself a mixture of red and blue,—harmonizes with yellow; green, having no red in its composition, agrees well with red; orange, in the same way, forms a perfect contrast with blue. Either of these contrasts has the effect of mutually brightening the colours employed; a red and a green, &c. being more beautiful when placed side by side than when viewed singly. This is termed the HARMONY OF CONTRAST OF COLOURS; and a good example of it is seen in the scarlet geranium, or the holly; the one showing a light green leaf opposed to a bright red flower, and the other a deep green leaf with a dark red berry.
The _mixing_ of colours is a very different thing from _contrasting_ them; for strange as it may seem, although one combination of the primary colours gives _white_, yet another proportion will produce _black_. While, then, red and green look beautiful side by side, it does not generally answer to print red ink on _green paper_. The reason is, that as the ink is slightly transparent, some of the green shows through it, and appears somewhat black, and thus lowers the brilliance of the red in the same degree as so much black ink would, if mixed with it. This remark will apply to orange or yellow on a blue paper, &c. The darker and fuller the body of colour used, the less it is affected in this manner.
The most perfect contrasts are those above mentioned, which are formed by the complementary colours; yet the primaries blue, red, and yellow also agree well together. But if such colours as are not in harmony are placed near each other, the effect is very damaging to their brightness. While red is made more brilliant by the proximity of green, it is dimmed and spoiled by placing it next an orange. Neither blue nor red contrasts well with violet, because the latter contains each of these colours in its composition. In any case where they must come into juxtaposition, the unpleasant effect may be lessened by adding a little of the opposite colour: so, if a violet is to contrast with red, it will be well to give it a shade of blue, making it more _purple_; if, on the other hand, it is to contrast with blue or green, it should be made _redder_.
II. COLOURS WITH BLACK. In all contrasts, the depth of the colour is an important element, but especially so in such as are to be affected by the presence of black. In but few instances will the latter bear the neighbourhood of a very deep colour to advantage, while it harmonizes with the lighter ones by contrast of tone. Yellow, from its near approach to white, should always be worked “full;” orange and green should also be full, and moderately deep in tone, to contrast with black. If a blue is employed, it should be light, or it will impoverish the black and be weakened itself. A very light blue border, with a broad margin of white between it and the body of matter enclosed, will give a clean, bright look to black ink, and whiteness to the paper. A light pink (such as carmine reduced with flake-white or with clear varnish) is also good; yet perhaps the preceding is preferable. Dark and heavy borders are frequently a positive injury to printing, where the working in a light shade would have secured a good effect; for the border should always be so far secondary to the matter enclosed as not to draw off the attention too much to itself.
III. COLOURS ON TINTED PAPERS AND TINTED GROUNDS. Besides the kind of harmony already mentioned, there is another, which is produced by the contrast of light and dark shades of the _same_ colour. This might be employed in letter-press more frequently than it is at present, with some advantage, as the effects it is capable of yielding are very chaste and pleasing. In a photograph or an engraving, all the effect is dependent on difference of tones of one colour; and the beauty of a wood in summer consists chiefly in the contrast displayed by a variety of shades of green only. A deep green ink on a paper of a light tone of the same colour is especially good, if a heavy letter is used; and indeed in most printing in colours, full, solid-faced letter should be preferred to outlines or shaded ones, which are difficult to work, and have at best but an inferior appearance unless the darkest tones are employed. A deep blue on a light blue ground, or against a light blue border, is also good; and without the latter accompaniment it is not unpleasant on a blue wove writing-paper. To secure the proper effect, however, the tints should be of the same _hue_; that is, if the groundwork is of a bluish green, the colour that is to be worked upon it should also be a green inclining to blue; if, on the other hand, the ground is of a yellower green, the body of ink should also be yellower; and so on. This may easily be managed by adding a small portion of ink of the colour required, until the hue is matched.
IV. NEUTRAL TINTS. In selecting borders for the more chaste description of printing, it is a pretty safe rule to avoid such as cover much surface, if they are to be worked in any strong colour or in black. When lighter tints are used, they will bear extension over a larger surface; and in this case a pale gray or neutral border will have a beneficial effect on any body with which it is contrasted, as well as on black itself, which is purified by its proximity. If the central printing is in black _only_, or in black and yellow, a _lavender_ gray may be substituted for the border. And in any case in which the central matter is all in one colour, it will improve it to have a border of gray which is _slightly tinged with the complementary of such colour_. Thus, if the body be red, a very small portion of _green_ may be added to the gray; and so forth.
It must be remembered that in ornamental printing absolute cleanliness is indispensable. The same roller should never be used for different colours, even after it has been washed. Instead of hanging exposed to dust and to the air, rollers should be kept in a tightly-closed box; and in this manner they will remain a long time in good order. The tins of ink should be similarly preserved, and the lids never left off except at the moment of using from them. These are small matters; but it is only by patient attention to minute details that excellence can be attained in printing.
OILING A PRESS.
Excessive lubrication is wasteful, unclean, and hurtful to a press. A small quantity of oil should be used at a time, as a large amount will overrun on the press, and hold the dust and grit caused by sweeping the floor; these, working into the journals, will wear the press more than use. The best oil should be used, whether sperm, lard, or coal. Kerosene may be used to clean the ways of a press when they have become gummed by the use of improper oil. Presses should always be kept scrupulously clean.
HOW TO TREAT WOOD TYPE.
To prevent warping, all very large wood type should be set up on the edge when put away, so that both sides may be equally exposed to the air. In cleaning it, neither ley nor water should be employed under any circumstances. Turpentine, camphene, benzine, or kerosene oil may be used; but turpentine and camphene are the best. Procure a small, shallow pan; lay the form flat on a board; pour about six tablespoonfuls of turpentine into the pan; touch the face of the brush to the turpentine, and pass it quickly over the form before it evaporates. Six to eight spoonfuls of fluid will be found sufficient to clean a large form, if thus used.
WAREHOUSE DEPARTMENT.
THE WAREHOUSEMAN.
The warehouseman should be a man sober and upright, and thoroughly competent to the business, on whom entire reliance may be placed,—one who will act upon the principle of making his employer’s interest the end of all his action. The employer or foreman should frequently look to the concerns of the warehouse, and see that all the work is forwarded with despatch and accuracy.
The warehouseman should be provided with a book, termed “The Warehouse Book,” with pages annexed, on the following plan, and about the size of foolscap quarto:—
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |BUTLER’S NEW AMERICAN ARITHMETIC. (NO. PRINTED, 5000.) | +--------+------------------+----------+------------------+------------+ | | RECEIPT OF |NO. OF |TO WHOM | | | DATE. | PAPER, AND OF |COPIES |DELIVERED, AND |FOR WHOM. | | | WHOM. |DELIVERED.|RECEIPTED FOR. | | +--------+------------------+----------+------------------+------------+ | | | | | | |1878. | | | | | |May 3. | 43 reams of E. C.| | | | | | & P. H. Warren. | | | | |June 8. | 40 ditto. | | | | | ” 24. | | 2500 |Speel & Co. |J. H. Butler| | ” 30. | | 2000 |R. Eyelet, binder.| & Co. | |Aug. 4. | | 300 |Paul Picot. | ” | | ” 5. | With waste | 230 |Wm. Crouse. | ” | | | | ---- | | | | | | 5030 | | | +--------+------------------+----------+------------------+------------+
When the paper is brought, the warehouseman should at once compare it with the bill of delivery, and, if right, enter the quantity immediately into the warehouse book. The number of printed copies delivered to the binder or publisher should also be entered, and his signature be taken at the time of delivery. This plan will prevent disputes with the bookseller or author relative to the receipt of paper or the delivery of sheets.
Having entered the receipt of the paper, the warehouseman should then write on each bundle, with red chalk, the title of the book it is to be used for, and remove it into a convenient part of the warehouse, or into a store-room provided for that purpose.
GIVING OUT PAPER TO WET.
A bundle of paper consists of two reams, or forty quires, each quire containing twenty-four sheets. Formerly, the two outside quires were called cassie quires, as they were mostly made up of torn, stained, wrinkled, or otherwise imperfect sheets. At present, all the quires are considered good, although some outer sheets are injured by the twine used in tying up the bundles.
It is the general custom to print of every work what is termed an _even_ number,—either 250, 500, 750, 1000, &c. These quantities are given out for the wetter in _tokens_,—viz.: for 250 sheets, one token, containing 10 quires 18 sheets; for 500, two tokens, one 11 quires, and the other 10 quires and a half; for 750, three tokens, two of them 11 quires each, and the other 10 quires 6 sheets; and for 1000, four tokens, three of them 11 quires each, and the other 10 quires. If a work is printed in half-sheets, it of course requires only half the above quantities.
It would be difficult to form any positive and invariable rule for the quantity to be given out for short numbers, as it must depend in some degree upon the quality of the paper. The more expensive papers, on which, generally, short numbers or line copies are printed, must be given out more sparingly than common paper, and the tympan and register sheets be supplied by a more common sort, cut to the size of the finer. For numbers up to 150, on ordinary paper, six sheets over will be sufficient. Some publishers are very testy on this point of allowance for waste.
In giving out paper for what are termed _jobs_, the amount necessary can easily be found by a simple calculation in division.
For example, a job, (label or any thing else,) 750 in number, 32 on a sheet, will require 24 sheets, which will give an overplus of 18. Where a sheet has to be cut into many parts, allowance must be made for accidents. The overplus sheets are allowed for tympan-sheets, register-sheets, and other incidents, such as bad sheets, faults committed in rolling, pulling, bad register, &c.; in any of these casualties, the pressman doubles the sheet in the middle and lays it across the heap. In laying out the paper, the warehouseman reverses every other token, to enable the wetter to distinguish the different tokens. When this is done, he labels the heap, thus: _American Printer, May 10, 1878_,—that the pressman may know how long it has been wet, and the state it is in for working.
32)750(23 64 --- 110 96 --- 14
HANGING UP PAPER TO DRY.
When the paper is worked off and counted, the warehouseman carries the heap to the drying-room, where the poles are fixed for the purpose of hanging the sheets upon to dry, and lays it down on a table of convenient height, with one end of the heap toward him. He then takes the handle of the peel in one hand, and lays the top part down upon the heap, so that the upper edge may reach near the middle of the sheet; then, with the other hand, he doubles over as much of the printed paper as he thinks sufficient to hang up at one lift, which should be about twelve sheets, according to the pole-room to hang them.
In hanging up the lifts, he places them so that each lift will lap about an inch over the preceding one. It is necessary, where the end of the pole is exposed to a strong current of air from a window, to _lock_ the last lift. This is done by folding a lift two or three times, so as to concentrate its weight in a small compass, and hanging this over the last lift near the window.
TAKING DOWN SHEETS WHEN DRY.
When the sheets are sufficiently dry, the warehouseman takes his peel and begins with the last lift hung up, on account of the wrapper being with that lift, and proceeds in the reverse order of hanging them up, successively taking them down, and brushing them, if dusty, till he has finished the whole.
Another way of taking the sheets down from the poles is, to lay the flat side of the peel against the edge of that lift which hangs over the other sheets, and push the peel forward, forcing them to slide, one lift over another. But by this method the dust which settles on the sheets while hanging is rubbed in.
FILLING IN AND PRESSING SHEETS.
When the sheets are taken down, the warehouseman removes them to the warehouse, where they are filled in between smooth pasteboards made for the purpose. This operation is generally performed by boys, who, after a little practice, become exceedingly expert at it. We shall try to be somewhat minute in our description of this operation. We will suppose the pasteboards to have sheets between them, which will be the case after they have been once used. The warehouse being provided with long tables or benches, secured to the wall, and a sufficient number of movable tables about the size of the largest paper, the warehouseman places one of the small tables endwise against the long one, forming a right angle, upon which to lay the pressed sheets as they come out of the boards; the boy then takes his stand at the right side of the table, with the dry unpressed sheets at his right hand and the pasteboards at his left, somewhat elevated, leaving sufficient space before him to fill in the sheets. He then proceeds as follows. He first moistens the thumb of his right hand and reaches across to the pasteboards at his left, drawing one off with his thumb and placing it before him; he then catches a sheet of the dry paper also with his right hand and places it as near the centre of the pasteboard as possible; then, twisting his body nimbly round to the left, he slides the pressed sheet from the pile of pasteboards to the table at his left side, and, in resuming his former position, again draws off a pasteboard with his thumb; and so on, till the gross or bundle is filled. It is then laid aside, and another bundle filled and laid across the former, taking care always to keep the bundles separated until they are put in press, when they are separated by smooth boards made of cherry or other hard wood. The bundles being all filled in, the warehouseman proceeds to fill up the standing-press, putting in one bundle at a time and placing a pressing-board between them; there should also be a stout plank introduced between the top board and the platen. In case the press should not hold quite as much as desired, more may be got in by unscrewing the press after it has been once screwed down. The press is finally screwed down as tight as possible. It should remain so for at least twelve hours, when it should be entirely emptied before the sheets are taken out of the boards. The sides of the piles or heaps must be kept perfectly even. In large offices, hydraulic presses are used.
COUNTING OUT AND PUTTING AWAY SHEETS.
When the sheets are taken out, the warehouseman knocks them up, and, after counting them into quires, ties them up in wrappers, marking the name of the work and signature on each bundle. Two or three sheets of each signature should be laid aside, in case the author, bookseller, or employer should want a copy of the work or a specimen of as many sheets as are finished.
STANDARD SIZES OF MACHINE-MADE PAPER.
(_Furnished by A. G. Elliot & Co., Philadelphia._)
PRINTING PAPER.
Medium inches, 19 × 24 Royal 20 × 25 Super Royal 21 × 27 Imperial 22 × 32 Royal and Half, 25 × 30 Double Medium 24 × 38 Imperial and Half 32 × 33 Double Super Royal 27 × 42 Double Imperial, 32 × 44.
Other sizes kept on hand, but without technical names, are as follows:—22 × 28; 24 × 36; 25 × 39; 26 × 40; 28 × 42.
WRITING PAPER.
Note inches, 8 × 10 Packet Note 9 × 11½ Letter 10 × 16 Commercial Post 11 × 17 Packet Post 11½ × 18½ Foolscap 13 × 16 Flat Cap 14 × 17 Crown 15 × 19 Demy 16 × 21 Folio 17 × 22 Medium 18 × 23 Royal 19 × 24 Super Royal 20 × 28 Imperial 23 × 31 Elephant 23 × 28 Columbier 23 × 34 Atlas 26 × 33 Double Elephant 27 × 40 Antiquarian 31 × 53
A TABLE
_For ascertaining the Number of Forms for a Book of any Size, and the Quantity of Paper necessary to print a thousand copies in any form, from Octavo to 36mo, half-sheetwise._