Brilliant cut

“ FROM THE NAPLES EDITION OF THE 'ARTE DE ASTROLOGIA' OR 'LUNARE' OF GRANOLLACHS, FOR THE YEAR 1485. (REDUCED.)
Passing now from the purchase of woodcuts to their imitation, we may look, first of all, at the simplest and easiest form in which a design could be reproduced. The impression from a woodcut is, of course, a reversal of the design as it appears on the block, and an artist not very confident of his own skill would naturally shrink from the rather difficult task of copying the printed cut in reverse in order that his own sketch might print in the same way as its original. ”

“ The first cut should, if possible, be deep enough to get beneath the scale, especially if turning cast iron, as a tool which just grazes the hard outer surface will be dulled in a comparatively short time. ”

“ The fair and the dark, the lean and the reverse, do not now bedeck themselves with the same all pervading tint or cut, whether it suits them well or ill, just because it is "all the go." Even the almost universal cut of to-day is most usually graceful and of quiet tone. ”

“ When such an edge—almost as thin as paper—comes in contact with a stiff beard, unless the the blade is held very flat upon the face, it is quite likely to bend and spring, and a cut will be the result. ”

“ A. The virtue of work in hard material is the expression of form in shallow relief, or in broad contours; deep cutting in hard material is inadmissible, and the art, at once pompous and trivial, of gem engraving, has been in the last degree destructive of the honour and service of sculpture.
B. The virtue of work in soft material is deep cutting, with studiously graceful disposition of the masses of light and shade. The greater number of flamboyant churches of France are cut out of an adhesive chalk ”

“ At my right hand is a woman cutting wood. This is part of the women’s work, and they have learned the art of using their cutlasses so well, that, in a short time, they cut and carry on their heads more than I can raise from the ground. ”

“ So much might be said on this topic that we feel we should be overlooking a most important factor in successful cutting if we did not make some allusion to it, for not only must we have the seams to run in graceful curves and devoid of all sharp angles, etc., but they must be also arranged so as to bring out the special points of beauty which exist in a more or less degree in every figure, as well as toning down other prominent points which detract from its graceful appearance. ”

“ Here we can find the reasons why certain parts can be worked the very contrary, and both ways will fit, and for this reason a newly-arrived jour. should be thoroughly instructed by the cutter, as to how things must be put together according to his cutting, and the cutter himself should be a good tailor, or at least he should know how it is to be made, even if he can not do the sewing. A cutter who is a thorough tailor himself will always be a better cutter than the one who only knows how to cut, all other things being equal. ”

“ Fig. 15 illustrates the feeds that are often used when turning cast iron. The view to the left shows a deep roughing cut and the one to the right, a finishing cut. By using a broad flat cutting edge set parallel to the tool's travel, and a coarse feed for finishing, a smooth cut can be taken in a comparatively short time. Castings which are close to the finished size in the rough can often be finished to advantage by taking a single cut with a broad tool, provided the work is sufficiently rigid. ”

“ The finest emery paper, glued on a strip of wood and used as a strop, will impart to a razor an edge sufficiently keen to enable it to remove the beard, and if paper three or four degrees coarser be used, a very dull knife or razor may be sharpened, and afterwards stropped on the finer emery until it is keen enough to cut a hair. But it will be found that cutting edges produced in this way are not smooth enough for section-cutting. ”

“ On the contrary, in later sculpture, the hair receives almost the principal care of the workman; and, while the features and limbs are clumsily and bluntly executed, the hair is curled and twisted, cut into bold and shadowy projections, and arranged in masses elaborately ornamental: there is true sublimity in the lines and the chiaroscuro of these masses, but it is, as regards the creature represented, parasitical, and therefore picturesque. ”

“ Absolutely, an immense disadvantage,—a woodcut never can be so beautiful or good a thing as a painting, or line engraving. But in its own separate and useful way, an excellent thing, because, practiced rightly, it exercises in the artist, and summons in you, the habit of abstraction; that is to say, of deciding what are the essential points in the things you see, and seizing these; a habit entirely necessary to strong humanity; and so natural to all humanity, that it leads, in its indolent and undisciplined states, to all the vulgar amateur's liking of sketches better than pictures. ”

“ THEY FIRST EXEMPLIFIED THE ART OF CUTTING, An elegant term, that is in equal request at the sister university, as well as amongst the coxcombs of the day, adds Wilson, though the members of St. John’s are celebrated for the origin of the term “to cut,”—i. e. “to look an old friend in the face, and affect not to know him,” which is the cut direct. Those who would be more deeply read in this art, which has been greatly improved since the days in which it originated, will find it at large in the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam.
CROMWELL’S SOLDIERS AT A DISPUTATION AT OXFORD.
It was a custom of Dr. ”

“ Our plasterer fits in the new mortar up to the charcoal mark the next morning, and so we proceed bit by bit as if we were putting together a puzzle, until the whole is completed.
It is hardly necessary to say that it is very desirable that each cutting should correspond with some natural division of the work. Thus, in painting a female head, we might paint the hair and diadem the first day, and go on with the face and neck the next, stopping at the necklace. In real fresco nothing can be retouched. Every day’s work must be finished and complete in the minutest detail. ”

“ In pressing and dressing this scalp, I will assume that merely the points of the lower hair are to be removed, therefore push back with a comb the same as though you were about cutting a lady’s hair, and remove the ends with a sharp razor. Even this must be done in a particular manner, and is to be produced by a kind of sliding motion. Let me tell you the object which is to be attained, that you may the more readily understand what and how to do it. The natural ends of hair are finer and more pointed than they would be if cut. ”

“ In the second half of the century at Paris excellent woodcut portraits, mostly in an oval frame, are sometimes found on titlepages, and in other cases decoration is supplied by a neatly cut device. Where illustrations are needed for the explanation of works on hunting or any other subjects they are mostly well drawn and cut. But 202 the use of woodcuts in books of imaginative literature became more and more rare.
At Lyon, as at Paris, at the beginning of the century the store of fifteenth century cuts was freely drawn on for popular editions. ”

“ And as to cutting, it is only necessary to place the number of pieces of fabric desired to be cut in cutting dies, or upon a table, and over them an “over-board” cutter, which comprises a reciprocating band-saw, or a rotary knife, all quick, keen and delicate, in an apparatus guided by hand, in order to produce in the operation a great pile of the parts formerly so slowly produced, one at a time, by scissors or shears. ”

“ This method of cutting is quite dangerous, so care must be taken. Perhaps, a less dangerous method, tho not so practical, is to heat the bar red and cut the piece off with a hot chisel and sledge, or on the hardie, if one has no helper. ”

“ When the rough stock is only a little larger than the finished diameter, a single cut is sufficient, but if there is considerable metal to turn away, one or more deep roughing cuts would have to be taken, and, finally, a light cut for finishing. ”

“ Be sure to lay all the pieces of the pattern on the cloth before cutting. Find a flat surface. Remember that the wide end of a gore is apt to cut to better advantage at the end of the piece of cloth. Can the gores be fitted so as to cut more economically? (Fig. 34.) Pin the parts carefully, not using too many pins. Mark all the notches with pencil, chalk, or basting thread. Do not cut notches; one is liable to be careless and to make them too large. Use long cuts, and make even edges in cutting. Good shears help.
EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS ”

“ In fitting clothing according to the present style, a cutter must see, though he is compelled to cut a coat for a long neck higher than usual, that it gets not too high, but as low as possible for that purpose, and cutters who are not above trying on will often find it to advantage to change the height of the collar a trifle, thought the fit may be the same for all. ”

“ And throughout the last century of that period, from about 1470 onwards, the woodcut enjoyed a supremacy without rival as the process for book illustration, till the competition of the copper plate, engraved or etched, became serious, and finally drove the woodblock out of the field. In the fifteenth century we rarely know the names of the illustrators, and it is generally uncertain whether the designers of the blocks also actually cut them ”

“ A great deal. What I crave most in the world is a hair-cut, and only a barber can do that for me. My hair has been growing for more than three months, Uncle Steve, and you've seen how extremely thick it is. ”

“ B. If it need not be cut work, but only the reproduction of a drawing, what methods of executing a light-and-shade drawing will be best? [Pg 8]
C. Is the shaded drawing itself to be considered only as a deficient or imperfect painting, or as a different thing from a painting, having a virtue of its own, belonging to black and white, as opposed to color?
17. I will give you the answers at once, briefly, and amplify them afterwards.
A. All engraving must be cut work;—that is its differentia. Unless your effect be produced by cutting into some solid substance, it is not engraving at all. ”

“ Barbers sought to give a man a haircut that would favor his appearance, for instance a long slender beard for a round face to make it seem narrower and a broad and large cut for a lean and straight face. ”

“ Some of the pleasantness of the effect of lines printed from a woodcut is due to the fact that they print a more clearly cut line. The line eaten in by "process" when examined under a very strong magnifying glass proves to be a slightly jagged one. ”

“ The readiest and most simple plan, if the piece be large enough, is to hold it in the left hand, and, having brought the surface to a perfect 20level by cutting off several rather thick slices, endeavor to cut a thin section by the aid of a very sharp razor, the blade of which must be kept well flooded with spirit. As in the use of Valentin’s knife, so here, great care must be taken steadily to draw the blade across the tissue, every effort being made to avoid pushing the knife, else the section will be torn off, instead of being cut. ”

“ When a chief who had lost a relative or friend had his own hair cut after any particular pattern, his followers and dependants usually imitated it in cutting theirs. Not to cut or shave off the hair indicates want of respect towards the deceased and the surviving friends; but to have it cut close in any form is enough. Each one usually follows his own taste, which produces the endless variety in which this ornamental appendage of the head is worn by the natives during a season of mourning. ”

“ But if the cutter once realises that the human figure has its points of depression and prominence, and that the garment he is cutting has to fit that, and not to lie flat and smooth on a board, then he will realise the importance of the form of fit.
The form of style
May then claim his attention. Fashion must be consulted, but if he would be an artist tailor he must tone down fashion follies by the application of art rules. If the' garment is loose and baggy, vertical lines may be introduced to take away the shortening tendency of the amplitude of width. ”

“ As the front of the pit of the stomach opens and becomes longer, it will pull the front of the coat upward. If we cut the waist through in front and sidewise, this cut will fall apart in front and at the side, and the back will set smoothly. ”

“ The center of the front cannot be manipulated like the back, because there are no seams in the forepart passing from one end to the other, except in a double-breasted coat with the lapels cut off. It is true, we can cut small gores under the lapel or at the waist to make the forepart conform to the body, but they must be well understood by the cutter as well as by the coat maker. ”

“ Some are of such a soft and yielding nature that any attempt to cut them is an utter failure, for in place of a perfect section being obtained, nothing remains upon the knife but a mass of diffluent pulp; others, again, are of such density as to resist the action of any cutting instrument. ”

“ There are three or four cutters, and one piece of wood may be placed under each. Under the middle cutter, replaced by a dummy tool that does not really cut, the workman places his cast or model, and makes the dummy cutter pass over every undulation of its surface. ”

“ Some artists are given to fancy attitudes such as best set off the coats, they are but nature's journeymen at the faces; don't fancy that the cut, colour, or cloth of your coat will exempt you from the penalty of their practice. ”

“ We give an example, one of them in which a small boy, said to be a young brother of the artist, is pulling a colt's tail, while the mother is rushing to his rescue. This little cut gives an admirable idea of their style. Many of them are humorous, many very pathetic, many grimly sarcastic, and all perfectly original. ”