Color printing

“ In no other way can a printer know for example what colors are complementary or what effect a certain color will have upon another when they are used together.
There are many curious facts about color which do not appear to be regulated by laws at all similar to those we are accustomed to apply in other matters; that there is this universal and radical difference is of great importance to those who use color in printing. It is interesting to realize that color is produced by light waves, the different colors by waves of different lengths, or greater frequency ”

“ The greatest difficulty in 3-color printing nowadays is presented by the want of accurate printing. We must use the proper paper and pure fast colors; the inking rollers should be smooth, not too soft, and free from pores or weals. The blocks must be firmly fixed typehigh, otherwise they take color irregularly. A good printing machine is, of course, most essential.
To supplement the above working directions: After having kept the plates for 2 or 3 minutes (constantly moving the dish) in the dyes, they are removed into a dish containing filtered alcohol, which extracts the superfluous pigment. ”

“ The quality in a painting which is known as "values" may quite easily be regarded by the printer as signifying to him the same as tone. Careful study will show him that there is a difference, and also that value is a vital element in his work which has for him a real significance. Value may not unfairly be considered to be an element of tone. It relates to the intensity of light; not the brilliancy of color, but the capacity that resides in color to reflect light. In color printing the value of the most common colors ranks with yellow first, then orange, green, red, blue, and violet. ”

“ The object to be painted or printed has a lot to do with the selection of colors. It is well to study the subject carefully.
Printing pressmen have their problems. When printing on white material which is a neutral color he does not encounter the obstacles as when printing colored inks on colored material.
All fine pictorial color printing is executed on white material, this being the only way to get pure coloring, as it is generally printed with transparent ink.
8 MIXING TINTS
Paints, Inks, Etc. ”

“ A large tin cover into which a thick piece of felt is fitted serves as a color pad. Pains should be taken [Pg 130] to have the right quantity of dye well spread on the pad. Too much color makes the printing less clear. When a trial on a piece of the goods is right a large number of imprints can then be made. The secret of good work is a nice adjustment of the color pad and then uniformity of pressure on the block, both in taking color from the pad and in making the imprint. The printing is done on a flat surface with a single layer of blotter beneath the textile. ”

“ This method of printing red with black, a clumsy method at best, which can be practised only on small forms on the hand-press, has been out of fashion for many years.—The color work of the early printers has been overpraised. Superior, no doubt, to that of printers of the last century, who tried to do more work in less time, it cannot be compared with the color work of our time. ”

“ The printer handling color is making an appeal of the most subtle and delicate nature, vastly more so than is made by the type matter that may form the body of the piece of printing he is embellishing with color. ”

“ The modern printer, who sees that the chief ingredients of printing ink are the well-known materials smoke-black and oil, may think that an ignorance of this mixture, or an inability to discover it, is ridiculous and inexcusable. Modern printing ink is but one of many inventions which could be named as illustrating the real simplicity of a long delayed improvement. Simple as it may seem, the mixing of color with oil was a great invention which wrought a revolution in the art of painting. ”

“ There are no explicit rules for the guidance of the printer in the use of color. There are certain fundamental principles, and many rules deduced from them, a thorough acquaintance with which will enable him to avoid serious blunders and greatly aid him in the working out of a scheme; but that sense of rightness which the successful artist or craftsman occasionally experiences, cannot be won by the mere following of the letter and the spirit of rules. ”

“ As each color is placed, the plate is wiped clean with rags as already described, and when all the colors have been properly placed, the plate is pulled through the press in the same manner as in ordinary printing.
The successful printer of color plates must be a rare artist or else work under the direction of an artist. Little of this work is now done except in Paris and Vienna, and the limited number of color plates of this kind used for book illustration in this country does not warrant the time and expense necessary to train printers capable of doing the work. ”

“ It must be just enough given over to the red to produce the effect required—no more, no less. There must be red everywhere, but not too much. The simple test will show the printer whether he is overloading his piece with the dominant color or whether he has not yet used enough. The color scheme must be keyed to the required pitch of color, as a piece of music written in a certain key must be kept69 free from notes belonging to another key. ”

“ The printing ink of the fifteenth century, as we now see it, is of unequal merit. In the books of Jenson it appears as an intense, velvety, glossy black; in the Bibles of Gutenberg it is a strong, permanent black, without gloss; in the Psalter of 1457 it appears in some places as a glossy black, and in others as a faded color which had to be retouched with the pen; in the works of the unknown printer it is a dingy and smearing black; in the book of some printers it is a paste color which can be rubbed off with a sponge; in nearly all, it is uneven, over-black on one page and gray on another. ”

“ The danger here is that one is tempted by the vigor of some part of the picture to make the other parts also as strong in color, until by such continued action the print is immersed in the deepest gloom, which becomes still more gloomy after defatting the finished print. Such excess must be avoided as a rule. Experience and taste soon teach one to hit the happy mean.
The first, delicate and general application of ink, which may be considered as a guide print, is in many cases somewhat wearisome, especially when the picture has large areas of rich, deep shadows. ”

“ This sometimes so changes the expected effect of a color scheme that has been carefully studied as to render it inadvisable to use it. It is generally found that optical mixture verifies the taste and judgment of the colorist who has been faithful to the complementary color laws, and helps him to a harmony, rather than condemns his work. Optical mixture is too nearly a mere name for a59 manifestation of the relation of complementary colors to trouble the printer, though a consciousness of it and its effect may at times aid him in producing some delicate effects. ”

“ Tints of any desired depth may be made by using a finely-ground white ink as a basis, and toning it with the color desired.
Varnish tints are made by adding color to full-bodied, well-boiled printers’ varnish, using a little soap and drying preparation to make them work smoothly and dry quickly.
In mixing tints to print with, the muller should be used to rub in the colors thoroughly, otherwise the work is liable to be streaky. It is advisable to mix no more of a tint than is needed for the work in hand. ”

“ In black-and-white printing tone must mean depth of color, and diffusion of color, and the tone can scarcely be otherwise than some shade of gray. If it is advantageous to strive for a certain harmony between literary motive and type motive an appreciation of the technical meaning of tone and the utilization of the unique test suggested may be of great assistance to the printer of black-and-white work. ”

“ The platinum paper is at least three times more sensitive than the silver paper used in the printing-out process, under the reductive action of light the yellow color of the prepared paper turns brown and then becomes of a lighter color, nearly orange, so that the darker parts of the image often appears more luminous than the dark half tints. ”

“ That prepared at home will cost about five cents for the same quantity.
The process of printing with blue paper is as follows: Place the negative in the printing-frame, glass side out, lay a sheet of blue paper on the film side, fasten in the frame and expose to bright sunlight. Blue prints may be made on a cloudy day, but the quicker they are printed the clearer and sharper will be the picture. Print until the shadows are slightly bronzed—that is, have a sort of metallic or shiny look, and are a bluish-green in color. ”

“ Each block, which is usually of zinc and prepared in the usual way, is capable of producing three or more gradations of the same color; the darkest shade from the normal surface, lighter shades being got from parts which have been bitten or corroded in an almost imperceptible degree—the deeper corrosions giving, of course, the lightest shade. When all the tints of one color are thus printed from one block and at one operation, a second block with gradations, in the same way, is used, registering as in chromo-lithography, and so on until the picture is finished. ”

“ Some of the early printers sorted their sheets after printing, separating the under-colored from the over-colored and binding each together. ↑ In trying to avoid the gloominess of early printing, modern printers have gone too far in the opposite direction. The fault of imperfect blackness which is justly censurable in many modern books is largely due to what Hansard calls the "razor-edged" hair lines and thin stems of modern types which give the printer no opportunity to show black color. ”

“ This limitation of the application of the word "color" in printing is quite arbitrary. If we speak in the strictest sense we must consider that black and white work is color work. White is the concentration of all the rays of the solar spectrum, the epitome of all colors; while black is the appearance of the substance that most nearly rejects all reflections of the spectrum colors ”

“ Light and shade means nearly the same as the English idea of tone, to the printer, as it has to do with the distribution of light and shadow in such a manner as will best illustrate the motive of the painter. This important element in graphic art has its value for the printer. It is only necessary to note the part played by light and shade—"light-tone"—in any work of art to conceive how important is its office in good printing, particularly in the printing of the modern process engravings. ”

“ The colours of papers should be fairly fast to light, and with the large variety obtainable by the use of the pigments and dyes now on the market, paper-makers manage to offer a long range of fast colours. Although it may not always be so, fastness usually follows the price of the paper, the cheapest being the most liable to fade quickly. Delicate tints are more expensive because of the necessity of a better quality of paper to take the colours evenly and cleanly. Coloured printing papers should be fairly well sized, well finished, and free from spots and specks. ”

“ Indian or Chinese ink is used, because it does not run when colours are applied. There are conventional colours used to indicate different materials. But colouring is not adopted so much as formerly, because of the practice of making sun prints instead of the more expensive tracings for the multiplication of drawings. When tracings are coloured the colour is applied on the back instead of on the side where the ink lines are drawn.
The economical importance of the printing department of the drawing office cannot be overestimated. ”

“ In dyeing, for instance, it is sufficient, for the most part, to immerse the fabric in an aqueous solution of the dye-stuff, stirring it about constantly or otherwise manipulating it to prevent unevenness. In printing, however, the colour must be applied by special means—either by a wooden block, a stencil or engraved plates, or rollers—and thickened to prevent it from spreading, by capillary attraction, beyond the limits of the pattern or design. ”

“ Transfer printing for ceramic decoration presents many features in common with transfer printing for metal decoration. Printing colour transparencies is a commercial phase of colour work which is productive of many curious and attractive effects. Unlike the ordinary colour prints, the transparency is intended for exhibition both by reflected and transmitted [56] light. The paper is of a thin, tough quality, and the first printing is usually a white of good covering power and exceptional opacity. It is not necessary to print a solid white groundwork for the coloured design. ”

“ The wise printer will use good black inks and enliven his jobs with mere touches of orange or vermilion. Black and orange are always pleasing in combination and look well on most papers. There are pitfalls in the use of numerous colors, and until the subject of color harmony is understood by the printer he will wisely adhere to black and orange.
As to papers: Wove and laid antique papers, white and buff tinted, are appropriate for announcements and booklets in combination with old-style type-faces and black and orange inks. ”

“ Not until the year 1742 did the practice begin of applying colour by impressions from flat wood blocks. Why the invention should have been so long delayed, and why, after it was once made, nearly fourteen years more should have elapsed before the number of colour-blocks was increased beyond two, are questions to which no certain answer is yet forthcoming. It is incredible that during the forty years when innumerable hand-coloured prints were issued no one should have conceived the idea of printing the colour as well as the black outline. ”