Eraser

“ A handle in common, a joint handle, does not create a new or combined operation. The handle for the pencil does not create or aid the handle for the eraser. The handle for the eraser does not create or aid the handle for the pencil. ”

“ An ink eraser is made of a composition of rubber and ground glass, and it should be used as sparingly as possible on drawings, as it roughens the paper and removes the gloss from its surface (see fig. 204) . Steel ink erasers are useful in removing defects, overrun lines, joint of lines if swollen, etc.; they have a fine point and can be used to advantage with a little practice; they are used with a scratching, not a cutting, motion (see figs. 206, 207) .
DRAWING PAPER.
The first thing to be considered in selecting drawing paper is the kind most suitable for the proposed plan. ”

“ Retouching or spotting should not extend beyond the removal of light and dark spots; the correction of larger faults should not be entertained, but a fresh printing surface produced. Faults present in the original negative should be carefully retouched and removed or reduced as far as possible. Should the white margins of the picture become soiled by contact with the inky mask or by finger marks, they may be cleaned with indiarubber ink eraser. ”

“ The ink-eraser, with an absurd little whisk attached to it for brushing away fragments of rubbed paper; the fascicle of sharpened pencils held together by an elastic band; the tiny phial of typewriter oil ”

“ The length of the elastic was then changed until the knot was exactly opposite the 100-division mark on the graduate scale. Then, since the elongation of the elastic band follows Hook's law, the extension of the band to the amount of one scale division means an added weight of one gram in the beaker.—Contributed by L. Horle, Newark, New Jersey.
An Ink Eraser
A good knife eraser for ink can be made from a discarded or broken ruling pen. One of the parts, or nibs, is cut off close to the handle and the remaining one sharpened on both edges at the point. ”

“ In making corrections on brush drawings the parts to be corrected should be carefully washed out with a small short-cropped brush and water and still further cleaned by using a rubber eraser over an erasing shield or an opening cut in a piece of celluloid. Erasures should not be made on delicate work with a knife or a sand rubber, as either will injure the surface and affect reproduction. In measuring a specimen with dividers the draftsman should be careful not to injure the specimen or to puncture the paper on which he is preparing the drawing. ”

“ Nothing is so discouraging to the sketcher as to look for his pencil, eraser, knife or even alidade and find that he has left it several hundred yards back where he sat down last to sketch in details. By using the holder the sketcher gets into the habit of replacing articles after they are used and consequently always has them with him when needed. These holders ready made can be obtained from the Secretary, Army Service Schools at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
In sketching a good quality of paper should always be used as erasures will be frequent. ”

“ Pencils used for drawing should have leads of a quality equal to those of the Koh-i-noor brand, in which the grades of hardness are indicated by 3B, 2B, B, HB, F, H, 2H, 3H, 4H, 5H, 6H, 7H, 8H, and 9H; the softest grade is 3B and the hardest 9H. The grades most generally used are B, HB, F, 4H, and 6H.
RUBBER ERASERS AND CLEANERS.
Two kinds of rubber erasers are usually employed in making erasures on drawings—a hard, dense rubber like the "Ruby," and a soft, pliable rubber like the "Venus" or "H" (Hardtmuth) . The soft rubber is also useful for cleaning large surfaces. ”

“ Ink Erasers.—I.—Inks made with nutgalls and copperas can be removed by using a moderately concentrated solution of oxalic acid, followed by use of pure water and frequent drying with clean blotting paper. Most other black inks are erased by use of a weak solution of chlorinated lime, followed by dilute acetic acid and water, with frequent drying with blotters. Malachite green ink is bleached by ammonia water; silver inks by potassium cyanide or sodium hyposulphite. Some aniline colors are easily removed by alcohol, and nearly all by chlorinated lime, followed by diluted acetic acid or vinegar. ”

“ It may often happen to a writer or copyist that he has occasion to erase a word, and cannot write over the space lest the ink should spread. In old times this was remedied as follows:—A very little juniper gum, levigated to the finest powder, was rubbed over the spot with a soft linen rag.
In all kinds of repairing or technical work it is sometimes necessary to draw circles when the artist has no compasses. ”

“ When I had finished the letter, I wiped my pen on the inside of my coat. This is my general custom. Some men wipe their pens on their hair,—not a very cleanly habit, in my opinion,—besides, unless the colour of the hair is exceptionally dark, the ink shows.
I had no sooner wiped my pen on the inside of my coat than I remembered Eliza's present. Determined to show her that I appreciated it, I took a full dip of ink, stepped into the drawing-room, and wiped the pen on the new pen-wiper. Then I called up-stairs: "Eliza, I have just found your present very useful. ”

“ Nothing has in fact been absolutely removed or eradicated, but it is a mere change of form, a sort of re-arrangement of the particles, the ingredients which formed the original color being still present, but in such a condition that they are invisible to the eye. A restoration of the invisible ink marks so that they can be observed, becomes possible by the use of chemical reagents and is the reverse of the one of erasure or bleaching, and changes the constituents again into a compound which has color from the one which had none. ”

“ If a plate that has been merely etched and not treated with gum becomes dry during printing, or even if too much pressure be used in applying ink or in cleaning with the more or less smutty cleaning rags, it generally takes color and smut which are extremely hard to remove. ”

“ Give the work a light coat, and brush it out well and carefully. Too much pigment will make your work too dark. Wherever you want the light or worn spots to appear, wipe off the stain with a cloth, and with a badger blender carefully blend the stain into the edges of the worn or light spots. Don’t stain too much at once, for fear your stain may set so you cannot wipe out and blend. When the stain is dry, sandpaper lightly with No. 0 paper. Finish with two coats rubbing varnish, or [56] with hard oil finish. Polish with rotten stone and raw oil. ”

“ Blood stains.—The leaves stained must be plunged into cold water; when thoroughly soaked, the stains may be washed with a soft brush charged with soap, then well rinsed with water again. Dry.
If hot water be used, the heat renders the albumen of the blood insoluble, and the stain will be difficult to erase.
Ink stains (writing) .—Some inks are more difficult to erase than others. As a rule ink gives way if the writing be treated with a solution of oxalic acid, and afterwards to a weak solution of chloride of lime. ”

“ On the other hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not entirely lost his self-respect.”
“Your reasoning is certainly plausible.”
“The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of lime-cream. ”

“ Stain is, however, used of giving an intended and perhaps pleasing color to wood, glass, etc., by an application of coloring-matter which enters the substance a little below the surface, in distinction from painting, in which coloring-matter is spread upon the surface; dyeing is generally said of wool, yarn, cloth, or similar materials which are dipped into the coloring liquid. Figuratively, a standard or a garment may be dyed with blood in honorable warfare; an assassin's weapon is stained with the blood of his victim. ”

“ To resume your real self is a matter of little difficulty, and yet it may be helpful to have a method suggested.
Begin by removing parts of the clothing, as it unquestionably would be soiled in the dirty process of removing the make-up.
First take off the wig, next the moustache, then the beard; carefully remove the false nose, or any other modelling in relief, for if they are preserved with care they may be used repeatedly. Next, with a small quantity of oil, or any other grease that may be preferred, soften the grease-paint slightly and remove it with a towel. ”

“ Erasures.For this reason complete or partial erasures were much easier to execute on vellum than on papyrus. The writing was first sponged so as to remove the surface ink, and the traces that still remained were got rid of by rubbing the surface of the vellum with pumice stone. In some cases the manuscript was erased from the whole of a vellum codex or roll, and the cleaned surface then used to receive fresh writing.
Palimpsests.Palimpsests; manuscripts of this class, on twice-used vellum, were called palimpsests (παλίμψηστος) ; see Cic. Fam. vii. 18. ”

“ The women were strange objects, with silver and brass jewelry stuck through the tops and bottoms of their ears, through their nostrils and lips, their toes being covered with small silver coins attached to rings, and their ankles, fingers, and wrists similarly covered, but with scarcely any clothing upon their bodies. Both men and women frequently have their arms, legs, and bodies tattooed with red and black ink, representing grotesque figures and strange devices,—these pictorial illustrations on their copper-colored skins reminding one of illumined text on vellum. ”

“ Nothing develops more rapidly than a tear, and one which is neglected at the moment must later be repaired with usury.” Bearing in mind these words of wisdom while examining each page of the book, pencil notes should be made on a slip of paper of any pages needing repairs, also of any places between the signatures where the back is “shaken” exposing the stitching and lining.
Checking off from this list, advisable repairs should then be made. The edges of any tears should be neatly joined with paste. ”

“ At the present stage of the inquiry there are, as I take it, three discoveries to make, starting from that smear. Find out (first) whether there is any article of dress in this house with the smear of the paint on it. Find out (second) who that dress belongs to. Find out (third) how the person can account for having been in this room, and smeared the paint, between midnight and three in the morning. If the person can’t satisfy you, you haven’t far to look for the hand that has got the Diamond. ”

“ Even clothes will cut through at the wrinkles when they are tied up too long, and paper in bundles will lose its shape. Do you imagine that we, who are young and unused to hardship, could endure the filthy rags and lashings necessary to such an operation, as statues do? ”

“ Sometimes one is stained with dirt or with color, and not only does the stain run on further than the spot of contact, but it discolors other of the threads. And remember that the threads are living—are like electric wires, more, are like quivering nerves. How far, then, must the stain, the drag awry, be communicated! But eventually the long strands, the living threads which in their unbroken continuity form the individual, pass out of the shadow into the shine. ”

“ Sad is the lot of any poor child who might have the misfortune to upset an inkstand. You would find her on her knees rubbing the stain with soap and scraping it with a piece of glass until every vestige of ink disappears. ”

“ Shouldering one another to get next at the sharpening-stone, were men stripped to the waist, with the stain all over their limbs and bodies; men in all sorts of rags, with the stain upon those rags; men devilishly set off with spoils of women's lace and silk and ribbon, with the stain dyeing those trifles through and through. ”

“ There are a multitude of receipts for removing stains both from linen and marble, but very many, although they remove the stains, are liable to remove the cloth also, or in marble destroy the polish; others are useful, and in time our readers shall have them. ”

“ When tracing cloth will not take ink readily a small quantity of pounce may be applied to the surface of the cloth and distributed evenly with a piece of cotton waste, chamois, or similar material, but the pounce should be thoroughly removed—by washing—before applying the ink. ”

“ In this way irregularities in the design are less likely to occur than when the design is transferred with the carbon paper directly to the metal. The decoration may be pierced or embossed, according to one's choice. After the sawing or embossing has been done, it should be filed carefully and smoothed up with fine emery cloth to do away with crude and sharp edges. ”

“ When the cloth is dry, you will find most of the colours restored. Those that are yet too faint, touch up with a pencil dipped in suitable colours, and indeed you may run over the whole piece in the same manner with water colours, mixed with weak gum water, and, if well done, it will cause the tapestry, &c. to look at a distance like new. ”

“ Curious as it may sound, from among all the queer legion of auction room questionables, this member is less dangerous to art than many others, especially his pendant, the cleaner. This is readily understood when one considers that a skilled hand may remove any artificial patina, which is frequently separated from the pigment of the painting by a hard layer of old varnish, without any serious damage to the work of art, while the cleaning of an old painting proves more or less217 ruinous to its artistic qualities. ”