Paper and Printing Recipes Part 8

For Red.--Orange lead, vermilion, burnt sienna, Venetian red, Indian red, lake vermilion, orange mineral, rose pink and red lead.

Yellow.--Yellow ochre, gamboge, and chromate of lead.

Blue.--Cobalt, Prussian blue, indigo, Antwerp blue, Chinese blue, French ultramarine, and German ultramarine.

Green.--Verdigris, green verditer, and mixtures of blue and yellow.

Purple.--A mixture of those used for red and blue.

Deep Brown.--Burnt umber, with a little scarlet lake.

Pale Brown.--Burnt sienna; a rich shade is obtained by using a little scarlet lake.

Lilac.--Cobalt blue, with a little carmine added.

Pale Lilac.--Carmine, with a little cobalt blue.

Amber.--Pale chrome, with a little carmine.

Pink.--Carmine or crimson lake.

Shades and Tints.--A bright red is best got from pale vermilion, with a little carmine added; dark vermilion, when mixed with the varnish, produces a dull color. Orange lead and vermilion ground together also produce a very bright tint, and one that is more permanent than an entire vermilion color. The pigments are dear; when a cheap job is in hand, orange mineral, rose pink and red lead may be used.

Yellow.--Of the materials named, the chromate of lead makes the brightest color. If a dull yellow be wanted, yellow ochre may be used; it grinds easily and is very cheap.

Blue.--Indigo is excessively dark, and requires a good deal of trouble to lighten it. It makes a fine, showy color where brightness is not required.

Prussian blue is useful, but it must be thoroughly ground. It dries very quickly, hence the roller must be frequently cleaned. Antwerp blue is very light and easily worked. Chinese blue is also available. As already said, the shade may be varied with flake white. There is this objection to Prussian, Antwerp, and Chinese blues, that they are hard to grind, and likely to turn greenish with varnish when used thin. A bright blue is also to be got from cobalt, or French or German ultramarine. This is cheap, easily ground, and works freely. Lime blue may also be used.

Green.--Any of the yellows and blues may be mixed. Gamboge, a transparent color, is very useful in mixture with Prussian blue; or chromate of lead and Prussian blue may be used. The varnish, having a yellow tinge, has an effect upon the mixture, and should be taken into account. With a slight quant.i.ty of Antwerp blue, varnish in itself will produce a decidedly greenish tint. Verdigris and green verditer also give greens. If Chinese blue be added to pale chrome, it gives a good green, and any shade can be obtained by increasing or diminishing either color. Emerald green is got by mixing pale chrome with a little Chinese blue, and then adding the emerald until the tint is satisfactory.

Brown.--Sepia gives a nice tint, and burnt umber a very hot tint. Raw umber gives a brighter brown, bistre a brighter still.

Neutral tints are obtained by mixing Prussian blue, lake and gamboge.

In using painters' colors, it is advisable to avoid, as much as possible, the heavy ones.

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.

Most colored inks work best if applied to the rollers a little at a time, until the depth of color desired is reached, as colored inks distribute slower than black, and are more liable to thicken upon and clog the type when too much is taken at once.

HINTS ON "CASTING UP."

The most simple and effective contrivance for casting-up work is, for every printer to set up, in vertical parallel lines, the m's of each font in his office, with figures in succession beside them, and work them upon good hard paper, but little wet or pressed, which ought to be dried very gradually. If the cast-up work printed with the same type as these measures very little variation will be found; for if the measure and the measured page do vary from the measurement, the one is compensated by the other. But even this method can scarcely be trusted in setting the price with the compositor, since the difference between a thin and thick s.p.a.ce will carry an en quadrat, and thus may give the turn in the 500 letters, so as to make 1,000 difference.

HOW TO ASCERTAIN THE QUANt.i.tY OF PLAIN TYPE REQUIRED FOR NEWSPAPER.

To ascertain the quant.i.ty of plain type required for a newspaper, magazine, and other work, find the number of square inches and divide the same by four; the quotient will be the approximate weight of the matter.

As it is impossible to set the cases entirely clear, it is necessary to add 25 per cent to large fonts, and 33 per cent to small, to allow for dead letter. This, of course, is only approximate, but will be found sufficiently close for all practical purposes.

CARE OF WOOD-CUTS.

Care should be taken that wood-cuts are thoroughly dry before being sent to the foundry, as the intense heat to which they are subjected frequently causes them to warp and split, especially if pierced.

REMEDY FOR TYPE THAT STICKS IN DISTRIBUTING.

Great difficulty is sometimes experienced in distributing type which has been allowed to remain in form for any length of time. Prevention, of course, is better than cure; but where the remedy is required, the following may be tried with advantage:--Pour boiling water over the type, and allow it to stand for about half an hour. Repeat, if necessary, until the desired effect has been obtained.

LAYING TYPE.

The page as received from the founder, should be carefully unwrapped, and, after having been placed on a galley, soaked thoroughly with thin soap water, to prevent adhesion after the types have been used a short time; then, with a firm rule or reglet, as many lines should be lifted as will make about an inch in thickness, and, placing the rule close upon one side of the bottom of the proper box, slide off the lines gently, taking care not to rub the face against the side of the box. Proceed then with successive lines till the box is filled. Careless compositors are p.r.o.ne to huddle new type together, and grasping them by handfulls plunge them pell-mell into the box, rudely shaking them down to crowd in more. This should never be allowed, as shaking does more injury to type than press wear. The type left over should be kept standing on galleys in regular order till the cases need to be again filled or sorted.

TO FIX BRONZE COLORS ON GLa.s.s.

Bronze colors can be fixed upon gla.s.s or porcelain by painting the articles with a concentrated solution of potash water gla.s.s of 30 B., and dusting them with the bronze powder. The latter adheres so firmly that it will not be affected by water, and may be polished with steel or agate.

TO DESTROY BOOK WORMS.

For the destruction of book worms, put the books into a case which closes pretty well, and keep a saucer supplied with benzine within it for some few weeks. Worms, larvae, eggs--all are said to be got rid of.

TINNING PAPER AND CLOTH.

The following is a method of tinning paper and cloth:--Zinc powder is ground with an alb.u.men solution, the boiling mixture is then spread over the tissue by means of a brush, when dry, the layer is fixed by dry steam, which coagulates the alb.u.men, and the tissue is then taken through a solution of tin. Metallic tin is reduced, and sets in a very thin layer.

The tissues of paper are then washed, dried and hot pressed.

CARE OF BOOKS.

Books should be shelved in the coolest part of the room, and where the air is never likely to be overheated, which is near the floor, where we ourselves live and move. In the private libraries of our residences a mistake is often made in carrying the shelving of our book-cases so high that they enter the upper and overheated stratum of air. If anyone be skeptical on this point, let him test, by means of a step-ladder, the condition of the air near the ceiling of his common sitting-room on a Winter evening, when the gas is burning freely. The heat is simply insufferable.

HOW TO PREVENT MILDEW ON BOOKS.

To prevent mildew on books, lightly wash over the backs and covers with spirits of wine, using as a brush the feather of a goose quill.

A CHEAP LYE.

Boil six gallons of water and add while boiling one pound of unslacked lime and four pounds of common soda. When cold, it should be carefully dipped out, leaving the dregs of the lime at the bottom of the vessel, and it is then fit for immediate application. Cost, about two cents per gallon.