Scientific American Supplement, No. 315, January 14, 1882Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 315, January 14, 1882
Various
Science -- Periodicals
By the way, we ought to mention that the canvas is in a decidedly limp
state during these operations. It has just sufficient stiffness to
keep smooth on the screen, and that is all; the treatment it has
received appears to have imparted no increase of substance to it.
Again it is brought into the red-brick washing apartment, and again
treated in one of the white enameled baths as before. This time it is
the developer that is contained in the bath, and the small limp
tablecloth--for that is what it looks like--after being drawn over the
glass rod, is put back into the bath, and the developing solution
rocked to and fro over it. The whiteness of the bath lining assists
one in forming a judgment of the image as it now gradually develops
and grows stronger. Here is the formula of the developer:
Pyrogallic acid......................... 10 parts.
Citric acid............................. 45 "
Water...................................410 "
The developer--which, it will be noted, is very acid--is warmed before
it is used, say to a temperature of 30 deg. to 40 deg. C.; nevertheless, the
development does not proceed very quickly. As we watched, exactly
eight minutes elapsed before Mr. Winter cried out sharply, "That will
do." Immediately one of the assistants seizes the wet canvas, crumples
it up without more ado, as if it were dirty linen, and takes it off to
a wooden washing trough, where it is kneaded and washed in true
washerwoman fashion. Water in plenty is sluiced over it, and after
more vigorous manipulation still, it is passed from trough to trough
until deemed sufficiently free from soluble salts to tone. The
toning--done in the ordinary way with gold--removes any unpleasant
redness the picture possesses, and then follows the fixing operation
in hyposulphite. As canvas is more permeable than paper, these two
last processes are quickly got through.
The final washing of the canvas is very thorough. Again it is treated
with all the vigor with which a good laundry-maid attacks dirty linen,
the canvas, in the end, being consigned to a regular washing-machine,
in which it is systematically worked for some time.
When the canvas picture at last is finished, it presents a very rough
appearance, by reason of the tiny fibers that stand erect all over the
surface. To lay these, and also to improve the surface generally, the
canvas is waxed, the fabric is stretched, and a semi-fluid mass rubbed
into it, heat being used in the process, which not only gives
brilliancy, but seems also to impart transparency to the shadows of
the picture. The result is a pleasant finish, without vulgar glare or
glaze, the high lights remaining beautifully pure and white.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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