The reduction of shadow portraits so taken is then described at length,
and by various methods, “as the physiognomical expression is more piquant
in a reduced silhouette.” “The best of these mechanical reducers is
the Stork’s Beak or Monkey (this is our present-day pantograph), which
consists of two triangles so joined by hinges that they resemble a
movable square, which is fixed at one point of the base of the drawing,
while a point of the larger triangle follows the outline of the life-size
silhouette. A pencil attached to the smaller triangle traces the same
outline smaller and with perfect accuracy. By repeating these reductions,
silhouettes may be made in brooch and locket size.”
“With regard to the ornamentation and finish of the silhouette portrait,
black paint should be used.” We presume this would be for the fine lines
of the hair, which are sometimes added to the background after paper-cut
silhouettes are mounted. Chinese or Indian ink is advised, or pine-soot,
mixed with brandy, gum, or beer.
Advice is also given as to painting round the paper outline: the paint
should be put on from the pencil outline towards the centre. The
anonymous author suggests that two portraits should be cut at once; the
first to be stuck into the family album, the second to be hung upon the
wall.
For such decorative purposes elaborate instructions are given. “Take a
nice clear sun-glass and clean it with powdered chalk and clean linen
to remove all grease and dirt. Cover this glass on one side with finely
powdered white lead mixed with a little gum-water. When this is dry take
the silhouette, which has been cut out of strong paper, place it on the
powdered surface, and trace round the outline with a needle; remove the
silhouette, and scrape away all the white within the drawn line. Thus one
obtains a transparent silhouette, which can be turned into a black one
by laying a piece of black velvet at the back of the glass, or if not
velvet, fine black cloth or taffeta or paper.”
This silhouette recipe maker also suggests that the cut-out black
silhouettes can be stuck on to the glass with Venetian turpentine, and
the glass then treated with the white covering; or one can use tinfoil,
which forms a mirror.
This brings us back to the background treatment for painted silhouettes
without the aid of shadowgraphy and scissor-work, so that we need not
repeat the various kinds.
In this remarkable book, which is in the possession of Professor Dr.
Th. Slettner (Münich), and for a description of which we are indebted
to Herr Julius Leisching, a further description of silhouette-making is
given:—“By sticking together three or four sheets of paper and working at
the back with a polishing steel, one can actually make a profile portrait
in slight relief out of a cut-out silhouette in white paper, ‘giving it
the appearance of a marble tablet or a plaster cast done by a sculptor,’”
adds this enthusiast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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