Creation of publishing original maps. Engraving - artistic processing of metals

Engraving - there is a method of depicting objects on metals, wood, stone, used almost exclusively for the purpose of reproducing these images on paper with one or more colors. Carving made for a different purpose is rarely called engraving. In essence, engraving is the drawing on metal and wood by special tools and means appropriate to the surface on which the design is to be made. It can be done with cutting, scratching, stroking tools, with the help of acids or other liquids, or the design can be photographed and then turned into a printable cliché. Works of the first kind are engravings proper, while works of the second kind are photographic engravings in the general sense of the word. Real engraving is one of the branches of the fine arts, which until recently served, with the help of printing, as the only means of distributing copies of works of art. Printing from engraved boards produces prints on which only the qualities of engraving are actually visible, therefore it is impossible to separate the consideration of printing from engraving. , depending on which there are different ways of printing. may be either recessed or convex; in the first case, when printing, the recesses are filled with paint, and in the second, the convex parts of the engraving are rubbed with paint, which must all lie in the same plane. From engravings of the second kind they print as from a letter set, with an ordinary printing press; therefore, an engraving print may appear among the text of the book itself. This type of printing, after some preliminary preparation (see Seasoning), proceeds relatively quickly, while printing from in-depth engravings is much more difficult and slower. The methods of in-depth engraving have the following subdivisions: 1) engraving with a chisel or buren (au burin, en taille douce, Grabstichelei oder Linienmanier, Line engraving); 2) Engraving by etching (using acids) or etching (eau forte, Radirung, Etsching); 3) Engraving in black manner (manière noire, mezzotinto); 4) Engraving with aquatint (aquatinta) and under the brush (au lavis); 5) Engraving with dots or dotted lines and under a pencil. After considering these engraving methods, the following will be described: 6) convex engraving on wood and on metals (mainly zinc, zincography). Lithography, see separate article.

1) Engraving with a chisel - the most difficult of all, as it requires the ability to draw in superlatives, a faithful and firm hand to draw smooth lines of various shapes and various depths with a cutting steel tool on a copper or steel board; errors in this method of engraving are almost incorrigible. The Engraving work is preceded by the preparation of a drawing from the picture in the size of the intended engraving; in the drawing made, you should already consider the location of the strokes in all details; Engraving will be m or almost copying the drawing. The light outline of the design is transferred by means of transparent paper onto a smooth, varnished board of red copper; the contour, transferred to the varnish, is slightly scratched with a needle through the varnish, to the surface of the copper. Then the board is immersed for a short time in the so-called strong vodka (nitric acid [Sale nitric or otherwise strong vodka, usually has a relative weight of about 1 , 4, which is determined using a hydrometer. It is necessary to dilute it with water so that the hydrometer sinks to approximately 1.6. Such an acid is commonly used by engravers.]), which dissolves copper only in the marks left by the needle, if all other parts are well varnished. After washing off the varnish from the board, a weak pattern is found on it, according to which they begin to engrave with a cutter (Fig. 1), pressing it more or less strongly, from which grooves of various depths and widths are formed; the copper shavings that have risen along the edges are then removed with a special scraper (ébarboir or grattoir). The successive states of the engraving with a cutter are clearly visible in Table. "Engraving", which depicts the head of asky from the first contour to complete completion through two intermediate states. The whole engraving consists of many groups of smooth, short and long lines, more or less close to parallel to each other and crossed in places by other lines, from which comes the grid, which depicts the location of light and shade on a real object. Small squares, rhombuses, trapezoids and other cell shapes sometimes contain additional strokes, dotted lines and dots that serve to finalize the chiaroscuro. Also, in those places where solid, even if not very thin lines, could turn out to be too sharp, they resort to a broken, or punctured, line.

The cutter (burin) used for engraving consists of a four-sided hardened steel block, cut at the end obliquely to the edge and axis of the plate so that the cut takes the form of a rhombus, one corner of which is the cutting end of the tool. Such a bar is embedded with a blunt end in a wooden frame, cat. the engraver takes it in a bent hand, resting the frame in his palm. The engraver has a whole set of such cutters.

1 - Cutter (burin), 2, 3, 4 , 5 - needles for engraving by etching (etching); 6, 8 - trowels (brunissoirs), 7 - scraper (Schab-Eisen).

Engravings made with a chisel have a peculiar, geometrically correct beauty, which goes in general to such plots where the human body takes up more space. Less goes engraving with a chisel to a landscape (for example, in trees), where great variety and freedom are needed, even the whimsicalness of lines, far from geometric correctness. However, some excellent examples of this kind (for example, Woollet) engraving completely make one forget the sharp materiality of the metal through which a solid steel tool passed, and in any case the conventional way of depicting reality. Looking at the lines expressing the bulges and hollows of objects, you can make sure that they correspond to reality in perspective. A series of parallel planes close to each other, brought to the surface of some rounded object, for example, a gypsum head, would present a series of lines that would appear in perspective as ascending to elevations and descending into depressions. Another system of such planes, parallel to each other, but inclined to the first, would leave a series of traces intersecting with the first and still more conducive to the expression of the relief, so that a certain semblance of an engraving could be produced by geometric m. The engraver thinks about the best direction of the systems of lines, changing their width in order to characterize the chiaroscuro and even, to a weak degree, the color of the paintings, since the difference between the colors partly enters as an element of chiaroscuro in the drawing. Printing engravings on paper presents certain difficulties, since it requires pressing different forces on different places of the engraving, however, its success depends solely on the qualities of the engraving itself, and it does not change a single feature of the original; the printer has only to express all that is in the original. The paper used for prints can be thick, slightly rough or with parallel irregularities (papier vergé) or thin (Chinese) pasted on thick paper. Engraving was poorly developed in our country, and there were good printers only at the Academy of Arts and on the expedition to prepare state papers.

2) Etching, etching. This method of engraving on copper requires preliminary drawing with a steel needle on a board coated with varnish (primer); the needle cuts through the varnish with thin lines to copper, after which the board is exposed to an acid that dissolves copper, as a result of which an in-depth pattern is formed from which it can be printed. Needles embedded in a wooden handle are of various thicknesses and sharpened to varying degrees (see Fig. 2, 3, 4, 5). The technique of this method of engraving is much easier than the manipulation of a chisel and is accessible to anyone who knows how to draw well. A heated copper board is varnished [Of the many compositions (primer or hard) varnish, one (Deleshana) is given here. Pure white wax 119 parts by weight, mastic in grains 91 parts, gallipot 60 parts, asphalt 119 parts, concentrated rubber solution - 13 parts] and then, held over the flame of a wax candle, covered with soot. For varnishing, a tampon-cushion is used, silk or leather, with a cardboard circle and cotton wool inserted inside. When the board gets cold, put paper with a pattern on it, rubbed on the back with some kind of paint, and circle the main parts of the pattern with a sharp hard pencil, which is why the pattern is transferred to varnish. On the remaining trace, a drawing is made with a needle and, having varnished the board from the back side, they immerse it in a flat vessel with nitric acid; or they stick a wax edge on the board from the side of the engraving and pour acid on the engraving. Then the separation of gas bubbles begins, producing, as it were, boiling of a liquid, which gradually turns blue (a blue color of copper nitrate is formed). Pouring out the acid, washing the board with water and drying it, examine the features of the drawing with a magnifying glass; then covered with retouching varnish [Deleshan's liquid retouching varnish consists of asphalt (100 parts), amber (10), wax (32), mastic in grains (25), purified turpentine (500), lavendula essence (64); rubber solution (4). Dries soon.] parts of the drawing, apparently, sufficiently etched, and again acid is poured onto the board for deeper etching of the unvarnished parts of the engraving. By repeating the washing of the board, the coating of parts of the drawing with varnish and etching, little by little the engraving is completed. After removing the side and washing the varnish with turpentine, after drying the board, rub it with paint and make a test print from the engraving on paper. Usually after this you have to varnish the board again, finish the work with a needle and continue etching. The print has the appearance of a drawing made with fine lines, which in some places are more or less expanded by the action of acid (tab. "Engraving", seaside view, two figures on the sides). This reduces the stiffness of strokes and may generally contribute to beautiful view pattern, but may also form unwanted spots.

An engraving can rarely be finished to such an extent that the printer has only to transfer to paper what the engraver has done; in most cases, the artist expects to improve the print by painting the board, as it were. When it is covered with paint, then, without wiping clean the copper between the lines, the paint is smeared with a piece of leather or a finger, distributing and partly removing it with muslin in order to form a very thin and transparent layer of paint that connects individual strokes and informs the print plans, contributing to the separation of some objects from others in aerial perspective. The artist himself sometimes lightly ink-colours the first impression of his engraving for the printer's guidance, or at least is present at the first impressions made by the printer. [The influence of the method of printing on the appearance of the print could not be shown on the "Engraving" table, which is nothing more than a facsimile of engravings obtained by zinc type, reproducing only the engraving with features. Printing real etchings gives them coloring with surfaces or plans.] It is often necessary, regardless of this, to finish the engraving with a few strokes of the needle, no longer subjected to etching; it is drypoint work (à la pointe seche). Sometimes they also use an ordinary chisel or buren to give a few strong additional features more character to the foreground. Similarly, engravers with a chisel turn to the help of etching along the lines outlined by the chisel in the secondary parts of the engraving.

Engraving with a needle gives the engraving the appearance of a drawing made with a pen [they engrave with a needle on a lithographic stone - usually drawings], but it is possible to give an engraving and print a look drawn with a pencil: for this, a copper board is covered with soft varnish (ordinary hard varnish with an admixture of lard) and, having applied rather soft paper with a pattern, they draw along its features with a bone stick or a hard pencil, making more or less wide strokes. The soft lacquer adheres to the paper in these places, and when it is removed, strokes are obtained on the copper, which, when acid-etched and printed, give an engraving like a pencil drawing.

3) In engraving with a chisel and etching, the chiaroscuro of an object is conventionally depicted by strokes, between which there are light gaps; the pencil style already more perfectly conveys chiaroscuro, although even here you can see through a magnifying glass that the strokes consist of specks, and are not solid. A drawing made with a brush in one tone is even closer to nature. Engraving black manner(maniere noire), called. in Italy and in England the mezzotinto satisfies this requirement. It began in the 17th century. and is still used in our century (now rarely), having reached a special perfection in England. This method consists in making the surface of the board rough, so that after printing from it a flat black surface is obtained. Then they are smoothed with a steel tool called glider, roughness only partly or completely in those places that should come out more or less light on the print. The roughness is reported to the board by means of lapidary or rocking chairs(berceau). This is a plate shaped like a sector, which has a number of notches along the arc. Pressing the tool against the board and shaking it, they thus pass over the entire surface of the copper board, first parallel to one of its edges, then do the same in the direction of the first, and finally, for the third time, in the direction inclined to the first two. When the first one is over tour, pass on the board a second time in the same three directions; only after such strokes have been made twenty times over the entire board, is its surface ready and the board can go to the artist. by this method it is transmitted with extreme gradualness, but its disadvantage lies in the too indefinite outline of objects, which can only be partially helped with the help of a chisel. In addition, the number of prints from such a board cannot be large.

4) Aquatint similar to the black manner in the sense that in this method of engraving a grainy even background is prepared; but the engraver's work on this background is completely different than in the black manner. First of all, they cover the board, heating it from below, with a rather slowly drying varnish, which should become very liquid from heat, and pour finely ground salt on it through a frequent sieve, particles of which penetrate through the varnish to the surface of the copper board. Without waiting for the complete cooling of the varnish, the board is immersed in water at room temperature, which causes the salt to dissolve and point depressions of various shapes appear in the varnish surface; when the board is immersed in acid, the copper surface dissolves in these places and after washing off the varnish, a fine-grained surface of the board is found. Very good results are also obtained by depositing fine resin dust on a copper plate. Raising pitch dust into the air inside a more or less high box with bellows, after a few seconds a board is pushed into it, on which small particles of resin are then gradually deposited. Taking the board out of the box, heat it from the back; from this, the resin particles adhere to the surface of the board, which is then subjected to the corrosive action of the acid. Thus, a grained surface is obtained, which is found when the resin is washed off with turpentine. If some places of the engraving should remain smooth (which comes out white on the print), then they are varnished before etching to protect copper from acid. For the same purpose, it is also possible, having previously covered the entire board with varnish and applied the contour of the pattern to it, wash off the varnish from those places that should receive a grained surface. This is done with a brush, which is dipped in a liquid consisting of olive oil, turpentine and soot; after a few seconds, the places passed by the brush are wiped with a soft cloth, thus exposing the copper. They cover the board with tar dust and poison it with acid, as a result of which smooth places get a granular surface. It is still possible to form such a surface by covering a clean copper plate with a solution of resin in alcohol or ether; after evaporation of the liquid, a resin powder remains, the grains of which have a size depending on the type of the dissolved resin. Instead of acid for etching a grained surface, you can use mixed with olive oil; this pasty mass is applied to the remaining clean places of copper for some time, the duration of which (several minutes or more) depends on the temperature. The work of the artist with an aquatint on a finished grained surface consists in the fact that, first varnishing the places of the engraving with light or sufficiently shaded graining, the remaining parts are etched with acid, after which they successively cover the sufficiently etched places and continue to enhance the rest to the appropriate degree of darkness. For a more complete imitation of drawings made with a brush (ink or sepia), the engraving method (au lavis) is used, and they draw with a brush soaked in acid on copper, as they paint with water paint on paper. After making the outline of the drawing on the board using one of the well-known methods, they cover with a brush with Venetian varnish the parts of the drawing that should come out white on the print, the rest is slightly etched. After washing and drying the board, they again work with a brush, varnishing the finished places, etching deeper into the darker places, and thus carry out the work to the end. A drawing imprinted from such a board represents light and delicate tones, but not yet sufficiently blending into one another. The boundaries between tones can be destroyed by passing over them with a brush with acid and then quickly washing off the latter. Instead of acid, you can use a solution of lapis with some gum for retouching, but iron pentachloride is best. This kind of engraving gives excellent results, and again, with regard to the best examples, it is necessary to point to the English ones. Printing from such boards is a very delicate process.

5) Engraving with dots or dotted lines. Engraving with dots, or more precisely with small, irregularly shaped dots, is done with sharp tools pressed by the hand, or such, the head of which is struck with a hammer. The smaller the dots and the less often they are located on any part of the engraving, the lighter this place in the print comes out when printed. In England, where the semi-mechanical techniques of engraving flourished especially, dotted engraving achieved excellent results, especially in portraits. Sometimes the recesses in the board are made through the varnish, which makes it possible to soften their sharpness with the action of acid. This should also include Engraving under a pencil using a tool called roulette, consisting mainly of a small wheel or roller with notches or small teeth around the circumference. By rolling the tape measure in various directions, strokes similar to pencil strokes can be produced; but the best pencil drawings presented lithography(see), which is direct printing from a genuine pencil drawing on the smooth surface of a lithographic stone.

Various modifications of the described methods or several methods in the same engraving, which was partly mentioned, cannot be considered in detail here, but the subject is given at the end of the article. Printing by all these methods is slow and therefore expensive; for this reason prints cannot serve as the usual supplement to cheap books, an appendix which has now become an urgent need.

6) For quick printing of engravings, it is necessary that they be convex, like the letters of a printing set, and that all the convexities lie in the same plane. Wood engraving (woodcut) satisfied these conditions. The process of preparing a wood engraving is as follows. On a flat and smooth surface of a piece of wood, cut perpendicular to the fibers of a tree (beech, pear), incorrectly called a palm tree, they draw with a pencil or pen - we first take the easiest case. Engraver carving wood between drawing features and, if the distance between them is large, then digs quite deep recesses in the tree, retaining all the correct or incorrect features of the strokes. A drawing filled with regular lines cuts easily, but the engraver's task is more difficult when the lines of the pencil are free, of unequal width, and blurred at the edges; nevertheless, skillful engravers make engravings that completely imitate a pencil, even a shaded one. Sometimes the drawing is done half with a pencil or pen and half with a brush: the engraver in this case painstaking work makes a facsimile of the drawing, or, by executing it with strokes corresponding to the tree, is no longer a copyist, but an interpreter of the drawing. The engraver often has to cut from a photograph taken on a tree; he draws a series of almost parallel lines, whose thickness along the length constantly changes according to whether the line is in a light or in a dark place; the combination of such strokes produces chiaroscuro, quite close to photographic. Engravers on wood often engrave heads, portraits and the body in general, imitating the features of engravings on copper, with the only difference in the technique of work being that between intersecting strokes it is necessary to remove the wood inside the cells formed by the strokes. Wood engraving works best when the engraver uses the means appropriate to this material, freely making incised lines. By crossing them, short black lines and dots are formed. Fig. 9 and 10 represent the same object, carved in two ways: in-depth engraving gives a white figure in the print on a dark field; the same figure with convex features left gives a black impression on paper on a white field.

Fig. 9. FIG. 10.

Fig. 11, depicting the head of Zeus (in f), and table II D are reproductions of woodcuts.

Much depends on the art of printmaking; they are preliminarily called so. seasoning(see) so that pressing a sheet of paper with a roller on various parts of the engraving corresponds to the strength or tenderness of the drawing. Wood engraving, although capable of reproducing pictures, is even better when it is free from the requirement of close imitation of the original, i.e., in itself constitutes the original. The engraver uses cutters like the one shown in Fig. one.

Corrections in wood engraving are difficult; the only thing that can be done is to cut out the damaged place with a drill, insert a new piece there, on which to engrave. If printing is done not from a copper plate, but from a piece of wood, then usually after a certain number of impressions, the outline of the inserted piece becomes visible. For drawings and outlines, incised woodcuts are often made for speed and cheapness; when printed, it turns out, as was said, a white figure on a black field (Fig. 9).

Zincography, invented by Gillot, there is a method of convex engraving on zinc. Initially, it consisted in transferring a printed or other design onto the surface of a zinc board, then exposed to an acid, which left intact the features of the design made by paint containing oil. Now this method of engraving has been extremely extensively developed and used since the photographic transfer of a drawing onto a board. It will be described separately in the Zincography article. The engravings in text 9, 10 and 11 are galvanoplastic copies from genuine woodcuts; the rest of the engravings in this article and the tables are zinc types.

Auxiliaries Engraving Engravers, especially English and American engravers, sometimes use auxiliary machines, and for engraving from medals and bas-reliefs, special machines are used that complete the engraving without any help from the artist (see Machine engraving). In addition, in our time, clichés are used for printing, prepared by the action of light on photosensitive plates with the addition of various manipulations (see). serves as a tool for engravers either to dissolve the metal or to precipitate it. The first case occurs in etching, when, instead of immersing in acid, a board with a pattern made with a needle on a ground varnish is placed in a solution. blue vitriol(see electroplating engraving [ glyphography, or the preparation of convex copper engravings, described at the end of the article "Electroplating Engraving" invented by Palmer. The copper board is blackened with sulfur liver and covered with a primer consisting of wax, rosin, spermaceti, etc. substances mixed with zinc white. On this, they draw with a sharp tool, cutting through the soil to a black surface, without exposing the copper underneath. Then they all graphite and, having precipitated copper, they get a copper plate, which is easily removed from a black copper board.]) and subjected to the dissolving action of a galvanic current. The recessed features obtained in this way are thinner than those etched with acid, and therefore the intersection of the lines comes out better by the galvanoplastic method. In other cases, its besieging effect is used both to obtain a special kind of engraving (galvanography) and to correct errors in engraving with a chisel. To do this, electroplated copper is deposited on a part of the board, covering the rest with varnish, smoothing its surface and engraving on it again. oh, they cover copper engravings with iron (steel - acierer), through which the engraving becomes able to give a larger number of prints without damage; when the iron begins to wear out, it can be completely dissolved and the engraving can be steeled again without any of its subtlety. Electroplating can copy engravings (Scamoni heliogravure, see Light painting). Most often it is used to make copper clichés from wood engravings and zincographs in cases where such a large number of prints is expected that a wood engraving cannot deliver without damage. All the considered methods of engraving involve printing in one tone, with one color. Prints, printed with many colors, in fact, do not require special methods. Engraving Already in the 16th century. Schaeffer printed letters with two colors, preparing a separate engraving for each color; the printing of drawings under cameos took place in a similar way. These questions will be discussed in the article:. Engraving of medals and coins - see; engraving of maps - see Maps; musical signs (see), seals - see Carving. Various engraving methods are described in the works "Des mordans, des vernis et des planches dans l" art du graveur ou Traité complet de la gravure par P. Deleschamps (1836) and "Les Procedés de la gravure par A. de Lostalot". Etching engraving in great detail with applications of many patterns Engraving is set out in "Traité de la gravure à l"eau forte par Maxime Lalanne" (1881). Also useful is "Traité de la gravure à l" eau forte par Robert "(1891). Also contains an essay Engraving on metal and in other ways. In Russian there is" Quick Guide to engraving on copper with strong vodka" A. Somov (1885).

Machine engraving.- In engravings there are places where it is necessary to draw rows of uniform parallel straight or curved lines. In these cases, you can use mechanical devices; the simplest of these consists of a metal ruler that can be moved very small amounts parallel to itself. A very thin steel or, even better, a diamond cutter is drawn along the engraving along the ruler with constant pressure. Sometimes it is necessary to draw a series of lines, darker and darker, in order to represent, for example, a gradual decrease in light towards the horizon or, conversely, upward; for this, a cup is placed on top of the incisor, which remains empty when drawing weak lines; after that, one, two or more pellets (2 1 / 2 mm) are successively placed in the cup, which causes the cutter to cut deeper and deeper lines, which take more and more ink when printing (Jobard in e). Sometimes the engraving is done in wavy, concentric circular, elliptical lines using appropriate machines. Sometimes, to decorate a metal surface, a series of straight, wavy or generally curved lines, parallel to each other or mutually intersecting, is cut on it. - It will be (cm.). The most remarkable application of machines to engraving is found in the so-called. portrait machines (tour à portrait), which appeared at the end of the last or the beginning of this century (Marquis de Parois), for engraving copper copies from medals and bas-reliefs. Usually, an engraving board is varnished and the drawing carved on it by a machine is etched with strong vodka, then corrected, where necessary, with a chisel. The best of the machines of this kind is Colas (Colas), arranged in the fifties; the essence of its device is as follows. the al platform, on which the copper or steel engraving board is laid, can be moved by equal small amounts by means of a screw; at its edge is another platform, movable in a vertical direction. both platforms at the same time. In the space between the two platforms there is a trolley movable in a direction parallel to the planes of both platforms. The trolley can also move perpendicular to the vertical platform. It is equipped with horizontal and vertical rods; one with a blunt point, the other with a sharp steel or diamond end. A bas-relief or a medal with which they want to engrave is attached to a vertical platform. When moving the trolley, a blunt pin moves along the bas-relief, and at the same time a sharp cutter moves along the engraving board. When the first moves along the flat part of the surface, the cutter draws a straight line; when the first is raised to the convex part and lowered from it, the direction of movement of the cutter becomes wavy. The engraving gets a relief look, a pleasant, like a metal surface. Having moved a little platform with a screw, a blunt pin is again drawn along the bas-relief from beginning to end, and so on. , then approaching, representing light on the convex parts and shadow on the concave parts of the relief. The print from the engraving takes on an embossed appearance with a pleasing metallic tone. For a sample, we reproduce one of them in Fig. 12.

In addition to the Kolas machine, there are also Hefel, Bath, Wagner, Perkins, Steyerwald and many others. The latter named, engraving with very close strokes, giving it from a distance a semblance of an aquatint, very faithfully reproduces small details; but prints of this kind are not particularly beautiful.

Engraving (history). - The time to which the invention of Engraving refers cannot be determined not only with accuracy, but also approximately. Some historians find the beginnings of this art in the ancient world; others trace its origin from Asia, namely from Japan and China, whence wood engraving was, in their opinion, brought to Europe by trade relations. In any case, engraving as a method of reproduction of images came into use in our part of the world not earlier than the second half of the 14th or the beginning of the 15th century, and convex engraving appeared earlier than in-depth engraving - even before the invention of printing books in typesetting. The oldest monument that has come down to us Engraving on wood with a certain date - an engraving of "St." (in the collection of Lord a), marked 1423; but there is every reason to believe that even up to this time in the Netherlands and, and especially in the cities along the Rhine, there were - of course, still very crude - pictures printed on woodcuts, mostly of a pious content, provided with a text corresponding to it. In all likelihood, from the places already mentioned, the skill of engraving on wood later passed to Italy and France. From pictures on separate sheets there was a very close transition to polytypes in books, which replaced expensive, hand-made miniatures, just as the works of a printing press replaced manuscripts that were far from accessible to everyone. One of the oldest books illustrated with woodcuts is The Mirror of Human Salvation (Speculum humanae salvationis), a work whose first edition, printed in Harlem by L. Coster, was published earlier than 1442. It was followed by The Bible for the Poor (Biblia pauperum) and other editions with wood engravings by unknown carvers, still very imperfect, but reflecting the influence of such gifted artists as the brothers V.-Eiki and. For a long time, the leadership in the production of such illustrations belonged to both and and, with which other countries in this respect only caught up later. Around the same time, and according to the assumption of some writers, as early as the very beginning of the 15th century, another method of convex engraving was practiced, the so-called "lattice engraving" (gr. criblée), which consisted in the fact that a copper board was turned into polytype by gouging on it has more or less large and frequent round dimples and irregular depressions in those places that should depict light and penumbra in the print (Fig. 13).

This method gave extremely poor results, as evidenced by the samples of engravings executed by him, which are stored in many museums.

A new era for engraving came with the invention of printing prints from metal boards cut deep into. This invention, like many other discoveries, happened by accident. For a long time, goldsmiths have resorted to decorating their products with the so-called black, that is, with an alloy of tin, silver or copper with a certain amount of borax and sulfur; this alloy, while still hot, filled the strokes of a design engraved with a chisel on a smooth silver or gold surface; the excess of the alloy protruding from the strokes was removed, the alloy, having cooled, became solid, and thus it turned out, as it were, painted with black paint on a brilliant background. This kind of ornamentation was in the middle of the XV century. in great use among the Italians, especially in the manufacture of sacred vessels and other precious items of church utensils. The works he did were called nielles(niello), and the masters who produced these works - nellators. More than anywhere else, the art of nielle flourished in what was then the center of artistic activity, Florence. One of the masters there, Tomaso, or, for short, Maso, in 1452, performing Pax in black [In Catholic church usage, this is the name of a small metal image, to which, during a solemn mass, when "Agnus Dei" is sung, the priest gives the members clergy and those who pray, addressing everyone with the words "Pah tecum" (peace ti).] for the local baptist, with the image of the heavenly coronation of s, and, wanting to judge the state of his work, rubbed the engraved, as his comrades did, with a mixture of soot with oil, in order to then remove this paint, make the necessary corrections in the image and, finally, fill it with the aforementioned alloy. A damp rag accidentally fell on the unfinished nielle, and the soot, passing to the last of the strokes, made an exact imprint of the image on it. This gave Finigverra the idea of ​​re-rubbing the plate with black ink and deliberately making a print of the nielli on the damp paper. The result of the experiment was so satisfactory that the artist began to repeat it in his subsequent works, and other niellators began to imitate his example (Fig. 14).

However, quite a few years passed before the deep engraving thus born gained independence from goldsmithing and became a special means of reproduction of drawings. Nevertheless, the gradual improvement of technology, directed towards this goal, finally brought complete independence to the art in question. The nameless niellators, modern Finigverre, were followed, at the end of the 15th century, by Baccio-Baldini, Sandro Botticcelli, and some other Florentine artists, whose works represent the transition from the infancy of engraving to its mature age.

ENGRAVING. 1st row: the head of Apollo; aximile engraving with a chisel (byuren on copper); 4 states of engraving. 2nd row: Seaside view and 2 figures on the sides; facsimile of an engraving on copper with strong vodka (etching) Lalanne. 3rd row: woodcut facsimile. part - engraving a, side - engraving by Pannemaker.

Further movement is transferred from Florence to northern Italy, where the famous painter A. (1431-1506) significantly moves engraving forward and more than other Italians contributes to its popularization. He engraved up to 20 boards depicting religious and mythological subjects and representing an imitation of pen drawing; they are remarkable for the careful development of forms and generally reflect the merits of the paintings of Mantegna, but still do not even give a hint of color and the play of chiaroscuro. A talented artist is followed by a large crowd of followers, of which some, like, for example, Dzoan-Andrea and J.-A. da Brescia, blindly imitate his manner, while others, such as Mochetto, J. Francia, Nicoletto da Modena and Yak. De, show more or less their own, although in the same general direction that their prototype kept. Around the same time, something similar is observed in Germany, which received acquaintance with advanced engraving, in all likelihood, from Italy. Of course, there is a big difference between the initial works of one and the other countries, but the historical course of engraving at first presents many similarities here and there. Just as Finigverra can be considered the father of Italian in-depth engraving, so the German ancestor can be called an unknown by name "master of 1466" - a gifted artist whose works (for example, "The Adoration of the Magi") already express a direction that has long become characteristic of his compatriots, namely, care not about the correctness of the drawing and beauty, but about the transfer of a sincere, naive feeling, about the delicacy of the cutter and conscientious processing of the smallest details. As in Italy, after Finigverra, Mantegna was the largest representative of engraving, so behind the "master of 1466." followed the influential Martin Schön, or (died 1499), like Mantegna, a painter and at the same time an engraver, who, in addition to great technical skill, showed in his prints a great vivacity of fantasy and a significant instinct for elegance. The students and followers of this artist not only spread his direction throughout Germany, but also transferred it to France and Italy itself. Of the engravers attributed to the Schön school, Schön, F. von Bocholt, Wenceslas Olmutsky, van Mekenen and A. Gloketon stand out. At a time when in-depth engraving was making notable progress in Germany thanks to these masters, German woodcut printing continued on its primitive path and still produced crude book illustrations and religious or moral pictures on separate sheets. A strong impetus forward was given to this branch of art by the greatest of German artists, om Dürer (1471-1528). It is still doubtful whether he himself cut his excellent woodcuts (for example, "Apocalypse", "Life of the Virgin", "Trinity", etc.) or only supervised the work of his assistants and students who reproduced his drawings during their execution; but the woodcuts, marked with the monogram of the famous master, are distinguished by high dignity as much in terms of design and drawing as in the technical side: they show hitherto unprecedented confidence, purity and picturesqueness of the cutter, not limited to the transfer of the forms of nature, but also outlining to some extent degree aerial perspective and colorful effects. A. Dürer is no less brilliant in his engravings on metal, which brought him wide fame even during his lifetime. It is not surprising that such a master created a whole school of engravers, to which belong, among others, A. er, Engraving, Engraving Scheuffelein, Engraving Penz, Baldung-Grun, B. and Engraving Z. Begama and J. Bink. Other artists who worked during his time or shortly after him owed a lot to him, such as, for example, the xylographs Engraving Burgmeier ("Triumphal Procession of the Emperor Maximilian, etc.") and Engraving Lutzenburger ("Dance of Death according to the drawings of a Ml." etc.). Among his ovs, Dürer met only one serious rival in the person of an Italian (1475-1534). , a student of F. Franchi, at first copied Dürer's prints with amazing closeness, imitating his hand, and then joined Raphael and, engraving his compositions, often on purpose made by him drawings and completely in his spirit, took a prominent place in the history of art. From all over Italy, artists flocked to Raimondi, who wanted to improve their skills. Caraglio from Verona, G. Bonazone from Bologna, Diana Gisi from Mantua and many others had him as their mentor or were students of his students. Marcantonio's influence did not extend to Italy alone; it penetrated into Germany, where some of Dürer's students were subjected to it; it was also reflected in France, especially in the works of the Fontainebleau school. However, copper engraving, improved by this artist, did not displace wood engravings among Italians. Even during the life of Raimondi, a special kind of woodcut, the so-called. "cameo-like" Engraving (en camaïeu), invented in 1510 by I. von Necker, in e, consisting in the preparation of two, three or four boards, with the help of which an engraving is printed with the same number of colors, which is an imitation of a drawing made by a pen and a brush with wet ink, bistre and whitewash. This method was popularized by Ugo da Carpi (who successfully facsimiles the drawings of Raphael, Parmigianino, and others), and then N. Vicentini, A. Andreani, and A. da Trento successfully practiced it; nevertheless, he did not last long, only until the end of the 16th century, being forced out of practice by the improved ordinary woodcut. The latter then flourished mainly in Venice, where the printers famous in that era resorted to its help, and where a group of gifted woodcarvers formed around Titian, reproducing the compositions of this painter (these include D. delle Grecche, N. Boldrini, etc.) , apparently, sometimes with the direct participation of Titian himself in their work.

In the Netherlands, the history of engraving on copper begins no earlier than the first years of the 16th century, that is, with the appearance of prints by Luke of Leiden (1494-1533). True, even before him there were masters in this field; but their works were crude, childishly unskillful, and had a handicraft character at a time when the Italians and Germans were already working well. L. van Leyden was the first of all his compatriots to master the buren artistically, he was the first to introduce a sense of lighting effects into the engraving, gave the image a gradual weakening of the tone energy as the plans were removed, and in this respect surpassed Dürer and Raimondi. In his engravings, just like in his paintings, there is no pursuit of beauty, but an ardent commitment to nature and a strong desire for expressiveness are striking. The example of L. Leydensky inspired many Dutch engravers, who, following in his footsteps, gradually gained superiority over the Germans. the play of light and aerial perspective became the main task in the school he founded - a task that in many cases served to the detriment of the drawing and led to excess and sophistication of the means applied to achieve it. Many of the followers of the Leiden master, such as, for example, K. Kort, Engraving, J. Müller, and others, with all the art with which they master the engraving cutter and needle, are heavily infected with pretentiousness and affectation. But along with them there are also engravers who, like, for example, N. de Bruyne in e and the Virinx brothers in e, are more restrained and choosy in the methods of their texture. Be that as it may, engraving in Holland and Flanders remained for a long time faithful to the color principle bequeathed to it by Luke of Leiden. This principle found its fullest and most brilliant expression in the works of a group of masters who constitute, so to speak, the retinue of P.P. Rubens (1577-1640). It can be argued that never before has a single painter had such an impact on the success of contemporary engraving as the great Antwerp artist. L., Skh. and B. s, P. Pontius, P. Schoutman, P. Iode, T. van Tyulden, reproducing his compositions under his direct supervision and guidance, brought the engraving to a high perfection in terms of color, brilliance of lights, depth of shadows and harmony of transitions from the first to the second - in a word, to unprecedented picturesqueness. To achieve such a result, engraving with strong vodka is an excellent means, a technique that from ancient times was used to decorate their products with a notch, but which began to be applied to the production of prints, it is not known exactly when (the oldest etched engraving that has come down to us, "St. "A. Durer, refers to 1512). A relatively light and, from the point of view of color, very grateful etching, once mastered by artists, was widely used at the end of the 16th and at the beginning of the 17th century either in preparing an engraved board for working with a chisel, or as an independent method, used in its pure form, without the admixture of such work. In particular, he was to the taste of the painters-engravers. In Italy, they successfully reproduced their compositions by Parmigianino, August. and many artists of the Bologna school, as well as the Spaniard Ribera; in Flanders, to him engravers of the Rubens school resorted, by the way, the most famous of his students, A. van Dyck (a collection of portraits of artists and art lovers he knew, under the title "Iconographia"). But this kind of engraving took root more than anywhere else Engraving in Holland, where many talented Bürenists resorted to it, such as, for example, Korn Wiesscher, Korn van Dalen and J. I took time off with my palette and paints in order to do etching. Of all these artists, Rembrandt stands out in dazzling brilliance, whose etchings are so excellent, so vividly express his ingenious individuality, that they alone would be enough to perpetuate his fame, even if he had not painted a single picture in his lifetime. . The influence of the great master on the Dutch engravers was significant; but due to the originality of his talent and the elusiveness of the methods to which he resorted to implement his various artistic ideas, even his closest followers - F. Bol, J. Livesh, J. van Vliet - could not fully assimilate his manner; all the less succeeded in imitating him, who did not use his direct instructions and advice.

The school of Rubens and Rembrandt and his followers were still active in Flanders and Holland, but meanwhile the primacy in engraving was about to pass from these countries to France, which had not had its own painting for a long time and, as a result, independent engraving. True, since the beginning of the 16th century, Lyon and Paris produced a considerable number of woodcuts; but they were considerably inferior in dignity to foreign works of this kind. As for engraving on copper, the first French masters in its part during the entire 16th and early 17th centuries. (R. Boivin, Engraving Dumoutier, N. Beatrise and others) were nothing more than imitators of the Italians of the era of the decline of art, in most cases exaggerating their shortcomings. J. Callot (1594-1635) should be considered the father of original French engraving, whose works (street types and scenes, caricatures, battle compositions, etc.), executed by etching, are distinguished by originality of manner, boldness and firmness of the stroke, direct study of nature and expressiveness. Thanks to Callot, etching took root in France, where it was later popularized by Abr. Bosse and Iz. , of which the first introduced many improvements in the technique of this branch of art and published a treatise on it. The reign of a XIV (1643-1715) - French engraving, in which she, having fully mastered all the means available to her, ceased to be an art subordinate to painting and rose to the importance of an artistic branch as important as this latter. She owed her rise to such an upsurge, on the one hand, to the attention of the sun king, who provided all kinds of support to her figures and established a special school at the tapestry institution, where skillful engravers were prepared and worked under the guidance of the beloved royal painter Lebrun, and on the other hand, to the appearance several remarkable talents in the field under consideration. Most of the engravers of that time were learned and skillful colorists, whose main merit, however, was the harmonious combination of all the resources of their skill in simplicity, elegance and seriousness of style. The oldest of them, such as T. de Leu, L. Gauthier, J. Morin, M. Lan, K. Mellan and others, still borrow something from; on the other hand, another, more numerous group shows complete independence from principles introduced from outside. Of the luminaries of this group, the following were especially famous: R. Nanteil (1628-78), who skillfully engraved almost exclusively portraits; adopted by France, the Fleming J. (1640-1707), an engraver of paintings and portraits, under whose beautiful chisel even mediocre pictorial originals turned into excellent works, and J. Audran (1640-1703), interpreter of Lebrun, Mignard, Poussin, Raphael and friend. Italians, who formed a significant school, to which belong, among other things, Duchange Engraving, M., L. Deplace and the founder of a whole generation of engravers of the same name, N.-Tardier Engraving. Of the other masters who owe their m to Nanteuil, Edelink and Audran, deserve to be mentioned J. Pen, E. Bode, Gantrel, Fr. de Pouilly, Roullet, Masson, Engraving by Pitot and Claudine Stella (Buzon). In addition to these more or less significant artists, a crowd of other masters satisfied the need for engravings that had developed among the mass of the public, performing less serious works - book illustrations, fashion pictures, city views, engraved calendars, caricatures, etc. Paris became a center in which everywhere engravers flocked to study, then spreading the French direction to all parts of Europe. The leadership in the direction under consideration was retained for itself throughout the 18th century, in the first half of which, however, due to the change that took place in the nature of French art in general, the requirements for engraving by public taste also changed noticeably. The majestic, strict and cold style of Lebrun bored the public, and she became more and more addicted to the outwardly beautiful, pleasant and flirtatious; the exploits of ancient and modern heroes and pious plots are gradually giving way to their former dominance in art to theatrical cutesy scenes, sugary pastorals, the adventures of the Frenchized gods of Olympus. This change, however, did not take place without a struggle between the new trend and the old one. In general, the engravers of the time of Louis XV can be divided into two groups. One, under the influence of the painter Rigaud, obeying to some extent the general trend, still preserves the traditions of the previous generation. To her belong a student of J. Audran, P. Dreve, his son P.-E. Dreve and nephew Kl. Dreve, as well as several students of N. Tardieu and Dupuy. Another, more populous group, showing no less developed technical skill, interprets engraving in the style of Watteau, Pater, Boucher and other mannerists of their century, and, at the end of it, Greuze. Of the representatives of this group, the most famous are L. Kars, N. de-Larmessen, Leba, Lepissier, Aveline, Duflo, Dupuy, and Flipart. In addition to the artists of either group, the reproductions of paintings and portraits on a more or less large scale, France exhibited at that time whole line gifted specialists in engraving small pictures and vignettes, without which not a single edition of poetry and fiction that claims to be elegant could do then. Some - Larmessen, Seryug, Delaunay, Gelman, Longueil, Moreau, Flipart, and others - transmitted with a thin chisel and a delicate needle their own compositions or drawings, Eisen, Engraving de Saint-Aubin, Chauffard, Moreau the Younger and similar beautiful draftsmen; others, such as Fike and Og. de Saint-Aubin, made a name for themselves especially in the engraving of miniature portraits. The widespread fashion for engraving

encouraged people who did not receive a solid art education to try their hand at it, which was facilitated for them by a simple, generally accessible method of etching. Art lovers practiced in it, mainly from the highest circle of society: the regent himself, hertz. Orleans, hertz. de Chevreuse, Gravelle, c. Caylus, Darjanville, even the ladies - the Duchess de Luyne, the queen, the royal favorite, Madame Rebou and others. In the same fashion, there was an effort on the part of the artists to diversify the techniques as much as possible. Engraving In addition to the so-called "black manner" and dotted engraving (gr . au pointillé), which, as we will now see, to the taste of the British most of all, was used by the French at the end of the 18th century. honored pencil style, invented in 1740-57. engraver from Nancy and improved J., but soon it began to be applied almost exclusively to the manufacture of originals for student exercises in drawing, and subsequently lithography took away this role from her. The existence of polychrome engraving (gr. en couleurs) was just as short, the first experiments of which were made at the beginning of the previous century by the Dutch painter; put into use in France and improved by J.-K. Leblon, this method gave excellent results in the works of Engraving by Dagotti, Dubucour and some other artists. Aquatint, related to polychrome engraving, took root more firmly in France, in terms of which the best masters were, in addition to the mentioned Dubucour, M. José, Prevost and Girard.

As we have already remarked in passing, the influence of France, in the flourishing time of her engraving, spread throughout Europe. In Germany, where already from the end of the XVII century. Engraving has lost its artistry and originality, and where, after skillful, but dry and routine masters in the genus M. Merian of the Kilian family and M. a, the equally mediocre I. E., Chr. Dietrich, Chr. Rode and F. Weyrother, the French trend was expressed in the beautiful engravings of I. Wagner, M. a, I.-Engraving Ville and Engraving-F. Schmidt. The best representatives of this direction in Italy was K. ti, in Spain - and P. Morales. Of the other eminent engravers of these countries in the past century, only the versatile Chodovetsky in Berlin and the prolific engraver of architectural views and ruins in Rome worked in a different spirit.

In England, engraving acquired an artistic character not earlier than in the reign of Charles I, and at first was deprived of independence. The most significant of the first English Burenists, V. Feithorn, kept the manner of his teacher Nanteil; V. Gollar, who contributed to the planting of engraving by etching in England, was a German by origin and direction. The students of the latter, and the English in general, soon became addicted to a new kind of engraving, to the so-called. black manner, an invention made in 1642 in the service of the Hessian Landgrave A. von Siegen and brought to England by the Palatine Prince. At first, this engraving method, applied exclusively to portrait tasks, gave only poor and mediocre results; but after the famous painter J., following the example of Rubens, became the head of a whole school of engravers, the number of artists who skillfully disposed of the lapidary and planier increased, and English black prints, reproducing not only portraits, but also historical paintings, came into high esteem at the very continent of Europe. The best masters in their part were in the XVIII century. R. Earlom, McArdell, Smith, Dickinson, W. Green, and T. Watson. Somewhat earlier, W. Gogart laid the foundation for satirical English engraving, which was then successfully developed by many other artists. In the part of the dotted manner, as well as the polychrome engraving, England has exhibited several skilful craftsmen; the most popular representatives of the first were the Italian Fr. and W. Reiland; the second was developed more successfully than others by I. Taylor. The works of these artists reflected to a greater or lesser extent the influence of the French school; but the English Burenists, of whom S. Strange, F. Vivares and W. Woollet were especially famous, were even more imbued with its principles.

At the onset of the XIX century. supremacy in the field of art still belonged to France, despite the revolution that broke out in it and the radical change in the structure of its life. Many of its best artists belonged both by birth and by education that preceded their time, and therefore could not significantly deviate from its aspirations. Only L. David personified progress, expressed the ideals of the new French society. Young artists followed in his footsteps in an obedient crowd; the public looked at him as a brilliant revivalist of Russian art. All branches of the latter were subjected to the all-powerful influence of David, including engraving; but she threw off his yoke before all the rest. Even at the time of his despotic power, many of the engravers who worked on the reproduction of the pearls of painting, brought from everywhere to Paris, reverently cherished the traditions of the glorious era of French engraving. The most talented among these artists were Boucher-Denoyer, P. A. Tardieu, and especially Berwick, a wonderful connoisseur of drawing, coloring and all the resources of his skill, but who can be reproached with excessive concern for the beauty of the cutter and, in general, for technical dexterity. In addition to these engravers, in the period under consideration, J. Massard and A. Morel earned fame - by reproducing paintings by David, L. Kopia and B. Roger - by Prudhon. While Berwick was known as the first of the engravers of France, in Italy, where at the end of the XVIII century. the best representatives of engraving were G. and P. Longhi, they were proud as a worthy rival of the French master R. Morgen, who actually stood below him, masterfully, but unceremoniously sweetening and distorting the most magnificent monuments of Italian painting ("The Last Supper" by L. da Vinci, " Transfiguration" by Raphael, etc.), and who, thanks mainly to the celebrity of these originals, have made themselves a loud, now significantly silent glory. We see a stricter attitude to the matter among contemporary German engravers Morgen, from a number of which two first-class masters act: I.-Engraving Miller, engraver of the Raphael Madonna della sedia, and his son who died early, Chr.-Fr. Müller, author of the excellent print of the Sistine Madonna. In general, at the beginning of this century, German engravers adhered to approximately the same principles and techniques as their French and Italian counterparts. But soon, under the influence of new ideas, the conditions changed: the national spirit, the study of the medieval era, the passion for domestic antiquity and the effort to revive it with its ideas and beliefs - in a word, romanticism, which first took possession of German poetry, left its mark on the figurative arts. In painting, the mustache and were the most characteristic spokesmen for the new aspiration; in engraving, it gave rise to a group of artists, mainly Munich and Stuttgart, faithful followers of these three painters: F. Keller, Ludy and Steinfenzand reproduced the compositions of Overbeck, Schaeffer, Merz and some others - Cornelius, Teter - Kaulbach, setting themselves the main task of detailed contouring and only outlining the relief with a weak, incomplete shading. However, not all Germans were infected with archaism and dryness; but such artists as Felzing in e, E. in Berlin and in e, who did not lose respect for the techniques developed in the flowering time of engraving, were. In England, at the same time, there is also a unity of aspirations; but while the German engravers, for all their cold reflectiveness, are imbued with om and conviction in the importance of their vocation and the principles guiding them, the engravers of England do not set themselves lofty goals, treat their business superficially, flaunt its external, technical side, love the external, eye-catching effect, sharp contrasts of light and shadows, and sometimes strange themes like a parrot or hunting attributes, engraved in full size. This is encouraged by their eccentric taste of compatriots, amateurism and stubbornness, strongly developed in the English aristocracy and the middle class. The great demand for engravings forces them to be executed as quickly as possible, and in order to invent lighter ways of working, to combine different manners in the same print. A. Reimbach, who made himself honorable fame with engravings from Wilka's everyday paintings, S. W. Reynolds, head of the London school of mezzotintists, and the portrait painter Cousins ​​are the last representatives of serious engraving in England. After them, in-depth engraving became almost a factory m, using all means for the fastest and simplest achievement of the goal - instead of copper iron boards, later turned into steel, strong vodka, dry and wet aquatint, tape measures and other mechanical devices, and, finally, closer to our own. time - heliographic preparation of the board.

Such, in general terms, was the state of copper engraving in the first half of this century. In Germany, with few exceptions, it has become the conventional language for the expression of national and philosophical ideas; in England - a banal flaunting of light and varied technology; in Italy, the masters following Volpato and Mengs - L. that, P., P. Tosca and the latter's students - tried to maintain the honor of domestic engraving, but they worked separately, not in the same spirit. Only in France continued the continuity of the direction taken by the school of engravers after David. This continuity continues to this day, despite the competition that the branch of art in question met first in lithography, and then in light painting. At one time, French engravers began to tend to imitate the British, but soon looked back and returned to independence. The best of French Burenists of the middle of this century - L.P. Anriquel-Dupont, who formed a number of skillful engravers of modern times. In second place after him should be his peers J. N. Laugier, J.-T. Rishom and some others. Of the masters of the next generation, acting in Lately or working people still today, A. Louis, J. Francois, E. Rousseau, O., B.-A. Guot, A. Francois, J. Bertino, J.-B. Dangin and C. F. Galliard. Despite the efforts of these artists, as well as many talented craftsmen working in other countries (for example, Weber in and, de Keyser in Holland, Biot and Frank in Belgium, Jacobi, Sonnenleiter and Klaus in Austria, Keller in Prussia, etc. .), the circle of distribution of engraving is narrowing more and more due to the lack of requirements and the gradual improvement of light-painting methods for obtaining prints. Engravings, executed quite artistically with a chisel, are becoming rarer and rarer; the black manner fell into disuse everywhere; aquatint is also very rarely practiced, at least in its pure form, without the admixture of work by buren or etching. , almost completely abandoned since the beginning of the XVII century. and called back to life in the second half of the 18th century. Englishman T. Bevik, although it has since been cultivated by many skilled artists and has reached high perfection in recent decades, especially in France, England and the North. America, however, met a strong rival in zinc type, unable, of course, to compete with her in terms of artistry, but, nevertheless, depriving her of widespread use. Only the etching did not suffer, as an engraving technique available to every artist, allowing him to improvise on a copper board directly himself, to convey his idea, his composition to it; Moreover, etching has become even more widespread today than before. In all the artistic centers of Europe, one can count dozens of artists successfully engaged in etching; in many places, entire societies have arisen that care about its improvement and popularization. Ch. Jacques, L. Gaucherel, Braquemont, Courtrie, L. Flameng, Ch. Galliard, J. Jacquemart, A. Laloz, Marseille, P. Razhon and Ch., and in France, to Seymour-Gedna, A. Gaga and J. Geseltin in England, on A. Gilly, F. di-Bartolo and E. Pagliano in Italy, V. Unger, V. Hecht and V. Wernle in Austria, Fr. Boettcher, K. Koepping, L. Kruger, D. Raab and B. Manfeld in Germany, Storm van Sgravesande in Belgium, Kopne, Boland and Griebe in Holland.

About Engraving in Russia, see the article " Russian art". - Cf. Emeric David, "Discours historique sur la gravure" (II., 1808); Abb. Zani, "Materiali per servire alla storia dell" incisione"; Bartsch, "Le peintre-graveur" (Vienna, 1803-21) ; Ch. Blanc, "Manuel de l" amateur d "estampes"; L.-K. Heller, "Handbuch für Kupferstichsammler oder Lexicon der vorzüglichsten Kupferstecher" (Bamberg, 1823); Joubert, "Manuel de l" amateur d "estampes"; P. G. Passavant, "Le peintre-graveur" (1860-64); Quandt, "Entwurf zu einer Geschichte d. Kupferstecherkunst" (Lpts., 1826); H. Heller, "Gesch. der Holzschneidekunst" (Bamberg, 1823); Robert-Dumesnil, "Le peintre graveur français" (II., 1835-71); G. Duplessis, "Les meweilles de la gravure" (P., 1871); Vic. H. Delaborde, "La gravure" (one of the volumes of the publication "Bibliothèque de l" enseignement des beaux-arts ").

Answers on decorative processing Yu.I.

Types of engraving jewelry.

Types of jewelry engraving

Our jewelry workshop offers several types of metal engraving:

Laser engraving. This is a high-tech and most progressive method of applying an inscription or pattern to a metal surface using laser technology. This processing method appeared relatively recently, but it has already established itself as a very high-quality, safe and fast solution to various design problems in the jewelry market. Laser engraving guarantees high resistance to abrasion and makes it possible to apply the most complex ornaments and patterns on surfaces of absolutely any shape.

Mechanical engraving. It is a mechanized way of applying text, date or pattern to the surface of various metal objects. Such processing is carried out on a special machine for engraving. The product is fixed with clamps and then a thin layer of metal is removed with a cutter. Mechanized engraving is available exclusively on flat and even surfaces.

Hand engraving. This method differs in that it allows applying complex patterns, ornaments and calligraphic inscriptions to the product. For manual engraving, tools such as engravers and burrs are used. It is devoid of many shortcomings. Thanks to the drill machine with a special cutter, a rather deep penetration into the thickness of the material is made and this guarantees a truly durable image. Our talented specialists, who are fluent in the skill of manual engraving on metal, will produce real masterpieces.

Hand engraving tools and their preparation

Engraving

Engraving is a type of artistic processing of a product, which consists in cutting a pattern on a product with chisels. In jewelry practice, manual two-dimensional (planar) engraving is used, in a different way - engraving for the sake of appearance. Manual engraving is a complex and time-consuming process that requires great skill, endurance and concentration from the performer. Jewelry engraving is done at the jewelry and engraving workbenches. The main range of engraving works that are performed on jewelry: making monograms on the platforms of rings and pendants; cutting sites (applying a pattern, contour, background); engraving on the lining of the rings; engraving of the side surfaces of seals; applying an engraving pattern to wedding rings, rings of the "snake" type, etc. All these works can be done at a jewelry workbench (as most jewelers do), using manual wooden vices or wooden fastening washers for grinding products, relying on fine gel. But it is much more convenient to engrave behind an engraving workbench or on an attachment to a jewelry workbench, using the flat surface of the tabletop as a support platform. The height of the engraving section should be within 70...75 cm. various devices for fixing the product and turning it at the required angle. The following devices can be used as such devices: manual wooden vise, fixing washers, table clamps, ball vise, engraving pads.

Wooden vices (manual) - vices with different shapes of jaws, the same as for setting stones. They are used for engraving rings behind a jewelry workbench based on fine gel. Mounting washers - made from viscous wood. Serve to strengthen flat products, earrings, brooches, pendants, etc. The horizontal dimensions of the washers are 50 ... 80 mm, the thickness is 20 ... 25 mm. Mounting washers can be flat and convex with recesses and slots for the back of the product. The fixing of products on the fixing washer is carried out by grinding the product on sealing wax or kitt. The washer is covered with a fixative in advance, and the product is ground by heating it with a contact soldering iron. The fixing washer is used both behind a jewelry workbench, leaning on fine gel, and behind an engraving one, leaning on an engraving pad.

Table clamp - made of hardwood and consists of two rectangular bars, pulled together in parallel with long bolts. The dimensions of the bars (jaws) are 40X40X120 mm, the divergence of the jaws is 50...60 mm. The clamp is used with support on the engraving pad and serves to clamp rings, thick plates, medals, spoons, etc. into it.

Ball vice - are a wooden (or metal with wooden jaws) ball with parallel diverging jaws in the upper hemisphere. Ball diameter 70...90 mm, divergence of jaws 25...30 mm. Ball vise for engraving rings supported by an engraving annular (with a hole in the middle) cushion. The maneuverability of the ball vice allows you to quickly and smoothly change the position of the product in relation to the engraver. In addition, the vise jaws are convex at the top, leaving a large workable area. There are also metal ball fixtures with expanding collets to hold the rings during the engraving process.

Engraving pillow (kranz) - leather or canvas round pillow tightly stuffed with sand. Disc diameter 180... 200 mm. The pillow serves as a support for devices that hold the engraved product. The engraving cushion (Fig. 137) makes it possible to smoothly and quickly turn the product in the desired direction. It is usually made by craftsmen themselves.

To do this, two circles with a diameter of 180 ... 200 mm are cut out of the skin, soaked in water and sewn wet around the circumference at a distance of 5 mm from the edge. The circle is not completely stitched - 30 ... 50 mm are left unsewn. Fine, dry, washed sand is poured into the resulting bag through an open hole. Then the hole is sewn up, the pillow is leveled on the table and allowed to dry. An annular engraving pad is also made, but a hole of 40...50 mm is also made in the center of the disk.

Stichel - the main engraving tool (cutter), like a bartack, inserted into a mushroom-shaped wooden handle. Blade length 100 ... 120 mm. Stichel are made from U12A or KhVG tool steels. In addition to these steels, you can use: silver bar steel, spring strips, outer rings of ball bearings (straightening them), small flat files and straight razor blades. Mandatory requirement to the engraver - good hardening and proper sharpening. The quality of the work performed largely depends on this. If the engraver is non-local, then either it quickly becomes dull, or its cutting edge is crushed, but if it is overheated, its cutting edge constantly crumbles. The chisels are inserted into handles of various lengths to fit the chisel to the hand as it is sewn. Handles are made from 30 to 70 mm long. The neck of the handle is reinforced with metal rings. The lower part of the handle fungus (from the side of the blade) is chipped off in the same way as bartacks.

Stichel also differ in cross-sectional shape, which determines the purpose of the tool. Grabstichel - convenient for engraving on large planes and concave surfaces. It has a curved blade, the deflection of which is from 3 to 8 mm. The blade angle can vary from 30 to 90°. IN cross section has the shape of a rhombus. Facettenstichel - one of the most popular engravers, is intended for drawing precise lines, making plane engraving patterns and finishing the drawing. The shape of the profile is trapezoidal with a sharply pointed blade.

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Engraving is one of the oldest methods of artistic processing of metals, as well as some non-metal materials - wood, bone, stone, etc. Its essence lies in applying inscriptions, drawings, patterns to the surface of solid materials with cutting engraving tools - cutters.

Metal engraving has been known since ancient times.

Scientists have found bronze items made by engravers at the beginning of the first millennium BC. These are mainly battle axes, daggers, decorated with engraved ornaments and images of animals.

The craftsmen of ancient Novgorod, Pskov, Tula, and Moscow left wonderful examples of engraving on various metals.

Plane engraving

Artistic manual planar two-dimensional engraving is used in jewelry practice for decorating the surface of an item by applying a contour pattern, drawing, portrait, multi-figure or landscape compositions, as well as for performing various inscriptions and type works.

Engraving is used to decorate both flat and three-dimensional products.

Plane engraving also includes niello engraving and taushing. This is a laborious and complex process that requires great endurance, concentration and skill from the master.

The engraving technique is distinguished by high artistic merit. The clarity of the lines, the expressiveness of the stroke, the severity and conciseness make the master to be very demanding on the process of creating an engraving composition.

In terms of technology, niello engraving differs from the usual one in that it is carried out somewhat deeper and then the drawing selected inside is filled with niello.

The process of planar engraving consists of the following stages: drawing preparation, metal preparation, drawing transfer to metal, engraving.

Drawing preparation.

For transfer to metal, the drawing is performed on paper in full size. All tonal and shadow transitions are given by a stroke or dots - a dotted line.

Metal preparation.

The surface of the metal plate or product to be engraved must be prepared: make the surface smooth, even and clean. All risks, scratches are removed by grinding.

Then the surface is treated with fine sandpaper and pumice. The surface should be matte - polished, not shiny - polished, as the shine blinds the eyes and makes work difficult. If it is necessary for the engraved drawing to be on a polished field, the background is polished on the engraving of the drawing.

To transfer the pattern to metal, the surface of the plate or product is covered with a thin layer of white watercolor paint or liquid diluted white gouache.

The paint is allowed to dry and the drawing is transferred to it by hand with a finely sharpened pencil, or through carbon paper, tracing the lines of the drawing with a finely sharpened hard pencil. The resulting pattern is covered with alcohol varnish or nitro-lacquer so that it does not wear off during work.

Then the product or sheet blank is attached to the board with small nails, sealing wax or setting paste. The dimensions of the board must be larger than the dimensions of the blanks. Mounting boards are made from viscous woods. Volumetric objects in the production of engraving work are clamped into special devices - shrabkugel or pads.

Shrabkugel (ball vise) is a cast-iron ball weighing up to 15 kg, with a diameter of 130 mm. A segment is cut off from the top of the ball and a groove is cut out in which the plate with the product is clamped with bolts.

In order for the product to be freely moved and rotated at any angle, a special leather or canvas pillow tightly stuffed with sand is placed under the shrabkugel. The pillow is called a fender, its diameter is 200 mm.

The pads consist of massive or cast-iron bars, equipped with sliding jaws, which must hold the engraving workpiece.

Engraving tool. The main tool for engraving is a chisel, which is a steel cutter 100-120 mm long, mounted on a mushroom-shaped wooden handle 30-70 mm long. It is made of tool steel grades U12A, HVG. Good cutters can be made from bar steel, spring strips, needle files, straight razors. The chisel must be correctly and well sharpened and hardened.

It must be remembered that undershot in this case contributes to rapid blunting, and overheating - chipping of the cutting edge.

Depending on the purpose, chisels differ in the shape of the working part, the angle of sharpening and size. Depending on the thickness of the cross section, the following main types of engravers are distinguished:

1. A spatula is used for engraving the contour of a drawing, drawing clear deep lines, strong strokes, trimming corners in type works. The side walls are convex, the blade is straight, the blade sharpening angle is 30 - 45 degrees, the back width is 1 - 4 mm;

2. bolt stichel - (semicircular chisel) is a chisel with a semicircular cutting edge, 4 - 5 mm wide and is used for round and semicircular sampling and for engraving recesses;

3. messerstichel - a knife cutter with a very thin, up to 0.1 mm, blade; used for very thin lines. Messerstichel on a strip 1 mm wide can draw up to 10 lines;

4. fliakhstichel (wide chisel) - a chisel with a flat cutting edge, used for sampling and leveling planes;

5. shatirshtichel (reshtichel) - a shtichel with a flat blade. On its working side there are protrusions that leave parallel strokes when engraved. Used for hatching flat surfaces with parallel lines;

6. facet engraver - used for drawing accurate wide and shallow lines, making plane engraving patterns and finishing the picture. Its side walls are parallel or trapezoidal, the blade is sharply pointed, the blade is straight with a sharpening angle of 60 - 120 degrees;

7. Justirstichel - used to adjust the frame in order to ensure the reliability of the support of the stone in jewelry work. The convex side surfaces of the engraver, intersecting, form an island-oval cross section. Its cutting edge is sharpened obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the blade;

8. fadenstichel - a thread cutter, similar in shape to a flystichel, the back face and cutting edge have sharp protrusions. Serves for shading and matting the surface of products. Notch pitch 0.1 - 0.4 mm.

When engraving in recesses and on concave surfaces, working with a straight engraver blade is inconvenient. In this case, the engraver is heated red-hot in the middle part and bent to the desired curvature. Sometimes chisels are given double curvature, but both bends must necessarily lie in the same plane.

The use of engraving tools.

The shtichel is held in a clenched right hand so that its handle rests on the palm, and the thumb and forefinger support it in the working position. The elbow should be on weight, only the thumb serves as a support for the hand, which at the same time acts as a brake and limits the slippage of the tool forward. At the same time, the index finger adjusts the pressure on the edge of the engraver and guides it along the line of the pattern.

The shtichel is always led only in a straight line from left to right, pushing him forward in small sections.

When engraving roundings and curved lines, the rotation of the engraver is allowed within a small range.

All bends of the lines in accordance with the drawing are carried out by the left hand, which turns the workpiece, fixed in a shrabkugel or block, towards the cutter.

Almost all metals are suitable for surface engraving - brass, tompak, test silver, bronze, zinc, nickel alloys, steels and some non-metallic materials. Soft ductile metals - gold, pure silver, platinum, aluminum and others - are less suitable for engraving.

Training should begin with stroke exercises to master the skills of working with at least one engraver. The first exercises are done on copper or brass plates.

For engraving, the engraver must be properly sharpened. Wrong, poorly sharpened engraver is the cause of marriage. The sharpening process is complex and requires knowledge and skills.

Approximately 1/3 of the length of the blade from the side of the back of the engraver on an emery sharpener, a cut (full cut) is made, the height of the blade of the working part should be 1.5 - 3 mm. With such a cut, the end of the engraver does not block the lines of the drawing during engraving, and the area of ​​​​sharpening of the working part decreases. On the side edges of the cut, in order not to cut the finger, a chamfer is removed. The cutting edge is formed by the sharpening area (frontal platform) with the walls and the blade (base) of the blade. When cutting soft materials, for example, wood, the sharpening angle should be equal to 45 degrees, for steel - 60 - 65 degrees.

It is impossible to work with a blunt engraver, because it jumps off the metal and can injure the left hand, which is under the engraver. In addition, a dull engraver, sliding off the metal, spoils the work. A prerequisite correct sharpening is a flat sharpening of the engraver, without roundings and bulges.

When sharpening on a bar, the elbow of the right hand should be in weight, and the brush should strongly press the platform against the stone. Sharpen the engraver from the back side, taking care not to burn the cutting edge. For sharpening, fine-grained bars are used, the surface of which is moistened with liquid machine oil or kerosene. After sharpening, burrs are removed from the engraver on a glossy whetstone or siliceous slate.

Armor engraving

Engraving (three-dimensional) engraving is a method in which a relief or three-dimensional round metal sculpture is created with a cutter.

Recessed engraving is divided into convex (positive, in which the pattern of the relief is higher than the background, which is deepened and removed) and deep engraving (negative), in which the pattern or relief is cut inside.

Armor engraving is used quite often to treat the surface of the product and obtain artistic works, such as jewelry, decorative items, etc.

In addition, tools or devices (punches, dies for stamping, molds for casting, clichés for printing, calico rolls, etchings, baguette rollers, engravings, prints, etc.)

Obronny engraving can be manual and mechanical.

Manual is performed by jewelers with the help of hand tools, mechanical - with various devices and engraving machines. In this case, the engraver controls the movements of the cutter itself or the cutter moves automatically using a special template.

Using the defensive technique in work (when making reliefs, counter-reliefs, three-dimensional forms), the master has to remove large masses of metal from the surface of the product, so it is better to sample the metal with a chisel, the working end of which has the shape of a chisel.

Engraving chisels are steel rods with a thickness of 6 to 10 mm and a length of 120 - 150 mm. Their working end is forged and sawn off in the form of one or another engraver. The most widely used are special chisels, fly chisels and bolt chisels. The working end of the tool is hardened with subsequent leave.

In addition to special chisels and engravers, the engraving tool includes a core or center punch, which is used for marking. The engraving core differs from the locksmith's core with a large taper angle. In addition to cores, cuts and chasings are used.

The cuts are used to select metal and are sharpened on one side; embossing serves to level the background and fill the texture. The embossers should be more massive than the embossers for embossing work, since they are used mainly on steel blanks when finishing dies and punches.

Punches are made of tool steel 6, 7, 8 and 10 mm thick and 65, 85 and 100 mm long. A small cone is attached to the working end, and a letter or number is engraved on the end platform in a positive (outward) and negative (inward) image.

A variety of punches are convicts and queen cells. Zeki are punches made in the shape of a letter, but in such a way that on its working surface those places that in a letter or number should be pressed, deepened, selected are convex. When working, such a convict is placed on the place of the workpiece where the letter should be engraved. When hitting the zeke, the metal under it settles, after which it remains to engrave only the outer outlines of the letter, which is much easier.

Queen cells are punches, on the end of which not a letter or number is engraved, but a part of the relief or an ornamental element.

In defensive work, needle files and corrugations of various profiles are also used. When chasing with a punch, the workpiece is strengthened in a shrabkugel or block, under which a fender is placed. For fine work, the workpiece should be well lit, while the master uses a magnifying glass.

The technology of armored engraving includes two main stages - preparatory and engraving.

To perform defensive works, a drawing is prepared with cuts, on which the characteristics of the relief are given - height, number of plans or cross-section of volumes. In addition to the drawing, a model is made - a copy of the author's original, made in plaster, wax or plasticine.

To transfer the drawing to metal, the surface of the workpiece must be covered with white watercolor paint and the drawing is reproduced by hand with preliminary marking or a compass and a ruler.

Then a thin layer of wax or plasticine is applied to the workpiece covered with white paint. Next, prepare the drawing, performing it with a pencil on tracing paper. When translating a drawing, you need to take into account how it will be on metal - direct or reverse - mirror. A mirror pattern is necessary for engraving seals, facsimiles and other works intended to be imprinted. The pencil drawing copied onto the tracing paper is superimposed on the workpiece face down and rubbed with the engraver handle. Then the tracing paper is carefully removed and a clearly visible imprint of a pencil drawing remains on the wax surface.

Performing engraving, with convex armor - positive - after application, the pattern is outlined with a steel needle or a plier so as not to knock it down during further work.

Then the first chip is selected around the pattern. The work must be done carefully and carefully so as not to spoil the drawing with a careless movement. In some cases, the chisel is sloped to create a taper on the vertical walls.

The next stage of work is the selection of the background, which is produced by a fly chisel or a fly cutter. For deep sampling or for engraving roundings, a bolt pin or chisel of a similar shape is used. After cutting down the entire field to the required depth, they begin to process the relief itself. The relief is chopped or cut with appropriate chisels or engravers, using chases, needle files, corrugations, and other tools. To speed up work when engraving repetitive elements or to make very small and complex parts, punches, cones, queen cells are used, which must be made in advance, based on the nature of the work and the pattern.

With in-depth armoring, an outer contour of the relief is drawn on the polished surface of the workpiece, which must be circled with a spatula.

After that, the metal is cut out inside the outlined pattern. Depth cutting is carried out with various chisels carefully, with frequent reconciliations with the original.

In order to check, a piece of softened plasticine is pressed into a pre-moistened cut-out form and the resulting print is compared with the original, which is being worked on. The main depths are measured with a caliper or checked with a template.

The technique of in-depth defense requires high qualifications and experience. The deeper the metal is cut, the more careful work must be done, removing thinner chips, since overcutting is more difficult to correct. Errors in these cases are corrected either by sawing off the entire surface of the workpiece around the contour, or by drilling out individual defective areas and inserting plugs. When the relief is almost cut down in depth and the cast almost corresponds to the original, the cutting must be stopped and finishing with chisels, punches and chases should be started.

When finishing the product, a small amount of the left metal is removed, and part of it sits and compacts under the blows of punches and chasers. After grinding and polishing of individual sections, the cast becomes identical to the model, which fits completely into the deep armor.

Currently, in the manufacture of steel dies and molds, to facilitate work, a preliminary rough selection of metal is used on milling or other machines. In this case, the engraver only refines and finishes the cavity of the stamp.

Engraving-copying, embossing-copying and other machines are used for mass production of engraving products. Engraving and copying machines with the help of a special template with a cutter performs not only planar engraving, but also engraving to the required depth. One of the complex copiers is a pantograph with a diamond cutter, which, with the help of a special device, can proportionally reduce the shape of the pattern on the products. The use of this machine makes it possible to reproduce figure and portrait compositions in a reduced form, using large author's originals as a template. In this case, reduced reliefs are obtained, reproduced on steel and suitable for their use as punches - subs for stamping serial products.

To apply a pattern to some products, the knurling method is used using a steel wheel on which the image is engraved. The workpiece is rotated and upon contact with it, the image from the wheel passes in relief along the circumference to the product.

Engraving is in a decorative way artistic processing of metal.

It is not connected with the moments of construction, the formation of the object itself. Engraving enriches it appearance, used for surface treatment.

There are two types of engraving: deep and high. With deep engraving, the paint lingers in the recesses, and it is removed from the convex parts of the board. To obtain an impression, the paper is moistened and rolled under high pressure on a special machine. Wet paper is pressed into the recesses of the board and the paint sticks to it. When working on a high engraving, the paint is rolled with a special roller on the protruding parts of the relief and printing is done using a press.

Working on a deep engraving, the master deepens, takes out those places that should be black on the print, and on the high engraving, on the contrary, white.

Deep engraving has the following types: engraving with a chisel; engraving with a needle (dry point); dotted engraving; mezzotint, or black engraving; etching engraving, or etching.

High engraving is subdivided into full engraving, wood engraving (xylography), longitudinal engraving, end engraving, engraving on linoleum.

Types of deep engraving. Engraving with a chisel was discovered in the 15th century in Florence. The greatest master of engraving was Luke of Leiden, who worked at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 15th century. Engraving with a cutter is best cut on a copper, zinc or steel board. The greatest number of impressions can be made from a steel board. The drawing made on paper is transferred through carbon paper, which is pre-coated with a thin layer of acid-resistant varnish. The resulting drawing is outlined with a needle, after which the master immediately proceeds to engrave it with a chisel or acid etching in order to make the drawing clearer.

To do this, a board with a pattern scratched on the varnish is immersed for a short time in nitric acid, which dissolves the metal in the places exposed by the needle. Then the varnish is washed off and a clearly visible pattern appears on the board, which is much easier to engrave.

If errors were made in engraving, they are corrected as follows. If a light, shallow stroke is incorrectly carried out, it is smoothed out with a special trowel; if the erroneous line is cut deep, the metal is removed with a special scraper, and the resulting cavity is knocked out from the inside with a hammer, placing the board on a flat, smooth anvil.

The engraving is cut with chisels. However, another type of chisel is used here - a burr burr, the rod of which has a diamond-shaped section. When properly sharpened, they can cut lines of any width, depending on their depth. The deeper the line is cut, the wider it is. When choosing chips with a burr, small burrs remain on the sides, which are removed with a scraper.

Engraving with a needle (dry point). In this case, the board is processed not with a cutter, but with steel or diamond needles, which are fixed in wooden handles. Working with a needle, the engraver scratches the surface of the board. The stroke from the needle is very shallow. In this case, the metal is not cut off, but moved. The burrs protruding along the edges of the stroke are not removed, since they give originality to this engraving. When printing, ink remains in the torn edge of the stroke and in the burrs, which gives the lines on the print a kind of softness and some blur. The number of prints on this engraving does not exceed 30 pieces, as the strokes are smoothed out.

The essence of the dotted line engraving method lies in the fact that the drawing is engraved not with a stroke, but with a combination of regular dots - either smaller or larger. Smaller and rarer dots give the impression of light on the print, while larger and more condensed dots give the impression of shadows. The transitions are soft, creating a pleasant impression. The points are reproduced by knocking out with a special sharp hammer or a punch with a differently pointed working end - sharper or blunter. As a result, the points are not the same in size and depth. By placing them on the surface of the picture, they achieve, as it were, different density of tone. Sometimes the dots are applied through the varnish, which makes it possible to soften the sharpness of their contours with the action of acid.

Mezzotint, or black manner. This type of engraving was invented in the 17th century. To obtain an engraving, a rough metal board is needed, which gives an even black color on the print. The modern method of processing a rough surface is obtained by rubbing the surface of the board with coarse quartz sand using a glass chime. The sand, during the rotational movement of the chime, leaves the smallest risks and depressions on the board, which create a fairly uniform surface that holds the paint well. Then, with a special steel tool - a smooth polished glider and a sharp triangular scraper, they smooth out or scrape out the roughness of the board to a greater or lesser extent in those places that should be lighter than the background on the print. The smoother the stain, the less the paint lingers on it and the lighter it will be on the print. Thus, the engraver works on those sections of the board that should become white or light, and he already has black ones in finished form. With a black manner, the engraver goes from black to white and works only on highlighting certain areas of the drawing. In this way, very soft transitions of tone and chiaroscuro are obtained.

Etching or engraving. Etching can be called an engraving only conditionally, since engraving as a process is absent in the process of its manufacture and the drawing on the board is not cut with a cutter, but is etched with nitric acid. Usually, after etching, the engraver enhances or emphasizes individual strokes and lines with a cutter or needle.

The earliest known example of etching was made by the German master Dürer at the beginning of the 15th century. Durer's early engravings are made on iron plates. He was the first to use a needle in his work. The greatest etcher was Rembrandt, who worked in the 17th century, and the brilliant Goya (XVIII - XIX centuries).

The technology of line etching is as follows. The metal board is covered with a thin layer of acid-resistant varnish. Then a pre-prepared drawing is transferred to it through carbon paper. Only the main contours of the drawing are outlined with a hard pencil. Then, having removed the paper, the entire drawing is made along the main lines with a steel needle.

Etching needles embedded in wooden handles have different thicknesses and degrees of sharpness. Having finished drawing the drawing, the reverse side and the edges of the board are covered with the same varnish and immersed in a flat vessel with nitric acid, which etches the metal in places exposed from the varnish, then the board is well washed and dried.

Examining the resulting drawing, the master closes with varnish those lines and strokes that, as a result of etching, have received sufficient depth and should be the lightest on the print. The rest of the drawing, not covered with varnish, is subjected to repeated etching, deeper. This operation is repeated so many times until the engraving has a whole gradation of strokes of various depths, depending on the duration of the etching. The deeper the line is etched, the blacker it will appear on the print. Having finished etching, the varnish is washed off with kerosene and a test print is made; if flaws are found on it, they are corrected on the board by subsequent etching, a cutter or a needle.

Types of high engraving. Engraving engraving was used to make various book decorations - headpieces, endings, etc. It was made of brass, copper, zinc, steel. This type of engraving includes the engraving of punches, which serve as the original for casting a typographic font. This is a very time-consuming and responsible process that requires skill and high skill. The blank of punches is a steel rod of square section, on the end of which a letter, sign or number is engraved in a mirror image. The drawing is applied with a needle using a special device - a caliber, which makes it possible to draw vertical, horizontal and oblique lines at a certain angle and the exact distance between them.

For work, the engraver uses a fairly large set of tools: needle files, corrugations, punches, cones, etc. The main tool is a graver. The finished punch is hardened and a copper matrix is ​​pressed in a special press, which then serves as a mold for casting the type.

Woodcut (woodcut). Wood engravings are longitudinal - when the layers of wood are located in the plane of the board and end - when the layers of wood are located perpendicular to the surface to be treated.

Longitudinal engraving is an ancient technique dating back to the 15th century. For longitudinal engravings, boards with little pronounced layering are used, for example, pear, apple, plum, birch, and linden wood. The board is prepared in a carpentry way. Its thickness after processing is brought to 20 - 25 mm, i.e. to the height of the typographic font for ease of use when printing - it is printed along with the text.

The drawing is transferred to paper in the usual way through carbon paper or drawn by hand. For the convenience of carving, the entire board is sometimes covered with diluted ink - the cutout of the pattern is better visible against a dark background. Sometimes a complex drawing is made on thin paper and glued onto the board with a paste. It is cut along with the paper.

For the production of longitudinal engravings, special knives with different profiles of the cutting part, as well as semicircular chisels, are used as tools. The trace from the chisel in shape is the same as from the bolter, and the shavings cut with a knife have a triangular cross section.

When carving longitudinal engravings, the cutting tool moves in different directions relative to the layers of wood - either along or across. It meets various resistances, making it difficult to draw smooth lines in accordance with the pattern. In addition, the line itself in different parts has unequal printing strength. This mainly applies to thin lines that quickly crumple, and lines drawn across the layers crumble.

End engraving, which has been used since the 18th century, does not have the shortcomings that are characteristic of longitudinal engraving. It is cut equally in all directions, so the lines are uniform, do not crumble and withstand quite a lot of pressure when printing.

The end engraving is cut with a chisel of the same types as the metal engraving, only the angle of its sharpening is made sharper. To protect the strokes, a wooden lining is placed on the surface of the board under the engraver, which serves as a support for removing chips. When working, the board is held with the index and middle fingers of the left hand.

For end engraving, hard, dense wood, such as boxwood, is used.

Boxwood chocks are sawn into circles 30 mm thick and dried well. Then they are sawn into a rectangular shape.

For work, pieces without knots and oblique layers are used, which are clearly visible on the cut by their light, as if satin, color. Oblique layers are chipped or stained during carving.

Separate rectangular pieces are glued together with wood glue or PVA glue into boards of the required size, well turned and polished on both sides. Small knots with other defects are drilled out and corks from good boxwood are driven into the holes. They also correct errors in carving.

To prevent the boards from warping and splitting, they are fastened with bolts passed through the thickness of the board, or with steel tubes 6 mm in diameter. The tubes are driven into a series of parallel holes.

The primer for the drawing is made from dry white, ground on egg white with the addition of alum.

Linoleum engraving.

The material for this engraving is linoleum about 3 mm thick. It is easier to cut on linoleum than on wood. The surface of linoleum is carefully polished with pumice stone and water.

The drawing is translated in the usual way - through carbon paper or applied by hand. The prepared piece of linoleum is nailed or glued to the board so that it does not bend during operation.

They cut it with narrow semicircular chisels with a U-shaped or V-shaped profile, cutting out and deepening those places that should be white on the print.

Main technology system preparation for the publication of the map includes the following steps:

1.Editing and preparatory work

Drafting a map - terms of reference (TU);

Study of the mapping area;

Collection, analysis, systematization of additional cartographic and literary reference

materials;

Definition of technology and writing editorial and technical instructions (RTU);

2. Preparation of the main map material

Editing and photocopying processes;

3. Reproduction of a copy of the compiler's original in accordance with the brilliance of the publication ( if

the main cartographic material is the drafting original )

Engraving of content elements;

Copy processes (obtaining intermediate dashed positives and the necessary

the number of their blue copies for the manufacture of mask-filling elements);

Registration by signatures, conventional signs of intermediate dashed positives; manufacturing

blue copy mask;

copy processes ( obtaining a set of original positives - line and masks);

4. Self-correction

5. Proofreading

6. Acceptance of a set of dissected original positives

7. Copy processes ( receipt of a set of combined publishing positives in accordance with

brilliance of the edition)

The essence of the method is volume, that instead of drawingdrawing copied in the form of an outline on the surface of the engraverlayer is cut through) with the help of special devices (i.e., mechanical removal of the removable layer on opaque plastic according to the pattern - obtaining a negative image).

The variety of engraving methods is determined by the qualityplastic, the properties of engraving coatings and the nature of the gravelroving funds.

Depending on the nature of the impact on the engravingdigging all engraving methods are divided into contact and endless clock.

Contact methods include those, in which the cartographicsome image based on the direct impactwe use engraving tools on the engraving coating. To this grouppu includes mechanical, chemical and electrothermal methods.

Non-contact methods include those in which the carda graphic image is formed using various kinds luclean energy - light radiation, including laser, ultra- sound waves, infrared rays.

By the type of cartographic image obtained as a result
engraving, all methods are divided into negative, positive, negapositive-positive.

The mechanical method of engraving in the recent past was the main one in modernnom cartographic production. As a result of engraving on os new with an optically dense engraving coating, bliss is formedtive cartographic image. That is why the method is called negative.

To obtain a positive image, engraving is performed on a light, non-actinic engraving layer applied to an opaque (black) plastic.

The variety of engraving methods is determined by the quality of polymeric materials (plastic), the properties of engraving coatings and the nature of engraving tools. Polymer materials used in cartographic production played one of the decisive roles in preparing maps for publication.

The methodology for preparing maps for publication is inextricably linked with the technology of this stage of map creation. Over the years, the technology of preparing maps for publication has been improved, and the methodology has also changed. The technique is essentially designed to ensure the high-quality implementation of any technological process. Each of them has its own methodology. The more complex this process and the more important it is for the created map, the more attention is paid to the method of its implementation.

When preparing a map for publication, it is possible to single out the following technological processes that are methodologically important:

Preparatory work;

Engraving of originals and registration of their signatures;

Production of original casting elements;

Making a set of original transparencies.

But even among these important processes, the most important for creating the content of the map and the most complex, time-consuming to implement are the processes of engraving, designing originals, as well as making original fill and background elements of the map. Therefore, in the manual, great emphasis is placed on the methodology for performing these processes.

The method of preparatory work is aimed at ensuring the high quality of the subsequent stages of preparing maps for publication. In the process of preparing these works, the original map material is collected and analyzed, and on the basis of the analysis of the main and additional material, one or another technological scheme for preparing maps for publication is adopted. At this stage, the preparation of cartographic materials, as well as technical means and materials. In particular, they include the preparation of engraving bases, plastic and photographic film, as well as obtaining an outline (or dissected) image on engraving bases. When using a compiling original on a transparent basis, the image is obtained on a contact copying machine, and when an opaque basis is used, it is photographed. In this case, the dimensions of the negative should not differ from the theoretical ones by more than 0.2 mm. This is due to the fact that all subsequent copies are made by contact method and it will be impossible to eliminate the errors in the size of the map sheet.

An outline image on an engraving basis is obtained, as a rule, in two ways:

1) by coloring the substrate (dyeing the base); 2) washout relief.

The method of staining the substrate gives a clearer and more resistant to mechanical influences image. Therefore, in the case of obtaining a negative, it is necessary to make a transparencies from it. The use of a silver-free film "photocontact-transparent" will significantly reduce the cost of using silver-containing photographic materials, improve the quality of the resulting image and maintain dimensional stability.

An analysis of the method of engraving originals will make it possible to determine that when engraving, lined originals are worked out (contour, hydrography, relief, etc.). These originals must fully reproduce the content of the primary originals and strictly comply with the requirements of the governing documents. If the originals are made by simultaneous compilation and engraving, they must also satisfy the content requirements for maps of a given scale and purpose.

When mechanically engraving originals, special engraving devices, tools and fixtures are used. Techniques for engraving maps on layers applied to a transparent base (polymer) differ from those used in cartographic drawing, so the development and manufacture of tools, as well as accessories and equipment, was required. Engraving experiments with cutting tools and fixtures made it possible to establish some features and determine the requirements for them.

All tools and devices are subject to the following requirements:

The tools must completely remove the engraving layer from the drawing without damaging the surface of the layer in other areas and without scratching the plastic, as well as ensure the constancy of the thickness and clarity of the boundaries of the engraving elements;

The tools should be easy to use, move easily and quickly over the surface of the original and not obscure the outline pattern with their body.

As a result of engraving the map, a completely transparent line drawing should be obtained, so the engraving layer from the cut elements should be completely removed.

Engraving devices, tools and fixtures:

1. A device for engraving GPL lines with a set of cutters for it;

2. Electric caliper EK with a set of cutters to it;

3.Horizontal engraving pantograph GGP;

4.Pribor for engraving signs of buildings of the State Fire Service;

5.Shtrikhovalny device ShP;

6.GT engraving trolley;

7.Universal engraving device UGP-2;

8. Small engraving trolley MGT - 2;

9. Sets of metal and plastic stencils;

10. Engraving pens;

11. Sharpening kit TC;

This kit made it possible to engrave the entire content of general geographical maps at scales from 1:10,000 to 1:1,000,000, as well as small-scale geographical and thematic maps.

Engraving tools used in foreign cartographic production did not differ in their design from domestic tools.

From the above, we see that, so to speak, the classical technology of preparing maps for publication is very costly, requires a large amount of expensive materials (plastic, film, solutions), most of which are no longer produced, and is also very laborious when using manual "old-fashioned" labor. I would like to note that it does not allow you to quickly edit and update the map, due to the need for the same materials.

Currently, there are many graphic programs for PCs, with the help of which quickly, efficiently, with a full color gamut, with a minimum use of consumables, a cartographic work is published, but the basic principles of the work of cartographers have not changed.

Engraving

TO category:

Artistic processing metals

Engraving

Engraving is one of the oldest methods of artistic processing of metals and some non-metallic materials (bone, wood, stone, etc.). Its essence is the application of a linear pattern or relief to the material using a cutter. Over the many millennia of its existence, engraving has penetrated into a wide variety of areas of production, both artistic (jewelry, engravings) and purely technical, for example, the production of precision measuring instruments and instruments (applying graduations, grading and digitizing micrometer and vernier scales, etc.). ).

In the technology of artistic engraving, one can distinguish between:
- planar engraving (two-dimensional), in which only the surface is processed.
– armored engraving (three-dimensional).

Plane engraving

This technique is widespread in the artistic processing of metals. Its purpose is to decorate the surface of the product by applying a contour drawing or pattern or complex portrait, multi-figure or landscape tone compositions, as well as the execution of various inscriptions and type works. Engraving is used to decorate both flat and three-dimensional items (Fig. 1).

The possibilities of plane engraving are very wide - these are drawings, graphic works made with a cutter on metal, even more subtle and perfect than drawings made with a pencil or even a pen.

Plane engraving (also called “gloss engraving” or “engraving for appearance”) also includes niello engraving, which technologically differs from

ordinary only in that it is performed a little deeper, and then the drawing selected inside is filled with black (Fig. 2).

Surface engraving technology. The whole process of planar engraving includes the following operations.

Drawing preparation. Drawing for transfer to metal is performed on paper in full size in a linear manner. All tonal or shadow transitions are given by a stroke or dots (dotted line).

Metal preparation. The surface of the metal plate (or product) to be engraved must be suitably prepared. The main task of preparation is to make the surface clean, even and smooth. All accidental scratches and scratches are carefully removed by grinding. Then the surface is treated with fine sandpaper and pumice.

The surface should be matte (buffed) and not shiny (polished), as excessive gloss blinds the eyes and makes it difficult to work. If it is necessary to have an engraved design on a polished field, the background is polished after the design is engraved.

Rice. 1. Silver engraved glass Late 17th century. Master V. Andreev. Moscow. State Armory

Transferring a pattern to metal. To transfer the pattern to metal, the surface of the plate or product is covered with a thin layer of white watercolor paint (or liquid diluted white gouache). The paint is allowed to dry and the drawing is transferred to it either by hand with a finely sharpened pencil, or through carbon paper, tracing the lines of the drawing with a finely sharpened hard pencil. The resulting pattern is covered with alcohol varnish or nitro-lacquer so that it does not wear off during work.

Devices for engraving.

Shrabkugel is a solid cast-iron ball with a diameter of about 130 mm and a mass of up to 15 kg, in which a segment is cut off from above. There is a rectangular groove on the round platform, and threaded holes are made in one of the two walls of the groove, into which clamping screws are inserted. The product to be engraved (or a board with a workpiece attached to it) is placed in a groove and firmly pressed with screws to the opposite wall of the groove.

The pads are made from massive steel or cast iron bars, equipped with special expanding jaws. The object to be engraved is placed between the jaws and firmly clamped with screws. In order for a board with a plate or pads attached to it to lie comfortably and stably on a workbench and easily turn during work, a fender is placed under them - a special heavy leather or canvas round pillow with a diameter of 150-200 mm, tightly stuffed with sand. A special leather ring is placed under the shrabkugel for the convenience of work. Fenders give stability and maneuverability (turn) to the devices lying on them when working with a cutter, and also absorb noise from impacts when working with a chisel.

Engraving tool and its use.

Rice. 2. Niello on silver

A good cutter must meet the following requirements:
a) it must be made of first-class material;
b) polished and well sharpened.

Usually, cutters are used, which are made of high-quality fine-grained steel. If it is necessary to make a hard tool with low wear, then it is best to take silver steel or high-speed steel for this; cutters are also made of steel grades U7 and U8. Cutter blanks enter production in the form of steel bars with main surfaces (top, bottom, side and front).

There are the following main types of engravers:

Sharp incisor (spitzstichel) (Fig. 3, a, b). Its lateral sides are slightly curved outward, the width along the top is 1 - 4 mm, the angle between the lateral surfaces may vary. This is the most common type of engraver; it serves to perform most engraving operations: contouring a drawing, trimming corners in type works (especially handwritten, all kinds of corrections and erasures, etc.).

Messerstichel - knife cutter (Fig. 3, c). Its cross section corresponds to an acute triangle. They can reach hair lines of great depth: on a strip 1 mm wide, they can draw up to 10 lines.

Facetshtichel - faceted cutter (Fig. 3, d). Its side walls are parallel, and the cutting surfaces meet at an angle of 100°. Back width 1.5 mm - They can draw lines of relatively wide and shallow depth.

Rice. 3. Types of chisels: a - narrow chisel; 6 - wide stinger; c - messerstichel (knife engraver); g - facetshtichel; (facet engraver); d-justir-shtichel (quotation shtichel); e - flachstichel with a wide back; g - the same, with a narrow back; 3 - bolshti-hel with a wide back; and - the same, with a narrow back; to - fadenshtichel (filament shtichel)

Justirstichel - quotation cutter (Fig. 3, c). Its curved sides form a sharp oval in cross section; used to align the frame tsarg, in order to facilitate the insertion of the stone into the jewelry. The cut surface is ground obliquely with respect to the main axis.

Flachstichel is a flat cutter (Fig. 3, f, g). The back and blade of this cutter are always parallel; depending on the position of the sides, the backrest may be wider or narrower than the canvas. Web width from 0.2 to 5 mm; used not only for drawing wide and flat lines; indispensable for jewelers when refining and mounting jewelry, leveling planes, etc.

Bolshtichel - a semicircular cutter (Fig. 3, h, i). The canvas may be narrower or wider than the back, but it is always semicircular; web width from 0.1 to 5 mm; it is used for strict fonts of various widths, for engraving recesses, for round and semicircular selections, as well as for finishing decorations.

Fadenstichel - a thread cutter (Fig. 3, j), similar to a flat cutter. He has a lot of longitudinal grooves on the canvas; it is used for decorative crafts and for enlivening drawings. Stichels differ not only in the shape of the working part, but also in the nature and angles of sharpening, as well as in their sizes (numbers).

When engraving on concave surfaces or in recesses, bent engravers are used. For the preparation of bent chisels, one or another chisel is heated red-hot in the middle part and bent to the required curvature. Sometimes chisels are given double curvature, but both bends must necessarily lie in the same plane.

When working, the engraver is held in the right hand, in the fist, so that its handle rests on the palm, and the thumb and forefinger support the engraver in the working position. In this case, the elbow is on weight and only the thumb serves as a support for the hand, which at the same time acts as a brake and limits the slippage of the engraver forward. At the same time, the index finger regulates the pressure on the edge of the engraver and directs it along the lines of the pattern. The shtichel is always led only in a straight line from right to left, pushing him forward in small sections.

When engraving curved lines and roundings, the turn of the engraver is allowed only within a small range, and all the bends of the lines in accordance with the pattern are carried out by the left hand, which turns the workpiece fixed in the shrabkugel (or block) towards the cutter. The chisel must be well and correctly sharpened. The softer the metal, the smaller (sharper) the cutting angle. When cutting soft materials (wood), the angle is 45°; for steel it reaches 60-65°. It is impossible to work with a blunt engraver - it jumps off the metal and can easily injure the left hand, which is constantly in front of the engraver. In addition, a dull engraver, sliding off the metal, spoils the work. A sharp chisel easily cuts metal and takes normal chips no more than 0.1-0.2 mm.

Almost all metals and many non-metal materials (bone, wood, plastics, some soft rocks, amber, etc.) are suitable for surface engraving. Of metals, brass, tompak, trial silver, and some steels are best suited for engraving. Bronze, zinc, nickel alloys are well engraved; it is worse to engrave on pure gold, pure silver and platinum, and also on pure aluminum.

Sometimes etching is used together with engraving to enrich the pattern on silver and gold items. To do this, the product is coated with acid-resistant varnish, on which a pattern is applied with a steel needle so that only the varnish is removed (scratched) and the metal surface is exposed, then the product is etched with acid. Diluted nitric acid is used to etch silver, and aqua regia diluted with water is used for gold items. After etching, the varnish is removed with turpentine.

Armor engraving

Engraving (three-dimensional) - a method in which a relief or even a three-dimensional (round) metal sculpture is created with a cutter; in addition, two variants are distinguished in bronzing engraving: convex (positive) engraving, when the relief pattern is higher than the background (the background is deepened, removed); deep (negative) engraving, when a pattern or relief is cut inside.

In modern conditions, artistic engraving is used for various purposes. In some cases, the surface of the product is processed directly and a work of art (decorative items, jewelry, etc.) is obtained. In other cases, tools or devices are made, which then produce artistic products in serial or mass circulation. These include the production of engravings, prints, etchings, clichés for printing, engraving of calico rolls, baguette rollers, relief boards, embossing marks, punches and dies for stamping, molds for casting, etc.

It is necessary to distinguish between manual engraving (with hand tools) and mechanical engraving, which is carried out by means of various devices and engraving machines, which, in turn, are divided into two types; in one case, the engraver controls the movement of the cutter itself, in the other case, the cutter moves automatically using a special template.

Bronzing engraving compared to planar engraving is used much more widely and more often in modern conditions. This is explained by the fact that it serves for the manufacture of devices that reproduce artistic products in serial order. These are stamps, molds, etc.

The production of unique items based on the artist's original using armored equipment is now rarely used. Bronzing engraving is a more labor-intensive process compared to planar engraving. Defense is performed by relief (or counter-relief) and three-dimensional objects (or forms for volumes). This work, of course, requires the removal of a much larger mass of metal from the workpiece.

Therefore, in addition to chisels, chisels are used in case of armored work, since chopping metal is much easier and faster than cutting it with a chisel.

Chisels are steel rods with a thickness of 6 to 10 mm and a length of 120 to 150 mm. The working end is forged and filed according to the shape of one or another engraver. In accordance with this, they distinguish: spitzubilo, flyakhzubilo and bolzubilo. The working end is quenched followed by tempering. In addition to chisels and gravers for engraving hand tool include: a core (or center punch) used for marking (it differs from a locksmith core by a large taper angle); cuts - flat chisels of various widths with sharpening on one side; embossings - steel rods with different working ends for leveling the background and stuffing the texture. The form of engraving chasing is similar to embossing (see “chasing”), but they are usually more massive, since they work mainly on steel blanks, when finishing dies and punches.

Punches. They are usually made from bars of square tool steel with a thickness of 6, 7 and 10 mm with a corresponding length of 65, 85 and 100 mm. It is irrational to make punches of greater length, since they turn out to be less stable due to harmful vibrations and can bend from strong impacts. A small cone is attached to the working end of the punch, and a letter or number is engraved on the end platform, as well as its individual parts in a positive or negative image (i.e., outward or inward).

The so-called convicts differ from ordinary punches. This is a punch made in the shape of a letter, but in such a way that on its working surface those places that in a letter or number should be pressed, deepened (selected) turn out to be convex. When working, such a convict is placed on the place of the workpiece where the letter should be engraved. When you hit the convict with a hammer, the metal under it settles, after which it remains to engrave only the outer outlines of the letter, which is much easier. A variation of the punch are the so-called queen cells, on the end of which not a letter or number is engraved, but a part of the relief or an ornamental element. In case of defensive work, corrugations and needle files of various profiles are also used.

When working with a punch, the workpiece, as well as when planar engraving, strengthen in a shrabkugel or block, under which a fender is placed.

For small work, they use a magnifying glass mounted on a special tripod. It is very important that the workpiece is well lit by daylight or evening light during operation.

The process of armor engraving consists of the following operations:
1) preparatory operations;
2) engraving. To perform defensive work, as well as for planar work, a drawing is prepared, which in this case is provided with cuts with relief characteristics (height, number of plans, etc.) or a section of volumes. However, it is impossible to confine oneself only to drawing in defensive works. It is necessary to have a model, i.e. a copy of the author's original, made in plaster (or in extreme cases in plasticine or wax).

The transfer of the pattern to the metal is carried out in one of the following ways:
1. The surface of the workpiece is covered with white watercolor paint and a drawing is reproduced on it by hand with preliminary marking or with the help of a compass and a ruler.
2. A thin layer of wax (or plasticine) is applied to the workpiece covered with white paint. Then they prepare the drawing by doing it with a pencil on tracing paper. When translating a drawing, one must take into account how it should be on metal - direct or reverse (mirror). A mirror pattern is necessary when engraving seals, facsimiles and other works intended for obtaining prints from them. The pencil drawing copied onto the tracing paper is placed face down on the workpiece and rubbed with the handle of the engraver. Then the tracing paper is carefully peeled off and a clearly visible imprint of a pencil drawing remains on the wax surface.

Perform engraving. Engraving is done differently depending on whether a convex (positive) armor is performed or a recessed (negative) one, in which the work is carried out inside. With a convex armor, after application, the pattern is outlined with a steel needle or a spoke stylus so as not to knock it down during further work. Then the first chip is selected around the pattern. This work is carried out carefully so as not to spoil the drawing with a careless movement. In some cases, the chisel is sloped to create a taper on the vertical walls.

The next operation is background sampling; it is chosen (cut or chopped) with a flachstichel or flachchisel. When deep sampling or when engraving roundings, a bolt cutter or a chisel of a similar shape is used. After cutting down the entire field to the required depth, they begin to process the relief, which is cut or chopped with the appropriate chisels or chisels. In addition, corrugations, needle files and chases are used.

To speed up work when engraving repetitive elements or to make especially small and complex parts, punches, cones and queen cells are used, which are pre-made based on the pattern and nature of the work.

With in-depth armoring, on the polished surface of the workpiece, an outer contour of the relief is drawn and circled with a needle sticher. After that, they begin to cut the metal inside the outlined pattern. Cutting is carried out with chisels of various shapes, “killing in depth should be done very carefully with frequent checks and comparisons with the original. The check is carried out as follows: a piece of softened plasticine is squeezed into a pre-moistened cut-out form and the resulting print is compared with the original, which is being worked on. The main depths are measured with a caliper or checked with a template.

During the finishing process, a small amount of the left metal is removed, and part of the metal shrinks, compacting under the blows of the chasers and the punch. After the final finishing (grinding and polishing of individual sections), the cast becomes identical to the model and it fully fits into the deep armor.

For cleaning and trimming at the bottom of the recesses, bent engravers and corrugations are used. In order not to spoil the edge, a special lining made of dense wood or metal (brass) with dimensions of 100X10X1.5 mm is used, the edges of which are sawn semicircularly.

At present, in the manufacture of steel dies and molds, to facilitate the work of the engraver, a preliminary rough selection of metal on milling machines or casting by precision (accurate) method of the entire matrix or mold. In the latter case, the engraving work is reduced to cleaning and finishing the die cavity, which greatly speeds up and facilitates the work process.