In all operations with the copperas care must be taken that it does not get on the clothes, as it leaves an iron stain that cannot be easily got rid of. Keep a bason for each colour, and when done with wash it out with clean water. The same with the sponges: keep them as clean as possible; have a sponge for each colour, and use it only for that colour. A piece of glass to put the sponges on will be of great use, and prevent the work-table or board from catching any of the colour. A damp book or damp paper laid on a board that has been so stained will most probably be damaged, even though it has waste paper between the work-board and book. No amount of washing will ever take away such a stain.
When the book has been coloured, the edges and inside are to be blacked or browned according to taste, or in keeping with the outside. The book is then ready for finishing.
Some very good results may be obtained if the binder, using coloured calf of a light brown, treats it as if it were white calf, marbling with the usual colours; or a yellow calf, splashing it all over with salts of tartar only, the boards being placed in a slanting direction to allow the colour to gently run down. |108|
Or the whole of a cover may be blacked with tartar and copperas, then with a diluted solution of acid it may be sprinkled, this will give grey-white spots on black or slate ground: if, after washing, the cover be sponged over with some colouring liquid, such as analine dyes, the spots will be of the colour used.
I do not give many methods or receipts for producing colours for calf, because, as before stated, the introduction of fancy calf has rendered obsolete the old-fashioned way of boiling and preparing the different woods for making colours, and the above will be found useful for colouring calf in many different ways.
Finishing is the art of embellishing the covers of books with different designs. Finishing comprises the embellishment of the covers either with blind work, gold, silver or platina leaf, or with metal ornaments fastened through the boards, or by only a lettering on the back of the book.
The art of finishing does not comprise any embellishment done with the “blocking press.” Therein the art is more that of the block or tool cutter, who, working in concert with the artist who drew the design, cuts the metal accordingly. The binder’s use of these blocks is mechanical only.