List of therms» Lithographic crayon

Lithographic crayons are available in several forms and degrees of hardness. They can be obtained in short sticks, tablets, and pencils. A numbering system is employed to identify degrees of hatrdness, ranging from #00,the softest and the greasiest, to #5, the hardest (american scale, in french scale: #5 is the softest and #00 is the greasiest). The very soft crayons and pencils produce rich, smoky black; the harder ones (containing less grease) produce the lighter and finer tones. Exprience ir drawing and printing will quickly indicate those grades best suited to individual needs.

It is well to remember that the consistency of the crayon will affect the character of the drawing as well as the printing. The surface of the lithographic stone is hard and abrasive. Even the hard crayons do not long retain a point or edge, and the softer crayons become blunt in the course of drawing a single line. Soft crayons thus lead to a "mushy" line; harder crayons give a crisper effect.

Crayon tones are traditionally built up slowly, starting with a hard crayon and gradually moving to softer as darker tones are reached. The slow, repetitive stroking of the stone with the crayon builds up a beautiful bloom that can range from the most delicate silver-gray to the softest velvety black. The luminosity that can be obtained through this method is unobtainable through any other.

The sequential use of first hard and last soft crayon, has a technical as well as an aesthetic justification. If the sequence is reversed, applying hard crayon over soft, the work may look darker but will not print that way.The reason for this is the soft crayon has allready impasted its maximum grease to the stone, and the harder but less greasy crayon on top can add no more. It will create the illusion of darker looking work, but this is an optical rather than a chemical effect and will be lost in printing. In drawing with lithographic crayons and pencils, the artist will notice several ways in which they differ from ordinary drawing materials. When tones are put on with back-and-forth strokes, it will be seen that the crayon tends to pick up work at the end of each stroke, leaving a small white dot. The firmer the stroke and the softer the crayon, the more this is so. This effect is due to the tackiness of the crayon. Crayon clings to crayon more readily than to stone, particularly at the maximum point of pressure, usually at the beginning or the end of a stroke. Over large areas, such tiny white marks may give an unpleasant salt-and-pepper look to an otherwise even tone. This can be avoided by stroking in one direction only, with the crayon in motion both before and after it touches the stone.

Soft crayons, when used on the side and stroked rapidly an with heavy pressure, will give a coarse, raspy appearance because of the way in which crayon particles cling to one another as the tone is built up. This effect, like all others inherent in the nature of the materials, may be utilized when appropriate.

The crayon, because of its fragile structure, should always be sharpened by cutting away from the point rather than toward it. When working with sharpened crayons, metal crayon holders make work much easier. It will be found that extremely dark accents, particularly over established tones, will best be achieved by pushing rather than pulling the crayon across the stone. The pressure thus exerted tends to squash the crayon more firmly into the stone. Soft crayons held perpendicularly and pulled rapidly will skip or hop, producing a jumpy or dotted line.

Crayons are soluble in water, turpentine, and other solvents. Drawing through films of these solvents on the stone will produce varying effects somewhere between those of a pure wash and a pure crayon drawing. The more solvent is present, the more crayon fis dissolved, ultimately leading toward a wash. The character of the wash is conditioned not only by the type of solvent used, but also by the softness of the crayon and by the amount of solvent.

Anna Trojanowska