Drawing and writing on paper having been described in our last chapter, we now proceed to treat of

78. Writing and Drawing on Stone.—The principal difficulty experienced in drawing and writing on stone arises from the necessity of reversing the work, and this, conjoined to the drawbacks of always having to trace work to the stone, and the great bulk and weight of the latter, places working on stone at a disadvantage in comparison with transfer-paper; on the other hand, the accidents to which transfers are liable cause stone to be more generally used in most establishments.

Transfer-paper is more suited to the use of the writing pen than stone; but for the brush, crayon, and mathematical work, the surface of the stone is to be preferred, and it will hereafter be shown that it allows of a greater variety of work than the transfer method.

79. Ink Drawing on Stone,—The Tracing.—In proceeding to work upon stone, the student must bring himself to acknowledge and appreciate the value and importance of a good and correct Tracing, and feel assured that nothing can be gained by neglecting so essential an aid to success. It is made either in pencil or ink, placed in the reversed position upon the stone, and the red chalk tracing-paper with its prepared side downwards, is interposed between it and the stone. The corners are now gummed, pasted, or held down by paper-weights (avoiding the use of wafers), and the work traced over with a HHH pencil, or other hard tracing point, until a facsimile, in red, of the tracing, is transferred to the stone.