Examine the enlargement mounted on the strainer, looking at it from the side, to learn if there is any starch on the surface of the paper before commencing work on it. If there is any, carefully wash it off with a sponge and some clean water, and then set the enlargement aside until it has thoroughly dried. Then lay it down on the table with a piece of manilla paper under the strainer about 12 inches longer on each edge than the latter; take a handful of cotton, first rubbing it thoroughly in the crayon sauce, then on the manilla paper, and finally going over the surface of the enlargement with it in a circular motion. Then sprinkle pumice stone over the portrait, and using the ends of the fingers flat, rub it over the entire surface of the paper. This treatment cuts through the gelatin surface and prepares it for the stipple effect. Now stand the strainer on its edge and jar the pumice stone off, after which lay it down on the table, and with a piece of clean cotton lightly brush off the surface; then, having rubbed the finger ends in the crayon sauce, go over the entire surface of the enlargement, holding them flat, and you will produce a fine stipple effect.

If the shadows need to be darker, use a little more crayon on the fingers; also put the cast shadow in the background, applying the crayon with the fingers.

Before proceeding further it will be well to note that the crayon is entirely on the gelatin surface, and that the photographic image is on this surface also, and not on the paper itself; therefore, under the image and the gelatin you have the pure white paper. I call attention to this in order that you may work with a better comprehension of the materials you are using.

You now have four surfaces. First, the muslin cloth of the strainer; second, the starch; third, the white paper; fourth, the gelatin.

Knowing that the gelatin has a hard surface, you are prepared to learn that the crayon will come off from the bromide much more easily than from the other kinds of paper. These had but three surfaces, while the bromide has a fourth—a very hard one—between the crayon and the paper, and on account of its hardness it will need different treatment in its manipulation. Therefore you use the fingers in applying the crayon sauce, and, when it is necessary to make a place light, you do so with the cotton, chamois or eraser. Should you find it necessary to make a place white where it is dark, you can remove the photograph entirely, as this is on the gelatin, scraping it off down to the white paper with a sharp knife.

Resuming the process of finishing, place the enlargement on the easel and put in the cloud effect with the large eraser, then lay it on the table again, and clean it off about four inches from the edge all around with pumice stone and a fresh piece of cotton where you have rubbed with the eraser, and blend the background into this four inch space. Return the enlargement to the easel again, and with the broad eraser clean up the lights throughout, and with the cotton and pumice stone blend them into the shadows; then with the peerless stump, crayon sauce and fingers strengthen the larger shadows, using the nigrivorine eraser when necessary to clean up the lights, and the tortillon stump for the work in the smaller shadows, if it is required to make them darker. Now with the No. 0 crayon finish the face by completing the stipple effect in the patches of light and shade. You will have a good guide in the background for finishing and giving the stipple effect, as there you will have this stipple effect quite perfect, especially in the light places. This finishing with the No. 0 crayon is the nicest part of the work, and when doing it you must keep in mind that you are putting in the stipple effect, and that alone; that is, the portrait at this stage is supposed to be very nearly right in light and shade and expression, and it should not be necessary to strengthen it in the shadows by using the No. 0 crayon. You are to cut up or divide the portrait into small black and white spots, but do not take out white spots with the No. 0 crayon that are larger than the white spots desired in the stipple effect; these light places must be cut into smaller light spots. If you should take out these white spots (and this is an error you must be very careful to avoid), you would produce an effect of large dark and white spots that would be entirely wrong, the real process being to divide large white and dark spots into smaller ones of the same color.

This stipple effect should be worked all over the face with the exception of the highest lights, and even these will very often need to be worked over except at the single points of the very highest lights. In this work you now have an opportunity to demonstrate the theory of contrast. Sometimes the enlargement is too dark in the shadows, and although you require to have them lighter you have already removed all the crayon from the surface, and it still remains too dark. The crayon pencil is many shades darker and blacker than the shadows, yet you can by its use make them lighter by putting in the stipple effect, as the dark touches of the pencil in their contrast with the shadow color under them cause them to appear lighter. This is a very essential principle to remember in crayon portrait work: that the effect of dark against light is to make the light appear lighter, and the dark darker. After the face and hair are completed as above, then finish the clothes with the peerless stump, eraser and fingers. If there are any very dark strong shadows—for instance, under the collar or around the neck—put them in with the velours crayon and subdue them with the fingers. When at work on the clothes at the bottom of the portrait do not finish straight across, but in a circular way. Next taking up the background you will discover that there are some large patches of light and shade that must be changed and made the required color to correspond with the adjoining surface; lean back as far as possible in your chair, and join these places together with the pencil and eraser; then in the same position finish the face by removing any light or dark places, strengthening the eyes, nose, mouth, and any point of the likeness requiring a final touch. Remove with the point of your knife any small black spots such as sometimes show in the photograph, and then with a fresh piece of cotton and pumice stone clean off the edges of the crayon all around.

Before regarding the picture as quite complete, examine it by holding it at right angles to the light, to see if there are not some marks of the crayon pencil that show too prominently. These can be subdued with the ends of the fingers. Sometimes in finishing with the No. 0 crayon the paper will seem to be gritty so that you can hardly work on it. The difficulty is that some of the pumice stone has adhered to the surface of the paper. This can be disposed of by rubbing it with the fingers. It should be remembered that the pumice stone must be entirely removed from the whole surface of the paper, as otherwise it will settle in the crayon, and give a dirty gray effect. When, as sometimes happens in commencing the portrait, dark or white spots or streaks show themselves, do not pay any attention to them until you have entirely finished the crayon, then if they are dark, make them the proper shade with the eraser, and if light, with the crayon.