In working with this harder point you will find that you will entirely remove the smoke film, leaving a hard white line around the object you are drawing. It will therefore become necessary to remove all superfluous smoke from the plate, and to lightly throw on a fine film of smoke to form the ground of further work.

Working only with a soft brush, however, you will find that a certain film of smoke will hang to the plate which may be manipulated to produce very fine and gradual tones.

It is in these accidents of smoking that the luck of the worker in smoke is found. A little obstinacy in the smoke film

(probably caused by the presence of a trace of unconsumed grease deposited with the soot), a little extra readiness on the part of the smoke film to leave the surface of the plate, will often give an effect at one touch of the brush which an hour's patient effort could not compass.

Fig. 3. When the picture is finished, the rim of the plate should be wiped clean with a soft rag, and is then ready for fixing.

A successful plate is made as much by the skilful "laying on" of the smoke as by the taking off, and as the picture develops, it will be found necessary to " smoke down " certain portions by the process of laying on successive fine layers, or films, of smoke.

You may graduate these lighter smokings by playing the flame of the candle, not upon the plate itself, but upon the rim.

Sharp high-lights may be taken out with the point of a fine brush, a toothpick, a pen, or any other pointed instrument.

These high-lights, in their turn, may easily be smoked down to half tones.

According to the methods of the artist, an immense variety of effect can be obtained in smoke. From the broadest brush work to the finest line of the engraver is this medium susceptible of treatment.

Having completed your picture, wipe the smoke from the rim of your plate with a piece of soft rag (Fig. 3).

The plate is then ready for fixing. This operation must be performed neatly and quickly. Care must be taken that the plate is well warmed.

Since the smoke film is so delicate that it will not stand the touch of a brush, the plate must be flooded and drained off quickly, so as to leave the lightest possible film of varnish over the smoke.

In flooding the plate let the varnish run from the lip of the bottle on to the rim of the plate, and not directly upon the smoked surface (Fig. 4). A few tilting movements will cover the smoke film with a shining coat of varnish.

Pour off the surplus varnish, and stand the plate on its edge to dry. Any varnish on the rim of the plate may be removed by a soft rag slightly damped in alcohol.

Such a plate, though it will not bear washing, will stand dusting for years. If you desire to make your picture absolutely permanent, give, with a very soft brush, a second coat of clear white varnish.

An Attractive Process

The smoking may be done also over an ordinary fish-tail gas burner. This lays a flat tint of smoke susceptible to a thousand gradations, and beginners will find it easier to handle than a candle.

The making and fixing of a smoke plate takes about twenty minutes, and for a small artistic coterie there is no more delightful pastime than a smoke plate evening. Girl artists, moreover, who wish to make pocket-money or to do some really saleable work for bazaars would do well to try their hand at pictures in smoke

Fig. 4. In fixing the design, let the varnish run from the lip of the bottle on to the rim of the plate, not directly upon the smoked surface.