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By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. - Confucius
Macro Monday project - 11/05/12
"Line Symmetry”
Covid-19 Cabin Fever
Covid-19 Separation Anxiety
San Sebastián Spain, 2017
Carl Zeiss Makro Planar T* 50mm f/2.0 ZE
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of Schiaparelli's separation from ExoMars/TGO at 16:42 CEST on 16 October Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of AOS (acquisition of signal) from ExoMars/TGO following the separation of the Schiaparelli lander Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of AOS (acquisition of signal) from ExoMars/TGO following the separation of the Schiaparelli lander Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of AOS (acquisition of signal) from ExoMars/TGO following the separation of the Schiaparelli lander Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
June 25 2010
I'm having camera withdrawal.
My dad took him to the shop today and they had to send him away. I still don't know what's wrong with him or how I managed to break him being the stupid idiot that I am. I can't help but think that I don't deserve a camera since I thought I was being so careful and I still killed him.
Maybe this photography thing isn't for me.
I might not carry on. Good grief, only 56 days in and already I'm thinking about quitting. But my lust for photography has dissipated since breaking my baby Edwin. He was only 4 months old. I'm such an idiot.
P.S. This is completely sooc, not even a crop, I just didn't feel like doing anything today.
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of AOS (acquisition of signal) from ExoMars/TGO following the separation of the Schiaparelli lander Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
Villagers are separating rice grain from husk with machine. This overall golden texture is looking amazing
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of AOS (acquisition of signal) from ExoMars/TGO following the separation of the Schiaparelli lander Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
I remember this morning for two reasons, this amazing mist, and the incredible cold. It was about -20 deg C and very still. When my hands were in gloves and tucked in my jacket, the brisk ambient air on my face felt fresh, but not bitter. I took a few photos on this bridge as the mist came along very quickly and created some amazing shapes. Once I started taking photos (with my gloves off yes I was stupid) I realised how cold it was. My hands became bright red and had that hot cold sensation. Once I put my gloves back on I was ok.
Now, back to this mist. I had never been up close to see mist undulating with the landscape, and I guess, changes in the surface temperature from river to land. This photo doesn't capture how impressive this was, I should have taken a few shots and stitched them together. Anyway, my longest photo description on Flickr. I wish I could say that all my photos had the same level of inspiration and backstory, but they don't.
Furano, Japan. Nikon D800.
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of AOS (acquisition of signal) from ExoMars/TGO following the separation of the Schiaparelli lander Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
I walk away, then...come back again...you leave..come again... It's so hard not to look back.
Left a broken heart fall into the water of forgiveness...but I see that it can swim...
I just love the beach on stormy days, watching people walking and taking in all that fresh sea air. Yet in amongst all the chaos of the surf and the noise of the wind there's an air of simplicity to the scene as I hope I have captured here. Carefull placement of elements in a scene will I hope entice the viewer to ask questions of it and find a story within.
Mono version here: www.flickr.com/photos/wdig/8112006531/in/photostream
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Technical Manual: Chromolithographic Production of a Decorative Trunk-Lid Print (c. 1880s)
This decorative trunk-lid image was created by chromolithography, the leading high-quality color printing process of the late 19th century. It combined freehand artistry for pictorial elements with precise mechanical drawing for borders and geometric motifs. The process was entirely manual in this period—no photographic separations were used—and required exacting craftsmanship to produce a richly layered, perfectly registered color image.
I. Detailed Process Description
1. The Key Stone
The process began with the “key” or outline stone.
The lithographer drew the full design, in reverse, on a smooth, polished slab of Bavarian limestone using greasy lithographic crayon or tusche (greasy ink).
This stone carried all outlines, contour lines, and key shading cues.
Registration marks—crosses or pinholes in the margins—were incorporated so that every later color impression could be matched precisely to it.
For geometric elements such as borders, frames, corner ornaments, or medallion arcs, the lithographer employed rulers, straightedges, compasses, and French curves. This ensured perfect parallelism, uniform line width, and symmetry. Repeating motifs in borders were often laid out with dividers or spacing marks before being finished by hand.
The key drawing integrated these mechanically precise elements seamlessly with freehand rendering of organic forms such as the woman’s portrait, foliage, and landscape details.
After completion, the stone surface was chemically treated with gum arabic and dilute nitric acid so that greasy image areas would accept oil-based ink while the blank areas repelled it.
2. Creating the Faint Guide Transfers
The key stone was inked in a neutral tone—commonly light grey, sepia, or pale ochre.
Impressions were pulled onto specially prepared transfer paper coated with a thin layer of adhesive such as gelatin.
These impressions, called “transfers” or “pulls”, were strong enough to be visible but pale enough not to interfere with later color drawing.
Each transfer sheet was placed face down on a blank polished stone and run through the press under pressure. The greasy ink transferred into the pores of the new stone’s surface, producing a pale, precise replica of the entire design.
One transfer was made for each color stone planned—often 8–15 for a richly shaded piece like this.
3. Drawing Each Color Stone by Hand
On each transferred stone, the lithographer worked only on the areas to be printed in that stone’s specific color.
Pictorial areas (faces, floral elements, landscape features) were rendered freehand using stipple dots, hatching, and textured crayon marks to create tonal gradations.
Geometric areas (borders, lines, decorative panels) in that color were drawn using rulers, compasses, and templates to maintain straightness, curvature, and even spacing.
The lithographer had to anticipate how transparent inks would overlap with others to form new colors. This required leaving certain areas open, or creating deliberate overlaps to produce secondary hues (e.g., printing blue over yellow to make green).
No photographic separation was used—color interpretation was entirely a matter of artistic judgment.
4. Judgement and Artistry
Transparent inks meant the lithographer had to visualize the cumulative result of multiple layers before printing began.
Overlaps were planned to achieve desired hues without muddying.
In complex areas like the sitter’s complexion, effects were built up by combining a base tone (e.g., pale yellow) with flesh pink and then adding subtle shading through stippling or fine hatching in a darker tint.
5. Proofing and Adjustments
After each stone was drawn, a proof print was pulled.
Registration was checked against the key, and tonal balance was evaluated.
Corrections could be made by grinding down areas of the stone with pumice or adding new greasy drawing where needed.
Proofing and correction cycles continued until every stone printed cleanly and registered perfectly with the others.
6. Sequential Printing
Printing typically began with the lightest colors and progressed to the darkest.
Each sheet of paper was dampened, aligned to the registration marks, and printed one color at a time.
After each pass, the sheet was dried (or re-dampened if needed) before receiving the next color.
Transparent inks allowed optical blending—yellow printed first, blue later, producing green in overlapping areas.
Borders and other critical alignment points were checked with each pass to maintain precision.
II. Probable Color Sequence for This Print
Based on late-19th-century practice and the observed palette of your trunk-lid image:
Light Yellow – Base tone for foliage highlights, ribbon accents, and underpainting for skin tones.
Light Pink / Flesh Tint – Applied over yellow in portrait areas; also in floral details.
Sky Blue – Ribbon background, water, and cool shadows; provides base for greens when overprinted with yellow.
Light Green – Foliage tints achieved by printing over yellow and/or blue.
Warm Ochre / Buff – Mid-tone background fills and ornamental elements.
Mid-Red / Rose – Floral accents, ribbon details, lips and cheeks.
Dark Green – Deep foliage shadows and ornamental border accents.
Dark Blue – Shading in ribbon folds, water, and certain border areas.
Brown – Hair, tree trunks, warm shadow areas.
Black (Key Plate) – Final pass, reinforcing outlines, details, and definition.
Note: Some printers reversed steps 9 and 10, but decorative trunk-lid work typically saved the black for last to achieve maximum crispness in outlines.
III. Size
\Commercial chromolithography in the 19th century had a surprisingly wide size range, and by the 1880s there were presses and stones capable of printing very large sheets—but “routine” sizes were smaller than the record-breakers.
Here’s what the sources indicate:
Typical Commercial Sizes
Most advertising chromos and decorative prints (trade cards, cigar labels, trunk-lid liners, calendars) were under 18 × 24 inches (45 × 60 cm).
This size range kept stone weight manageable (under ~40–50 lbs) and allowed fast presswork without excessive paper costs.
Large-Format Work in Regular Use
By the 1870s–1890s, firms in the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany routinely printed posters, maps, and wall charts up to about 24 × 36 inches (61 × 91 cm) in a single sheet.
Large railroad and theater posters were sometimes printed as multiple sheets to be joined after printing—each sheet a separate lithographic run.
Stones for these larger single sheets could weigh 200–300 lbs, which was about the upper limit for regular commercial handling.
Extra-Large (Occasional, Not Routine)
A few specialized presses and workshops produced single-sheet chromolithographs up to 30 × 40 inches (76 × 102 cm) or even 40 × 60 inches (102 × 152 cm).
These were not everyday jobs—they required special heavy presses and crews to handle the stones. Examples include:
French art publishers like Lemercier producing oversize posters for exhibitions in the 1870s–1880s.
American billboard chromos in the 1890s printed for product advertising; often pasted in sections, but sometimes one monumental sheet if the client paid the premium.
Why “Routine” Stopped Around 24 × 36 inches
Larger stones became exponentially heavier and harder to keep in register.
The risk of breaking a costly Bavarian limestone during handling increased with size.
Press speeds dropped as sheet size increased, making large runs slower and more expensive.
Bottom line:
Routine large commercial chromolithographs: up to about 24 × 36 inches (61 × 91 cm) in a single sheet.
Specialized/occasional work: up to about 40 × 60 inches (102 × 152 cm), but rare and costly.
Anything bigger was usually produced as multiple sheets to be assembled on site.
IV. Estimated Production Time for Initial Creation
Based on period trade manuals and documented work rates in late-19th-century lithographic shops:
Drawing the Key Stone: 2–4 days (18–30 hours)
Printing Key Transfers to Color Stones: 0.5–1 day
Drawing All Color Stones:
Simple stones (flat color fills): ~1 day each
Complex stones (shaded or detailed): 1.5–2 days each
For a 10-color job: ~14–18 days total
Proofing and Corrections: 3–5 days
Total Working Time: ≈ 20–28 working days
Elapsed Time: ≈ 4–6 weeks for one lithographer/artist, supported by press operators.
Large firms with multiple artists could reduce elapsed time, but decorative trunk-lid work was often done at an artisanal pace rather than mass-production speed.
Total direct chromolithographic employment in U.S. ca. 1890–1900: ~10,000–12,000 workers.
(This excludes related trades like engravers, photographers, and bindery workers who might work with litho output.)
V. Estimated 1880s Production Cost
Using data from American and British lithographic trade catalogs, printers’ journals, and jobbing price lists from the 1870s–1890s:
Artist’s Fee (design and stone drawing): $25–$40
Stone Preparation & Etching: $5–$8
Presswork per Color: $1.50–$3 per 1,000 impressions, per color stone
Materials:
Bavarian limestones (reusable): $3–$5 each (capital cost)
Inks and gum/acid solutions: $2–$4 per job
Transfer paper: ~$1 per job
Overhead (shop labor, utilities, depreciation): $5–$10 per job
For a 10-color image at a run of 500–1,000 prints:
Total Cost to Client (1880s): ≈ $50–$75
Higher runs reduced per-unit cost sharply, but initial image creation (especially artist’s labor) was a fixed, front-loaded expense.
VI Occupational Hazards in 19th-Century Chromolithography
While the 1880s chromolithographic process produced vivid, durable images, it also exposed workers to toxic pigments, solvents, and dusts. These materials posed significant health risks, and historical evidence from trade journals, factory inspection reports, and medical literature of the period confirms that occupational disease was common in the printing trades, including lithography.
1. Pigments
Many of the brilliant, permanent colors relied on heavy-metal compounds. Examples include:
Chrome Yellow – Lead chromate (PbCrO₄). Bright, opaque yellow used for ornaments and underlayers. Risks: lead poisoning (anemia, colic, neurological damage) and chromium-induced skin and respiratory irritation.
Emerald Green / Paris Green – Copper acetoarsenite. Vivid green for foliage and decorative borders. Risks: arsenic poisoning (skin lesions, respiratory illness, systemic toxicity).
Vermilion – Mercuric sulfide (HgS). Rich red for accents. Risks: mercury poisoning (tremors, mood disorders, cognitive decline).
White highlights – Lead carbonate (PbCO₃). Risks: lead poisoning.
Red lead (Pb₃O₄) – Used for some warm red tones. Risks: lead poisoning.
Cobalt pigments – Blues; less toxic than lead or arsenic but hazardous in dust form.
Prussian Blue – Ferric ferrocyanide; relatively low toxicity, but dust inhalation was still discouraged.
Exposure pathways: Pigment dust during grinding/mixing; skin contact; ingestion via contaminated hands or food.
2. Inks and Solvents
Oil-based inks were ground with linseed oil and diluted with turpentine or benzene-type solvents.
Benzene, not yet recognized as a carcinogen, was associated with dizziness, headaches, and chronic neurological symptoms in exposed workers.
Turpentine caused skin irritation and, in high vapor concentrations, respiratory distress.
3. Etching and Stone Preparation
Etching solution: Gum arabic mixed with dilute nitric acid. Nitric acid vapors could irritate eyes, throat, and lungs.
Stone graining/polishing: Pumice and sand were used to prepare stones, generating silica dust, a cause of silicosis with chronic inhalation.
4. Documented Health Effects
Contemporary medical and trade sources document:
Lead poisoning (“painter’s colic,” tremors, muscle weakness, abdominal pain, memory loss).
Arsenic toxicity (skin eruptions, sore throat, chronic cough, systemic symptoms).
Mercury poisoning (tremor, mood instability, cognitive changes).
Chronic bronchitis and eye irritation from acid fumes.
Silicosis in long-serving stone preparers and press workers exposed to fine dust.
5. Workplace Practices
Little or no protective equipment was used.
Workers frequently ate, drank, or smoked at their benches.
Ventilation was often inadequate, especially in winter when windows stayed closed.
Mechanical pigment mixers and enclosed presses, which reduced dust and vapor exposure, only began to appear in larger firms in the late 19th century.
Conclusion:
The production of chromolithographs in the 1880s was not only an artistic and technical achievement but also a process with significant hidden costs to the health of the workers who produced them. The durability and brilliance of these prints often came at the expense of prolonged exposure to lead, arsenic, mercury, acid vapors, and fine dust—a reality rarely acknowledged in decorative trade literature of the period.
VII. Summary
This 1880s trunk-lid chromolithograph was the product of 20–28 working days of skilled labor by a lithographer, supported by a press crew, and costing the client the equivalent of several thousand dollars in today’s money.
It required:
Freehand artistry for portraits, landscapes, and organic elements.
Ruler-and-compass precision for ornamental borders and geometric motifs.
Stone-by-stone planning of transparent color overlaps.
Exact registration across 10 separate printings.
The result was a brilliantly colored, durable image, perfectly suited to enliven the interior of a travel trunk—and to survive for well over a century.
Supplement
i. The development of chromolithography in the Europe and the US.
Europe: Development
Early 19th century – Foundations in Bavaria and France
Senefelder himself experimented with multi-color printing almost from the start (he wrote about “polyautography” in his 1818 treatise), but the technical and economic obstacles kept most lithography single-color for decades.
1830s – Practical multi-color experiments in France
The first systematic attempts to produce full-color lithographs by using separate stones for each color occurred in France. The printer Godefroy Engelmann of Mulhouse and Paris is widely credited with perfecting the process and securing a patent for “chromolithographie” in 1837.
Engelmann’s innovation was to work out methods for precise registration of multiple stones, using transparent inks to blend colors and produce painterly effects.
1840s – Refinement in Paris and Munich
French and Bavarian firms refined techniques for preparing multiple stones, planning color separations, and printing in sequence. Early chromolithographs were often high-art reproductions—costly, with limited runs.
Europe: Commercialization
1850s – Popularization in France, Germany, and Britain
Advances in presses, inks, and stone preparation allowed larger runs at lower cost. In Paris, firms like Lemercier mass-produced decorative prints, maps, and reproductions. In Munich, firms like Strixner & Cie became known for rich color art plates. In Britain, the process was adopted for book illustration and advertising.
1850s–1860s – Introduction to the United States
Chromolithography reached the U.S. in the early 1840s, but true commercial-scale production took off after the Boston lithographer Louis Prang began producing high-quality, multi-color prints in the 1860s.
Prang’s work—especially his Christmas cards and art reproductions—made chromolithography a household term in America.
1870s–1890s – Peak commercial use
By this period, chromolithography had become the dominant method for high-quality color printing in advertising (trade cards, posters, packaging), decorative art prints, maps, and ephemera such as the trunk-lid prints you’re studying. The combination of improved stone-handling, faster presses, and cheaper inks made it possible to produce vivid, durable color images for a mass market.
Timeline: Chromolithography in the United States
1820s – First lithographic presses appear in major U.S. cities; work is monochrome, with color added by hand.
1840s – Small-scale multi-color experiments begin in American shops. Imported European chromolithographs are sold to wealthy buyers but domestic production is limited.
1850s – Chromolithography begins to be practiced in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, often by immigrant printers trained in Europe. Still mainly used for maps, sheet music covers, and decorative prints.
1860s – Louis Prang of Boston pioneers high-quality American chromolithography. His “Prang’s Chromos” (art reproductions and greeting cards) become nationally known. Multi-stone, transparent-ink printing becomes more common in U.S. advertising and fine-art work.
1870s – Rapid expansion of chromolithography in commercial advertising. Used for trade cards, cigar box labels, and posters. Printing technology improves, allowing finer registration and larger press runs.
1880s–1890s – Chromolithography reaches industrial scale in the U.S. Bright, durable color images appear on everything from product packaging to educational charts and decorative items such as trunk-lid liners. Multi-stone printing (8–12 colors) is standard for high-quality work, with both freehand and ruler-based drafting techniques used in the same design.
ii The End of Commercial Chromolithography
How Rapidly Chromolithography Was Abandoned
1890s: Chromolithography still dominant for posters, packaging, and decorative prints, but halftone work begins to capture advertising and magazine illustration.
1900–1910: Offset lithography and letterpress with color halftones begin to outcompete chromolithography for most commercial uses.
1910s–1920s: The shift accelerates — offset can print faster, at lower cost, with acceptable color fidelity.
Chromolithography survives mainly in high-art reproductions and specialty decorative work.
1930s: In the U.S. and Europe, chromolithography is effectively obsolete for mass-market commercial jobs. The skill of hand-drawing multi-stone separations becomes rare.
Post-1930s: Only a few fine-art printers and specialty houses continue using chromolithography, often as a deliberate artisanal choice rather than a commercial necessity.
This text is a collaboration with Chat GPT.
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of AOS (acquisition of signal) from ExoMars/TGO following the separation of the Schiaparelli lander Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of AOS(acquisition of signal) from ExoMars/TGO following the separation of the Schiaparelli lander Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
Photography by Ismael Barrera
Heavily snow dusted rocks and edges, create an eloquent contrast agains a faded tree background.
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of AOS (acquisition of signal) from ExoMars/TGO following the separation of the Schiaparelli lander Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
Sixteen minutes from grabbing the warthog, the lions went for separation in this case most of the kill went to this one lion, the chasing one got nothing
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of Schiaparelli's separation from ExoMars/TGO at 16:42 CEST on 16 October Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of AOS(acquisition of signal) from ExoMars/TGO following the separation of the Schiaparelli lander Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
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Photo by Alice Merkel.
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Photos taken at our ESOC mission control centre around the time of AOS (acquisition of signal) from ExoMars/TGO following the separation of the Schiaparelli lander Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev
Ceremony of Separation
Autumn / Winter 2015 - 2016
Coat of black polyester lace and net with attached children's dresses and bonnets of black nylon net, black cotton lawn, and black silk satin ribbon, and bow of cotton velveteen.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute spring 2017 exhibition, Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between, on view from May 4 through September 4, examines Kawakubo’s fascination with interstitiality, or the space between boundaries. In Kawakubo’s work, this in-between space is revealed as an aesthetic sensibility, establishing an unsettling zone of oscillating visual ambiguity that challenges conventional notions of beauty, good taste, and fashionability. A thematic exhibition, rather than a traditional retrospective, this is The Costume Institute’s first monographic show on a living designer since the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition in 1983.
--- Metropolitan Museum of Art