Tracing With Ink (1955)

Demonstrates tracing on cloth. Shows procedures for
handling the ink bottle and for filling, adjusting, using,
cleaning and sharpening pens.
We digitized and uploaded this film from the A/V Geeks 16mm Archive. Email us at [e-mail] if you have questions about the footage and are interested in using it in your project.

[@Liberty2357]

As an engineer the reduction of drafting as a profession is a huge disservice. Even in the age of CAD. It’s like asking an author to do their own proofreading. Working with professional drafter is always better but hard to get management to see it that way.

[@webdronez]

They always did it better back in the day. Quality of the craftsmanship has deteriorated over the years. This is a good teaching video for sure.. Thanks

[@LiefWezeman]

I go to Purdue University now. In my Freshman year I took a CAD class, which touched on making drawings by hand, but the modern curriculum has taken all of the skill and artistry out of the process. I collect drafting tools and practice drafting skills because I hope these skills are never lost, even though I recognize the efficiency of making drawings using CAD software.

[@SirWhiteRabbit-gr5so]

Drafting used to be its own profession within Architecture. In the 1930s, the highest paid employees at my grandfather's Architecture office were four draftsman who worked on the third floor manually copying sketches and existing drawings EXACTLY as drawn; human engineering copiers. When the copied drawings were no longer needed my grandmother washed and bleached them in her washing machine and cut them up into handkerchiefs; best-quality Linen cloth. When I was in Architecture School in the 1970s, only the railroads and the mining industry still used linen drawings rather than vellum paper. Inked linen would last 100 years until needed. Vellum deteriorates. A shortcut for draughting pens was to have one or two preset to the desired widths, similar to the Rapidograph pens they were still using in the 1980s on mylar.

[@mikewyndham]

The guys a master. I hope my lines are that nice someday

[@magicyellow7422]

This video is a gem

[@xxepic_swag_gamingxx5238]

Those are some seriously gorgeous tools. I wish they still made them like this… Although new old stock from well-known names like rotring isn’t particularly expensive.

[@OofusTwillip]

Drawing inks, including India Ink, contain gum arabic as the binding agent. This makes them cling to the pen, and dry quickly and waterproof. This also clogs pens, which is why it must be removed from them quickly. And why drawing inks must NEVER be used in fountain pens.

[@douglasscott464]

But fountain pen ink works very nice in ruling pens and in graph pens as well.

[@DazzlingAction]

This gem of a video should be shown to anybody getting into line art.

[@alanadams9793]

That is an excellent training video. Thanks very much!

[@marziehkaviani5536]

Hi Alan!!!

[@1337blackone]

i recently bought a vintage Dietzgen drawing tool kit just like the one used in this video and am ecstatic to find this instructional video so i might rediscover and explore this dying art.

[@LiefWezeman]

I love old Dietzgen tools! I have a few sets from them, both made in the US and in Germany.

[@txtele]

Thank you for posting

[@newbbietrader9918]

nice I AM LEARNING THIS IN 2022

[@Ignatius487]

Unintentional ASMR

[@sweetmaths4213]

Really interesting! Thank You.

[@travgusmc]

My home town West Lafayette! Purdue baby!

[@PaulGDowling]

What a great instructional video. Love it

[@wilfdarr]

People used to be smart: it'll be a miracle if we ever get back to the moon.

[@adamwiddowson8254]

There are still a lot of smart people out there, but they have moved on from these methods. That being said, this is an incredible lost art.

[@webdronez]

We never will in a general sense. But one can always strive for themselves.

[@OofusTwillip]

Computers make it all so much faster and easier---until there's a power failure, or your systems get hacked. Then, you'd better know how to do things by hand.

[@adamwiddowson8254]

@@OofusTwillip It would have to be a pretty catastrophic incident to be out long enough to mean doing it by hand is faster than just fixing the problem, obviously depending on the type of work. At my work the power went out for half a day, we paused production and claimed for what was affected on insurance and rebuilt it the next day.

[@alcyonecrucis]

Love it

[@OofusTwillip]

If lines are drawn from left to right, this is fine for right-handed people, but left-handed people should draw from right to left.

[@CSGraves]

Left-handed people hadn't been invented until 1956 😆

[@algermedina4523]

where can i buy this compass

[@westonlandis2234]

What paper is this person tracing on and what powder is required for it? I have never seen this before. Thank you!

[@emilyrobinson6080]

Its actually a sort of thin cloth almost like a stiff silk scarf instead of conventional paper. The powder is called pouncing powder, its a very finely ground mild abrasive, usually pumice or similar, that helps scour the surface, roughing up any slicked down fibers and polishing away any oils and such that could prevent ink from adhering or that might cause it to run

[@SilvianoMangu]

Alguien sabe para que le vierte talco??

[@Generaly82]

En la vieja data es para absorber la grasa que podía estarse en el papel, en esa época los formatos eran sensibles a la grasa y humedad, por eso el talco

[@OofusTwillip]

It's not talcum powder. It's sizing. It's still sold today. Calligraphers and draughtsmen use it to keep the paper from absorbing too much ink, causing feathering. You want the paper to absorb just enough ink that you get clean lines.

[@OofusTwillip]

They have to be told how to open an ink bottle? In an era when most people used fountain pens, and schoolchildren used dip-pens in class?

[@jordantheallmighty]

It's not the same ink that you would use for a fountain pen, this is much stickier when it dries because of the "gum arabic" added. This can glue the stopper to the bottle and be much harder to pop off and the bottles have the dropper making them different from dip pen bottles. You could easily make a mess if you weren't expecting that to be attached to the lid. This is also an instruction to inking where you are expected to not just "open a bottle" but do it one handed, refill a drafting pen, and replace the lid so that the fast drying ink isn't ruined or spilled. Some one using an ink well wouldn't cover it or stopper their bottle until they're done. I would say it's not that they have to be told how because they're not used to ink, it's more of a warning that this type of ink is difficult to work with.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

A lost craft.

[@iuliuscaesar9121]

Do you have more videos on technical drafting?

[@SimEon-jt3sr]

I was born in the wrong time