365. While the etcher is indispensable for many-purposes, yet a great deal of the work formerly performed with the knife can be accomplished much easier, quicker, and more smoothly with the Schriever Reducing Paste. With this paste you can very nicely reduce white bows in the hair, strong high-lights, and heavy lines in the neck. You can also reduce the drapery or any portion of the background in a most effective manner. Its advantages for working on large surfaces especially are almost unlimited.

366. In order that you may familiarize yourself with the application and use of the reducing paste, and for your first experiment with this reducer, take a discarded plate having a white background - i. e., a negative that is quite opaque in the background. Apply this paste to a portion of the background of the negative in the following way: Dip the tip of your finger into the paste, collect a small quantity on the end of the finger, and then apply to a small portion of the surface, rubbing in a circular motion. You will find that it requires but little pressure to reduce the density of the space to which you have applied the reducer. Begin first by rubbing lightly, and then a little heavier. The heavier you rub the film the more you reduce the density. By means of light or heavy pressure you have absolute control over the blending, and any desired result can be produced. An example of reducing with the paste is shown on the right side of the background in Figs. B and C of Illustration No. 21, also on the left-hand side of Illustration No. 22.

367. The object of applying this work to the background is merely for practice, for on the large surface you can see more clearly the effects of the work produced, and can better judge the amount of pressure to apply to produce certain results. After you have had some practice on the background, and you feel capable of applying the paste to portions which require reducing, select a discarded plate with very strong high-lights in the drapery. Apply the paste carefully to these parts and blend them gradually into the lower tones. After reducing the hard portions of the drapery, and before taking any more of the paste on the finger, try reducing the strong high-lights on the face, using the slight amount of paste remaining on the finger for this purpose. The greatest of care must be exercised in working on the face, and only a very small amount of the reducer employed, for with a minimum amount of reducer and a light pressure of the finger splendid results can be accomplished. With a little practice you can readily apply it with the finger to any parts you wish, excepting sharp lines.

368. For reducing strong high-lights on the neck this paste is also indispensable, and it is advisable to use it in preference to the etcher. The knife should be used only on sharp lines, cords in the neck, accentuating sharp shadows in drapery - in fact any fine lines that cannot be reduced with the paste. Should you attempt to apply the paste to fine lines you are apt to reduce other portions which do not require it.