What is a nag, artists know well. Like a piece of dough, it easily removes dirt from the paper without leaving nasty pellets like regular erasers. From it you can pinch off pieces and roll into a cone. Each time the nag touches the drawing, traces of graphite remain on it. In order not to carry them back to work, it is periodically crumpled in the hands, like plasticine.
Before, its function was performed by a crumb of white bread. O'Henry also wrote about this in the story "Stale Rolls". A man in shabby but neat clothes came to the owner of the bakery and bought stale bread. She decided to help the poor fellow, who did not have enough money for fresh pastries, and put butter in the rolls. The enraged architect ran to the hostess, called her names, shaking his fists - it turned out that he erased the pencil lines with stale bread and this time ruined the whole drawing.
When O'Henry wrote his story, there was already a rubber band that was disliked because it became very hard over time. Until the mid-1960s, draftsmen used breadcrumbs.
History of the nag
What is an eraser, the world learned in 1770 from the English scientist Joseph Priestley. He left an entry in his diary about an excellent tool for erasing inscriptions made with a pencil. It happened on April 15, and the remedy was the dried juice of the hevea tree, which the Indians called rubber. Priestley gave it the name rubber (rubber). It's Eraser Day now.
In 1839, the vulcanization of rubber was discovered, which gave strength to this stationery. In the middle of the last century, synthetic rubber was invented, then rubber bands were made from PVC, vinyl and plastic.
The nag was invented by Koh-i-Noor, making it from polyisobutylene (a rubber-like product) with the addition of calcium carbonate and titanium oxide. The composition includes soot and pumice. Keep the nag in the plastic box in which it is sold. If you leave it open, it will be covered with a layer of dust. In this case, a thin dusty layer is carefully cut off. It is useless to wash it, on Gum Day it is customary to buy a new one.
Soft gum that doesn't need to be soaked in gasoline
The heroine of the film "The Most Charming and Attractive" served in the design department of the research institute and had the envy of her colleagues - a soft rubber band. In Soviet times, high-quality gum was in short supply, so the usual school eraser was soaked in kerosene. Within a few days, the rubber did not dissolve, but swelled and became porous. It was wiped, dried and boiled, after which it was easy to remove traces of graphite with such an eraser.
The nag eraser that draftsmen use now is made by the famous Czech company Koh-i-Noor, and it does a great job. From a smooth Whatman sheet, he will remove the mark from the stylus without damaging the structure of the paper. They can erase pencil lines when the drawing is already outlined in ink. It will not dim its brightness like some harder erasers.
Specially created by manufacturers to work with soft black lead pencils, the nag has found application in pastel technique, charcoal, for creating sketches with sauces and colored pencils. That's what a nag is for an artist.
A tool for creating chiaroscuro
The unique ability of plastic gum to remove graphite with a simple push has led to a special technique for creating chiaroscuro. Graphite is applied to the paper (by hatching or brushing using graphite powder). Then, pressing the nag, they lighten part of the drawing to the extent that the artist needs.
Pinching off a small piece, you can carefully mold it into the desired shape to create a highlight. Nag can be used to transfer halftones in pastel works and charcoal graphics.
How to use the nag, shown in the video.
Conclusion
There is a short feature film "Klyachka" about how a girl entered the architectural institute. From the expression on the face of the teacher, from whom she asked for a spare nag, it becomes clear that this is a very important tool for the artist. In the film, the nag is not shown in close-up, andthe viewer may not understand what she is.
But now you know what a nag is. This is a simulated drawing erasing tool. The next time you visit a stationery store, pay attention to plastic boxes with multi-colored nags. Maybe one of them is waiting for you.
