FICTILE MANUFACTURES. 



Mastic is properly a resinous substance obtained 

 from incisions made in the branches of the Pistacia 

 lentiscus, and received its European name from 

 being chewed or used as a masticatory by women 

 in Turkey, for the purpose of cleansing the teeth, 

 and imparting an agreeable odour to the breath. 

 But the term mastic is also applied not very 

 appropriately to certain cements which are used 

 for architectural purposes, and especially for setting 

 the tesseras of mosaics. It is composed of about 

 93 parts of calcined clay, mixed with 7 parts of 

 litharge, and worked up into a paste with linseed- 

 oil. 



Artificial Stone. The soluble silicate of potash 

 or soda, termed ' water-glass,' has been for some 

 time used as a binding cement, by which sand and 

 a little lime have been formed into artificial stone, 

 almost equalling in appearance and strength some 

 of the best natural sandstones. M. Kuhlmann of 

 Lille, and Mr F. Ransome of Ipswich, have been 

 the most successful workers in this field. Mr 

 Ransome by his first method fired the above mix- 

 ture in a kiln ; but afterwards he made by another 

 plan an artificial stone with sand, fragments of 

 granite, chalk, or other mineral, forming an inti- 

 mate mixture of one or more of these with water- 

 glass in a pug-mill, and then moulding the sub- 

 stance, while soft, into any required form. On the 

 addition of a solution of chloride of calcium, an 

 insoluble silicate of lime is formed, which binds 

 the whole into a firm mass. A strong kind of 

 artificial stone is formed of Portland Cement, 

 mixed with chips of stone or gravel. This mate- 

 rial was used in the construction of the Suez 

 Canal, and the breakwater erected at Aberdeen 

 has been constructed of it. There is another 

 imitation of stone, made chiefly of sand and lime, 

 from which what are called ' stone-bricks ' are now 

 manufactured. Slag from iron furnaces is yet 

 another material sometimes used as a substitute 

 for stone in the shape of rectangular blocks, but 

 being of very irregular texture and composition, 

 it cannot be relied on for durability. 



Moulding compositions for making architectural 

 ornaments in relief are now extremely common, 

 and in most instances well fitted for the object in 

 view. The substances chiefly used for this pur- 

 pose are carton-pierre, papier-mache", stamped 

 leather, &c. Carton-pierre is now very often 

 used. From its lightness, durability, and ease of 

 application, it is peculiarly adapted for architec- 

 tural decoration. It is composed of ' the pulp of 

 paper mixed with whiting and glue. This prepar- 

 ation is pressed into plaster piece-moulds, backed 

 with paper, and then, when sufficiently set, 

 removed to a drying-room to harden.' The dry- 

 ing is effected in a few hours, which is a great 

 advantage. ' Bois durci ' is now much used for 

 ornamental mouldings. It is a composition in 

 which the principal ingredient is charred saw- 

 dust, and forms a remarkably good imitation of 

 ebony. 



DECORATIVE DESIGN AS APPLIED TO FICTILE 

 MANUFACTURES. 



Utility is the primary design of all manu- 

 factured articles ; this, therefore, should never 

 be lost sight of, but the ornament should always 

 be subservient to the main design. Ornament 

 has therefore been defined as the ' decoration of 



a thing constructed.' Thus a jug is designed to 

 hold a fluid, and to allow of it being taken from 

 and put into it with great ease ; but if the form, or 

 the ornament added to the form, be of such a kind 

 that the jug cannot be used as a jug, it is merely 

 an ornament having the shape of a jug. When we 

 find articles, such as vases, having forms or orna- 

 ment given to them entirely inconsistent with 

 their known uses, we at once trace a want of 

 truth in the design. From these considerations is 

 derived the canon or rule, that ' ornament should 

 arise out of, and be subservient to construction.' 

 It is in this sense that architecture has been 

 defined as ' decorated construction.' 



Ornament is derived from three sources : from 

 natural forms, from the conventional ideas, and 

 from simple geometrical figures. These, of course, 

 are all resolvable into one source that of nature ; 

 but it is convenient to arrange them as above. 

 There are two great schools of ornament. One 

 school holds that natural forms closely imitated 

 are the best suited to the decoration of works of 

 utility or art that, in the words of one of its 

 most eloquent followers, ' all the true nobleness of 

 art had come from people loving nature in some 

 way or the other, expressing their sentiments 

 about nature ; and exactly in proportion as the 

 reference to nature had become more direct, the 

 art became nobler.' The other school hold widely 

 different views. Thus one of its ablest exponents 

 gives the following : ' Flowers or other natural 

 objects should not be used as ornament, but con- 

 ventional representations founded upon them, 

 sufficiently suggestive to convey the intended 

 image to the mind, without destroying the unity 

 of the object they are employed to decorate.' The 

 government ' Department of Science and Art' takes 

 this view, for one of the principles of decorative 

 art published under its sanction is the following : 

 ' True ornament does not consist in the mere imi- 

 tation of natural objects, but rather in the adapta- 

 tion of their peculiar beauties of form or colour to 

 decorative purposes, controlled by the nature of 

 the material to be decorated, the laws of art, and 

 necessities of manufacture.' To take up space in 

 investigating which of the two schools, the ' natu- 

 ral ' or the ' conventional,' is the correct one, 

 would serve no useful end ; at the same time, we 

 may say that the middle course seems the best. 

 There are certain natural forms which, applied 

 to certain purposes, would be best adapted the 

 more closely they were imitated ; while for other 

 purposes, a conventionalising would be in better 

 taste. Everything depends upon the material to 

 be ornamented, the way in which this material is 

 to be manufactured, and the uses to which the 

 manufactured article is to be put. It is manifestly 

 erroneous to apply a close imitation of a natural 

 form to an article the use of which conveys an 

 idea altogether opposed to that which the natural 

 form suggests. Thus, when we see a gas jet 

 issuing from a water-lily, or water-plants spread 

 over the surface of a carpet, we are at once struck 

 with the obvious inconsistency. But referring 

 the reader to special works on design for further 

 information on the points we have indicated, we 

 shall proceed to offer a few remarks on the appli- 

 cation of decorative design to the various fictile 

 manufactures which form the subject of the 

 present paper. Taking these in their order as 

 we discussed them, our remarks will first have 



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