figures on the clay, or, if circular stripes or bands are 

 wanted, the piece may be fastened in a lathe, and the 

 bands of colored slip added quickly and evenly. Where 

 the piece has been dipped in colored slip, striking effects 

 can be obtained by cutting it away with a tool, exposing 

 the color of the body of the ware beneath. Thus a very 

 common pattern of fancy bowl, white on the inside 

 and blue on the outside, with white bands encircling 

 it, would be made by dipping the outside clay bowl in 

 blue slip, and then turning off the blue slip in rings in 

 a lathe. 



Another method of obtaining striking effects is with 

 the etching- tool after the colored slip has been applied. 

 The tool cuts away the slip, leaving the patterns in 

 the original color of the ware beneath. Indeed, there 

 are endless methods of producing color effects, each 

 manufacturer using combinations and methods of his 

 own. Some of these processes are slow and costly, 

 while others, although effective, are simple and inex- 

 pensive, as any one may discover by pricing such wares 

 at a pottery store. 



FROM CLAY TO CHINA 



Thus far in our story the substance with which we 

 have been dealing has retained its original form as 

 clay, more or less plastic according to the amount of 

 moisture it contains at any particular stage. But 

 whether in the form of liquid slip, as the plastic mass 

 coming from the kneading process of the pug-mill, 

 or as the thoroughly dried dish so hard that it retains 



[260] 



