INGENUITY AND LUXURY 



farther and farther along the tapering groove of the 

 gage until their position indicates that the desired 

 degree of heat has been reached. 



After the oven has reached the degree of heat re- 

 quired it is allowed to cool slowly until it reaches a 

 temperature low enough for the workmen to enter 

 and remove the saggers. The slower the cooling proc- 

 ess the less will be the breakage of ware and saggers, 

 and the time of cooling ranges from two to three days. 

 The ware is then ready for glazing, unless some form 

 of "underglaze" decorating is to be done. 



There are several methods of applying this glaze, 

 the preparation of which has been described a few 

 pages back. The most common of these is by " im- 

 mersion," which, as its name implies, consists in dipping 

 the pieces of ware into a tank having the glaze material 

 held in suspension in water. The density of this glaze 

 must be determined very accurately if good results 

 are to be expected. 



When a piece of ware is plunged into the glaze it 

 absorbs a certain amount of moisture at once, leav- 

 ing a uniform layer of the solid matter of the glaze 

 deposited over every part of it. The time of the immer- 

 sion, and the consistency of the glaze-mixture, will 

 determine the thickness of the glaze, and this is most 

 important in the final firing of the piece. Pieces of 

 biscuit absorb the glaze in direct proportion to their 

 thickness, the thicker the ware the greater the ab- 

 sorption. All these things must be taken into consid- 

 eration by the " dipper," as the man who immerses the 

 ware is called. 



[266] 



