Vol. VII. No. 5 
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 
September J 905 
HE marmalade Jar problem, bee 
design, has been very satisfactorily 
solved in this month's competition 
in spite of the attractions of sum- 
mer vacation. The first prize was 
awarded to Russell Good win, Marble 
head, Mass. Two second prizes 
were awarded — one to Alice Shar- 
rard, Lexington, Ky.,and the other 
to Hannah Overbeck, Cambridge 
City, Indiana. Lucia Jordan, of New Orleans, La., re- 
ceives honorable mention although her designs were not 
applied to the ceramic form as required. It has been 
thought best to hold the competitions four times a year 
instead of monthly as in the past year; our workers do not 
have time to do enough thinking with something to send 
in every month. 
The next competition after the Christmas one, des- 
cribed in the last Keramic Studio, will be for March, 
closing the 15th of January. Subject of problem, Decora- 
tive color study of a flower arranged in a panel, accompanied 
by its application in black and white to some ceramic form. 
This must also be accompanied by a sheet of detail draw- 
ings of the flower with suggestions for conventionalizations 
of the difi^erent parts, also a treatment in mineral colors. 
First prize, $20.00; second prize, $15.00; third prize, 
$10.00; fourth prize, $5.00. 
Some of our readers ask why we do not have more 
instruction for beginners. The answers to correspondents 
column is open to any one requiring instruction — any ques- 
tion relating to ceramics will be answered there as promptly 
as possible. Articles have been given from time to time 
on all the various branches of the work and when the in- 
formation asked for would take too much space we refer to 
back numbers containing these articles, but for the special 
benefit of beginners and also of more advanced workers 
the experiment wiU be made of opening a new department to 
which all interested readers are asked to contribute. This 
department will be called the Class Room — a subject will 
be given each month. For the best article sent in on the 
subject, five dollars will be paid, for the next best, four 
dollars, then three, two and one, and if any valuable sug- 
gestions and extracts are found in any other letters they 
will be paid at the rate of fifty cents each. 
Any one wishing any special subject taken up may 
mention it and a list will be made and each subject taken 
in its turn. 
It is suggested that each contributor make his or her 
article as comprehensive as possible, giving detailed in- 
formation as if the beginner knew nothing at all. Con- 
tributions must be sent in by the fifth of the month pre- 
ceeding issue. 
The first Class Room will open in the October Keramic 
Studio — subject, "A Color palette and its Use." This wiU 
include brushes and their care, mixing of colors for various 
uses, mediums and list of necessary colors in whatever 
make preferred, and any other information suggested by 
the subject. Contributions must be received by Septem- 
ber 5th. It will be endeavored also to procure every month 
an article on the same subject by some prominent teacher, 
but this can not be absolutely promised. 
TREATMENT FOR PINE CONES (Supplement) 
F. B. Aulich 
PUT in the background first with Aulich's Blue Green or 
Turquoise Green to represent the sky on a clear day. 
Then wash in the leaves with Yellow Green on some but the 
rest with Olive Green and Black Green with a few dashes 
of Brown. Paint with a large flat brush using the 
pointy ends. Also use more Olive and Black Green than 
shown in the reproduction. The print is too light and 
too much Yellow Green has been used. 
For the cones use Yellow Brown, vSepia Brown and 
Van Dyke for the finishing. 
Treatment por Water Coi^ors 
After making a sketch of the design paint in the back- 
ground with New Blue, using a httle Gamboge and Payne's 
Grey. Sap Green, Payne's Grey and a little Ochre for the 
leaves or needles. 
For, the cones Ochre, Burnt Sienna and Van Dyke 
Brown. Paint in when paper is moist, reserving a few 
touches for finishing when dry. 
SNOW CRYSTALS 
THE wonderfully beautiful designs in snow crystals have 
long excited interest and admiration. Those illus- 
trated are taken from photographs made by Wilson A. 
Bentley, of Jericho, Vt. Mr. Bentley has been making a 
special study of snow crystals for more than twenty years 
and has in his collection more than one thousand photo- 
micrographs, no two alike. Many of these crystals are very 
intricate, but the simplest are given here, because they are 
so beautiful and more helpful to beginners. 
The forms vary according to the wind, the height of 
the clouds, the degree of cold, the amount of water in the 
air, etc. Crystals formed in cold weather or in high clouds 
are usually columnar. Those formed in moderate weather 
and light winds or in low clouds are apt to have frail branches 
and to be of a feathery type ; mixed forms grow partly in low 
and partly in high clouds. High winds give broken and 
irregular forms, and much moisture the very granular 
crystals. 
Heavy granular covered crystals are peculiarly a pro- 
duct of the lower or intermediate cloud strata, and especially 
of moist snow storms. In intense cold they are rare, while 
the columnar and solid tubular then become common. 
About four-fifths of the perfect forms occur within the west 
and north quadrants of great storms. 
The most common forms outlined within the nuclear 
or central portions of the crystals are a simple star of six 
rays, a solid hexagon and a circle. The subsequent addi- 
tions assume a bewildering variety of shapes, each of which 
usually dift'ers widel}^ from the one that preceded it and 
from the primitive nuclear form at its center. By bearing 
