172 
RERAMIC STUDIO 
wear down more evenly and also to protect the fingers, 
wrap the new burnisher in paper, glueing down the edges. 
Do it tightly before it has had an opportunity to get loose 
from its cord binding or girdle. The paper wears down 
easily in burnishing and the cord may be cut ofi" as the ends 
come out. 
To go back to drying the unfired gold. It can be dried 
too much, but it is not usual that the oven will be hot 
enough to cause the gold to ' ' powder off. ' ' A coal fire 
will seldom get the oven too hot, but wood, oil or gas ovens 
should be watched, as well as the china, lest they burn out ' 
the oils so completely that there is nothing left but the gold 
powder, which will rub off if handled at all. 
An oil or gas stove oven which is not kept hot all the 
time, sweats, and should be heated first with the door open, 
before the china is put in. Otherwise the vapors will settle 
on the gold or tint, causing it to separate. After the oven 
is hot put in the china, leave the door open until the china is 
quite warm, then close the door and dry. It is better to put 
the china in on perfectly clean and dry tins' or asbestos mats, 
as the gold comes off most easily if touched or rubbed while 
hot. Do not touch with hand or cloth until cold. Thin 
spots are more readily seen after the gold has been dried, 
and may then be retouched. Do not attempt' to retouch 
gold which has not been bake'd hard, or it will work up. 
Do not retouch until the china is perfectly cold. Then 
redry. It is necessary to dry harder when the gold work 
is to be retouched. Always do the gold work last except 
when doing lustre work, then lustre comes last. It is dan- 
gerous to dry tints or gold on top of the stove or shelf, as 
steam from the tea kettle or cooking food may cause harm. 
The cautions given to insure absolute freedom from 
lint, dust or any foreign substance apply more to gold Avork 
perhaps than any other one subject. As you are careful 
to have perfectly clean clear turpentine and clear brushes 
in applying your gold, so will your results be. A rnuddy 
turpentine makes dingy gold. It is not necessary to clean 
gold out of the brushes or off the knife each time, it wastes so 
much gold; but if you do clean either, let them soak off into 
the alcohol bottle. When the alcohol has evaporated, the. . 
gold, which has settled in the bottom, may be scraped on to 
the gold palette and mixed again with fresh gold. 
J'LUXED OR ROMAN GOLD. 
All gold marked Roman gold is fluxed unless marked 
otherwise; and can be used on white china, also over fired 
pinks and violet shades, and on paste if you have no un- 
fluxed gold. 
UNFLUXED GOLD. 
This is to be used exclusively over fired color except 
pinks and violets and particularly gold on raised paste. 
It fires brighter over paste than the Roman gold and when 
the paste comes next to white china, pink or violet, if the 
gold has run over the outlines of the paste itself, the imper- 
fections will burnish off readily, leaving the paste pattern 
beautifully perfect. 
PURE GOLD. 
We have mentioned the gold piece of commerce as the 
standard of purity with durabiliiy. It contains beside gold, 
some copper and a little silver. Absolutely or chemically 
pure gold while it stands the hottest fire, is so soft that it 
wears off with use. Hence it is neccessary to have copper 
and silver chemically united with the gold to insure lasting 
qualities. 
ADULTERATED GOLD. 
To go beyond the proportions of copper and silver as 
used in the gold piece is to make adulterated gold just as 
much as to use lamps black, charcoal or various other 
things for color, and bulk, which fire out if fired hard enough. 
TESTS FOR PURE GOLD. 
With a square shader apply to a piece of hard French 
china a thin wash each of the different makes to be tested. 
Give the china the hardest fire and the gold which comes 
out best, which does not sink in or disappear, is most pure. 
The purest is cheapest in the end. 
It takes a thicker coat and more coats to make an 
adulterated gold look rich. A pure gold cannot be put on 
thick without scahng off after firing. Of course a too fat 
gold will also peel off sometimes. It bubbles. Experience 
will soon teach you the difference and you can tell at a 
glance which was the cause. 
Diquid bright gold if fired at low temperature is bright 
and sparkling and easily deceives the uninitiated. Given 
a hard firing it looks thin and pinkish violet or disappears 
in spots. There is some tin and very little pure gold about it. 
Then, the cheaper the gold, the brighter it looks on 
coming from the kiln. Other things being equal it needs the 
less burnishing. 
Unburnished Roman gold has a matt finish after firing. 
Many prefer the dull finish of unburnished gold. It looks 
richer and with some colors is more harmonious. 
Except for rims, personally, I prefer the finish obtained 
by gold perfectly applied, burnished with sand after firing, 
then fired again for soft finish. It is really beautiful. Any 
unburnished gold wears brighter with use. 
Gold burnished while the china is still warm from the 
kiln, burnishes easier. There are no finger marks. 
Gold which has discolored in time by exposure to the atmos- 
phere, if the other decoration will stand it, can be fired 
again and come out like new. Sometimes rubbing with 
chamois wet with alcohol will restore color and lustre to 
gold. 
Always use a clean cloth and clean water with Fry's 
sand which is the best we have so far been able to find. 
It does not scratch the gold so much as other sands. 
Always wash the sand off before refiring as it fires on 
like particles of glass. 
Have a pasteboard box over which to burnish and in 
which to keep sand, cloth and dish for water. Go away by 
yourself when you burnish. The sand dances up and down 
with every move. Even if one is three or four feet from the 
paint table, it manages to land on the paint or gold palette. 
By using a box you save all the sand from time to time. 
A IOC. bottle lasts a long time. 
If the gold looks brown or if it rubs off from under- 
firing, put on more gold at once before repainting, thereby 
saving the first coat 
Some years ago no piece of decorated china was com- 
plete without gold work, the more the better. Education 
has changed our standards. 
Gold should be used on china with a two fold purpose ; 
to enhance its beauty and increase its value. 
Used inappropriately or too lavishly it becomes un- 
refined and positively vulgar and savors too much of the 
loud and showy Mrs. Newly Rich. 
In fact gold very often actually cheapens an otherwise 
exquisite piece. 
A dainty and elaborate paste pattern which rvould 
be charming as a part of a royal Berlin decoration would be 
decidedly out of place combined with Rookwood or Losanti 
glazes, altogether stunning as decorations in themselves. 
