RERAMIC STUDIO 
smaller brush works too slowty for anything but outlin- 
ing. Should the unfluxed gold be used, by mistake, upon 
the white china there will be nothing left for your trouble 
after firing, for since it is unfluxed, there is nothing to 
hold it to the china. I^iquid gold and turpentine are 
sworn enemies, the turpentine turning the gold into a 
purple, so a separate brush (washed in alcohol before and 
after using) should be kept for the liquid gold. 
I tell with fear and trembling, for without it is done 
neatly it were better never done. After the gold has 
been mixed with turpentine put the piece of china to be 
' ' edged ' ' in the left hand and dip the tip of the little 
finger of the right hand in the gold, taking up only a 
small portion. Apply to the edge with a delicate touch. 
Quite often the piece of china can be slowly turned with 
the fingers of the left hand acting as a banding wheel. 
This gives a smooth band of just the amount required 
not to blister. So often gold work comes from the kiln 
dull and the gold is branded as inferior when in nine cases 
out of ten the brush, china or oil is not clean and thus 
adulterates the gold. 
Use the burnisher with quick, light strokes, not with 
heavy muscular ones as if you were' determined to test the 
solidity of the china. 
GOG 
Mention — Bertha Graves Morey, Ottumwa, III. 
[e.xtracts only] 
In using gold bronze do not grind as it grinds the 
little gold flecks out and destroys the beauty. Mix the 
same as the fluxed. 
DUSTING ON GOLD 
Paint the surface over with liquid gold paint and 
dust powder gold into this. The most beautiful gold 
eftects are made in this way. 
LIQUID GOLD PAINTS 
are prepared read}^ for use. Use brush that can be 
dipped into bottle and lay on the ware as smoothly as 
possible. Be careful to use brushes that have been cleans- 
ed first in tupentine then in soap and water and lastly 
in alcohol and do not use in paint until perfectly dry. 
If damp brushes are used the paint will appear blackish. 
Metal colors as silver, bronze and platinum should be 
worked smoothly and not look more streaked than nec- 
essary. Make your brush strokes as nearly in the same 
direction as possible. I would advise three thin coats, 
each coat fired, rather than two heavy coats of paint as 
it gives much better results. Roman gold applied over 
a fired yellow brown gives a good rich color. Metals 
applied over their respective liquid paints, fired, give 
fine wearing qualities. This plan should be followed 
when painting handles and articles that will be much 
handled in using. 
O G O 
Notes by the Editor. 
A good gold is known by its warm brown color not 
more than a medium tone; if darker, it probably has bulk- 
ing of lamp-black or charcoal, or is adulterated in some 
other way. Be sure your gold rim shows from the top of 
plate or saucer. If your edge or rim is ragged, dry thorough- 
1)^ and run a pen-knife or scraper along it. Always clean 
with a rag or stick moistened with water after cleaning with 
turpentine or alcohol, especially after liquid gold. You 
will then be sure no particle remains to soil gold or plate. 
In using an old hard pad of gold, if the gold works up 
grainy" after warming, add a drop of thick oil, or if that 
does not help, try tar oil or lavender instead of turpentine 
for painting. Sometimes even that will not correct the 
trouble. Then dissolve the gold in alcohol, stir thoroughly, 
let settle in a deep cup, pour off the liquid, pour residue on 
glass slab, and when dry mix up freshly with thick oil and 
tar, half and half, to a stiff paste, and thin with turpentine 
as before. Under all circumstances put on gold last, being 
careful to dry thoroughly, color or lustre, over which you 
wish to place a gold design before firing, or close to which 
you wish to put a gold outline. 
If you wish to make a gold design on a heavily grounded 
color it will be absolutely necessary to clean out the design 
with a steel point or knife when the color is dry, then fire 
before putting on the gold, otherwise the gold will either 
disappear entirely or leave a rough dark line or bubble up 
and separate. For gold outlines in flat enamel work, it is 
safest to fire the gold outlines first and add the flat enamels 
for a second flre. If the enamels are fired first they may chip 
in second firing, and it requires skill to put gold outlines 
next to unfired enamels without touching the latter, which 
would spofl the effect. A circular motion should always 
be used in burnishing, to avoid scratching lines. Over 
light tints, well dried in oven, gold designs can be drawn 
in unfluxed gold before firing, the latter may also be put 
on raised gold before firing, if the paste is .slowly and thor- 
oughly dried first. To remove gold use aqua regia, when 
there is no color below the gold, otherwise Hydrofluoric 
acid will be necessary. 
For etched gold on china, draw your design carefully 
in India ink, heat your piece and pour melted wax over it; 
then with a steel point, pen-knife and stick remove the wax 
from the portions to be etched — either background or de- 
sign. With a pointed stick put the Hydrofluoric acid on 
the uncovered spaces, leave it there perhaps ten minutes, 
then wash off under running water. Remove a small por- 
tion of wax and see if the etching is sufficiently deep; if 
not, replace the wax and repeat the process until satis- 
factory. The greatest care must be taken not to inhale the 
fumes or allow a drop to touch the flesh, as the effect is most 
injurious. Use the acid near an open window, and if the 
acid touches the skin, hold the hands immediately under 
running water and scour with nail brush; even then you 
may be badly burned. The inhaling of the fumes is injur- 
ious to the lungs. The acid comes in a rubber bottle and 
must always be tightly corked and kept away from china or 
glass, as even the fumes will injure the glaze. It is best kept 
in the open air. A little moisture on the china is sometimes 
thought to help the acid eat the glaze of the china. 
PEACHES 
.Sara Reid McLaughlin. 
For peaches, use Lemon Yellow, Silver Yellow, blend- 
ing into Blood Red and Dark Brown. In darker tones 
let some Yellow Green and Grey Green tones be worked 
in, keeping touches short for bloom effect, painting the 
lower peaches and leaves in lower key. Stems in YeUow 
Brown shaded with Auburn Brown in second firing. 
Leaves in Yellow Green, Apple Green, Brown Green, 
Shading Green and Dark Green. Background, Egg Yel- 
low, Yellow Brown, Brown Green, and Shading Green. In 
second and third firing, strengthen the design and back- 
ground, adding shadowy effects. 
