234 
RERAMIC STUDIO 
Illustration No. 1. 
A WOVEN RAFFIA BASKET 
Madge E. Weinland. 
THE accompanying illustrations No. i and 2 show the 
top view and side view of a fine-roll basket woven in 
the brown and natural raffia. The stitch is the same as 
was explained in the Keramic Studio, September, 1904, 
but the roll is very much finer, or in other words, smaller. 
To make the design, carefully study the following brief in- 
structions, referring to the photographs as necessary. 
After the bottom is woven in brown, and of the desired 
size, weave the lower half of the side (eleven rolls) of brown 
and at the twelfth roll start the Grecian border (see photo- 
graph) . The size of the border will depend on the circum- 
ference of the basket, at this point, but whatever the size 
of the basket, it must be so divided that the designs and 
spaces between are equal. In Illus. No. i. the design 
is clearly shown and by careful study, and having read 
the above mentioned number of the Keramic Studio, 
the work may be accomplished with ease. There should 
be twenty-one rolls of brown raffia before weaving the 
upper half of white with brown design, the twenty- 
first roll being brown all the way around. 
The work should again be so divided as to weave in 
three designs, as shown in the illustrations. The three 
vertical lines are in the center of each design. The first 
roll of natural raffia is broken only at the three vertical 
lines in the design. Continuing, the order and number 
of the rolls in the white or upper half will be as follows: 
Roll two — Brown and white. 
Rolls three and four — White except where crossed by 
brown lines as shown. 
Roll five — White with short brown lines. 
Illustration No. 2. 
Rolls six and seven — Similar to three and four. 
Roll eight— Similar to five. 
Rolls nine and ten — Nearly full white. 
Roll eleven— Brown with some white, similar to two. 
Rolls eleven to seventeen inclusive— Similar to rolls 
two to eight. 
Rolls eighteen and nineteen — Full white, crossed by 
vertical brown lines. 
(At this point the rolls have been turned toward the 
^i? center.) 
Rolls twenty to twenty-five inclusive — Similar to 
two to eight. 
Roll twenty-six — White crossed by five vertical brown 
lines at three points. 
Rolls twenty-seven and twenty-eight — Full rolls of 
white. 
Roll twenty-nine — Marginal roll, full brown. 
As the size of the basket has not been fixed, the dimen- 
sions of the design can not be given. The size of the basket 
illustrated, however, is six and one-fourth inches in diam- 
eter at the bottom, eight and one-fourth inches in diam- 
eter at the starting point of the border. The extreme 
outside diameter is eleven inches, being at a point three 
and three-fourths inches above the bottom. The diam- 
eter of the opening in the top is seven inches, and the 
total height is four and one-half inches. 
ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES 
C. W. p. — You do not say what kind of glazes you wish to use, bright 
or mat. If you wish ordinary bright glaze for your pottery you might try 
the lead glazes, ready prepared, sold by P. F. Drakenfeld & Co., Park Place, 
New York, and if they suit you, you can mix a lead glaze yourself according 
to formulas given in any book on pottery, modifying these to fit your body. 
If you want mat glazes, try some of the mat glazes for low temperature given 
by Prof. Binns, in the article we have published in Keramic Studio, Nov- 
ember 1904. Impossible to give you a formula for glaze, not knowing what 
your body is, you must do some experimenting yourself. 
'^ «^ 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
J. M. — We have heard that gas kilns have been run satisfactorily with 
a gasoline attachment but do not know of any kiln built for gasoline, write 
to the manufacturers of gas kilns, both Fitch and Wilkie, they will probably 
be able to give the desired information. 
G. M. A — There are a number of good books on design, we would rec- 
ommend "Composition" by Arthur Dow. Another good book is Batchelder's 
Principles of Design which we can order for you if you wish. 
Mrs. E. S. — Pompadour and all the iron reds are very liable to rub off 
if underfired. If other things painted with the same colors in the same kiln 
came out glazed we would be inclined to think that the unsatisfactory pieces 
were in the coolest part of the kiln and were not sufficiently fired. Moisture 
in the kiln might have the same effect of leaving colors with a dull unglazed 
appearance but the top pieces would show the effect most. 
K- G. R. — If you have La Croix colors you certainly should use them and 
replace the colors with corresponding powder colors only as the tubes be- 
come exhausted, if the colors are hard they may be rubbed down on a ground 
glass palette by adding first a little spirits of turpentine to dissolve them, 
tlien add a little medium (six drops oil of copaiba to one of oil of clove.s) or 
if you wish to tint, add fat oil of turpentine till the color is of the original 
consistency of tube colors, then thin with oil of lavender. Back numbers of 
Keramic Studio can be obtained with the exception of about a dozen of 
the earlier numbers which are out of print. The numbers containing the 
Class Room instructions would be very valuable to a beginner. This depart- 
ment opened in the October number and will continue until every line of 
overglaze decoration has been touched upon. The powder colors may be 
mixed and used with tube colors; any colors which may be called for in a 
design you may wish to duplicate can be purchased from time to time and 
added to your palette. You will find all necessary instructions in regard 
to colors in the October Class Room, "A Color palette and its use." "Dusting" 
means brushing powder colors over half dry painted color to give depth and 
brilliancy For strawberries in La Croix colors, use Pompadour (not Rose 
P.) or if you haven't it use Carnation I, Warm Grey (for shadow berries,) 
Mixing Yellow, Apple Green, Grass Green, Brown Green, Deep Blue Green, 
(for high lights) ; for stronger touches, if necessary, add Ruby Purple. 
