184 
KERAMIC E'STVDIO 
BEGINNERS' CORNER 
Names of successful contestants for this department will be given in next 
issue. There are so many contestants that we have not yet 
had time to read all the articles. 
A SHIP DESIGN FOR BEGINNERS 
Mary Johnes 
IF t you are a "really truly" beginner, suppose you try the little 
panel design of the ship. You can put it on a tile or a 
square fernery or any four panelled piece of china. You will 
need to continue the water and cloud lines on either side to fill 
a square panel. If you can draw, you will have no trouble in 
adapting the design to whatever size panel you use. But if 
the ship tile seems too hard to manage, try one mono- 
gram on a tea tile. The method is the same. First drop 
upon your surface a drop of fat or thick oil of turpentine then 
with a little spirits of turpentine on a rag wipe it all over the 
space to be designed and pad it with a little ball of absorbent 
cotton covered with a bit of old white silk handerchief held 
by a rubber band. Let this dry. Make a tracing of the out- 
line of the design, with India ink on tracing paper, on the 
wrong side of the tracing go over the lines with a soft pencil. 
When the china is dry, place this tracing, pencil side down, 
on the china, fastening it in place with a bit of plasticine, trace 
the lines of the design with a hard point. You can use a sharp 
hard pencil, or a slate pencil or an ivory point, lift one end 
of the design to be sure all lines are traced before removing 
the tracing paper. Then with a fine pen and Higgins Water- 
proof ink, go over the design on the china making as fine lines 
as possible. Then with a little spirits of turpentine on a rag 
wipe off the surface any smears of oil or lead. 
Heat your square of gold by leaving a moment on the 
stove or register or passing a match beneath it. Take a small 
quantity with your small horn palette knife and remove it to 
a clean slab of glass and add a drop or two of garden lavender 
till it is thin enough to flow from the brush like cream, if too 
thin it will spread, if too thick it will not go on smoothly. Use 
a square shader number six, work it in the gold till it is full, 
and then, spreading it on the china, fill in the black parts of 
the design with a thin coat dry the tile or fernery in the oven 
and give a second coat, making your brush strokes in the op- 
posite direction. After drying this, take a pen knife and 
scratch out any gold that has run over the design. Be sure 
the white portion is clean, then fire. This can be repeated in 
a second fire if the gold is not heavy enough. The gold will 
look dull when it comes from the fire, it must be burnished 
either with a glass brush or a little burnishing sand and water 
used with a rag. 
H » 
HINTS FOR BEGINNERS 
Mrs. M. Phillips 
I WILL give you some of my experience as a teacher. The 
first thing is to get a book of instructions_ of China paint- 
ing, there are many good ones. 
Learn well your colors and strength. Practice by mak- 
ing straight and curved figures, blending same with brush. 
Avoid using too much oil in brush. I use J oz. oil Cloves, § 
oz. Balsam Copaiba, 15 drops Tar oil for mixing medium. 
It is always best to draw single flowers first, outlined in 
India ink. Don't try to paint flowers completely for first fire. 
The thinner you paint for first fire the better, so you keep your 
design, the second fire you will have something to work on 
and gain confidence, your trouble will be getting too much 
paint on brush, thereby getting it on too heavy, not having 
the touch or control of your brush. Load brush often and 
lightly. So many dip right into center top of pile of paint. 
Take from side blending it into brush well. This mixes it 
with the oil in brush, it must then go on china smoothly. Use 
the brush as you would a pen, keeping it flat, touching nearest 
corner of brush to china, bringing down as to width and depth 
desired. Do not work over your painting after having layed 
it in, or it will look mussy. One stroke of the brush gives best 
results. If you do not get it right, rub it off, nothing else will 
make good. 
If you paint you cannot afford to be without the Keramic 
Studio. When you get it study it. 
STUDIO NOTES 
Mrs. L. Vance Phillips will resume her teaching at Chautau- 
qua the coming summer. She will be assisted by Miss Fannie 
M. Scammell, who has just returned from California. Miss 
Scammell will be remembered by Keramic Studio subscribers 
as a former contributor to the magazine. She has taught at 
Chautauqua before and has been one of the most popular assist- 
ants of Mrs. Vance Phillips there. She is an enthusiastic 
teacher, and her work has charm and style. 
Mr. Walter Titze of St. Paul, Minn., is at present doing- 
some work with Coover's Outlines, demonstrating in different 
large cities in the West the practical application of this me- 
dium of decoration. His work covers enamels, lustre and flat 
color treatments and the technique that enables his pupils to 
execute the work. He spends a week at each place. He starts 
in the first week of March at the Milwaukee Art Store, Mil- 
waukee; from there going to Devoe & Reynolds Co., of Chicago; 
after that Miss White's studio in Detroit; Mrs. Weschler's 
studio at Erie and at Mrs. Filkins in Buffalo. 
