Vol. IX, 
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 
July, 1907 
ARIETY is the spice of life." 
We can not resist the tempta- 
tion of setting before our friends 
the spicy trio of letters which 
arrived in one mail a short time 
since, in order that the pleasures 
and rewards of catering to the china 
decorating public may be appre- 
ciated. Note, especially, that the 
conventional decorator finds that 
everything is to be naturalistic and the naturalistic painter 
finds that Keramic Studio is given up to the conventional. 
Cofeeyville, Kansas. 
Keramic Studio: 
Keramic Studio just at hand, and I must frankly admit another dis- 
appointment. There is practically nothing in Keramic Studio for lovers of 
nature, who try to reproduce on china. 
I hastily renewed my subscription in order to obtain the landscape in the 
March number, and such a looking thing as it was. Were I to paint any of 
these miserable studies they would never sell and my class have no time for 
them, and I can't blame them. 
Will you exchange some of these supplements for those of other dates 
that I could use, and stop my subscription, which is paid one dollar in advance. 
I feel that I have not value received and now want something I can use in 
my work or my money returned. 
Minneapolis, Minn. 
Keramic Studio Co: 
My subscription to the Keramic Studio expired with the May number, 
and I have decided that I will not renew it. I have always been very much 
interested in the Studio, taking it from the first number, and would continue, 
only that T see from your notice that most of the designs for this year are 
naturalistic. I do not care for that kind of work, so the magazine would not 
be of much assistance to me. 
Baldwin, Kansas. 
Gentlemen: 
The missing numbers from my file of Keramic Studio reached me safely. 
I'm glad always to talk Keramic Studio to my friends because it never 
disappoints them nor me. For it is always all and more than one can ever 
describe or recommend it as being. Each succeeding year it grows better 
and the designs more beautiful. 
The third letter fully offsets the painful impression 
caused by the first two, but strange it is, that in trying to 
please everyone, we so succeed in "mixing these babies up" 
that each one thinks the other is the favored one. 
If one may be allowed to paraphrase the words of the 
immortal Lincoln, "We may please some of the people all 
the time, all of the people some of the time, but we may not 
hope to please all of the people all of the time." 
As a matter of fact, if all our subscribers would take 
pains to be fair, they would find that since giving the spe- 
cially edited numbers by conventional decorators we have 
devoted the alternate numbers to the naturalistic and when 
we come to the naturalistic special numbers we shall devote 
the alternates to the conventional. These same ladies who 
are so inconsiderate as to expect that every single design 
in Keramic Studio must be suited to their taste only and 
no other taste to be considered, would be horrified if any 
one should suspect them of being desirous of partaking of a 
feast of the particular goodies which please them most while 
the balance of the invited guests should go hungry. Be- 
cause they prefer pickles and cheese, may not those whose 
stomachs rebel against these particular dainties regale 
themselves on sweetmeats and honey? Or, must they sit 
around like skeletons at the feast while my lady naturalistic 
or my lady conventional has it all her own way. Fie ! Fie ! 
Play fair. Turn and turn about. 
To day we reintroduce our readers to the designs of 
Mrs. Marie Crilley Wilson, of Rye, N. Y., one of the cleverest 
of the younger workers. We are inclined to think there is 
variety enough to suit every taste. 
There were but three prizes given in the Class Room 
Competition Articles on Flower Painting : Mrs. M. Thomas 
Sisk, special prize, $10.00; Mrs. A. Seymour Mundy, first 
prize, $5.00; Miss Sydney Scott Lewis, second prize, $4.00. 
There were no other articles which added any information 
not included in these three articles. 
LUSTRES IN A REDUCING ATMOSPHERE 
Lustres or iridescent metallic deposits used by decora- 
tors in overglaze decoration have never given very satisfac- 
tory results. The deposit is quite superficial and the colors 
lack the soft and mellow quality of the old Hispano-Mor- 
esque and Italian lustres. The reason is that the latter 
were obtained by an entirely different process; they were 
produced in a reducing atmosphere at a very low tempera- 
ture, only 65o°-C or cone 020. The famous old lustres are 
to-day reproduced in many European factories, the most 
conspicuous example being the beautiful work done at the 
Lancastrian Pottery, England, with designs by Lewis F. 
Day and Walter Crane. They are produced at Golfe Juan 
and Vallauris in France, by the Hungarian potter, Szolnay, 
and in many other potteries. The Doulton red is very like- . 
ly nothing but a repetition or a modification of the famous 
ruby red lustre of Giorgio Andreoli. There is no secret 
about the production of these beautiful metallic deposits. 
In one of the coming issues of Keramic Studio we will 
begin the publication of a French treatise on the subject 
by M. L. Franchet, giving simple formulas for the reproduc- 
tion of all the old lustre effects, the Hispano-Moresque lus- 
tres, the ruby red of Giorgio Andreoli, the yellow and golden 
tones of Deruta, also explaining in a thorough and practical 
manner how the firing should be done. This will be of 
great interest to pottery students who do not care to reach 
high temperatures in their kilns. The work can easily be 
done in the studio. 
CLUB NOTE 
At the last meeting of the California Keramic Club 
the following officers were elected for the ensuing year. 
Mrs. M. N. Arndt, president; Mrs. J. Peltier, first vice-presi- 
dent; Mrs. R. V. Bateman, second vice-president; Mrs. P. 
W. Clay, secretary; Miss Helen O'Malley, treasurer. 
Our club at present has the largest membership en- 
rolled on its books and is in the best financial condition 
that it has ever had since our club was formed years ago. 
Minnie C. Tayeor, Retiring President. 
