226 
KERAMIC STUDIO 
DESIGN FOR THE DECORATION OF CHINA 
Caroline Hofman 
(first paper — continued) 
: Shall we try, first of all, a border of "line and dot" 
pattern? This will serve to bring our principle into service, 
and you will be surprised to see how much beauty and 
variety can be achieved with these simple elements of 
decoration. 
Taking a stick of charcoal, or a Japanese brush and 
ink, you might make a series of beginnings like the illustra- 
tions. When we compare them we find that the most inter- 
esting patterns are those where groups of lines or dots are 
spaced closely (the lines that form a single group is meant) , 
this giving us amass of. dark against the light background. 
Where the lines intended to form a group scatter, we 
get only a thin grey effect that misses entirely the aim to 
be decorative. But there is a second reason why certain 
of the designs please us more than others. Isn't it because 
a large mass of dark is supported by smaller, detached 
darks? 
This alone will not insure a good design by any means ; 
but it is an essential of good design, and takes us directly 
back to that question of effective space-division. It is 
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first a matter of proportion of dark-and-light, then of sub- 
ordination of smaller masses to greater ones. (This last is 
not always the same as "subordination of interest" about 
which we will have considerable to say later on.) 
Let us look now for this plan of spacing in every good 
design, and in every well composed picture we can lay our 
eyes upon. Notice how well-supported the main darks are in 
the Gothic window, the Rheims cathedral, the Daubigny 
landscape, the Franz Hals portrait*, for they are all designs, 
just as your little line and dot pattern is, except that they 
*The landscape and portrait were published in the January issue.— Ed. 
are each a unit, while your pattern is a repetition of a unit. 
Now with this principle of "picturesqueness" well in mind 
let us try again for a simple space-division; this time 
with the purpose of using it to decorate a small vase or 
cup. 
This gives us an added problem; that of spacing the 
whole article to be decorated in such a way that our little 
band of "trimming" may be in just the right place and 
proportion to divide it effectively. 
Doesn't the bottle-shaped vase in the illustration give 
a good example of a space divided in a decorative yet 
simple way? 
See what you, yourself, can do with white lines on grey. 
The most direct way of doing this is to draw in outline the 
side view of the article to be decorated; not in perspective, 
but fiat, with a straight line at top and bottom. 
Fill the outline with a rather strong tone of charcoal, 
(use soft sticks of charcoal,) and rub it lightly, until even, 
with a soft rag. 
