282 
tlERAMIC STUDIO 
A study taken front 
i publication called "The Kokka" found i 
Museum of Art 
the Metropolitan 
DESIGN FOR THE DECORATION OF CHINA 
Caroline Hojman 
SECOND PAPER— Continued 
Now without following any of these designs, but simply 
by remembering our principles and putting ourselves into 
the spirit of the work, let us see what we can do that is 
wholly our own. 
Try again and again, with ink and a brush, touching 
your designs in freely on a big sheet of paper until you have 
a dozen or more, and keep your whole attention fixed on 
the effort to follow principles and to produce a beautiful 
result. 
Something which I feel will be of help to you in mak- 
ing designs from flowers motive is to notice the strong con- 
trast which nature usually, not always, shows between the 
shapes of the flower and the leaf belonging to the same plant. 
Take any familiar flower, — rose, lily, violet, — they are all 
examples of this peculiarity which is such an advantage in 
a decorative way, giving us an opportunity for the contrast 
which is one of the important elements of decoration. 
Often a beginner in design, in dealing with small forms, 
will unconsciously allow his leaves and flowers, or his leaves 
and the petals of his flowers, to take on much the same shape 
and appearance, thus making the design very monotonous. 
Of course in designing we sometimes need the repeti- 
tion of the same form, or similar form, in leaf and blossom, 
and nature is not without authority for this, but a designer 
must use them with purpose and intention, and not through 
lack of care. Often we can reach good decorative results 
by exaggerating, somewhat, the relative sizes of flower and 
leaf, where the design is quite an abstract one. It gives an 
opportunity for subordination of sizes which we can all 
study out for ourselves. 
In trying to simplify flower-forms you will find certain 
Japanese books which can be had for very little money that 
are filled with suggestions. 
Taking for granted that by this time we have at least 
a dozen little designs before us, rather roughly spotted in, 
from which to choose, let us decide which are the best, and 
then try still farther to improve them. Pin a piece of 
tracing-paper firmly down over the selected units, and still 
using brush and ink , see what you can do to improve them 
From an Old (Textile 
