284 
HLERAMIC STUDIO 
farther. Sometimes a very slight change of spacing in a 
small design will so alter it that it is like a new pattern. 
Since we are spending this time in study we can afford 
to work over our designs, to trace and retrace them until 
the shapes and the spaces are what we want, for all this is 
training in appreciation. Do not rest until you have made 
a beautiful little seal, which you can use on a bit of china, 
and can feel is quite your own ; one that you' know has some 
solid merit, and is the very best that you can do. And 
you must use it in one of the ways that have been suggested. 
Have the object it is intended to ornament before you when 
you plan the seal, so that you can plan it with direct rela- 
tion to that object. If you want to use it to decorate the 
cover of a small box you must consider just where the seal 
will be most effective; and you may have to plan some 
nicely spaced lines around the edge of the cover in order 
to make the whole composition a good one. Do not try 
to use more than one color in the seal, as it would not lend 
itself to anything but the simplest treatment. 
There have been periods when the designers of tex- 
tiles put into their work the very qualities that at the 
present day we are seeking for our ceramic patterns; that 
is, abstract design, yet with the fine graceful movement 
that nature gives us in her line construction. Two of the 
illustrations of this article show textile designs of early date 
which are excellent studies in line movement as well as in 
space-division; and abstract as they both are in treatment 
you cannot imagine their having been designed by persons 
who have not studied nature carefully, and thoroughly 
learned to appreciate her forms. 
We, too, can learn to express fine pattern in our floral 
designs, with dark and light effects that have a purpose 
and meaning. Then we shall use our flowers in good dec- 
oration, free and graceful in curve and strong in construction. 
PLATE— C. BABCOCK 
Pale cream color (Ivory Glaze with a little Yellow Brown). Two tones green, outlines gold or Deep Green. 
