Vol. XIX, No. 6. 
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 
October 1917 
E publish below a letter from Albert 
Heckman which we think will in- 
terest a great number of our read- 
ers. We are pleased to say that 
Mr. Heckman has since sent us 
some interesting articles with ex- 
cellent designs specially made for 
textiles, but which will be valuable 
to china decorators and other crafts 
workers. This letter as well as 
the letter of Mrs. Leah Rodman Tubby also published below 
and many similar letters show us unmistakably that there is a 
demand for a broadening of the Magazine, but on the other 
hand there is a large class of decorators, a very large class, 
whose opinions are condensed in the following letter just re- 
ceived from an Indiana subscriber: "I am losing interest in 
Keramic Studio simply because it is becoming an uninterest- 
ing Magazine. It is high priced and so few interesting things 
in it. If we are paying for a china Magazine, why does linen, 
advertising pages and so many pages of ancient pottery and 
exhibits take up so much space, when the space is needed for 
more naturalistic work and good reading instructions." 
We have for nineteen years tried to please both classes of 
decorators in the same Magazine. The task is probably hope- 
less, and the solution of the problem lies in another direction, 
but that will be the subject of our next editorial. 
Meadville, Pa., July 10, 1917. 
Mr. S. Robineau, Syracuse, N. Y., 
Dear Mr. Robineau, — I am going to take a few minutes to answer your 
request for suggestions about the Keramic Studio. I know somewhat how 
you feel about the trend of the china business for I have been acquainted 
with it for a number of years. We all know that much of the old style of 
decoration which any amateur could do has gone perhaps never to return. 
Arid we are content that it should. However, we want something infinitely 
better to take its place. I firmly believe something will. It is probable 
that there will be fewer decorators who will turn out, on the whole, a better 
class of work. And consequently you may have a more limited number of 
readers who will want only the best work. I may be mistaken but that is 
ray candid opinion. 
Personally I wish you could reach a more unlimited class and give 
work of a broader nature. There are many more teachers in Art, Normal and 
High Schools as well as no end of students who would use your magazine if in 
some way you could give them what they need and want. 
We have practically no magazine which treats the applied arts in a prac- 
tical technical sense. 
There is room for so much growth along all the branches of the applied 
arts. What is true of ceramics is true of textiles. We have only to compare 
some of our work with that of the schools of Budapest, Vienna and Munich 
to feel it. This war is bringing out our latent possibilities and in the end we 
will be the better for it. 
Some articles on the subject of design in the Art, Normal and High 
Schools with comments and photographs of that work would naturally in- 
terest the teachers and pupils of those schools. And some contributions 
showing how ceramic motifs could be developed into textile and other designs 
would not only interest the china painters but all the others. Designs for 
decorative pages, for book covers, for end pieces, for Christmas cards, etc., 
would interest many. Many china painters woidd be glad to broaden their 
field I am sure. Last winter I received fourth prize in a textile competition 
in which 1,247 designs were submitted from 16 different States and I attribute 
it to my study of ceramic design under Mrs. Cherry. Surely it goes without 
saying that the china painter can profit by studying some of the allied arts, 
and if you brought out this point some of them who only think of so many 
new designs to copy each month would not resent the presence of other work. 
At the recent exhibition by the New York Society I noticed that many of 
the visitors were more interested in the linens displayed than in the china. 
I see no reason why one should not take advantage of this interest. 
Miss Mason's class work is always interesting and it is of a broader 
nature than just ceramics, I believe. The work you showed seme time ago 
by Hugo B. Froehlich was excellent, and the short series of lessons by Care hue 
Hoffman of Pratt Institute was by far the best of its kind you ever published. 
It would bear reprinting. 
ALBERT W. HECKMAN 
» » 
Mrs. Leah Rodman Tubby whose designs are familiar 
to subscribers of former Keramic Studios writes to us that she 
is establishing a studio in Los Angeles. We wish her success 
in her new home. She writes among other things: 
"I was delighted to see the suggestion in the last issue concerning work- 
ing Clubs. That has been my idea for a long time but I have not been in 
one place long enough to formulate such an idea. I expect to make this my 
home and I find that there is no real business in china decoration here. There 
seems to be no Keramic Society, not even an Arts & Crafts Society' for the 
furtherance of the crafts. I am keenly anxious to ''start something" and 
intend to, as soon as I am able to. This is a hustling city and ought to sup- 
port the Arts in a big way. 
Keramic Studio is certainly on the high road to perfection and should 
be hslped in every way. I was especially pleased to note that Keramic 
Studio is used for other purposes in design than for china. While in one of 
the shops here I heard a lady say she would take a copy, as she felt she would 
more than get her money's worth in designs, though she was not a china dec- 
orator. I was curious, so I asked her if she would mind telling me what use 
she found for the designs. She said they were always so good she felt safe 
to use them for all kinds of craftswork. The copy happened to have one of 
my designs in it, so of course I was duly pleased." 
H H 
Some time ago we predicted in this Magazine that glass 
decoration would become an important feature of the work 
of amateur decorators in this country. We might say that 
this prediction is already realized, as it is evident from the 
correspondence we are receiving that the interest in this kind 
of work is almost general and bound to grow rapidly. 
It has just now the great advantage over china that glass 
shapes manufactured in this country are on the market. It 
is only a question of a very short time when all dealers will 
have them. And it is not a temporary fad. As one dealer 
wrote to us some time ago, it is safe to predict that it will 
become permanently for the amateur workers of this country 
as important a branch of decoration as china painting. Glass 
like china must be renewed constantly and the demand is 
enormous. The decorative work by the factories is generally 
inferior and there is room for artistic, individual work. 
As we have said before, we will be glad to have designs 
and treatments for glass submitted to us, although Keramic 
Studio is already full of china designs which may as well be 
applied to glass. In order to encourage the work we will 
open a design competition with prizes as follows: 
Competition will close on November 15th, 1917. De- 
signs should be applied to any of the shapes from the United 
States Glass Co. or the Cambridge Glass Works, which have 
been published in August number (Page 67). 
Designs should be sent flat, with name and address of 
designer on back. They should be in black and white, ac- 
companied with a color sketch of one section of the design, if 
the design is conventional or a written treatment in glass 
colors. 
Competition is open to all, whether glass decorators or 
not. First Prize, $10; Second Prize, $5. 
Good designs which will not be awarded prizes will be 
purchased. 
