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KERAMIC STUDIO 
Motifs for enamels and gold on glass or china — Flora Leland 
GOLD WORK ON GLASS 
D. M. Campana 
AS glass decorations require a much lighter firing than 
china decorations, all materials used in the decoration 
of glass should consequently be softer than materials used 
for china. This applies also to gold. Golds used on glass 
must be prepared somewhat differently. In my many ex- 
periments I found that the addition of more flux to the gold 
used for china for the purpose of melting it quicker does not 
bring a dependable gold. 
Sometimes this gold fires out dull, sometimes more dull 
yet and sometimes it comes out fairly successfully. The 
natural body of the glass has much to do with the results 
and in experimenting I found that a small part of Platinum 
added to the gold and a certain mixed-flux will make the 
gold more adhering to the glass, perhaps a trifle lighter in 
color, but very dependable and clearer than any other gold 
I have used. 
I use my gold pure, mixed with a clean Turpentine and 
nothing else. The mixing of Liquid Bright Gold will make 
it darker and not always so reliable. If you apply this tur- 
pentine-mixed-gold on the outside of a tumbler for instance, 
it will look good and' yellow, not only on the side where the 
gold is applied but also on the inside of the glass. By 
mixing it with Liquid Bright Gold, these very same designs 
would look bright on one side and dark on the other. 
Of course, on such a thing as handles or feet where the 
whole is to be covered, you may apply a Liquid Bright mixed 
with glass Roman gold, also Liquid on the first firing and 
Roman on the second. My choice, however, would always 
be the pure glass Roman gold mixed with the Turpentine, 
because if applied smoothly one coating would be sufficient 
for a good solid effect. I call your attention to the word 
smoothness as gold or colors or any other material applied roughly 
over glass will be seen through the transparency of the glass 
and will make your decorations faulty and bad. 
As to possibilities of gold decoration over glass, I find 
that a touch of gold looks good and for instance on 
drinking glasses, either at the top or at the foot, an etched 
border is good and very effective. The handle of a basket 
or the feet of a bowl covered in gold will look good and pleas- 
ing. One of the most popular decorations on goblets or 
tumblers is the gold monograms which it is not difficult to pro- 
duce and is always very popular with the public. I generally 
apply my monogram on the outside of the glass and have a 
delicate shade of lustre on the inside of the same glass in this 
way making the full decoration in one fire. Good lustre 
colors for this purpose would be Amethyst, Blue Pearl, Rose 
Shell, Golden Amber, Orange or also Iridescent. You can 
draw your monogram with pencil on a piece of paper and 
keep it on the inside part of the glass so that you can follow 
the line when you apply the gold on the opposite side, making 
it very easy to repeat the very same monogram on a quantity 
of glasses. 
As I have mentioned before a good border either etched 
or painted in gold, makes a very pretty decoration and etching 
can be done in the very same manner as on china. You cover 
your glass with the Acid Varnish and dip your glasses in the 
hydro-fluoric acid, only being careful to give about half 
of the time in the acid for the etching of glass as you would 
give to the etching of china. 
Liquid Bright Gold may be used on glass with good re- 
sults though even this article must be a trifle different from 
the one used on china. Roman gold is burnished after the 
fire but I advise you to use Burnishing-Sand instead of Glass 
Brush. Take a piece of rag thoroughly moistened in water, 
MOTIF FOR ENAMELS ON GLASS OR CHINA— LAUREL G. FOSTER 
