KERAMIC STUDIO 
FLAT ENAMELS 
AS many of our subscribers write to us concerning enamels 
in flat washes, we would like to offer a few suggestions 
after our own practical experience. In the first place students 
are apt to think that enamels must necessarily stand up in 
relief. Using flat washes of color with enamel mixed in to 
give more of a body, is quite a different proposition from 
enamel used in jewel effects, which many amateurs and 
students use in great chunks or knobs, at once commonizing 
a beautiful design, especially if used for table service. The 
use of enamel in washes is merely to give body or depth of 
tone, which is not attainable when using a color alone, unless 
it be in some of the deep colors that are soft, and fire with an 
intense glaze. 
Very little oil must be used (none at all when the tube 
enamel is used) and the color must be very wet with turpen- 
tine, so that broad washes smooth themselves at once and 
then dry almost immediately. These washes must be only a 
little heavier than when color is used. There being so much 
more color than enamel, naturally the color will blister when 
used too thick. A little experimenting is worth more to 
students than lessons, as it is something each one must work 
out more or less oneself. 
The Keramic Studio can give only the experiences of 
those who have been successful in this work, and to encourage 
and urge continual trials by those who are using our conven- 
tional designs. We have given rules for mixing enamels with 
the different colors and these rules are the results of success- 
ful experiments. A second wash of enamel may be applied 
if the first wash is thoroughly dried in an oven, when a deeper 
tone is desired. The outline of the design is usually made 
first and this line will show through the enamel if it should 
happen to run over and if the enamel is the right consistency. 
TURKISH VASE OF 400 B. C 
AT LAMPSAKI, on the Dardanelles, a vase was recently un- 
earthed which has awakened the interest of pottery con- 
noisseurs by its beauty of form and design and its extreme 
antiquity. It is made of a fine quality of ground clay, 
incrusted on the exterior with gold. It has three gold 
handles and splendid relief representations of a hunting scene. 
The date of the vase, which contained human ashes, is esti- 
mated at about 400 B. C. It is by considering the significance 
of a relic like this that the deep respect for ceramics is awak- 
ened. No other work of man has proved so enduring as the 
records that the Antediluvians traced upon their primitive 
pottery. The architecture of 400 B. C. lies crumbled or buried 
under the sands of centuries and the sole relic of that age is 
found in a piece of clay. The three handles on this vase 
prove that this popular design is centuries old. 
PLATE DESIGN— ANNA B. LEONARD 
OUTLINE the design with sharp line of black, using Bruns- 
wick Black and a little Dark Blue (Lacroix). Blos- 
soms and stems with surrounding band should be painted in 
Dark Blue (combination of Dark Blue, Ruby Purple and Black.) 
The leaves and line inside the medallion in Green, using a 
combination of Apple Green, Mixing Yellow, Chrome Green 
3B, Brown Green and a little Black to modify the tone. The 
all-over design is in the dark blue on the white china, or on a 
Turquoise Blue background ( Be careful not to use a vivid 
tone.) The two inner bands are in two colors, the outside 
one in the dull green. The little single blossoms within the 
two bands are in Dark Blue and the circles in the Green. The 
two outer bands are in two colors, with white space in be- 
tween, the outer one being in Dark Blue and the inner one 
Green. 
These bands may be used in other proportions according 
to the size of the plate. A treatment in red and gold is also 
very effective. 
