ftERAMIC STUDIO 
231 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
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S. F.— You do not say what new blue you used for yottt violets. Possi- 
bly the mistake is not yours in painting. It may he simply that the color 
is naturally too blue. If so, retouch the painting with Purple, and it will 
probably come out the right color. 
C. B. — It is a very difficult thing to remedy a painting that is chipped. 
There will always be a roughness and a slight difference in color on the 
chipped place. The trouble waswithyour make of Ruby. These colors are 
not reliable. In the future use the Ruby of Fry or .Mason and we think yon 
will have no trouble. The only thing possible to do to your injured piece is 
to remove as much of the color as shows any tendency to scale and retouch 
with a good make of Ruby and whatever other colors are needed. 
H. B. H. — We will try and find yoti a reliable recipe for liquid bright 
gold and give it in the next number if possible. We do not understand your 
question. "Could 3-01: name a material to put on glass, to be fired and 
after the firing washed off, then apply liquid bright gold, in order to make 
it adhere to the glass properly after firing?" Liquid bright gold applied 
directly toglass and fired should adhere if fired properly without anyfurther 
manipulation. 
Mrs. L. M. — You will find an answer on firing the Revelation Kiln in 
this number. Gold should have a medium hard fire. Usually it takes two 
fires and two coats to make it rich enough. When once it is right it is best 
not to fire again as it will burnish off a little. If retired it should have a 
thin coat of gold added. 
The plain shapes in china are more called for now than those having a 
raised design. For table china it is always in best taste to have some of the 
white show, as centers of plates, insides of cups and outside of saucer, or if 
these are tinted, the design on the outside of cup and inside of saucer should 
he on a white ground. If a dish has a very conspicuous portion of outside 
showing it is always in good taste to put a narrow design along the rim in 
color or gold. Flux is used only to give colors a better gloss in the kiln; 
too much weakens the color. As a rule, use one-quarter flux for painting, 
one-third for tinting, except apple green, pearl grey and mixing yellow 
which do not need flux at all. 
We are not acquainted with the particular make of colors you mention, 
but would think them good and any good make of colors can be used with, 
any other make. 
. We have heard the tube with point for laj-ing raised paste well recom- 
mended, but have never used it ourselves. 
An under-fired test can be used again for a higher fire but not otherwise. 
Lustres are used quite extensively at present, especially in decorative 
rjieces. 
If you use a design for wild roses for a chocolate set we would prefer it 
conventionalized, in which ease any desired color scheme would be appropri- 
ate. A harmony in yellows and browns would be especially nice. Pink 
and gre3's or browns would also be dainty. For a smoking set, red and 
gold with a touch of black is alwaj's good. 
K. McC— You are right in understanding that in figure painting the 
reflected lights are only on shadow side of figure and that the modelling on 
the light side should be painted with tender shadow and pompadour rather 
than the darker tones. There is no medium that prevents dust collecting on 
the painting. The only way to prevent dust is not too use too much oil or 
medium so that the color will blend fairly dry and any dust collecting will 
not adhere. The flesh tone being composed of an iron red and yellow is 
very liable to fire out if put on too delicately. The only remedy is to re- 
paint with flesh without deepening the shadows. 
There is no real scarlet in china painting. The nearest approach to it 
is orange red; blood red is darker, pompadour or carnation- not so bright, 
but by contact with browns or greens the}' look quite vivid. 
R. R.— Use just enough tar oil and fat oil of turpentine— half and half, to 
make your pennyweight of poAvder gold mix to the consistency of a stiff 
tube ctflor. 
A. M. H. — It is impossible to say offhand whether your modelling clay 
will fire hard or not, it is doubtful if it can be fired hard enough in an over- 
glaze kiln to glaze afterward but may harden sufficiently to be left in the 
biscuit state without crumbling. Try the pyrometric cones in your kiln, 
with samples of your clay; if it fires hard enough to resist cutting with a 
steel knife it is all right, and will glaze at the same or lower temperature; if 
terra cotta, it jught tofire at a low temperature, but doubt if an overglaze 
kiln will do it. About cones, see article on firing. Your vase with gold 
lustre had more than it could carry. Lustre always rubs off when put on 
too thick, two coats at one time would have been too much even without 
the two former fired washes of lustre. 
Mrs. N. A. W. — The cause of your fired gold being brown is due to the 
red precipitate alloy you use, 'you say you use coin 'gold which is already 
alloyed. In the article given in Studio for making gold, the ribbon gold is 
used which is pure; the flux for which recipe is given is the safest and all 
that is necessary, and gives better results than any other. The coin gold is 
rdso used, but that lias one-ninth alloy, all that you need without adding 
more. 
When making the eoperas solution, it is better not too strong, add care- 
fully to the chloride, stir slowly until cloudy, then stop and allow the pre- 
cipitate to settle. The more carefully these details are attended to, the finer 
is the quality of gold. 
H. E. B.— The whitewash for kilnsismade of plaster of Paris and water 
and will not injure the china, neither will lime. 
Fusible rose is not a reliable color and very likely was affected by your 
iron fire pot. You may get a glaze by firing very hard, ordusting some other' 
color over it, such as green which is well fluxed. 
T. A. G. — It is the nature of the gold colors to separate and look 
"grainy" if not well ground with sufficient oil. Rub them down with a 
mailer on a ground glass slab adding a drop or two of fat oil of turpentine. 
Mrs. T. T. R.— See article on firing the Revelation Kiln. Glass cannot 
be fired with elfina, as it is fired before the china is half fired, and would 
melt at a greater heat. 
Mrs. C. D. W.— To transfer designs for china to the China itself, rub the 
china with a couple of drops of fat oil and a rag wet with spirits of turpen- 
tine, rub it evenly over the surface and rub off the surplus so there is only a 
"bloom" left on the china, make a tracing with tracing paper and a soft 
pencil, lay it on the china and go over the lines with a harder pencil and 
the lines will be transferred to the china. You will find directions in 
Keramic Studio article on tulips for fitting designs to different plates and 
shapes, also in last article on Columbine, if you cannot hold the tracing 
firmly with your fingers use the gummed edge of postage stamps or any 
gummed paper. There are banding wheels for making bands and lines on 
plates, ctrps and saucers, etc. ; also Mr. Hasburg advertises a very good de- 
vice for the same purpose. 
Mrs. L. M. — To fire a Revelation Kiln properly, each one must make 
one's own trials ; for though there are general rules to follow, the conditions of 
the draft, etc., vary in almost every instance, and the results to be obtained 
require experimenting, as there is as much individuality in a kiln as in a 
person. You will have to makethe acquaintance of your kiln through your 
own efforts, a few suggestions in the way of introduction being the only 
instruction possible. In the first place, do not use too much oil; begin 
slowly, the oil coming in drops only, and watch your chimney. As the kiln 
begins to warm up, let the oil flow a little stronger; if you see smoke com- 
ing from your chimney in any quantity you are using too much oil ; shut it 
off a little ; you will get just as much heat without clogging your kiln and 
chimney with soot. Do not be in a hurry; the china will come out better if 
fired slowly and cooled off not too quickly. As the kiln gets hotter you can 
turn on more oil till it flows in a steady stream, always watching your 
chimney to see that there is not too much smoke, and your basin to see that 
the oil does not cover the whole surface of the basin, and that it does 
flow strong enough to keep a steady fire. The bottom of the basin should 
not be entirely covered. Through the little mica door in front you can see 
the first faint glow of red at the base; when this shows all the way round, 
you can push the fire. When the kiln shows a dull red glow half way up, 
glass would be fired; but for firing glass one should make experiments with 
broken pieces for two or three fires to be sure of the exact amount of color 
necessary in the kiln. 
To fire china, put a piece in directline of vision frompeep hole, decorated 
with color. When this shows a uniform gloss from top to base, it is fired 
sufficiently. It would be well to have the pyrometric cones as suggested in 
last number's Answers to Correspondents, and experiment till you know 
which cone melts at the amount of heat for the desired effect and afterward 
fire by the cones. The color of the kiln when well fired is usually a bright 
orange. Hold the fire for five minutes after reaching the desired color, then 
turn out. If you have large or fragile pieces in the kiln, light the oil again 
before the kiln begins to turn black and let it drip for about half an hour so 
that the kiln will not cool off too rapidly. If breakage occurs it is always 
when the color in the muffle passes from red to black. This transition 
should be slow. 
We cannot tell 3 r ou which pyrometic cone to use, as that you must find 
out by experiment, different wares firing to a gloss at different heats. Fire 
3'our Belleek alone or all in front of kiln ; as 3'our cone should be in front of 
mica door 3'ou will get only the temperature of the front of your kiln, you 
may know that heat at back of kiln is greater. To find this out you must 
experiment with cones at front and back of kiln. So Carmines, Rose, Bel- 
leek will usually be fired in front of the kiln while harder colors are fired at 
the back, gold about the middle, although it will usually be fired airywhere 
except directly in front. Get p3'rometric cones 010 to about 05 to experi- 
ment with. In ordering from Prof. Edw. Orton, jr., Universit3' of Ohio, 
Columbus, O., mention that you wish them for overglaze decoration and he 
will send the proper cones. The kiln opens with a door in front ; the china 
is placed on stilts or platten, the former, three pointed pieces of unglazed 
clay; the latter, sheets of heavy asbestos or clay composition. No two 
pieces should be allowed to come in contact as this might cause chipping or 
particles of color might be transferred to the wrong piece. 
Overglaze firing in a Revelation Kiln can be done in 1 1/2 hour, the muffle 
beginning to show color in 35 or 40 minutes. But we advise a slower start. 
It is better if 3'ou begin tosee only color after thefirsthour. Then 3' our firing 
will last about two hours. Start slowly, but toward the end it is good to 
push the firing as much as it will stand without clogging your chimney 
with soot, or tilling your bnsin with oil, which is alwa3's" unnecessary'. 
Cool off slowly if 3'ou have pieces which you think liable to" crack. 
