IlERAMIC STUDIO 
47 
After some hours, the next morning, perhaps, let the work be 
carefully examined and if any cracks have developed, they 
must be stopped with clay. Now with a flexible steel scraper 
the whole surface can be gone over and a uniform face secured. 
Unless a kiln is being frequently fired, it will save time 
to make two or three of these trials, adding the flint or felds- 
par without waiting to see how the first turns out. Red clay 
will usually shrink more than buff or yellow clay and, there- 
fore, the first trial will be to add flint to the red to reduce the 
shrinkage, and feldspar to the yellow to increase it. 
Suppose a yellow pattern on a red body is desired — these 
natural clays always give more harmonious effects than any 
artificial colors would do— the pattern inlaid with yellow or 
red as just described, and burned, a close examination will 
show that the surface of the yellow is a trifle higher than that 
K!K>K® 
of the red. Also the red clay will be seen to push on the 
edges of the yellow as though it were trying to crowd it out, 
as indeed it is. Now to the red dry clay add ten per cent 
ground flint, and_ to the yellow clay the same proportion of 
ground feldspar. If this is not enough, for no two clays re- 
quire exactly the same amount, increase one or the other until 
a trial piece shows a perfect join and a true surface. 
Figures 5 and 6 are suggestions for inlaid borders, and 7 
and 8 are examples of vase treatment by this method. After 
the work is finished, the surface may be polished with advant- 
age, and this kind of decoration looks best without a glaze. 
Painting in slip, also called pdtc-sicr-pdte or clay on clay, 
permits more freedom than either of the foregoing methods 
and has its own possibilities and limitations. The vase to be 
slip-painted must be quite soft, only just hard enough to han- 
dle, and the slip must be plump and mellow, about the thick- 
ness of good cream. Brushes of two or three sizes will be 
needed, and a couple of sharp steel modeling tools. 
The pattern or design being accurately sketched, the 
whole is gone over with a thin dash of slip. It is a mistake 
to attempt to put on much at one time. The work is gradu- 
ally built up, a wash at a time until the desired thickness is 
attained. Obviously a smooth surface is impossible, nor is it 
intended. The work, on the other hand, should present the 
appearance of a delicately modeled embossment. The scope 
of this work is almost unlimited. Figures 9 and 10 illustrate 
the use of a dark slip on conventional lines, but this is only one 
of many possibilities. Very beautiful work may be done 
with white slip on a colored ground. The embossment being 
semi-transparent, the ground color will give a tinted shade 
with excellent effect. In this work as in the inlaid, both points 
of agreement must be carefully adjusted. The slip has, nat- 
urally, a greater shrinkage than the clay, by virtue of the 
larger amount of water it contains. By laying in thin washes 
this water is absorbed by the clay of the vase, but unless the 
two materials have the same measure of shrinkage, as they dry 
they will part company. 
It sometimes happens that the clay which is the smaller 
on drying is the larger on firing and this can be adjusted by 
the use of feldspar. In the clay state, feldspar will act in the 
same way as flint, as a dry powder which makes the clay 
porous. In the fire its action is the opposite, it melts and 
causes the ware to shrink. Some exception may be taken to 
the constant use of experiment in clay work. Those who have 
been accustomed to work over glaze with ready prepared 
colors and firings which last for an hour or less have little con- 
ception of the work involved with clay. But just in the same 
degree they have no idea of the delight and fascination of the 
potter's art. It may, in fact, be truly said, that a potter is 
the most enviable of men, for in his many trials he finds un- 
ending joy. 
KANSAS CITY SOCIETY 
The Kansas City Society of Keramic Arts held its monthly 
meeting in the Athenaeum rooms of the University building 
May 4th, when the following ofificers were elected : President, 
Mrs. Chas. Blackmar ; First Vice-President, Miss Dorothea 
Warren; Second Vice-President, Mrs. Lura W. Fuller; Secre- 
tary, Mrs. William G. Whitcomb; Treasurer, Mrs. L. O. Nut- 
ter; Executive Committee, Mrs. Charles Coff man, chairman, 
Miss Josephine Bayha, Mrs. Grace R. Benton, Mrs. D. F. 
Wallace, Mrs. George McClelland. 
