RlEramic studio 
OFFERING PLATE OF COPPER 
i6s 
Emily F. Peacock 
THE offering plate of copper is 12 inches in diameter 
when finished, and 1 8-inch gauge copper is used. It is 
ahvaj'S better to have the metal a little larger than needed, so 
the piece for the plate should be 12^ inches square. 
Mark on this three concentric circles, with a steel compass, 
the first circle, 12 J inch in diameter, the 2d, lo inches in diame- 
ter and the 3d, 9+ inches in diameter. The space between the 
two inner ci];cles is to be beaten. Fasten a ]3air of sharp 
shears very securety in a vice, and holding the metal in the left 
hand, cut evenly and firmly round the outer circle. Take off 
the rough sharp edge with a medium sized file, and finish with 
emery cloth. 
Tr,.. 
The next thing to do is to make a wooden pattern (Fig.i), 
exactly the shape of the finished plate. This pattern is made 
by chiseling one side of a block of hard wood to the required 
curve, and then smoothing all the edges with sand paper. 
When this is done, anneal the plate, place the pattern in a vice, 
and holding the center of the part to be beaten over the center 
of the groove in the block, commence to beat with a medium 
sized steel hammer. Give even blows, each one following 
closely the last one, until the body of the plate is the desired 
depth. If when this is done, the inside edge of the rim of the 
plate is not sharp enough, hold the rim firmly over an anvil and 
hammer the edge gently with a round faced hammer, turning 
the plate slowly all the time. 
Put the design (Fig. 11) on the back of rim and place the 
plate on cement, go over the design with a broad tracer and 
repousse. 
PYROGRAPHY 
TREATMENT OF TOILET SET 
Katherine Livermore 
BURN outlines; make a decided contrast between the inner 
and outer backgrounds; keeping the inner one very 
delicate rather than using the heavj^ lines indicated — a point 
stippling would be preferable. The outer one may be burned 
as heavily as indicated. 
Use gamboge to color the flowers and sap green for the 
leaves — put a flat wash on and when perfectly dry, shade the 
flowers and leaves verj^ delicatelj^ with the hot point, using line 
shading; the effect of the burning over the color is very harmon- 
ious, but can only be done when water color is used. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 
G. B. W. — There i.s no doubt that your Aufsetzweis was not fired hard 
enougli if it came out without a glaze. It should always go in the hottest 
part of the kiln and needs to be fired harder than carmine. You could add 
one-eighth flux to facilitate firing at a lower temperature. 
For your bureau set in lustre we would advise, as most appropriate to 
that pattern of china, a tint of yellow over rose, which produces delicate 
pearly tones. Clean out medallions of white which can be tinted an ivory 
tone and surrounded with dainty garlands of roses or a,sters with leaves and 
stems in raised and flat gold — or if preferred, the little flowers may be painted 
in tlie medallions. All lustres are about equally reliable as they are all im- 
ported originally from the same firm. Powder colors are most desirable for 
general use, but tube colors are easier to use for tinting. Powder colors are 
usually ground fine enough for dusting but it is safer to pass them through a fine 
bolting cloth — a biscuit cutter with the bolting silk tied over one end makes a 
very good sieve. It is impos.sible to name a pink that will not turn purplish if 
over-fired, all are about equally unreliable, but many are very good if care- 
fully used and fired. 
Mrs. E. G. T. — The fine white spots on your reds and browns, of which j'ou 
complain, are due either to imperfectly ground and mixed color, so that color 
and oil separate and leave white spots; or there is moisture in the kiln which 
deposits tiny drops of water on these colors wliich are more sensitive to 
moisture than the others. 
S. F. P. — You will find designs for tiles in .June '02 and Feb. '03 Keramic 
Studio. These are to be carried out in blue and white or green and white, 
using one to three tones of the same colors, lustres are hardly suitable. Tiles 
could be numbered on the back if necessary to have a certain order. Thej- can 
be purchased of any china dealer or Marscliing & Co. 
OLD RHYMES ON TANKARDS 
IN the days of the old stage coach and country inn, when peer 
and highwayman quenched their thirst with the contents 
of the same pewters, it was a common practice to inscribe on 
these tankards rhyined couplets, often the iiispiration of the 
village poet, and more or less eloquent of bibulous wisdom. 
Although the sentiment of these verses will not commend itself 
to abstainers, saj's a contemporar3", they are worth placing on 
record, as throwing a light on the habits and humor of other 
days. One of these couplets sums up the ordinary man's 
antipathies thus: — 
"Two things all honest men do fear: 
A scolding wife and ill-brewed beer. " 
Another is loj^al and almost moral in its philosophy, and 
runs thus: 
"Drink fayre, don't sway re; 
God save ye King! " 
The pewter on which these lines were inscribed has a 
history of centuries. 
A very sensible rhyme is a parody of the well-known fight- 
ing couplet, and runs thus : 
" He who drinks and runs away 
Will live to drink another day. " 
There is quite a mine of moral teaching in a few of the 
verses inscribed on these pewters, as in these : 
"Straight is the line of duty. 
Curved is the line of beauty; 
Follow the straight line, thou shalt see 
The curved line ever follow thee. " 
This verse has more appropriately been found on water 
jugs in village inns. On some tankards are to be seen quaint 
perversions of common maxims. One assures us that "It's 
a long tankard that carmot be refilled. " Another suggests, 
with Taleyran philosophy, " Never put off till to-morrow what 
you can drink to-day;" while a third conveys a very useful 
and timely hint in " It's a muddled man who doesn't know his 
own pewter. ■" Nearly all the above are applicable to and 
have been inscribed also on pottery. — Pottery Gazette. 
