52 
RERAMIC STUDIO 
BLUE BOWL (S«pplemcnt) 
Maud M. Mason 
THE design illustrated was planned for a rather heavy 
baking dish bought in the basement of a department 
store, but there are many charming Belleek and French bowls 
which may be used equally well for this arrangement. Much 
interesting ware can be found in out-of-the-way shops some- 
times of a heavy variety that lends itself very well indeed to a 
certain simple bold kind of design and treatment. 
If used in a higher or more tapering bowl, the space on the 
lower part may be paneled or toned with vertical lines or left 
plain as desired. The panels may also be straightened and 
the space between kept uniform. After transferring the unit 
for which an outline is reproduced, and of which a tracing may 
be made, the entire design is washed in with Blue Enamel for 
which any shade of blue desired may be used. 
A good medium blue is made of four parts Banding Blue, 
one part Blue Green, one part Azure Glaze; mix rather stiff 
with Painting Medium, thin with Enamel Medium and float 
with turpentine using a No. 7 pointed shader. When dry the 
heavy black lines are painted, leavingthe black accents on leaves 
for the second firing. The narrow border is intended for the 
inside of the bowl placing it one-fourth of an inch below the 
rim and is treated in the same manner as the outside of the bowl. 
The tones may be flattened or strengthened by washing 
over in the second firing with the same colors used in the 
enamels, with the exception of the glaze which is in each case 
omitted. If a very brilliant blue enamel is desired use less 
Blue Green; or if a darker color is wished add a little Royal 
Blue to enamel or use Royal Blue and Azure Glaze alone. 
An infinite variety of blues are available by different com- 
binations with Azure Glaze. Another effective scheme for 
this design would be Yellow Enamel for flowers and stems — 
two parts Egg Yellow, one part Neutral Yellow and one part 
Best White Enamel. Background and leaves Green Enamel — 
four parts Apple Green, one part Green Glaze and a very small 
touch of Violet to grey it; a little Brown Green will deepen 
the color. Retouch with same colors omitting enamels and 
glazes. 
The sooner it is learned that a hard and tight perfection 
of execution should not be the sole aim of the decorator — is 
entirely lacking in artistic quality and is quite contrary to all 
the canons of art, — the better our work will become and the 
higher our standard will be raised. Those designs that look 
as though they were bits of paper cut out with scissors and 
glued to the porcelain have no feeling or meaning, and little 
to redeem them. We often hear it said of a decoration that it 
looks just as perfect as though it was printed! And it might 
better have been printed if it looks like that! Consider the 
infinite amount of labor that would have been saved by so 
doing. 
The ideal way of executing any design is to make each 
stroke expressive— try to feel what you are doing and do not 
outline like a machine while your thoughts are busy with other 
things. 
The best Chinese and Japanese porcelains are more re- 
fined in form and texture than anything we have to decorate 
and yet they outline and paint in a very loose, free and spirited 
way. Each unit is by no means an exact reproduction of an- 
other, yet it is in perfect harmony and unity. We need to 
study fine old things more, and especially the manner in which 
they are done. Accuracy of technique is all very well for the 
beginner, but this must develop into something finer. By a 
free technique is not meant careless execution, but deftness of 
expression which is the accompaniment of both a trained mind 
and hand. 
BOWL, BASKET OF FRUIT MOTIF (Supplement) 
Maud M. Mason 
nr^HE design reproduced suggests one of the many ways that 
A this bowl, which lends itself so well to a variety of treat- 
ments, may be decorated. 
The motif in this case may be repeated five times, at 
regular intervals, of course, around the border, leaving inter- 
vening panels. In applying it space the bands carefully and 
divide the bowl into ten equal divisions, drawing these vertical 
construction lines in ink. The unit is reproduced in outline, 
of which make a careful tracing with ink and pen on very 
FULL SIZE CENTER, PLATE— ALBERT J. ROTT 
