no 
IlERAMIC STUDIO 
SASSAFRAS— A. W. DONALDSON 
(Treatment page 102) 
LESSON FOR BEGINNERS IN GOLD AND LUSTRE FOR 
A VASE 
Jessie M. Bard 
TAKE the width of one section of the design and find how 
many times it will go around your vase. The vase in 
the illustration has four sections. Draw a line around the 
vase at the top and bottom of where the main part of the design 
will come ; it will aid you in keeping the design straight. 
This can be done with a gauge or banding wheel but where 
neither are to be had the narrow strip of paper may be used by 
measuring from the bottom of the vase up, measuring all 
around the vase about an inch and a half intervals and then 
drawing as straight a line as possible, free hand, between these 
marks. Then divide the vase in as many parts as the design 
will fit on your vase. All division lines should be fine India 
Ink lines. 
Make a careful tracing of the design and transfer it to the 
vase according to previous instructions. Outline with a fine 
grey India Ink line being very careful to keep the character of 
the flowers. Watch the width of the background spaces more 
than the spaces of the design. Too much care and thought 
cannot be given to this matter; it cannot be hurried. Put in 
all the design with Roman Gold, both the outline and the wide 
bands, with the exception of the stamen in the flowers and the 
dark spot in the buds. It is then ready 
to fire. Give gold a hot fire the first time. 
Second Fire — Go over the entire 
vase with Light Green Lustre. If the 
lustre is fresh use it just as it is, otherwise 
add a few drops of Lavender Oil to thin it. 
Be sure that the room is free from lint 
and also that everything you use is per- 
fectly clean. Pour a little of the lustre 
in a china slant or a small concave dish 
and with a No. 6 square shader that has 
been used for nothing else but lustre 
apply the lustre to the vase. Fill the 
brush well with the lustre and apply it 
as evenly as possible without working 
back into your last stroke. Work very 
quickly for the lustre dries rapidly and 
if the edges become dry it will show your 
brush strokes. Have a nice pad ready 
before beginning the work; the cotton 
should be free from knots and the silk free 
from wrinkles. As soon as the vase is 
covered with the lustre it should be 
padded until it looks perfectly smooth. 
All imperfections will be gi-eatly increased 
after the fire so do not hope that it will look all right after the 
fire. If it is not a perfect piece of work wipe it off with alcohol 
and be sure to wipe off all the alcohol. Never use turpentine 
with lustre. 
When the tinting is satisfactory wipe the color from the 
flowers and buds. The color can be wiped out by wrapping a 
small bit of cotton very tightly around the end of a brush handle ; 
it can be moistened with alcohol or water but care must be taken 
not to have too much in it so that it spreads beyond your line. 
Especial care must be taken with the alcohol as it spreads very 
easily. 
When it is perfectly clean paint a thin wash of Yellow Lustre 
over the parts wiped out using about a No. 4 square shader. 
Never put a lustre brush away without cleaning it. Clean it 
well with turpentine and be sure that all of the lustre is out of 
it and then clean out the turpentine with alcohol. Rub the 
brush back and forth against your hand until it is perfectly dry 
and fluffy. 
Third Fire — Go over all the wide vertical lines with Green 
Gold and all lines going round the vase and the outlines of 
flowers with the Roman Gold. Paint in the stamen and the 
dark spot in the bud with Yellow Red paint. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 
L. C. — Try using a little china eraser on the spot. The pompadour and 
carnation are probably not fired hot enough. There should be no trouble m 
glazing them. 
L. L. Mc. — Silver should be polished the same as gold. Mix a \'cry little 
oil of tar with the powder silver, hardly enough to hold the powder together 
and then thin it with oil of lavender. Silver should be applied in two very 
thin washes, if it is applied too heavy it has the effect you speak of. Try 
light green lustre over the silver. One of the most satisfactory ways to buy 
it is in a paste and is called White Gold. 
Miss McL. — M. & H. Outlming Black is made by Mueller & Hennig, 
Dresden, Germany and may be procured from any of the leading art dealers. 
A. C. S. — Powdered zinc is used for cleaning the carbon out of a kiln. 
A. F. P. — ^We would advise you to leave the set as it is for the lustre 
would be just an experiment. 
