Vol. 
' T IS very gratifying to see the decorators returning 
to their studios, looking and feeling refreshed, 
and in nearly every instance bringing home 
sketches of fruit and flower made from nature, 
which they will utilize in their season's work. 
This is the only way to introduce originality and 
individuality in decoiation and to stop the slavish 
imitation of other decorators, who have made 
successes upon certain lines. There should be a 
tremendous improvement in this direction, when 
this same criticism was so generally made at the 
last League exhibition. There may be many 
decorators who are not ready to stand alone, but perhaps 
they have not tried very hard to break away from old ideas, 
rules and regulations. This is the best time of the year to 
begin ! The New York Society of Keramic Arts fought to 
establish a rule that "no work should be exhibited that had 
been done under a teacher," and when the experiment was 
tried the members and public acknowledged that it was the 
greatest step towards improvement that the club had made. 
The work became individual and extremely interesting from 
that point alone. Each member now is studying and working 
upon lines that give her or him the most satisfaction and 
pleasure, without trying to imitate this one or that one, with 
results that are far more artistic and interesting. 
We have heard of one china shop, and that several times, 
where decorators were not given a welcome, and this is one 
of the oldest and most reliable houses in the country. Some 
one who is only an amateur called the other day and thought 
she might pass a pleasant half-hour by studying the finer 
wares that could be seen in this place, which is possible if the 
clerks are ignorant of the fact that the visitor is a decorator. 
She meekly stated that she decorated china just for her own 
amusement, and was interested in it, and would like to see 
some of their finer plates. But to her utter amazement and 
mortification she was told that the house did not like to show 
their wares to decorators, that their importations are exclusive 
and very expensive, and that the decorator came only to copy 
or to steal ideas! The visitor then asked if any objection 
would be made if decorators looked at the wares in the win- 
dows. Now we can understand that there may be trying 
cases when visitors are not always agreeable, and may criticize 
the work shown, and in that way antagonize the dealers. For 
instance, we know where one decorator made the remark that 
she thought some amateurs in this country could do better 
decorative work than the imported, etc. Naturally, remarks 
like that will create a little feeling, but when, on the other 
hand, nothing like that has been said, there is no excuse for 
discourtesy; we can scarcely believe that the proprietors are 
aware of the several incidents that have been reported to us. 
At any rate there are many shops where students and artists 
receive a welcome. Studying the Jiner imported china is the 
only way it will ever be fully appreciated and sought. Our 
teachers and students in turn will impress others, and in that 
way the cultivated taste and love for beautiful china grows. 
Dealers can then talk intelligently upon the subject, knowing 
it to be better understood and appreciated ; therefore a 
greater demand. We constantly urge decorators to study the 
technique of foreign wares. That alone is sometimes so won- 
derful that inspiration comes to do better work. But we 
never recommend copying anything nor anybody. Our line of 
work is to encourage originality and individuality. 
Mrs. Alsop-Robineau will make a sheet of Cupids and 
medallion heads in colors for one of the supplements in the 
near future. Mrs. Leonard is preparing a color sheet of deco- 
rative suggestions, among them some of her dainty Dresden 
roses. 
The peacock design for tankard would make an effective 
punch bowl design by shortening the tails of the birds. 
4= 
In this number will be found the first of a series of articles 
on "The Application of Ornament," by Mr. A. G. Marshall. 
These will be of the greatest assistance to students. In future 
papers the principles governing the application of ornament 
will be explained with the assistance of illustrations and dia- 
grams. 
4= 
We give below an extract from a letter written by Miss 
M. Owen of Cincinnati in regard to American glass for deco- 
rating. Miss Owen recently took a first premium for the 
glasses mentioned, at the Elks' Carnival and Fair at Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky. Her letter is especially interesting, since the 
subject of American wares for decorators is coming so promi- 
nently before us at this moment. 
" I hope whoever writes your articles on glass decorating 
will not make the mistake of making the incorrect statement 
that you cannot decorate or fire American glass, that you 
must have Bohemian glass to stand the fire. It is not so at 
all. I have used both, and used to somewhat fear American 
glass, but recently I decorated twelve hundred American 
tumblers and fired nine dozen at a time in a No. 6 Revelation 
kiln, without a breakage." 
•4° 
We have so many requests for color studies of various 
subjects that we have come to the conclusion that few under- 
stand the great expense of getting out first-class color studies 
such as we publish, in fact few realize the cost even of the 
original half-tone illustrations and the cuts which illustrate 
the Keramic Studio. We wish to do all in our power to 
please our subscribers. We have promised six color supple- 
ments for the first year, and six color half-tone supplements. 
We will carry out our promise, but we can not give in a year 
all the subjects asked for. Anything in black and white that 
is asked for by a subscriber, we will publish at an early date, 
