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KERAMC STUDIO 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF DECORATIVE ART 
[From Owen Jones's Grammar of Ornament.] 
LL designs should possess fitness, proportion 
and harmony, the result of all which is 
repose. 
True beauty results from that repose 
which the mind feels when the eye, the intel- 
lect and the heart are satisfied. 
Construction should be decorated, decoration should 
never be purposely constructed. 
Beauty of form is produced by lines growing out, one 
from the other, in gradual undulations. There should be no 
excrescences, i. e., nothing could be removed and leave the 
design equally good or better. 
General forms being first cared for, these should be sub- 
divided and ornamented by general lines. The interstices 
may then be filled in with ornament which may be again sub- 
divided and enriched for closer inspection. 
Throughout Decorative Art every assemblage of form 
should be arranged on certain definite proportions. The 
whole- and each particular member should be a multiple of 
some simple unit. Those proportions will be most beautiful 
which are most difficult for the eye to detect. Thus the pro- 
portion of 4 to 8 is less beautiful than that of 5 to 8, 3 to 6 
less beautiful than 3 to 7, 3 to 9 than 3 to 8, 3 to 4 than 3 
to 5. 
Harmony of form consists of proper balancing and con- 
trast of the straight, inclined and curved. 
Distribution. — Radiation. — Continuity. — In surface deco- 
ration all lines should' flow from a parent stem, ever}' ornament 
should be traced to branch or root. (Oriental practice.) All 
junctions of curved lines" with curved or straight should be 
tangential. 
Flowers or other natural forms should not be used as 
ornaments, but conventional representations founded on 
natural forms, sufficiently suggestive to convey their image to 
the mind without destroying the unity of the object they are 
employed to decorate. 
Color is used to assist in developing form and to distin- 
guish objects or parts of objects from each other. It is also 
used to assist light and shade r helping undulations or form by 
proper distribution of the several colors. This object is best 
attained by using primary colors on small surfaces and small 
quantities of secondary and tertiary colors on larger masses. 
Primary colors should be used on upper portions of 
objects, secondary and tertiary on lower. 
Primary colors of equal intensity will harmonize or neu- 
tralize each other in the porportion of 3 yellow, 5 red, 8 blue 
(16 integrally.) Secondaries in the proportion of 8 orange, 13 
purple, 11 green (32 integrally.") Tertiaries in the proportion 
of 19 citrine (orange and green), 21 russet (orange and pur- 
ple), 24 olive (green and purple), (64 integrally). 
Each secondary being a compound of two primaries is 
neutralized by remaining primary in same proportion. 8 
orange (red and yellow) is balanced by 8 blue; 11 green (blue 
and yellow) is balanced by 5 red; 13 purple (red and blue) is 
balanced by 3 yellow. 
Each tertiary being a binary compound of two secon- 
daries is neutralized by the remaining secondary. 24 olive 
(green and purple) is balanced by 8 orange; 21 russet (orange 
and purple) is balanced by 11 green; 19 citrine (orange and 
green) is balanced by 13 purple. 
This applies to colors used in prismatic intensities, but 
each color has a variety of tones when mixed with white, or of 
shades when mixed with black. So when a full color is con- 
trasted with another of a lower tone the volume of the latter 
must be increased. 
Each color has a variety of hues obtained by admixture 
with other colors, in addition to white or black. Thus we 
have on one side orange yellow, on the other lemon yellow, 
scarlet red and crimson red, and of each every varietv of tone 
and shade. When a primary tinged with another is contrasted 
with a secondary, the secondary must have a hue of the third 
primary. 
In using primary colors on moulded surfaces, use blue 
which retires on concave, yellow which advances on convex, 
red which is intermediate on underside, separating colors by 
white on the vertical plane. When proportions required can- 
not be obtained, we may procure balance by changing colors. 
If surface should give too much yellow, make red more crim- 
son, and blue moie purple (i. e., take yellow out.) If too 
blue, make yellow more orange and red more scarlet. Various 
colors should be so blended that the objects colored, when 
viewed at a distance, should present a neutralized bloom. 
No composition can ever be perfect without the three 
primary colors either in natural state or combination. 
If two tones of the same color are juxtaposed, the light 
tone will seem lighter, the dark tone darker. 
If two different colors are juxtaposed, there is a double 
modification; the light color seems lighter, the dark color 
darker, and each color is tinged with the complementary color 
of the other. 
Colors on white grounds appear darker, on dark grounds 
lighter. 
Black grounds suffer when opposed to colors which give 
a luminous complementary. 
Colors should never be allowed to impinge on each other. 
Ornaments in color on a ground of contrasting color should be 
separated by an edge of lighter color. Ornaments in color on 
gold ground should be separated by an edge of darker color. 
Gold ornaments on colored ground should be separated by a 
black edge. Ornaments of any color may be separated from 
ground of any color by edges of white, black or gold. Orna- 
ments in color or gold may be used on white or black grounds 
without outline or edge. Self tints (tones or shades of same 
colon may be used light on dark without outline, but dark on 
light should have a still darker outline. 
Imitation of wood, marble, metals, jewels, &c, is only 
allowable when the use of the real article would not have 
been inconsistent. 
Principles discoverable in the works of the past belong to 
US, not SO the results. IT IS TAKING THE END FOR THE MEANS. 
if if 
FOR BEGINNERS 
YOU will find that only a few brushes will be necessary. 
Camels hair brushes (pointed shaders) Nos 3 and 5, 
two square shaders Nos. 5 and 8, and a sable rigger No. o for 
enamel and paste with medium length hairs. It is better to 
choose a sable brush for paste and enamel. It will be stronger, 
having a certain amount of spring to it, when used in model- 
ling. See that your brushes are put away clean. Shake them 
in turpentine, or a little lavender, and then thoroughly dry 
them. Alcohol is good, too, for cleansing brushes, or for 
removing stray spots of color that may be on your china, and 
that should be wiped off before firing. If one gets into the 
habit of looking after all these details, many blemishes may 
