196 
KERAMC STUDIO 
H* 
fib _ l3"r-. 
^ 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 
.4rn' questions to be 1 
wered by this department must be s 
the month preceding- issue. 
1 bv the 10th of 
White Rose.— This is a color between an olive and brown green, and 
makes an excellent shading tone for white roses or other white flowers. Used 
in a dusted tint it makes a rich soft green. 
J. W.— The design of the Jubilee cup and saucer, by Mrs. Leonard, was 
published in the Art Amateur two years ago. 
S. M. K. — Your Aufsetzweis was not sufficiently fired, otherwise it would 
glaze. A design for a cheese dish will be given next issue. 
H. R. D.— The reason of your gold precipitating of a dark color and diffi- 
cult to mix with the oil, is because you used too strong a solution of ferros 
sulphate. The second precipitate will be darker than the first, because of the 
addition of more of the solution, but it will fire all right. Rub the powder with 
a muller on a ground glass slab just sufficiently to mix thoroughly. It should 
not need grinding, as it precipitates as soft and fine as flour. Stir the solution 
only once or twice. Stirring too much makes it gritty. It is surprising what 
a difference a little thing makes. Use a horn palette knife. If your gold 
blisters off, you have put it on too thick. Only a thin wash is necessary, as 
this \s pure gold. 
M. D. G. — Paste chips off when over color, when put on too flat and arti- 
ficially dried, when too much oil is used, also when oily turpentine is used. 
Perhaps you will be more successful with the lavender oil instead of tur- 
pentine. 
C. H. R.— All questions must be signed by the name and address in full, 
otherwise we are liable to take up space which belongs to subscribers in an- 
swering questions for non-subscribers. This would not be fairto subscribers, 
as they have a right to the space and might be crowded out. The La Croix 
color charts, kindly furnished by Favor & Ruhl, can be obtained only from the 
office of the KERAMIC STUDIO. Any yearly subscriber can have them by 
writing to us. We would much prefer to have you subscribe directly with us, 
but as soon as you become a yearly subscriber you will be entitled to the 
charts, in whatever manner you subscribe. To become a member of the New 
York Society of Keramic Arts three pieces of work done without the aid of a 
teacher must be submitted, your name being proposed at the same time by 
some member with whom you may be acquainted. If the work passes the 
eligibility committee, your name will be voted upon, and you will be notified 
of the result. We presume the other societies are similarly constructed. 
Occasionally pieces of Belleek have a very poor thin glaze which sometimes 
disappears wholly in the second or third fire. This is found most in the 
heavier pieces of Belleek. It is no fault of your flux or oils. 
J. G. W.— To dust grounds of different colors, blending into each other, 
for instance, Celadon, Royal Green and Brown, prepare your grounding oil 
on the surface as for a single tint. Make a mixture of the celadon and green 
and of the green and brown. Put on the celadon, then the mixture with 
green, then green, then the mixture with brown, then brown, working one 
color into the next so there will be no hard line of demarkation. In the second 
fire you can use, if you wish, a single color, dusted on all over, to bring all 
together better, or if strengthening of one shade only is required, dust over 
that part, blending the oil thin at the edges. Ivory yellow in tube colors is 
best for an ivory ground. For old ivory effect, use a mixture of Yellow 
Brown and Brown 17 to rub in creases. Orange yellow can also be used thin 
for this effect, but ivory is better. The beautiful yellow brown luster on Mrs. 
Leonard's chocolate set at the Waldorf exhibition was Sartorius' Yellow Brown 
padded on twice. Your monogram will be given in the February number. 
We delay giving the monograms to give other subscribers a chance to send for 
their own. 
B. J. M. — The Fry Art Co. sell the ivory glaze for which you inquire. It 
can be dusted over any finished painting to give a uniform glaze, but as it is 
liable to absorb the reds and give a monochromatic effect, it would hardly be 
safe to use over figures when clear flesh color is desired. The ivory glaze 
gives quite an underglaze effect, but hard fires are always most necessary to 
get a uniform deep glaze. Dampness or insufficient ventilation in the kiln 
will sometimes cause white spots on lustres, or if your china is not absolutely 
clean or dust gets on. Some colors show spots worse than others. Greens 
yellows and lighter colors, are safest. To get a deep shade it is better to put 
on two thin washes than one heavy one. Color too thick will peel off. The 
more neutral colors of lustre used sparingly can be used effectively with 
figures, but do not let your border overpower your painting. The designs in 
the KERAMIC STUDIO are not so difficult as they look ; most of the work is in 
the drawing. Try them and you will be surprised to see how simple and 
effective they are. To paint light golden brown hair, use ivory yellow in the 
high lights, finishing brown in shadows for (he first fire; in the second tire. 
break the light into the shadow with cool shadow (the composition of this is 
given in the June number), in the deepest shadows use a little yellow brown. 
W. K. B.— You will find the Dresden Aufsetzweis in tubes the most reli- 
able enamel. It needs a hard fire but will stand any number of repeated 
firings. When used white, mix with one-eighth flux. When it is used 
colored with tube or powder paints, no flux is required, though a touch of flux 
makes it fire better. Use Carmine No. 3 for the little old-fashioned roses and 
ruby purple for the darker ones. The powder colors for dusting can be pro- 
cured from any of our advertisers. Miss Osgood of the Osgood Art School 
makes a very fine Persian red for dusting or painting Blood red is also a fine 
color. For turquoise buy either turquoise blue or turquose green, according 
to which shade you prefer. 
K.— The corresponding colors in powder for the lemonade pitcher in 
cherries by Miss Wright (October) are the same as the Dresden tube colors, 
with the exception of White Rose, of which which we have written elsewhere 
in this number. We have given a study of storks in this number of Historic 
Ornament, but will give another of storks standing in the February number. 
Did you receive your La Croix color chart ? 
H. P. B. — Scroll on Greek lines of No. 4, July.— In substituting the 
cockle shell for the honeysuckle ornament in the ''wave line" scroll, it would 
have been better to use a heavier scroll like the third No. 4. This is more 
typical of the sea and illustrates the meaning of the word fitness in design. 
To use this border on a fish or oyster set would be fitness in decoration, the 
black in the lower part makes a contrast in lines, The heavy wave line is in 
better proportion to the cockle shell than the delicate stem line which holds the 
honeysuckle. A half inch border is in better proportion to a four-inch saucer 
than an inch and a half border. It balances better. A wider border would over- 
balance the saucer. There is more action or movement in the heavy wave line 
which supports the honeysuckle ornament because it suggests more the action 
of a wave in running along and curling over before breaking. The waves in 
the scroll are evenly spaced, [f two waves were closer than the others they 
would be unevenly spaced. Quiet spacing is where there is no ornament, as 
in the space above the wave design. 
Study of oak leaves and acorns.— Were your acorns quite so pointed? 
Could you not have indicated the little scales on the cups, without going too 
much into detail? Were not the stems which held the acorns rather too slen- 
der? Maybe that variety is slender. There is strength in your drawing, but 
not yet a careful observation of your study. Your shadows on leaves are too 
indefinite and frequently destroy the shape by going in the wrong direction. 
Make the lines follow the roundness of things, in broken sections. 
Water color study of asters. — You could not have seen your study in 
those colors. Your drawing was good. The upper part of design softened 
nicely into, background, but the part touching the table could not have left a 
hard line, the outlines of the flowers must have been lost somewhere on the 
table, and should have been softened everywhere Your table does not exist, 
it hangs down straight instead of coming towards you. It surely grew lighter 
as it approached you, and the farther edge must have softened into the back- 
ground. The darkest dark is never at the edge. You have the wrong colors 
in your box. Use Hooker's Green 1 and 2, Rose Madder, Cobalt Blue, 
Yellow Ochre and Lemon Yellow. 
Study of Asters in Pen and Ink.— This is an improvement. You are 
gaining strength. Do not make your shading lines too straight or too con- 
tinuous. Use short broken lines to indicate curve of leaf and petal. 
Study of Fruit.— What kind of fruit? This is soft and dainty. But 
could you not soften the edges of the fruit where it conies against the shadow 
on the table? And was the blue quite so strong on two only, and why ? decay ? 
Be absolutely truthful in what you do say in painting but don't say loo much. 
Leave something to the imagination. 
OLD DALTON WARE 
The figure to the extreme left represents one of the oldest trade-marks. Tin 
cross indicates Christianity, the circle belief in eternity, and the triangle the trinity. 
