KERAMIC STUDIO 
243 
France, and it is to be hoped that we will also have in this 
country in the near future schools which will form potters as 
well as decorators. The instruction received by the average 
American decorator is frightfully superficial, and the amount 
of money spent by pupils, wandering from studio to studio 
and looking at a fashionable teacher, while he or she decorates 
for them a piece of china at so much an hour, is entirely out 
VASE (OVER('.LAZR)-B. LAGRIFFOUL. 
of proportion with the results obtained. The same sum and 
probably much less would be more usefully spent in a school 
where the student would learn all the details of the potter's 
art, instead of being the pale imitator of a successful overglaze 
decorator. 
The class in pottery making and underglaze decoration 
opened recently by the Newcomb College in New Orleans is 
a step in the right direction, but we need schools of this kind 
in the Eastern and Western States, where china and pottery 
decoration have the greatest development and where a great 
deal of talent and lifelong effort are wasted for lack of proper 
instruction. 
A FEW HINTS TO THE FIRER 
IT should be unnecessary to state that each piece of china 
must be carefully looked over in order to remove all spots 
or blemishes that may have adhered to the surface accidentally 
or through carelessness. Yet the professional firer has con- 
stantly to remove spots or stains from the bottom of pieces 
sent to be fired. 
If a piece has been tinted with color in the powder form, 
be careful to blow off all superfluous color so that no speck 
of it may fall upon anything after it has been placed in the kiln, 
for if the color flies it will mar any piece upon which it settles. 
It should be the aim of those who do the firing, to obtain 
a perfect glaze, or union between the color and the body of 
porcelain, otherwise the colors will scale off, or oxydize in 
time. Gold will turn dark if underfired, and the colors will 
collect dirt and dust, not having the glaze to protect them. 
There is no beauty in porcelain that is underfired, and on 
the other hand, colors will lose strength if overfired, yet this 
is a rare fault with amateurs. 
Professionals fire harder than amateurs, but they make 
allowances for that in using colors in greater strength. 
The writer prefers stacking plates one upon another, yet 
many firers prefer standing them on edge. 
If there should be many wet things in the kiln it is better 
to heat it gradually, giving the moisture time to evaporate, 
otherwise little drops may settle upon the china and roll 
down, carrying the color with it. 
Raised paste and enamel should look dull and dry before 
putting in the kiln. We have found it best not to dry them 
artificially. 
Carmines will stand the same degree of heat that is re- 
quired for gold and enamels (we use for general use the hard 
enamels.) Blues require a hard fire to glaze them, especially 
in tints. Iron Reds require a lighter fire, as it is easy to sap 
out the life of these colors in too strong firing. 
If the firing pot is of iron, it is better to whitewash it on 
the inside. 
GOLF CUP AND SAUCER— F. BROWNE 
