KXRAMIC STUDIO 
28 ? 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 
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B. B. — You will Ami full directions for firing a Revelation Kiln in 
the advertisement in the December 1902 number, also other directions in 
the February 1902 answers to correspondents. Any one can compete for 
the prizes, there are no restrictions. Most wholesale dealers in white 
china are in New York, you had better write to them, giving references 
etc. 
D. T. H.— Never use more than One-eight]) flux with relief white, and 
when color is used with the white it is seldom necessary to use any flux, 
that is the reason your enamel flakes off. 
C. M. W. — The trouble with your matt color glazing is in the color 
itself, probably not a good make. Matt colors need a medium hard fire; 
mi less you put flux with them we cannot understand why they should 
glaze. An exceedingly hard fire might have this effect but we doubt if 
any amateur kiln could fire so hard. 
O. O. M. — We do not know the ingredients of English grounding oil, 
it is a secret of the manufacturers. We should imagine that repeated coats 
of yellow and orange lustre would give the golden hue you desire. Black 
lustre comes from the fire black with a golden sheen that gives the effect 
of a rich brown. It should not be cloudy after two coats to even the color. 
The New York S. K. A. uses for its exhibition tables and walls covered 
with a dull green velours laid flat without any draping. 
M. O. O.— For flat enamels use tube Aufsetzweis, add one-eighth flux 
and to this mixture add one-fifth color, thin with spirits of turpentine, use 
a large square shader well charged with color, for large surfaces a drop or 
two of lavender can be used. This should stand two fires— perhaps three. 
Aufsetzweis is a hard white enamel, if you use Hancock's with it, use the 
soft enamel, otherwise it will only glaze at a, very high temperatm-e. 
Storks or any subject, suitably conventionalized, can be used as decorative 
motif for table ware. 
Mrs. R. A. M. — To save, gold left on glass slabs, wash off with alcohol 
in a bowl, skim off any dust and scum, cover with tissue paper and let dry, 
then you can remove it to a slab and use again with a little tar oil and fat 
oil, thinning with tupentine. 
L. M. C. — A crest or coat of amis is best on the rim of a plate, you 
can make a careful tracing and transfer the design by rubbing a drop of 
fat oil, thinned with turpentine, over the surface before tracing, black the 
wrong side of the tracing with a soft pencil. If you have no Maroon in 
the Dresden colors try Ruby over Red Brown. You will find instructions 
for firing oil kiln in Dec. 1 902 Revelation ad, and in Answers to Corres- 
pondents, Feb. 1902. 
Mrs. E. M. de M. — If you cannot get a sufficient flow of gas it would 
be better to purchase an oil kiln ; you could try a larger pipe, but we think 
in your case, with bad gas, the oil kiln would be altogether more satis- 
factory. 
Querist. — You can use almost any green on Belleek except moss green 
and brown green or greens of those shades under other names, even they 
can be used lightly, all browns fire well on it. Always make your first 
fire the hardest. If you get a good glaze the first time, you are almost 
sure to continue to have it under lighter fires, while if you do not get a 
good glaze the first time you will find it almost impossible afterward. 
j& DRESDEN PORCELAIN PLATES j& 
OVAL, BOUND AND OBLONG, LARGEST VARIETY IN SIZES. 
All kinds of CHINA COLORS, FRENCH HAIR BRUSHES,'GOLD,[PASTES, JEWELS, Etc. 
«*••<* vnr+v* 
NOVELTIES IN PORCELAIN ClIFT BUTTONS 
Wooden Articles for 
Pyrograbhic Decorations 
With Designs in Relief. 
Send <or special price list, Vol. 220 
F. WEBER & CO., 
ARTISTS' MATERIALS AND DRAWING SUPPLIES. 
FOR NOVELTIES IN WHITE CHINA, Apply to our St. Louis House. 
709 Locust St., I 125 Chestnut St., 5 N. Charles St. 
St. Louis. PHILADELPHIA. Baltimore. 
Miss L.— You will find treatment of study of currants in this number. 
For dry dusting let the color become half dry or even quite dry. You can 
use the. same colors for dusting as for painting or different ones, according 
to the effect desired. We would use ivory glaze over the entire painting 
if at all. We prefer a soft camel's hair duster (a large brush ) for dry dust- 
ing, but cotton serves very well, the surgeon's absorbent cotton is best. 
J. M. — We do not think the china, can be the cause of the ivory glaze 
coming out pinkish, we should rather think it was under fired or gas in the 
kiln, try it again and if it acts the same, write to the maker. You might 
fire hard and see if that would improve the color. 
Mrs. D. N. B. — In regard to the decoration of your wedding gift we 
would say that Keramio Studio does not advocate realistic painting as 
decoration, it believes that conventional designs should be used for deco- 
rations and painting put upon panels or placques ; in the case of plates it is 
sometimes allowable, but not as artistic, to use the center of the plate 
as a painting and the rim as a frame, finishing with a, simple border of that 
and gold. Gold can be used in any conventional design if desired, but is 
not so mucli used as formerly. We think your jardiniere could be simply 
and artistically treated without much labor, as anything designed to hold 
flowers should be subdued in color and not striking iu desigu as thai, would 
take away from the flowers. We can hardly suggest a design not know- 
ing the shape, but would imagine that a, hn.rmony of greens and browns 
would be best, with perhaps a little dull blue. For your tea, set in little 
roses the handles should be in gold or a soft green, shading from light to 
dark. For your salad bowl, the Nasturtium design by A. A. R. would be 
very suitable, we should think the design could be used all around by 
placing a little lower and letting the color run up to the edge, finishing 
the edge darker or with gold. A tint of yellow brown lustre makes a nice 
lining or an ivory tint in color. Flat enamel should stand another fire, 
andean be shaded with color if desired, sometimes enamel can be re- 
touched with enamel, but not always safely. 
Aufsetzweis in tubes makes a good opaque enamel for working over 
fired color. It should not show much of the under color if put on heavy 
enough, it can also be used over unfired color if care is taken not to make 
too wet. Lustre and color can be fired together. 
A. W. — Your vase which has been fired three, times without a glaze is 
probably hopeless, but if there is any chance of its coming out glazed it 
would be with a hard fire in a Revelation Kiln. 
The ordinary kiln will not fire anything but the softest kind of clay 
biscuit, but it will fire soft glazes, however, the wear and tear on the kilii 
is too great to pay. If you cannot afford one of the new underglaze Reve- 
lation Kilns it would be better to take your clay to be fired at some nearby 
pottery. An underglaze kiln can be safely used in a house cellar if you 
have fire clay lined pipes and the ceiling and woodwork does not come 
very near, it is safest to cover everything near, which can lie burned, wuth 
asbestos, leaving an air space between it and the woodwork, the pipes be- 
come red hot frequently. 
The first fire should always be hardest, you can not judge by the 
length of time, but by the color of the kiln, which should be an orange tint. 
If your colors are well glazed and not too faded your firing is right. Test 
cones for underglaze fire can be obtained of Prof. Orton of Ohio Univer- 
sity, Columbus, O., but there are no tests for overglaze work but- experience 
in judging the color of kiln when hot enough. Enamel can be fired again, 
Feb. 1902 Ans. to Corres. has directions for firing, also the Revelation ad. 
in December 1902. 
H. S. L. — It is not safe to fire paste so many times, still if the lustre 
is not satisfactory we would risk it as you say the paste is not much raised. 
If you have ruby and pink rosss on the sains piece it is better to wash in 
the pink with pompadour thin and paint your ruby rosss, firing hard, then 
when the latter are satisfactorily painted rise your ross color and fire 
lighter. You will find a book on china painting advertised iu K. S. by 
Miss Osgooi, "How to Apply," etc. There was also one published by 
Mrs. Vance Phillips whose address is in K. S., " The Book of the China 
Painter." 
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