7 6 
RERAMIC STUDIO 
as follows: Paint a piece with any colors desired, and 
when nearly dry, or so as to admit of bearing on rather 
heavily when rubbing in the colors, but while still moist 
enough to hold a thin coat of powdered paint, with a 
piece of cotton batting or surgeon's wool dipped into 
color rub over the surface, always being careful to keep 
color between the wool and the ground that is being cov- 
ered. It is advisable to have a pile of each color used, 
on a separate piece of paper, with a bit of wool for each 
color, in order to more readily keep the colors pure. 
o o o 
Second Prize— Sydney Scott Lewis, Georgetown, Ky. 
Under the head of Ground Laying come four very 
important subjects that should be thoroughly under- 
stood by the china decorator. 
1 . Grounding. 
2. Tinting. 
3. Dusting. 
4. Painting in backgrounds for naturalistic work 
GROUNDING. 
The^color is generally grounded on if you wish a high- 
ly glazed surface, more especially if a deep tint is desired. 
Have the piece clean and free from dust, paint the sur- 
face to be grounded with Hancock's English grounding 
oil (for small spaces Osgood's oil, it dries too quickly 
for large spaces) . Put the oil ; on as smoothly as 
possible with a large soft brush. With pads of surgeon's 
cotton covered with two thicknesses of clean soft silk pad 
until the oil sounds tacky. The longer you pad the less 
oily and more even the finished ground. It will be of 
course thinner which is more to be desired than a thick 
ground, for you can always get the desired depth by a 
second coat after firing. And thus avoid a possible chip- 
ping or scaling if the ground is put on too thick. After 
the oil has been padded sufficiently pour out on a plate 
a good lot of powdered color that is free from lumps and 
grit, made so by passing through bolting cloth or copper 
sieve. Place a clean paper under plate to collect the 
loose powder, this can be put back in the bottle and used 
to the last bit, provided it is "bolted" when it begins to 
be linty or lumpy. If there is to be a design wiped out 
on the ground for color, gold, paste or enamel, draw in 
the design with India ink before putting on the oil, then 
after oil is padded wipe out the oil from the design. Next 
take up a lot of color (powder) on your palette knife 
and drop it on the oiled surface, with a wad of cotton 
(or brush) push the powder evenly and gently over the sur- 
face, being very careful to keep a good lot of color between 
the oil and the pad, keeping the powder well ahead of 
the cotton. When the entire oiled surface has been cov- 
ered with color, dust back over it several times, then wipe 
off all loose powder, and if there are any wet or thin look- 
ing spots, dust on some more powder until the oil has 
absorbed all the powder it can, then remove all loose pow- 
der, wipe out all that has adhered where the design is to 
be and the result should be a smooth, velvety looking 
ground. Set away to dry before doing more work on the 
piece, as it is very soft and easily scratched. Should it 
have a small scratch or spot this can be remedied in the 
second fire by painting over the spot with wet color. A 
larger spot can be remedied before first fire, by putting 
on a little oil, bringing it up to but not touching the edge of 
the spot and dusting powder on, then retouching with wet 
color the second fire. Mat colors are much used for 
grounding in conventional work, used with gold over 
raised paste. They are grounded on just the same as 
bright colors. If a mat ground chips in repeated fires, fill 
up the chips with hard enamel and touch with powder 
colors. Roman Purple, Ruby and Maroon are difficult 
colors to ground. They should be sifted and ground 
down with a glass muller, the oil used very thin, else 
they will not be transparent and will turn brown. Maroon 
is a rich red when grounded. If grounded color chips 
off, too much oil has been used and absorbed more color 
than the glaze can hold, sometimes it does not chip until 
the second or third fire, fill up the chips with hard enamel 
and touch with color. Color grounded on is especially 
fine for borders for plates, outside of bowls, bottoms of 
steins and pitchers in any conventional work when a 
rich glazed surface is desired. A luminous black is obtained 
by grounding Red Brown for first fire and Dark Blue for 
second. The best grounded black is obtained by putting 
with the black either Banding Blue or Pompadour. If 
a very light ground is desired have oil very thin (thinned 
with lavender oil) pad a long time and let stand before 
putting on color. If the ground comes out thin and 
spotted when a dark ground is wanted, for the second 
fire mix the color and put on as a tint. 
To dust on a ground of different colors, say some 
pure color and some mixed color, make a mixture of the 
colors you wish, pad in the oil, put on some pure color, 
then the mixture, then another pure color that has been 
used in the first mixture or in the second if more than one 
mixture has been used, then the second mixture, then 
pure color, working one color well into the other so there 
will be no spotted appearance. In the second fire bring 
the whole together by dusting on some single color. A 
heavily grounded color will not stand many fires. 
Grounding oil can have a little bit of the color you 
are to use put in the oil to make it show plainer and you 
can see if the entire surface is covered and if it is padded 
evenly. If the ground after firing feels rough to the 
touch smooth with fine sand paper. 
TINTING. 
One of the most important things about china 
painting is to be able to put on a good tint, smooth, free 
from dust and oil and of the desired shade. Have the 
piece clean and dry. If a design is to be wiped out on 
the tint, draw it in with India ink, before tinting. Have 
at hand plenty of clean surgeon's cotton in different size 
wads, when ready to use place over this cotton two thick- 
nesses of soft silk, this will keep the cotton from pulling 
through into the paint. Tube colors are better for tint- 
ing than powder, but the latter are good if rubbed thorough 
ly or sifted; and they require no flux, except that the iron reds 
like Carnation and Red Brown when put on lightly are apt 
to fire out, use a little flux to prevent. 
Rub the powder colors to the consistency of stiff 
tube color, with Fry's medium, then put in about as 
much fat oil as you have color, rub well together and 
thin to the desired thinness with lavender oil. Light 
tints can be put on by using a good deal of medium, less 
lavender oil and no fat oil. After the paint seems to be 
mixed right try a little sample of it on an odd bit of china, 
if it separates and looks lumpy it needs more rubbing, 
if it pulls from the china it needs more oil, if it looks 
bubbly it is too oily. When it pads evenly and smooth- 
ly it is ready for use. For a large surface put on rapidly 
with a large tinting brush, be sure and have the brush 
perfectly clean and soft, pad rapidly, lightly and evenly 
over the entire surface, not in spots here and there. When 
