82 
RERAMIC studio 
fired. If all this is carefully done the grounding will 
prove a success. 
Should a design in paste or enamel be desired upon 
this grounding color, the color should be wiped off where 
the design is to be placed since paste or enamel is apt to 
chip off over ground color. 
If a very light tint is desired either thin the ground- 
ing oil with turpentine or after applying the oil let the 
piece stand for some time so that it will not take up so 
much color. If different tones are desired in the ground- 
ing, the china should be prepared with the oil padded as 
before and then apply the lightest tone where desired. 
Carefully brush off all superfluous powder and apply the 
next tone, blending into the first color. Proceed with 
other tones in the same manner. 
If, by any perversity of fate the grounding should 
develop uneven places in firing, they may be smoothed 
out by retouching, but always strive for perfection in the 
first firing and if the faults are glaring rub out and try 
again, for this will give more satisfaction in the end. 
Mat colors seem to need a more careful rubbing down 
than glazed colors but otherwise the same rules apply to 
both. There is this exception; a mat ground should not 
have as hard a firing as a glazed ground. 
Ruby, Purple, Maroon, Coalport and Sevres Green 
are all difficult colors to use in grounding or its sister, 
dusting. For the reds thin the oil with turpentine 
since too] thick an application may chip off in firing. The 
greens mentioned are apt to fire either a brown tone or a 
spotted effect so don't use them. 
TINTING. 
Good mediums for tinting should first be considered. 
What seems satisfactory and easy for one person to handle 
seems not the medium for another. Surely usage has 
something to do with this for let us hope that all tinting 
mediums have their merits. 
A very little Dresden thick oil mixed with the color 
and the Sartorius tinting oil added until the mixture con- 
tains bubbles while being mixed is a good plan to follow 
in tinting large surfaces. 
The tinting oil keeps the color open until it is evenly 
padded. 
Copaiba with } clove oil is a good medium on small 
surfaces, for this dries more rapidly than the former. 
Lavender oil may be used as a tinting oil after the 
color has been mixed with thick oil. Many more mediums 
give just as satisfactory results as these. 
Some find the tube colors more satisfactory for tint- 
ing than vial colors, since they are not so grainy, but 
a careful mixing will remove this trouble. If tube colors 
be used mix with turpentine before using the tinting med- 
ium. Be supplied with a good tinting brush, cotton 
and silk for padding. 
It is best to test the tinting mixture first upon some 
stray piece of china. Fill the brush and convey the color 
to the china. Pounce with a dabber made of the silk filled 
with cotton. If the mixture has a tendency to cling to 
the pad or in other words if it makes a "sticky" noise while 
being padded, the proportion of tinting medium is 
correct. If faulty add more' tinting medium. Never 
add turpentine since this is too rapid a dryer. 
Should the silk seem to take up too much color let 
stand a few minutes to become drier. Color, however, 
is bound to be taken up with the silk. Pad rapidly over 
all the surface with the same dabber and some of the 
color on the silk will be transferred to the china in the 
process. Of course the same dabber should not be used 
over different colors since this might make a muddy tint. 
If the tint seems very wet and too dark after the first 
dabbing use a fresh silk and pounce again. The dryer 
a tint is pounced the less dust it will gather. 
If too light in tint a deeper color may be dusted on 
when the tint is dry or else it may be deepened for the 
second firing. Never rest content unless the tint is even- 
ly padded. 
DUSTING. 
Dusting is invaluable for strengthening backgrounds, 
deepening flowers or leaves or making a deeper tone in 
conventional work. First tint the china the desired color, 
let stand several hours and then it is ready to dust. 
A good way to test this required time is to take a 
piece of surgeon's cotton (which is used for dusting) and 
lightly brush back and forth on the tint. If a faint scrap- 
ing noise can be heard it is dry enough to begin dusting. 
Your powder colors should be well rubbed down and 
placed on a stiff paper. Blotting paper is very good. 
Have a separate piece of cotton for every color and 
beginning with the lightest tone rub the cotton in the 
powder and apply to the china. This dusting should be 
done with a light movement and one color should be care- 
fully blended into another. 
Some prefer a camel's hair brush for dusting but the 
same effect is produced with either. In dusting back- 
grounds always decide beforehand just where you want 
your various colors and do not attempt any rainbow effects. 
The background might with this treatment prove a 
foreground. The simpler a background the truer to its 
name. 
In naturalistic designs the greys and other back- 
ground colors should be made up of the colors in the design. 
In other designs a contrast is permissible and sometimes 
preferable. Some of the background (in naturalistic 
work) should be dusted over the edges of the design or 
vice-versa for this holds them together and takes away 
the effect of the design having been cut out and pasted 
on. In painting a background in naturalistic work al- 
ways have its darkest spot under the lightest flower or 
fruit for this helps to accentuate the prominent feature 
of the design. Strengthen this still further in dusting. 
It is a very good plan to keep the dusting colors 
in a box ready for use with the same colors in the same 
places just as if they were on a palette. This plan saves 
time and color. 
There are two ways of laying in backgrounds for 
naturalistic work. One is to paint the design, fire, then 
lay in the background and retouch design. The other 
way is to lay in background first and while still wet 
paint in the design. The second method is more difficult 
but it gives a softer effect. In either paint rapidly 
with firm even brush strokes, obliterating brush marks 
with soft cross strokes only using the silk dabber where 
absolutely necessary, for the silk pad takes away many 
of the strong brush effects. After this is dry strengthen 
the tones by dusting as previously directed always mak- 
ing sure there is no superfluous powder color. As a finish 
it is well to blow over the plate to remove any extra powder. 
o o o 
Fourth Prize— Bertha Morey, Ottumwa, la. 
[extracts only] 
Use English grounding oil as a medium and if it is 
too thick it should be thinned with turpentine which has 
stood open for a while so that any water in it will evaporate. 
