240 
RERAMIC STUDIO 
BORDER— WALNUT DESIGN 
HAT this is a period of advance in 
art all will admit. But it is a 
question whether the importance 
and scope of the field of keramics 
is as well understood as it should 
be even by its own devotees. 
When we consider that in point 
of usefulness alone the table equip- 
ment is one of the first require- 
ments in every home, what a wide 
opportunity presents itself, and we must meet it at least 
with the right intentions, whatever the result. 
If we could eliminate the commercial side, we say, 
but commercialism must be taken largely into account, 
since most articles of use come through its avenues, and it 
is there, most of all, that art influences are needed. A 
glance at the shop windows, from which stock the buyer 
of limited means must choose and which at the same time 
sets his standards, is sufficient reason why many of our 
pupils come to us with distorted ideas of decoration, and 
why there is a taste for the more or less gaudy style. 
On the other hand, utility, to many, is the only requi- 
site worth considering. But may it not be possible that 
when the highest degree of utility is reached, the elements 
of beauty have been attained, and that utility is close kin 
to beauty. 
If keramic workers would make a more careful study 
of the principles of decoration and be willing to let the de- 
sign be subordinate and supplementary to the thing dec- 
orated instead of its being the whole thing, then the pub- 
lic would learn to respect our art and follow our lead. 
Consider first the piece and its use. Avoid over-ornate 
decoration on all pieces in the service used for meats, veg- 
etables, etc. One has seen an exquisite tiny edge of green 
and gold or dull blue on a set of dinner plates, and it has 
seemed so satisfying, yet strange to say many a one, in 
painting a set of plates, will want them to look more like 
"hand painting," which may mean a spreading cluster of 
some favorite flower, never suspecting that if a plate has 
a decoration that is so strinkingly real it is everlastingly 
unfitted for contact with a meat course, unless a generous 
treatment of hydrofluoric acid is administered. Let the 
more elaborate designs be reserved for other parts of the 
service and odd pieces. 
This is only an echo of what has been said many times 
in the Studio, but it must be repeated. 
There may be cases wherein a naturalistic treatment 
is advisable, and one can hardly insist upon a complete 
elimination of that style in the beginning. The pupil must 
be led gradually and cannot be expected to reach the high- 
est point of appreciation at one jump. The route may be 
by way of garlands of roses, violets, and forget-me-nots, 
but have patience and persevere. Some say they do not 
like conventional designs, neither do any of us like all con- 
ventional designs, because not all are good. We must again 
cultivate our appreciation. Then too the simple design is 
not a waste of time, far from it. The truth is that the de- 
sign with the fewest forms is often the best test of artistic 
skill, since the placing of one form in space may call for 
greater refinement of feeling, as to balance of line, mass, 
and color, than another where one may add here and there, 
and possibly produce, by a process of guessing, something 
fairly good. 
Of composition, one cannot urge too strongly its im- 
portance. Your plate is a space to be broken by masses 
of color in a way so pleasing to the sense of proportion that 
it is better than the plain white plate, otherwise it is a 
mistake. If a border is used, it must be first wide enough, 
just narrow enough to leave the space within of the proper 
proportions for the size of the plate. 
The background spaces must be as carefully studied 
as the forms in the design itself. And moreover the shapes 
in both background and unit of design must be related, 
not only to each other, but to the space occupied, that 
there may be balance and rythm in the whole. 
It hardly needs saying again that Nature is the great 
source of design. Careful drawings and color schemes 
from all sorts of plant and animal life furnish a rich store 
to draw from when one cannot go direct to the source. 
However, don't stick too closely to Nature, but set the 
invention to work, with the naturalistic form as a basis for 
design. 
To study color harmony, make scales of color running 
through the pure spectrum colors into tints and shades, 
as a help toward feeling the refinement of subdued color. 
Experiment with the different harmonies, and take color 
schemes from dead twigs, mosses, lichens — anything. 
One must not fail to mention that invaluable source, Jap- 
anese prints. One cannot go far wrong in selecting color 
schemes from good prints. 
Many an otherwise fair design has been spoiled by 
using too many strong pure colors. Two equally strong 
BORDER— CONE DESIGN 
