266 
KERAMIC STUDIO 
If the gold is hard it may be warmed by a match under- 
neath the glass. Also have a brush to use in the gold alone, 
as much will be wasted in cleaning out the gold each time. 
For a rim the tip of the finger may be dipped in the gold 
and holding it to the edge of the plate, turn the plate in 
the other hand. This gives a good even band and the gold 
will not be too thick. If put on with the brush too thick, 
it will chip off. Be sure there are no finger marks on the 
bottom of the plate. Dry in an oven before sending to 
the kiln as the paint is apt to get rubbed off in stacking. 
SECOND FIRE. 
Wash thinly over the high lights of the flowers with 
rose strengthen the shadows and centers, strengthen 
leaves, suggesting veins and markings. Wash Yellow 
Green over high lights, and over the stems left from the 
last firing. Strengthen the background foliage with Brown 
Green and Shading Green mixed in the brush, and carry 
this tone out into the background. In leaving the back- 
ground for the second fire, one may paint over the edge 
of the leaves and blend them so as not to form hard lines. 
Let some yellow run through the background where it 
is lightest in the study. The rest may be painted in a 
greyish green, using Violet with the greens and shading 
out into the light grey, with a suggestion of rose very thin 
on the opposite side of the plate from the flowers. 
THIRD FIRE. 
Details may be added, such as thorns, and things 
left undone in the other fires. A wash of Pearl Grey with 
Violet over the entire background and Grey over some 
portions of the leaves, all being blended on the edges, will 
bring the whole into a harmonious piece of work. Put 
another wash of gold on the edge as the gold will wear 
better if it has a second coat. 
o o o 
Emma J. Evans, Houston, Tex. 
When a pupil comes for her first lesson in painting, 
the point to begin with, of course, is to select the piece of 
china on which she is to work. I always endeavor to 
have the pupil decide on a plate, a plaque, or something 
that is nearly flat. The reasons for this are many. I tell 
her that a plate is easily handled, that she will succeed 
better having all the work before her at once, that inex- 
perienced fingers often rub off the work on one side, while 
working on the other, as on a cup, or a vase, etc. As a 
general thing the plate is selected. Now then, "What 
are we going to have on it." As a rule she will want 
some kind of flowers and most likely a morning glory, a 
trumpet vine or some double flower that is most difficult 
to do. Then I begin to advise again, I say, "Now you 
want something that you can learn the most on with the 
least difficulty, don't you?" You must not have so 
many things to think about in the beginning or you will 
not do so well." She agrees to this. "Then suppose 
we have a single wild rose, autumn leaves, or something 
of that kind " Generally I carry my point, and perhaps 
we have the wild rose. The Wild Roses, by Miss Jenkins, 
published in the Keramic Studio of June 1902, is a good 
study, so we will take some part of that. In a moment 
I have the brushes, paints and oils necessary for the. study, 
and begin the arrangement on the plate, unless the pupil 
wishes to do it herself. I simplify the study somewhat, 
giving only what is necessary for an artistic effect, accord- 
ing to the size of the plate. This being done, I ask my 
pupil to pour out about half a teaspoonful of thick oil 
in a little dish provided for the purpose, add four or five 
drops of clove oil and to stir them thoroughly together 
with the palette knife. From the first, I have the pupil 
do every thing she can. I now take out the necessary 
paint of one color and with the medium on the end of the 
palette knife rub the paint down to the consistency of thick 
cream, explaining that the paint must be perfectly smooth 
and free from grains. . She sees how this is done and I 
tell her to do the same with all the colors, keeping them 
far enough apart so that they will not run together. When 
the colors are ready we are prepared to start the painting. 
And here come two of the most important steps to the 
beginner; viz., how to handle the brush and how to get 
the paint into it properly. I explain that she never can 
paint, holding the brush in a vertical position, but must 
hold it more like the pen when writing, that a broad, wide 
sweep of the brush may be obtained — and I demonstrate 
as I talk. I wet the brush first in the turpentine and 
wipe it to see that it is clean and then apply the edge of the 
brush to the edge of the oil, showing how to draw out the 
oil into the brush. I nearly always pinch the edge of the 
brush lightly to be sure I have not too much oil. Usually 
I take up the leaves first. So with a square shader, I 
pass the brush a couple of times from right to left through 
the edge of the Yellow Green which is the foundation color 
of most of the leaves in this study. I wash in a leaf on 
a vacant part of the plate, and with the pad work it off 
till clear and smooth. The pad, by the way, is a bunch 
of cotton about the size of a walnut tied up in white china 
silk, or any white silk that is free from cords or figures 
that would leave an impression in the paint. The pad is 
pressed down on the paint going all over the leaf, taking 
up the paint and oil till one even surface is obtained. This 
operation is repeated by the pupil until she gets the idea. 
The next thing is to shade the leaf. I lay in a fresh leaf 
of Yellow Green and then take up a darker color, say Brown 
Green, sweeping the brush in the edge of the paint from 
right to left a couple of times and turning the brush to 
the left the last time, I thus get most of the paints on the 
left corner of the brush. I ask the pupil to notice how I 
put down that corner of the brush when starting, and how 
I spread it as the strokes come around the base of the leaf 
and up the midrib or outer edge as the case may be. I 
caution the worker that the shading must be done while 
the first wash is still damp, to keep from making the work 
looking muddy and bad generally. She gets this last 
idea firmly after having to take out several spoiled parts. 
The pupil with the study before her now goes forward 
with the leaves and stems, I assisting when necessary. 
To teach the veining, I have the pupil make some lines 
on the side of the plate, for criticism. Some of them will 
be ragged, some too thick, and perhaps she has used oil 
in the liner, and some has spread. I make a few strokes 
to show how the line should look, straight and even, and 
explain that she must not use oil in the brush for small 
lines, as she can not make sharp crisp lines if she does. 
I vein one leaf and the pupil finishes. Instructions for 
the flowers are much the same as for leaves. The light 
pink part of the roses is laid in first, covering the whole 
petal, the darker part laid over the light, and all tapped 
over with the pad till the surface is even and clean looking. 
After all the petals have been painted, the centres are 
made. I always leave the centres till the last, and hav- 
ing a brush cleaned in turpentine and dried by pinching 
or wiping on a clean cloth, I wash out the space for centres, 
giving the proper shape and size. 
In centre of roses referred to, wash in the centres 
