272 
KERAMIC STUDIO 
THE ALHAMBRA CERAMIC WORKS 
In the outskirts of Chicago, past the well known and 
malodorous Packingtown, stands a small pottery owned 
and managed by Mr. S. Linderoth, whose name is familiar 
to the readers of Keramic Studio, on account of the interest 
he has taken in the work of the National League of Mineral 
Painters. Within the walls of this small pottery also, the 
members of the Atlan Club, these conscientious and clever 
decorators of porcelain, have tried their hand at pottery 
work. And a few minutes talk with such an enthusi- 
astic and versatile keramist as Mr. Linderoth are sufficient 
to leave the impression that good and interesting work 
should in the future come from the Alhambra Ceramic 
Works. 
Mr. Sven Linderoth is an architect who came from 
Sweden in 1884, after having studied architecture under 
an excellent master in Stockholm. Although he knew not 
a word of English and was not familiar with the usages and 
building practices of this country, in seven years he had 
saved about $25,000. Wishing to introduce here the use of 
white tin enameled tiles, such as were made in Europe and 
could not be imported at a cost of less than $125 per M., 
he built a small factory. From the beginning he met with 
nothing but failure and disappointment. American mate- 
rials were not the same as Swedish materials; formulas 
which were used in Europe, when applied to these materials 
did not give the same results. A Swedish, a German and 
an English assistant, all experienced in the tile work of 
Europe, were successively employed but kiln after kiln 
was a failure, even with the use of imported clay, as the 
metallic oxides which entered into the composition of 
the enamel, were not as pure as those used in the old coun- 
try. In a short time all Mr. Linderoth 's savings were 
gone and his house mortgaged, but he was close to the 
solution and resolved to lose everything rather than give 
it up. A last firing was prepared, after weeks had been 
spent analysing and purifying all materials. This firing 
was made with wood, the fuel used in Sweden and lasted 
fifty-one hours during which Mr. Linderoth stood feeding 
the kiln. When the kiln was drawn two days later, it 
was found that a beautiful white enamel had been de- 
veloped and that at last the goal had been reached. 
However, Mr. Linderoth was not at the end of his 
trials. He was unable to obtain capital with which to 
continue making his enameled tiles. Forced to make an 
assignment, he lost everything he had and his health was 
badly impaired by the arduous work of his experiments. 
But sustained by the knowledge of his success, he immedi 
ately put up a little shanty to continue his work and began 
to experiment with filter tubes. He is now furnishing 
filter tubes to all the big companies that use a manufactured 
tube in their filters, and this pays his expenses while he 
can devote his spare time to art work. 
The illustrations we give are of work done at present 
at Mr. Linderoth's pottery by Mr. Le Veau, a clever Swedish 
modeler who has worked in European factories, among 
them at Rorstrand. Mr. Le Veau's taste in decoration 
seems to lean a little toward classic, rococo and old fash- 
ioned styles which do not appeal very much to modern 
ideas, but his handling of the modeling tools and especially 
his modeling of figures are remarkably good. We have 
seen a couple of statuettes in clay, one of them, a lifelike 
bust of Ericson, which showed better than anything else 
his talent as a modeler. 
Mr. Linderoth has turned his attention to the manu- 
facture of tiles. He uses a very refractory body, an in- 
expensive fireclay which practically shows no shrinkage in 
firing and permits of a firmer adherence to the cement 
setting than ordinary tiles. On such a body it is possible 
to develop good mat glazes. 
In addition to mat glazes Mr. Linderoth has recently 
made some experiments in red glazes, both from copper and 
tin, his object being to reproduce the Doulton red which 
he claims is a tin pink enamel and not a copper glaze. 
But the most interesting glaze he has developed so far 
is certainly this beautiful white enamel which cost him 
his little fortune. It is absolutely white and of great 
purity and it is to be hoped that he will be able to place 
it on the market in the manufacture of white tiles. Mean- 
while we would like to see the members of the Atlan Club, 
who work at the Alhambra Ceramic Works try their hand 
at the decoration of this tin enamel. This is the work 
in which the old faience makers of France, Italy and Hol- 
land were so wonderfully expert. It is not easy work but 
should tempt true artists. 
SNOW DROP 
Maud Myers 
LEAVES, stems and cap of flower, Pale Green. Large 
petals and bud, Grey Blue. Center spot of flower, 
Albert Yellow. Outline in darker Grey Blue. Tile in 
Grey Blue and Green with a touch of Yellow. 
