190 
KERAMIC STUDIO 
THE LINEN PAGE. 
JETTA EHLERS --"--.. Page Editor 
18 East Kinney Street, Newark, N. J. 
A CHAPTER ON DOILIES 
"PERHAPS no people on earth have such "set" ways of 
-t doing things as the average housekeeper. This habit 
may have grown out of the necessity of running a house on 
system. If the business of the home were not conducted in 
such a manner, the result would be confusion. But there is a 
happy medium, and we should not allow ourselves to be ruled 
and ridden by "system" to such an extent, that everyone about 
us is uncomfortable and miserable. We are all familiar, alas! 
with the woman who runs her house like a martinet, and 
who, true to type, rules every member of her household in 
like fashion. To such a person any interference with routine 
becomes a domestic tragedy. 
It is probably this ingrained desire for the familiar, the 
routine thing, that has made it so difficult for some people to 
accept any change in the treatment of table linens. This is 
especially true in the case of colored linens, in fact of anything 
outside of white damask. For years linen damask has been 
considered the correct, the only thing, for use on the table. 
There seems to be no special reason why, having always used 
it, we must go on to the end of time doing so. All innovations 
are met with more or less protest. This has been true of all 
the arts. When we look back a few years in our own particular 
craft, ceramics, and remember the storm of protest which 
arose when conventional decoration came to the front, we 
have an illustration which is very pertinent. 
It would be well for those who still hold back, to recog- 
nize the fact that after all the opposition and antagonism, the 
art has been lifted from the merely "pretty," to a dignified 
plane where, for the first time, it has been recognized seriously 
by the big art world. 
Personally I do not believe the average amateur china 
painter can be picked up from the one, and set down into the 
other, all in a moment. The wisest way is to lead by gradual 
steps to something better. It is for that reason I have always 
approved the semi-conventional. It may not be "high-brow," 
but it is a stepping stone up and away from the freely natural- 
istic, which, though you love it ever so well, is not good art 
for the china decorator. In every human being is implanted 
the love of beauty. This may mean different things to dif- 
ferent people. The -man in the ditch hangs on the wall of 
his humble home a gaudy chromo or gay calendar. Its loud 
color speaks to him a language he can understand. It means 
beauty to him, and every time his eye rests upon it, a sense 
of pleasure comes to him. Have we a right to take this away 
and give him something he can not understand? Isn't it 
better to place in his way next a better picture, and then a 
still better one, until by gradual steps he learns to accept and 
appreciate the really good picture. Much the same thought 
comes to me in regard to the public upon which the china 
decorator has to depend for patronage. It is all a slow process 
of evolution, this education of the public. But it is 
being brought about. It was unfortunate that so much of the 
first conventional work shown was purely abstract, expressed 
by geometrical lines. This was often very ugly and entirely 
lacking in beauty. The poor bewildered worker to whom it 
was given as being the correct thing, compared it with what 
she held as beautiful, and felt much as the man in the ditch. 
We have swung away from this to something infinitely better. 
A much more free and imaginative design finds favor to-day. 
Perhaps no better examples of this spirit can be found than 
in the designs of both Miss Mason and Mrs. O'Hara in the 
December number. 
Having successfully guided your public from the purely 
naturalistic and through the semi-conventional, you will 
find them ready to accept design of this sort. Here is some- 
thing that has grace of line, beauty of color, and chief of all 
something they can understand. I wonder if the rank and 
file really appreciate what they owe to the brave company of 
workers who, often at considerable loss to themselves, have 
unfalteringly followed what they knew to be the right road. 
It is the devotion of these high-minded people to their ideals 
which has brought about the splendid artistic standard of to- 
day. 
All of this discussion upon ceramics may seem a long way 
from the subject of table linen. Because we are interested 
in the designing of linen things does not signify we are less 
interested in china because of it. On the other hand, the 
artistic linen background lends so much charm to our china, 
that a keener pleasure than ever is ours in designing and exe- 
cuting it. The two subjects are so interwoven, that we simply 
must talk about the ceramic side on this page occasionally. 
Mention has been made previously of the custom of using 
numerous small doilies on the table. The effect is usually 
very fussy, a table arranged in this manner not having the 
dignity and restfulness of the more simply planned one. A 
very practical and interesting solution of the doily problem 
is found in the use of the oblong doily or table mat as it is 
sometimes called. This is large enough to hold the plate, 
cup and saucer and necessary silver. This may be used with 
a runner, its ends taking the place of mats, in which case it is 
made to come just to the edge of the table. An oblong piece 
may be used in the center of the table, or a square if table is 
that shape. There are several good points about this sort 
of mat. To arrange a table with the ordinary set of doilies 
for six people, requires a center piece, six plate, six cup and 
saucer and six tumbler doilies, making a total of nineteen pieces. 
Contrast this with one runner and four doilies, which is all 
that is necessary to set a table for six when using the oblong 
mats and runner. Rather different isn't it? So a very great 
point in its favor is the time saved in making a set. Then, 
here is a thing much easier to launder- — not only fewer pieces 
to handle but the oblong shape is easier to iron, a thing not to 
be disdained if one must rely upon indifferent laundry work. 
Then too, the table is arranged quickly and easily with so 
few pieces to handle. The editor of this page is afraid its 
readers will begin to think she is lazy, so much stress has been 
put upon the thing that can be done easily and speedily. 
Leading an extremely busy life herself, she knows only too 
well the limited time most ceramic workers have for anything 
outside their work. So many long for these lovely things 
and feel so helpless to ever find time to make them. When so 
much can be done with simple things, which are so often ex- 
tremely beautiful and with simple decoration, no one need 
despair. The secret of it all is in keeping something going. 
Picked up at odd times and with even a little done each time, 
things have a surprising way of getting finished without much 
conscious effort. 
Two mats are shown with this article, one of which par- 
ticularly illustrates what may be done with simple means. 
This mat is made of Spanish linen, ivory white, upon 
which are appliqued bands of a greyish yellow. The Spanish 
linen is one yard wide and costs one dollar and ten cents per 
yard. This was purchased some time ago and is without 
doubt much higher now. The yellow was sixty-five and has 
also advanced slightly in price. In addition to the bands, at 
