class="x-ebookmaker-pageno" title="4"/>When thoroughly mixed, put the color on one side of the palette. Blend another color and place next to the other one on the palette. Proceed in this way until all the tints wanted are prepared. It will be found that some colors take longer than others to grind, owing to their stony nature. In this case a little patience is necessary for best results.

Have a clean cup of turpentine and a small dish with a few drops of light working medium at hand. Use a clean, square brush. Take the color desired, rub down on the palette so as to have all of the brush moist with it, and apply to the china, of course it is understood that before beginning the work, the design has been carefully drawn on the china, either with a wax pencil or India ink and pen. This drawing will disappear in firing.

If the design is carefully drawn on the china, it will assist the decorator in easily placing the tints where they belong.

Wash your brush in turpentine, when changing colors, and be sure to press the turpentine out with a cloth before dipping the brush into another color.

Care should be taken to see that all colors are applied evenly, always using the brush flat.

Never hesitate to erase the design and repaint the china, in case it is not entirely satisfactory. This may seem a little discouraging but the result will reward one for the additional labor.

It is very necessary to clean all brushes and palettes used, when through working. Brushes become hard when colors are allowed to dry in them.

Throughout this work we devote special chapters to the various features of china painting such as lining, mixing of colors, etc., and with this lesson we feel that the beginner has a fair start; she will soon learn what the different combinations of colors will produce. For instance, blue and purple or blue and ruby make violet. Blue and yellow make a green, green and a little black make gray, reds mixed with black make brown. Do not mix lustre colors as results will not be satisfactory.

One feature of china painting that requires much study and consideration is the combining of colors. A design that would be most attractive if the colorings harmonized, would be almost a failure otherwise. Browns go well with nearly all colors, but not as well with greens and blues as with some others. Clear blues, with perhaps the exception of the darkest blues and Copenhagen, are not very satisfactory for borders. A border of this combination, however, is very effective. A beautiful shade can be produced by combining yellow brown, finishing brown, ivory yellow and just a little touch of gold.

Violet of iron and auburn brown on a grayish ground, combine very well.

Pearl gray with Copenhagen blue gives a soft effect. Ivory goes well with yellow-greens, and violets with grayish tones.

A piece of china done in yellow tones, with say a conventional motif decoration, or yellow flowers, looks well with a scroll of gold worked into it, and should have a yellow background. If delicate effects are desired, yellow cannot be used successfully. For soft backgrounds, auburn brown, violet of iron, new green, olive green and Copenhagen blue are very good.

A design in gold on a broad border of Copenhagen is both beautiful and effective. There are few decorations stronger than this. For Turkish effects peacock and Sultan green are used principally. A little yellow, green, blue, black, red and dark brown can be used with success in this style of decoration.

A design in silver is very attractive on either a dark gray or green decoration.

Strong and decided contrast in colors, almost always produces pleasing results. Among the best are black and yellow, black and red and black and yellow-green. Rose and red do not go well together. Neither does blue or blue-green go well with red, but red and olive green contrast well. For a beautiful dark blue, mix banding blue with about one-fifth part of hair black. Ivory yellow or light green look well on a dark green band, and gold on maroon. To produce a good maroon use ruby purple and one-sixth part of peacock green.

A very beautiful color that we can hardly name, comes from mixing three parts of peacock green with one part of crimson purple. The result is about a deep steel blue.

If a dark green ground is treated with ruby or crimson purple, before the second firing, it produces a very warm effect.

Combine one-fourth of Russian green with Copenhagen blue and you have dark gray.

Yellows destroy red and should never be mixed.

A very delicate blue-gray can be produced by mixing turquoise blue and about one-sixth of black. Use more or less of black as desired.

Violet and brown makes a striking color. A light wash of hair brown or Meissen produces a tan.

The old-fashioned naturalistic style of china decoration is a thing of the past. One sees almost nothing of that sort in the metropolitan exhibitions, because patrons of Keramic art are weary of a type which admits of so little variety and individuality.

Flowers and fruit have gradually been shaped into designs, and these in many cases are so conventionalized that they have lost almost all resemblance to the original form.

There can be no doubt that conventional work has come to stay, and there is a distinct gain in this. Endless opportunities are opened for the artist to show character in both composition and color.

The china painter of yesterday spent her time almost entirely on color. The natural flowers were often placed almost anywhere on the china and were admired for color and treatment alone.

No wonder Keramics was not considered an art!

To-day the artist thinks before she touches the color work.

A design should suggest the shape to which it is to be applied, and proportion plays an important part. A plate, for instance, with too wide a band is a pitiful thing, and a design that is not properly bound together is to be shunned.

A low stocky looking piece may be treated with a motif used once on either side and connected with a gold or color band. It is a common mistake to try to bind the body of a teapot, or similar article, and the spout and handle! The two latter are entirely separate and demand other treatment.

Plenty of plain background will enhance the effect of the design. One can easily overload a piece of china with a design good in itself but too elaborate and large.

The first law of conventional design is that each form must be outlined. When this is done the decorator should have a comparatively easy time, and a remarkably interesting one, for conventional work is adapted especially to wonderful color combinations.

The colors, as a rule, are more effective when laid on in flat tones. Shading is not at all common in strictly conventional work, and one does not necessarily adhere to