Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-04-02

BosToN, March %, 1880.
suppose among my lady readers there are
many who are interested in china decoration.
There are so many who paint very prettly,
who are in no sense professional, and all
these will have, l am sure, personal pleas
ure in something which l have been much in
terested in myself during the past four weeks
Those of you who are painting on china, have
probably been made painfully aware of the
difficulty attending firing The pieces had to
be sent to one of the large kilns, where no
one was responsible for it if it became broken,
or If it was not properly done. 1t could
scarcely be otherwise in those places, where,
after all, the amateur was taken as favor,
and very little remuneration received. One
of our most successful leaders, Miss Caroline
Nolen, had suffered very much at the hands
of professional frers, took the matter into
her own hands, and determined to have a
kiln of her own. She was met by opposition
on every side, she was told that it was mpos-
sible, that she could not accomplish it. Now
you know there is nothing in the world that
rouses woman to action more quickly than
to tell her she can't do thing. 10 use lit
tie street slang it brings her to her trumps'
at once And Miss Nolsn isn't woman to
give up because somebody tells her she had
better. So in face of all opposition she went
to work at once and had the kiln built under
her own personal supervision. When it was
all ready for the first firing the man whom
she had engaged to attend to it, frightened at
the representation of the kiln owners, and
their reiterated prophesies Of failure, abrupt
ly left her. Nothing daunted 10y this she de-
ternined to take the matter into her own
hands and make the trial herself Theoreti-
cally she knew all about it. She had studied
both the French and the English modes, and
so she went to work to put her theories in
practice. You may imagine the anxiety with
which she packed her kiln for its first firing
and the suspense with which she watched the
process. She was almost afraid to take the
pieces out after they had cooled, lest the ex-
pertinent in spite of her care. might be un.
successful But everything was perfect
there was not flaw any where Again she
tried and again with always the same result
-Four times she made the trial before she told
any one, except few friends about her plan,
then she made announcement of the estab-
lishment Of kiln at her studio No. AZ
Boylston street When she first projected the
plan it was designed only for her own use
and that of her pupils, but she has had so
many applications from outside, that she has
opened her kiln to amateur painters, and she
has all she can do The kiln will hold three
bushel baskets full of pieces and be lieve is
fired three times week Miss Nolen is also
engaged in perfecting system of painting
underglaze, and hns made several successful
experiments. ! saw in her studio the other
day n set of fire place tiles which were not
only very handsome in themselves, but were
specially interesting from being entirely Amer
lean. The tiles were made by Rowe Of the
Chelsea works and were decorated and fired
by Miss Nolen. Apropos of Miss Nolen,
heard something the other day which amused
me. You know there is great deal of snob-
bishness among certain OF our American peo-
pie, who see no merit in anything done on
this side of the water unless it be a copy OF
something foreign to which the Decorative
Art Society has set its seal of approval One
of these ladies was in Geo. Clarkes Art Furn-
ishing Rooms, adjoining which is Miss No
lens studio. In the exhibition room was
set Of Miss Nolen's tiles, and a set OF English
tiles which really were not so good. BY
some accident of memory the attendant point
ed out Miss Nolen's tiles as the English aud
rice rersd. Then began criticism. Pointing to
the real English tiles they were pronounced
of - t,,arif .,ri1apt1,, ,f