Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-04-27
DECORATING ARTICLES FOR
TIE HOME.
CLoISONNE EMAIL.

Novelties in srt work have of late be- n
most scarce; diligent seeking for such
has only been rewarded by disappoInt-
ment managers of art societies have
been in despair, amateur workers have
had to fall back on some of the minor
arts introduced long ago. Now, from
Berlin, comes a new process for the
articles large and small, useful and
ornamental, to wake us from our
lethargy. Vases, plaques, flower pots
can be easily made into things of
beauty; old furniture can be renewed
aud prettily decorated with imitation
Wedgewood plaques. Glass bottles,
tumblers, scent bottles, Jugs, can be
made to resemble Bohemian or Vene-
tlan glass, and leather blotters, card
cases, book covers may be richly orna-
meuted and all with the slightest
trouble. The emails are equally suit
able for decorating the walls of room
and the door panels, for carrying ont
designs on metal and for coloring
wickerwork.
The application of the, emails is sim
plicity itself. Letus for the practical de-
scription take terra Gotta plaque, as
that is one of the easist things 10 COM
mence on, being nearly flat, and ccnse-
quently easier to hold steady than a
vase. The plaque is bought with a
ready incised design. This raves all
trouble of designing ones self, of
copying or tracing, consequently, any
one unable to draw can compass this
decoration. With large brush a coat
of Cloisonne lacquer is laid all over the
plaque to prevent absorption of colors.
1t is necessary to see there is no dust
on the article before the lacquer is en-
ployed. After a few m nutes have
been allowed for the lacquer to dry
the work may be proceeded
with in the following way:-till In all
the incised lines with Cloisonne gold,
silver or copper bronze. When the
lronze is dry fill the designs with two
or three, or with several emails, ar-
cording to the style of design. If
Oriental effects are desired then many
brilliant colors are used, but quiet
cUlOrings are often more admirable,
though not so striking. Small camel
hair brushes are emI loyed for the
work ana all parts of the design must
be equally covered with the email.
The colors require to lie thoroughly
stirred up before any are put out into
saucers (or the lids of the tins) for use.
1t is all-Important that the brushes
should be kept clean or the tints will
suffer; for this purpose turpentine
must be kept ready at hand. If it Is
necessary or desirable to thin the
emails the Cloisonne thinning medium
Is to be mixed with them, as this pre-
serves their blilliancy whilst turpen-
zine is said to destroy ii. The ColOrs
must not be permitted to trespnss on
the bronze outlines, which should be
always clear, clean, and sharp cut.
When the whole design is Ialuted
place the article carefully aside out of
the way of dust, and where nothing
will touch it until the emaiIs have
hardened thoroughly. The hardening
will be perfected in few hours ard
the surface will he brilliant, and this
without firing or vanishing.
Designs with in ised outlines, how
ever, are not the only oLes used for
imitation Cloisonne. Those In relief
are as much admired, though, to our
thinking, not 80 good. Terra Gotta
plaques with heads in high relief as
centre decorations and scroll or leaf
borders round the edges are effective
when painted. The grounding is usu-
ally done in some pale tint, such as
ivory, grey, sea green, or straw, whilst
shades and the outer lines are gwen in
back, myrtle green, sapphire blue, or
marc e. The backgrounds of these
plaques are seldom, if ever, gilded.
Numberless are the pretty orna-
men y that can be produced. Terra
Gotta vases can be made to resemble
real Cloisonne. The design, say of
small flowers and leaves on n turquoise
ground, must first be sketched in. then
tbe outlines will be giIded. Next the
howers-mostly white-and the green
leaves will be put in. The vase will be
trimmed round the top and bottom
with gold, and lastly, the turquoise
ground will he filled in. These tall
vases will be found most useful for
grasses, and are newer than tho red
clay painted with naturalistic flowers
which b we been so long in use. Then
there are the boat shaped vases with
stands. They answer admirably for
dinner table decorations, and look ex-
tremely well when filled with flowers
There should be one for each corner,
and a large bowl or boat vase for the
centre; the menus should match, all
the articles being as near as possible
like real Clolsonne. Other artists may
prefer TO paint on the embossed boat
shaped vases, as that saves all tho
trouble OF draw ing the design first,
but then they cannot expect to get the
Clolsonne appearance. The embossed
vases arc, however, extremely pretty
and look rIcn when colOred.