Year: 1878

In Philadelphia, Cincinnati, New
York and Boston, there are number
of really talented artists, who make a
speciality of painting on porcelain, be-
sides a host of more or less skilful anna
teurs- In Chicago there are several
ladies who do really excellent work,
and the number of artists would un-
doubtedly be greater were it not for
the technical difficulties to be mastered
before one can paint readily on such
substance as porcelain. The greatest
trouble is, that in painting, the colors
should be painted in side by side, not
over one another, as, in the latter case,
they would not come out clear and
pure after being fired. The only eX-
ceptiOn to this rule is that dark shades
may he painted over lighter shades of
the same color. Then. too, the cOlorS
cannot be mixed together, to form other
shades with the same freedom as when
oil colors are used, as the result after
the piece was fired, might be some
thing very different from what was in
tended. The chemical combinations OF
the different colors have TO be care
fully studied and experimental with
before it is safe TO mix them. Then,
too, some of the cOlOrs change consider
ably while being fired, what goes into
the kiln deep red coming out light
pink, a dull brown becoming gold, etc.
The best way of overcoming these diff
culties is by beginning with painting
sketches in monochrome, and thor
Oughly mastering the use of single
color before attempting TO paint with
several. Very beautiful sketches may
be made in blue, shaded from light To
dark; black and brown are good colors
to use in this way, while pink and red
are harder To manage and less salts
factory in results y very useful thing
TO remember, and one often lost sight
of, is, that when painting on white
ground, dark colOrs show to the best
advantage, and on 4 dark ground light
colors show the best, bright cOlors show
well almost anywhere. There are a
great number of colors prepared for
porcelain painting, but some shades, a
bright red, for example, it is impossible
to obtain. These cOlors come prepared
for use in small tubes, the same as oil
colOrs, but they are used with the fat
oil and spirits of turpentine. \ pat
tern may be sketched on the china be-
fore commencing to paint. by putting
on thin coat of turpentine, and then
sketching in the design with hard
lead pencil.


After the decoration is completed the
pieces have still to submit to the ordeal
of firing. They are arranged as COM
pactly as possible in a square oven or
kiln made of fire brick, and tightly
sealed, and then brought to an intense
heat, sufficient to melt the glaze and
f1se the colOrs with it. If there is any
gliding on the piece it comes from the
kiln with dead finish, and to give it 4
bright metallic lIIstre, it is polished
with bloOdstone burnishers. \ very
pretty effect is produced by furnishing
only part of the gilt, leaving the rest
dull and lusterless. There is wide
range of subjects especially suitable
for china decoration, that arrange them
selves naturally into several distinct
classes. At present, flower painting is
receiving by far the most attention,
and it possesses this advantage, that a
beginner can produce very creditable
and pretty pieces, while the best artists
can find no more pleasing subjects for
their brush. Violets, pOppies, daisies,
morning-glOries and buttercups are
favOrite flowers with amateurs; roses
are very beautiful, but much more diff
ficult TO draw and paint well. Flowers
are sometimes arranged in bouquets
and garlands, or treated cOnventiOnally,
but more frequently are painted in
what is known as the detached" or
Sevres style, with sprays of flowers and
grasses thrown carelessly over the
article Ornamented. Delicate ferns are
very pretty treated i'll this way. y way
of arranging flowers, much in favor
with German artists, is to group ferns,
grasses and wild flowers around vase
naturally, as if they grew there. Birds
and butterflies form very good aeeesso-
ries to flower paintings, but they also
make excellent decorations in them
selves. and should receive more atten-
ton from artists than is given them.
Little has been done in this country a.
yet in the way of elaborate landscape
and figure painting on porcelain
although English and German amateurs
have produced very creditable pieces of
this sort Landscapes would be espe-
cially pretty, and not very difficult,
sketched in blue and eH cGaaajeH, or
shaded from light to dark, and would
be an agreeable change from the mOnot-
Ony Of flower painting.