Embroidery and Fancy Work/Modelling in Gutta-Percha
MODELLING IN GUTTA-PERCHA.
Gutta-percha modelling is generally used to imitate Barbotine pottery. It is very easy to do, and the materials are comparatively inexpensive. Where possible buy the gutta-percha in sheets about one-fourth of an inch in thickness.
Boiling water must always be at hand. Modelling tools are useful but not necessary; as large pins, such as those made for Macramé work, will generally answer for any moulding. Oil paints, brushes, and a bottle of amber enamel are also needed, and a pair of pliers for holding the petals, leaves, etc., and fastening them together will be found useful. If you cannot get gutta-percha in sheets dip a piece in boiling water for a few seconds and roll it out with a heavy round ruler, taking care to wet both ruler and drawing board with a sponge to prevent sticking. Cut out the petals and leaves roughly with a pair of scissors—the exact number with which it is intended to form a group; put these again into boiling water, and then roll out to the desired thickness. Avoid getting them too thin, or, when painted, instead of their having the appearance of china, they will be more like tin. Recut them to the shape and thickness required, and with a small ivory or bone paperknife (also wetted) draw in the markings lightly and gently, so as not to cut the material (if the gutta-percha is too hard, put it again and again into boiling water); mould and bevel the petals and leaves upon the fingers, as in leather work, then set them aside to harden (this occupies a few minutes); roll out the stalks, getting them nicely rounded, and then put all together in readiness for transfer to pot or vase, arranging them as you would a natural group of flowers.
To make the petals adhere, hold them for a moment to the flame of a candle or match. When slightly softened at the base, lay them down on a small piece of gutta-percha, about the size of a shilling, and overlapping, or not, as in nature. Press them together with the pliers or with the paper knife, heating the tool by dipping it into the hot water for a few minutes. Some find it easier to mould the stems over fine wire, such as is used for tissue paper flowers, but a skilful worker will dispense with this. It must be remembered that the flowers should all appear as if modelled on the vase or other object to be decorated. A good liquid glue or cement can be used to make the decorations adhere more firmly.
Be careful to put in stamens boldly, but avoid too fine details, as that tends to cut up the work, and is unnecessary; press them back well into the centre, and do not omit the pistil. Study simplicity in the arrangement of groups, and carefully copy the natural growth of the flowers. Beginners generally err here, if they have not sufficiently observed and studied nature. The vases or pots may be in terra-cotta, earthenware salt jars, or the little brown jars usually used for culinary purposes—these last are most inexpensive, and answer admirably. When the group is quite hard and dry, hold the flowers to the lighted candle separately, and quickly apply them to the vase, taking care that there is no moisture between them, for this will surely prevent their adhering. Leave the work to stand until it has become firmly fixed to the vase, and then begin the painting.
First lay on a thin coat of flake white (oils) mixed with pale amber enamel, using a hog-hair brush. Cover it so as to loose the color of the gutta-percha, and paint a smoothly as possible in one direction, from base to edge of petals. While that is drying begin the background, holding the vase upon the hand, and, having fully charged the brush with color (say black), mixed with enamel, begin from the top; about midway use a little yellow (middle chrome), and blend it in with white towards the bottom. Wipe the brush after every color and keep the colors separate upon the palette, as in real china painting. Mixing them gives a dull effect. Pay particular attention to keeping them pure. The brush must be fully charged with color, so as to blend the tints, and to prevent Hard lines; but the paint must not run down, or it will dry in ridges and cause unpleasant breaks on the surface. Continual practice will alone provent this.
For second and third painting of flowers a short sable brush is necessary. Blend on the colors smoothly and separately, mixing enamel with all of them. For instance, if poppies are chosen, use vermilion, dark chrome, flake white, and a small touch of crimson lake. These colors are opaque (with one exception), and therefore require careful treatment; if they do not vary sufficiently, the flowers lose their freshness and get tin-like in appearance. No shadow color is required. By introducing a certain proportion of white, sufficient light and shade is obtained, and the enamel adds to its transparency and brightness.
We will here mention that single flowers are preferable for this work—sunflowers, poppies, wild roses, convolvuli, garden anemones, and single dahlias are most successful. Double flowers are difficult to manipulate, and are not artistic. In painting stems and leaves, apply the color as before described, avoiding too vivid greens; use plenty of white with these, and keep them in harmony with the flowers. Always let the latter be prominent, they being the most interesting feature in the composition. A little burnt sienna on a faded leaf improves it; mix with a little white to soften the edges. Knots of ribbons can be easily introduced on plaques, and look well in binding together, and finishing off a group. Butterflies also are useful for filling up open spaces. Dog-roses are delicate, and very easy. Use vermilion and white, a little chrome, and a tiny streak of crimson lake occasionally. In sunflowers, middle chrome, flake white, and burnt sienna form the principal colors. The work is most inexpensive, for, as mentioned before, two or three ounces of the material will form a group, and the above-named colors are all that are necessary. Common pots or jars are recommended, and plaques in terra-cotta are especially successful; the backgrounds on them are carried out in the same way as on the jars, beginning with white, and shading the colors towards the bottom; be mindful that this is done after the group is attached to the plaque, and the first wash of color has been laid on.
As in all painting, some knowledge of drawing is necessary, and those who have studied nature carefully, cannot fail to succeed. The object we have in view is to make our work resemble china as much as possible, at the same time to give the groupings all the fresh look of nature. This is obtained by careful modelling, and also by laying on the color in thin washes, allowing every wash to become perfectly dry before attempting finish. Many unhappy bits of work are produced by neglect of this rule, and beginners often fail at the outset by hurrying on, their only object being to obtain an effect; this is fatal to progress or success.
Particular attention to the above simple rules will produce work almost equal to the original barbotine china, and if persevered in will ensure success. Neat fingers and a certain amount of practical knowledge are needed, and we would advise everyone in taking it up to study and copy directly from nature, thereby producing good work, which will not be merely imitative, but artistic. Fig. 26 shows a receptacle for flowers in the shape of a log made of pottery and ornamented with pansies modelled in gutta percha. The separate parts of the flowers
Fig. 26.
and a leaf are shown in Fig. 27. Cut out for each pansy two back petals (at the upper right hand corner in Fig. 27), two side ones (the middle one in the cut), and one like that in the lower right hand corner.
Make the edges irregular and somewhat crinkled as in nature. Take great pains to curve and model each petal correctly. Press the lower petal with a large pin or the bone paper knife on the right side at the base, so as to hollow it slightly. In modelling the petals, it will often be found better to heat the tool you use, than the petal itself, as there will not be so much danger of pulling it out of shape. Some prefer to tint the separate parts of the flower before making up. If you do so, you must be careful to leave all parts that are to be joined together unpainted, as they would not adhere otherwise. Model the pistil carefully from a narrow strip of gutta percha, copying the cut. Press the base of the lower petal under the pistil, so that the point of the latter rests on the hollow base of the petal, pinching them carefully together with pliers heated in the boiling water. When this is firm, press on the side petals, and finally the back ones. Model the two parts of the calyx (seen in the upper left hand corner of Fig. 27) making
Fig. 27.
CHINA PAINTING.
In china painting, as in every other art, success can be reached only by diligent, intelligent practice. No amount of mere verbal directions can ever enable you to attain the desirable medium in your work, between too thick and too thin, too dry and too wet. The manual dexterity, and the artistic judgment, without which success is impossible, are to be secured by diligent painstaking practice, and by that alone. But if you have an average amount of taste, a steady hand, and a determination to merit success by perseverance, there is no reason why you should not, in a time which will seem surprisingly short after it has passed, produce work quite good enough to be used for home decoration, or to secure a purchaser if you desire to sell it.
The expense of an outfit is a very variable quantity; but, assuming that you wish to avoid all unnecessary expense, I give below a list of the tools necessary for the simpler styles of work, with the prices at which they can generally be obtained in New York.
Two good camel's hair brushes. Nos. 4 and 6, at 10c |
$0.20 |
Two small stipplers or blenders, at 15c |
.30 |
A fine brush for tracing |
.10 |
A horn palette knife |
.15 |
A piece of India ink |
.15 |
One brush about ½ inch wide |
.10 |
Total |
$0.90 |
In addition to the above, you will need a mall quantity of spirits of turpentine; about ten cents' worth of oil of lavender, which can be bought at any drug store; a common plate, to be used as a palette; a few soft rags; a little cotton; a few sheets of tracing paper; a sheet or two of transfer paper; and a hand rest, consisting of a strip of wood, a foot or eighteen inches long, by two inches wide, with bits of wood of the same width and about an inch in length, firmly nailed to each end.
Having provided the tools for your china painting, the next requisite is an assortment of colors. For amateurs' use, the most convenient are the Lacroix tube colors, which can be obtained from any dealer in artists' materials. The following list embraces all that is necessary for a beginner's use:
Dark blue, costing per tube, about |
$0.20 |
Deep ultra marine blue |
.30 |
Light sky blue |
.25 |
Blue green |
.25 |
Yellow ochre |
.20 |
Ivory yellow |
.20 |
Yellow for mixing |
.18 |
Apple green |
.20 |
Deep chrome green |
.20 |
Brown sepia |
.20 |
Yellow brown |
.20 |
Brown No. 3 |
.20 |
Deep red brown |
.20 |
Capucine red |
.20 |
Violet of iron |
.20 |
Neutral gray |
.20 |
Flux |
.20 |
Carmine No. 3 |
.25 |
Ivory black |
.20 |
Light carmine No. 1 |
.20 |
The colors printed in italics, though desirable, are not absolutely necessary, and may be dispensed with if economy requires.
A set of colors, specially prepared for grounds, is also necessary. These must on no account be mixed with the other colors. A good selection is:
Celadon (a peculiar greenish tint), costing per tube, about |
$0.20 |
Copper Water Green |
.20 |
Maize |
.18 |
Turquoise blue |
.30 |
Chinese yellow |
.18 |
The colors in china painting cannot be mixed with the same freedom as in water-colors, for they are sometimes very much changed in the firing. Some yellows, for instance, will cause colors mixed with them to disappear. The rules for their use are principally based on the proportion of iron employed in their manufacture, and the colors have been divided into three classes—those containing no iron, those with but little iron, and those into whose composition iron enters largely.
The first class is composed of white, the blues, the carmines, the purples, and the violets, excepting the violet of iron, which is really a red. In this class the blues can be used with mixing yellow, the purples, and carmines. A little blue can also be used with green, when, as is often the case, a bluish green is needed. Many shades of violet and purple can be made by the use of blue and carmine. Next come the colors with but little iron, the yellows and the greens. These do not mix well with the iron colors, the yellows especially being apt to cause red to disappear. Ivory yellow, however, mixes well with the flesh red, and is very useful for flesh tints. While yellow, as a rule, should not be mixed with the reds, the most brilliant red we can get on china is obtained by painting with mixing yellow or orange yellow, and after firing, painting the yellow over with capucine red. Another brilliant red is obtained by mixing capucine red with carmine, No. 2 preferably, but No. 3 or dark carmine will answer.
The iron colors are reds, flesh reds, red browns, iron violets, browns, brown yellows, ochres, blacks, and most of the grays. I would advise those who can afford it to test their colors on bits of china, making two of each color, and sending one to be fired. You can then compare the fired color with the unfired, and be more sure of the result.
Having now the materials with which to work, the next thing is how to use them. A tile or plate is the best thing on which to begin, as a flat surface is the easiest thing to manage. It is by no means necessary to buy fine china. Common earthen ware plates are just as good to learn on, and much less expensive.
Have on the table, in addition to your brushes, paints, etc., two saucers or small cups with turpentine in each. Pour a few drops of the turpentine on to your plate, and with a rag rub it perfectly clean. You can now draw the design with a tolerably hard lead pencil, or you can transfer it by means of tracing and transfer paper, as directed for transferring embroidery designs (p. ). To guard against any slipping of the traced design, fasten it where necessary to the plate with mucilage or bits of wax, but leaving the edges sufficiently free to admit of slipping the transfer paper underneath. It is best to make your first attempt in monochrome, that is, in a single color, shaded with itself. A spray of woodbine or Virginia creeper is an excellent design to begin with. Having transferred the design, you can render your pattern quite safe by going over it with a fine tracer in India ink or a little water-color carmine. This is not necessary, but it may save you trouble if you should make mistakes in your painting. If you douse the India ink or carmine, wipe your plate off with a little turpentine, and the red marks will disappear, leaving the outline in water color. Now take your tube of deep red brown, and having unscrewed the top, take hold of the very bottom of the tube and squeeze very little out on your palette. Pour a few drops of turpentine or oil of lavender (I generally prefer the latter) on the paint, and rub it smooth with the palette knife. Take the largest of your two camel's hair brushes, dip it in the turpentine, so as to moisten it thoroughly. Then, having wiped the extra moisture out on your rag, dip it in the paint. It is well to have an extra piece of china on hand to try your brush on. If the paint works smoothly, leaving a clear mark, it is mixed just right. If it leaves a drop or blot at the end, there is too much turpentine in it. Wait a few minutes for it to dry. If it sticks and refuses to run, add a few more drops of turpentine or oil.
Having your color properly mixed, paint the leaves with a smooth firm stroke, painting from the middle of the leaf toward the edges, and making the brush follow the general contour of the leaves. Thus in the woodbine the brush marks should all diverge from the point where the stem joins the leaf. In a violet leaf, on the contrary, the brush should be carried round in a sweeping curve from the stalk to the point of the leaf.
The stems of the woodbine can be painted in dark brown, or in asphalt, a very useful color to be procured at Ulrieh's Artists' Materials Store in New York. If the design includes berries, paint the little stems joining them to the main stalk with capucine red. The berries should be put in with ivory black just tinged with dark blue. Preserve the circular form of the berry, and leave a tiny half moon shaped spot of white china for the high light. If at first you cannot have this spot, it can be scraped out with a pen knife or coarse needle. When this first painting is thoroughly dry you can put in the shading with the same colors. The shading can often be very much improved by wiping the color out of your brush with a dry rag, and while your painting is still moist, toning it down with the cleaned brush. This will remedy the abrupt transition from dark to light but must be carefully done, for if any turpentine be left in the brush, the work will be ruined. It is quite customary to outline the designs on china in some darker color, the outline serving to throw up the design and also to emphasize its decorative character.
In Fig. 28, is given a design, intended for a tile, but
Fig. 28.
answering for a flat vase, a pitcher or any similar object. The local tints should first be put in, using chrome green and a very little mixing yellow for the crocus leaves, and the same green with a larger proportion of mixing yellow for the snow drop leaves. Be careful not to leave a blotch where the leaves are crossed by flowers or other leaves. If your painting does not look satisfactory, do not attempt to remedy it, except by wiping it out and doing the work over again. Work that has been touched up or doctored while wet is never satisfactory, and it must always be borne in mind that the furnace or kiln is a wonderful revealer of defects, when unfortunately it is too late to remedy them. So do not be afraid to wipe out your work over and over again while it is in your power to do so.
For the crocuses, mix some carmine and blue to form the purple tint, using the blue sparingly as it is an intense color, and becomes stronger in the firing. Paint the crocuses as delicately as possible. The color should be as thin as will work well. Begin at the top of the petals and make your strokes follow the general direction of the outline and the shading. Leave the lower part of the tube of the crocus unpainted. For the hepaticas use a very thin wash of the same color as the crocuses and leaving the places for the calyx unpainted. The white of the china gives the local color for the snow drops, but for the parts which are shaded in the design, mix pearl gray with a very little of the light green used for the leaves, and paint the shaded parts with delicate touches, making your stroke follow the direction of the copy. The upper part of the hepatica leaf, and the stems and calices are painted in deep chrome green, modified with gray, No. 1. For the lower part use deep red brown, modified with gray, No. 1.
When this first painting is dry you can begin the shading. Shade the crocus leaves with deep chrome green, modified with a very little black, being careful to leave a light line down the centre. Shade the snow drop leaves with pearl gray, light green, and a little touch of carmine. Be careful to make the stems of the snow drop distinct. To do this, it may be necessary to give them a third painting. The deep color of the crocus can be worked down to the light color of the tube with a dry brush as described above.
Shade leaf, etc., of the hepaticas with the respective colors in which they are painted. Shade lower part of the butterfly's wings with just a touch of black, blending it into the yellow as described above. It will be well to practice the veinings on the wings and the fine markings round the edges on a separate piece of china. A tracer is the best brush to use for these, and it is wise to always try the point after filling the brush with paint. Make the pistil of the hepatica of light green, shading it round the edge with gray. The stamens are mere dots of mixing yellow. Avoid a regular appearance in putting them on. Scratch away places for the stamens of the crocus and put them in with a mixture of orange yellow and capucine red.
If you have carefully followed the directions thus far given you will have learned more of the difficulties in your way and how to overcome them, than a long list of general rules and directions. The immortal Squeer's principle of teaching—"He goes and does it"— applies most forcibly in china painting. Never be afraid to wipe out your work.
A few hints on the use of colors may prove useful. Shade capucine red with red brown or a little black, yellow with brown green, pink flowers with a mixture of carmine and apple green. Blue may be shaded with black or black gray. Some blue flowers, such as the periwinkle or myrtle, may require the addition of a little carmine. Dark purple flowers can be painted with deep purple and deep blue, adding more or less of the blue as the color desired is more purple or crimson. They should be shaded with the same color. When a different color is used for the shading, a little of the local tint should be added.
It is very difficult to obtain a really brilliant red, and consequently red flowers should be surrounded as much as possible with green. Sometimes a very good effect is obtained by painting the flowers which are to be red first with yellow, and after firing, painting with capucine red. A touch of carmine gives the pink tinge often found in the stalk of a rose. Carmine and capucine red make a pretty under tint for red flowers when the under side of the petal is exposed. A very light touch of black is often useful in shading both green and blue. Violet of iron or red brown is very effective at the edges of rose leaves. Practice and a little study of good painted china, where practicable, will soon teach other combinations.
A very important part of china painting is learning to lay on a flat tint or ground. Like many another thing it is quite easy when you have done it, but oftentimes it takes many attempts before a beginner gets a smooth tint. One might travesty Shakespeare in giving directions for this process to an amateur and say "if you have patience, prepare to use it now," and speaking from experience, I would add, "if you have no patience, don't try to lay a ground."
Some of the grounding colors are much easier to lay on than others. Pinks, and blues, for instance, are very difficult to lay on smoothly, while Chinese yellow and maize are easy to manage.
When your design has been painted and fired, mix the color you intend for the grounding. Using with oil of lavender—you can use turpentine, but the lavender is much easier to work with, as it does not dry so quickly—adding one third as much flux (this is not absolutely necessary) as you have paint. Mix your color a little thinner than for painting. Have ready a small ball of a piece of clean rag, or bit of chamois leather, so as to present a smooth surface about the size of a silver dollar or a little larger. The part where it is tied will form a convenient handle. Use the wide brush mentioned in the list of materials, and paint over the surface to be grounded, keeping your strokes as even as possible, and working quickly. The grounding tint will necessarily cover the design also. As a general thing, by the time the paint is all on, the part done first is sufficiently dry to blend properly. Nothing but experience will teach you just how dry it should be. Holding your dabber in the right hand, begin where you began to paint, and dabble the surface with it, striking it perpendicularly with quick but very gentle strokes. Go in this manner over the entire surface, repeating the process until the tint is perfectly even. If the paint is a little thicker in some places than in others, you will find that a little practice will enable you, by an intelligent use of the dabber, to spread an even tint over the whole surface. When you have done, there should be an even coat of color, without the slightest sign of a brush-mark. If, when the paint is dry, the tint is not even, wipe it all off and try again. Don't be discouraged at repeated failures. Never try to remedy a defect. The only way is to take the whole coat of paint off. Never work where it is dusty. If hairs fall from the brush take them carefully off with the point of a needle, as otherwise they will leave a mark when the firing is done.
When you are satisfied with the ground, put your tile away where it can dry without danger of becoming dusty. When thoroughly dry, clear the design of paint with a knife, or if your hand is steady, with a brush dipped in turpentine, and wiped almost dry. Keep the brush clear of color with turpentine. This latter mode, though more expeditious, is rather dangerous, as a drop of turpentine falling on your ground would entirely spoil it. Then paint over the design as in the first place. The colors lose a little in each firing, so that they need to be strengthened before sending a second time to the furnace. This way of laying a ground is the best for a beginner, but if you are sure of your hand, it is a little more satisfactory and expeditious to reverse the order of proceedings, that is, after outlining your design, put on your ground first, then clear the sketch from paint, when the latter is thoroughly dry, paint your design, and have all fired at once.
A tile is the best thing to begin grounding on, but you will soon have no difficulty in tinting other articles. When grounding the rim of a plate, draw the brush from the inner edge to the circumference. A cup should be held by the handle, the strokes running from the bottom to the top. The paint that runs over the edge can be carefully wiped away with a rag, or in the case of a plate rim, it had better be scraped away when dry with a knife. It is necessary to be very careful in this latter process, as the inner edge should be very regular and clear cut. In tinting any article presenting a curved surface, a brush, called a deer's foot from its shape, is very useful for dabbling the curved portions A very pretty style of decoration is to ground the article to be decorated in two colors. In this case, the design having been painted, one color is put on over a portion of the plate, leaving a very clear straight margin. This is fired and then the other color is put on. I have seen a very pretty cup, saucer, and plate decorated in this way with a stem of pussy willows and quince blossoms, on a blue and maize ground. Another style of grounding is what is often called a Bennett background. It is much easier to put on, but requires good taste in the arrangement of colors. To put on such a background, you lay on a variety of colors, in irregular patches and then blend them all. You may, for instance, ground a vase in succession tints from a warm dark brown at the bottom to the palest blue, or you may have a mottled ground of but one color by varying the intensity of the tints. Turquoise blue or green are either of them beautiful used in this way. Peculiar and oftentimes beautiful effects can be produced by simply pouring liquid over a tile or plate, and letting it dry. In decorating cups, pitchers, vases, etc., having handles, it is often desirable to have the latter much darker in color than the body of the object decorate. This is effected by putting on repeated coats of color, letting each successive coat become thoroughly dry. No flattening is needed, as a general rule for such small pieces of work.
In Fig. 29, I have used one of Kate Greenaway's sket-
Fig. 29.
ches to enable me to point out some of the initial steps in landscape painting. It affords, also, an illustration of the ease with which decorative designs may be adapted to the use of the amateur.
It can be used for a tile or small plaque or plate. And just here perhaps is a good time to say that it is not necessary always to buy new china to begin painting on. Cups and saucers and plates that have been in use for years may be successfully decorated so long as they are not flawed in any way, and a first attempt at this design may as well be painted on a tea plate as on anything else. When finished it makes a pretty ornament when hung up. Transfer or sketch your design as previously directed. Have the horizon line a little above the middle of the plate. Have ready on your palette, some sky blue, mixed as for grounding, and also some gray, formed by mixing apple green and carmine, using rather more carmine than green. Paint the sky over as if for grounding, using the sky blue for the upper part, and the gray for the lower, taking care to put on the blue more thinly as you approach the gray. If you wish clouds, wipe them out very quickly with a cloth, and then dabble the whole exactly as you would a ground tint. You can paint shadows to your clouds with a gray made of ivory black and sky blue, adding, if you wish, a little ivory yellow for the lighter parts. When done, the blue should seem to melt into the gray, giving to the lower parts of the sky a receding appearance. This is called the distance. You may, since the landscape is so conventional, omit the clouds if you choose. Now carefully clean the plate (after it is thoroughly dry) below the horizon line of all color except the lines of the design, and paint in your horizon line with ivory black. Use a fine pointed brush and make the lines as fine as possible, as much of the beauty of your plate depends on this being delicately done. While you are waiting for the sky to dry you can be painting the foreground. The grassy hill must first be washed over with yellow the grassy hill must first be washed over with yellow brown. Observe, in painting, the general direction of the shadows, so as to have them all lying the same way. It is not at all necessary to have a uniform tint in doing this part of the work, a very little care will make the darker tints appear where the shadows lie. It is as well to dabble over the ground tint, as it makes it a little easier to put in the greens afterward.
If your sky is thoroughly dry by this time, paint the water with a tint formed by mixing apple green and sky blue. Put on the tint with horizontal strokes, giving the appearance of slightly undulating waves, and keeping the tint slightly deeper as it approaches the shore. It is well to have two shades of the paint mixed. By mixing the green and blue in nearly even quantities, a gray tint is produced, while the addition of a little green as the water reaches the shore is a decided improvement. But there must be no abrupt transition. Do not dabble the water. Sketch your tree and the fence in with dark brown. Paint the foliage with grass green, modified occasionally with a little mixing yellow. Paint the children's dresses and the outside of the umbrellas with dark blue, stippling if necessary, to give a smooth tint. The caps, aprons, and sleeves are left white, but should be outlined with black. The sticks, ribs, and outlines of the umbrellas should be painted in black. The inside of the umbrellas in a mixture of blue and green. The faces and hands are painted in ivory yellow and flesh red No. 1, put on very thinly, and then the features put in with a very fine brush in black—the hair may be yellow or brown. You may have some trouble to get the faces to suit you, but patient trying will bring success in drawing eyes that don't squint and mouths of a decent size, which, after all, is about all that can be attained, as the size of the drawing does not allow for much expression. Shade the trunk of the tree with dark brown, or preferably with asphalt, putting the color on with short strokes to imitate the roughness of the bark. Outline the fence and posts in the same way. Color the boats with either brown, green, or dark brown, outlined with black, as are the sails, which last are left entirely free from paint.
The little village at the right hand can next be painted. When the walls are visible paint them yellow brown, windows black or asphalt. The roofs can be of capucine red, with one or two of brown green, all of them being outlined with black. Now paint the grass on with different shades of green, using grass green as the predominant tint, modifying it with mixing yellow, or using brown green where it may seem needed. Paint the grass with short, quick strokes. A little practice on another piece of china, grounded like your plaque with yellow brown will soon give you the requisite touch. The birds are painted in ivory black directly on the color of the sky. When you have the plate fired, have a narrow gilt rim put around it.
While many who attempt china decoration, chiefly confine themselves to flower painting, the simplest and in many respects, most appropriate style of decoration, yet there are those who aim higher, and wish to excel in landscape or in figure painting.
A few general hints as to means employed may be useful to those who wish to try a more complicated picture. Ivory yellow and carnation red in combination with the tints given above, may be used for sunset or sunrise skies.
When a purplish tint is wished for the distance, use deep rich blue green and carmine. Apple green modified with black green or brown green, can be used for the nearer parts. The color for skies should be laid on delicately. Use short broad touches in painting foliage. Study always the character of the tree and adapt your stroke to the kind of foliage to be delineated. There is great room for study of color in foliage and specific directions are of course impossible. Generally grass green may be used for the dominant color, modified with mixed yellow for the high lights and with brown green for the shadows, and if these are dark, adding a little deep blue. Reflections of trees in water can be painted with black green mixed with grass green. Any light browns may be used for the earth, modifying them as necessary with black. Very pretty landscapes may be done in monochrome. Brown or black are the best for these. They have the appearance of sepia or India-ink drawings, and afford the opportunity for very good study in light or shade, and also give room for real artistic work. Some of Landseer's heads of animals afford excellent study for these monochrome plaques. One advantage black and white has over color is that color often draws one's attention away from the drawing. Having to depend entirely on the execution of your picture for effect, you obtain a far greater power over your brush in using black only than you are likely to obtain if you can cover up defects effectively by combinations of color.
No one should attempt painting heads unless they can draw accurately. Bad drawing is never so perceptible as in figures. Having your design very accurately sketched, the first step in painting a head is to put in the back ground with a mixture of one third ivory black and two thirds sky blue. Have the tint dark near the head, gradually diminishing it in intensity until it is lost in the white of the china. The local tint of the face is made of one third flesh red No. II. and two thirds ivory yellow. This tint can be blended with a small dabber. Then put in the hair; if dark, use dark brown and shade with black mixed with the brown; if light, use yellow brown or sepia, modified with black. If very light, use yellow ivory for the first wash, and shade with sepia and black. Never blend the hair, but try to make your strokes give direction to the masses. When shading use a fine brush, giving as much as possible the texture of the hair. The rest of the work can be more safely done if you have your work fired at this stage. Then deepen your ground by cross-hatching it with the tint already laid on, making the lines rather broad and slightly curved. Put in the features with a shadow tint formed by mixing one third ivory black, one third sky blue, and one third flesh red No. II. Vary this tint with more or less red, when you wish to lighten the shadow, or in parts where the color is particularly ruddy. Deep red brown is used for deepening the color on cheeks and lips. It must be very carefully used, as it loses a little in firing. A little violet of iron, or a little black mixed with the red brown can be used for shading the lips and nostrils. The eyebrows are painted with a tint corresponding to that used for the hair. Use sky blue or brown shaded with black according to the color. The white of the china can be left for the reflected light on the eye or it can be touched with permanent white. In painting white drapery, leave the china for the local color and shade with sky blue and black. These are very general directions. Each artist must make his own combinations, but these may give a key which will open the way for a beginner.
In giving these directions, I have several times alluded to "firing"; the process by which the colors become fixed. After china has been fired, mistakes, as a rule, cannot be remedied, although sometimes they may be painted over. People living near large cities can generally have their "firing" done at a wholesale china store or at a decorator's. The advertisements of many such firms are to be found in papers devoted to art work, and dealers in artists' materials can generally get the work done, or procure the address of some firm who will fire amateur's work. The charges for firing are, as a rule, moderate, from five to ten cents for each small piece, such as a cup, a saucer, a tile, etc., and increasing in accordance to the size and shape of the article to be baked. Gilding is generally done by the decorators, as their facilities for such work are much greater than an amateur can have. The charges for this, too, with some firms are very moderate. I have had a cup and saucer fired and very nicely gilded (a narrow rim round cup and saucer, with a very prettily decorated handle) for twenty cents. Always mark your name or initials or some "trademark" on the back with black paint, and keep each piece carefully away from dust and smoke, enemies to be guarded against in all processes of the work. In packing china to be carried to the decorator's, the chief thing to be guarded against is rubbing. It is very disheartening to have your china brought back to you with parts of the painting entirely removed. By having your painting perfectly dry, and packing it in soft paper, you will avoid this risk.
Small kilns for the use of amateurs are to be obtained at prices ranging from $3.00 to $25.00. The statement has been made that any woman who can bake bread properly can manage these kilns, but it is not every one who can bake perfectly, and mistakes in firing china would be far more lasting and provoking than in baking bread. Still, some who have tried them, have had great success with them, and the possession of one would be a great aid in learning combinations of color, as experiments could be tried on bits of broken china.
Sometimes when the firing is done the coloring in part or whole will seem weak or faded. This can be remedied by painting the design over again, especially strengthening any weak places, and having the whole fired over. Many always have their china fired at least twice, while some authorities, amongst whom is Miss McLaughlin, say that ordinarily one firing is sufficient. Of course, if the china is to be fired but once, the painting must be more carefully finished in every part than if a second painting is to be done. Gilding should be deferred to the last firing.
Mineral colors come in two forms,—the Lacroix colors, which are ready mixed for use,—and in powder shape. Amateurs generally prefer the former as they are much more convenient to use, while professional decorators more generally employ the powdered colors. The latter are said to retain their brilliancy longer, are cheaper, and furnish some very desirable tints not procurable in the tube colors. When used with turpentine, they must first be thoroughly ground. To do this, put a little of the color on the palette, then add just enough fat oil (oil of turpentine) to allow of freely mixing the color. This must be thoroughly mixed with either palette knife or glass muller, the latter being preferable, and then mixed with turpentine as with the tube colors. Care should be taken not to use too much fat oil.
The smell of turpentine or oil of lavender is extremely unpleasant to some people, in some cases rendering it almost impossible for them to practice this branch of art work. To obviate this difficulty some use glycerine as a medium, and as this mode of mixing the colors has certain advantages it may be well to give directions for it.
Grind up the colors with equal parts of finely powdered gum and glycerine, making the color when mixed about the consistency of butter (in ordinary temperate weather) and using glycerine to paint with in the place of turpentine.
Painting done with glycerine does not dry as rapidly as when turpentine is used, and it is well to place the painting in an oven between the painting and the retouching, as two wet colors will spoil each other. To beginners this slowness in drying is sometimes an advantage. The colors once mixed with glycerine, can be kept ready for painting for several weeks, if carefully kept from the dust under a bowl or glass jar, and thus some expense and trouble are saved. Perhaps it is as well to add that with the tube paints, colors left on the palette can be used again by the addition of fresh turpentine. Glycerine painting should have a coat of lavendar oil all over it before firing. This should be put on, after the painting is thoroughly dry, with a broad flat brush in even strokes, proceeding regularly from one side to the other.
Monograms should be very carefully and accurately drawn, and can be painted either in colors or gold. A prepared liquid gold comes for this purpose ready for use. It can also be procured in powder, to be used like other colors with turpentine. It should be laid on rather thickly. Where colors are used in connection with gold, the two should never be laid over each other, as they do not fire well.
MOIST WATER COLORS FOR CHINA PAINTING.
Some find that the smell of turpentine or lavender oil, used in china painting, has an injurious effect on their health. Especially is this the case with those whose throats are delicate. The moist water colors, prepared from china painting, will prove a boon to all such. The mechanical part of this work, however, is a little more difficult than in using mineral colors mixed with oils. The moist water colors for china painting come in pans like Winson and Newton's water colors. As they do not rub off easily, however, a little must be taken off with the palette knife, and rubbed down with a little water. With the ordinary mineral paints, it is generally better to use the paint in thin washes, thus securing delicacy of tint, but with the water colors the opposite course is necessary. As much paint should be used with each stroke as the brush will hold. Over-painting is to be avoided. The painting has to be frequently dried on the stove, to prevent removal of the underlying. color, where any strokes have to be repeated. There is more need of knowing how colors "fire" with these colors even, than with the ordinary mineral paints, as they look very differently before and after firing.
A preparation of megilp comes with the English colors. Its use is to thicken the paint and make it more manageable. With the Dresden colors, a preparation called "under glaze" and resembling flux, is furnished. This is to be mixed with a drop of fat oil, and one of turpentine, and rubbed perfectly smooth on the palette. A thin coating of this is then laid over the design and thoroughly dried on the stove. The object is to give a surface to which the paint will adhere easily. The design can be readily seen through this coating if put on in ordinary water-colors.
UNDER GLAZE.
In all that has been said hitherto, reference has been made to painting china proper, that is, pottery that has been baked and glazed. The biscuit case, or unbaked pottery,can also be decorated, and these decorations made permanent by subsequent baking. This work requires much more skill as mistakes cannot be so easily rendered as in over glaze painting. The ware is so porous before baking that the color sinks into it as into almost immediately. To obviate this, a thin coating of gum tragacanth and water, or size is employed. Having the design well-traced, the first washes can be put on in water colors, mixed with gum and water. Then paint over with the mineral color, mixed as for over glaze painting, with either turpentine or glycerine. Colors come especially prepared for under glaze decoration. More oil can be used on under glaze painting than in over-glaze, because the absorbent nature of biscuit prevents the danger o£ blistering or crazing. The colors attainable for under-glaze painting are much more limited in number than for china painting. The reds are very poor, and pinks, purples, and some light colors, must be left for over glaze.
The colors change much more in the process of firing in under-glaze than in china painting. After having once been fired, additional touches may be given with the over-glaze colors, and in the hands of an expert very fine results are produced. Under-glaze is a favorite mode of decoration with those who are good colorists, as well as skillful handlers of the brush.
Some times biscuit is decorated with oil paints, being subjected to a slight firing which fixes the colors, but this decoration is, of course not so durable as when done with mineral colors.
I have seen a couple of little brown stone jars or bottles which had been, when bought, filled with French mustard, very prettily decorated with sprays of flowers, on a mottled background, painted in oil and then fired. They had very much the effect of under-glaze painting.
Special colors are sold for the different varieties of pottery or vitreous painting, as for over-glaze, underglaze, glass, terra cotta, etc., but the general principles for using them are the same in all cases.