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
