Chapter V.) will finish it most attractively.

_Dutch Dish for Candy_

=Materials required=:

About 1½ pounds of clay,

The wooden modelling tools,

The sharp-pointed steel tool,

A plaster tile,

A rolling-pin.

A quaint Dutch dish, brought from Holland years ago, was the model for this sturdy little piece of pottery. It may be used for candy or to hold a vase of flowers, or a potted plant, protecting a polished table. A lump of clay is rolled on a table with the hands and a rolling-pin to the thickness of half an inch. Upon this clay sheet a rectangle four and a quarter by four and a half inches is drawn with a pencil and cut out with the pointed steel tool. It is then transferred to a plaster tile.

To the edge of this rectangle a coil of clay is attached according to the directions in Chapter II., and flared slightly outward, taking care not to make the corners sharp, but rounded and even. After the first coil has stiffened, and the sides have been made somewhat uniform and thin, it is cut even by eye, curving the edge up gradually toward the middle of the sides and depressing it slightly at the corners.

A second coil is now added, but instead of attaching it to the top of the first one, it is joined just below the top and inside the first coil. When it has stiffened sufficiently in the air, the dish is smoothed carefully inside and out with the hand and the wooden modelling tools, making the walls even and thin and perfecting the shape.

The effect of legs is given by cutting under the sides, beginning half an inch above the bottom. If this is started three-quarters of an inch from the corners, it will leave a sturdy, short leg an inch and a half wide at each of the four corners of the dish.

A roll of clay about five and a half inches long, an inch wide, and three-eighths of an inch thick is made into a handle (see plate), which is attached at the middle of one of the sides of the dish. At the two points where it is to be joined, the side of the dish is criss-crossed with the steel tool and wet with slip.

The bottom is finished by drawing a square with a pencil, half an inch in from the edge, and depressing it within the square, so as to leave a flat, even surface. The potter’s mark is then made within this square.

A pale green mat-glaze (see Chapter V.) makes a charming finish for this piece.

_Rose-Bowl with Moth Design_

=Materials required=:

About 5 pounds of clay,

A rolling-pin,

The oval sheet-steel tools,

The pointed-steel tool,

The steel tool with a flat end,

A plaster tile.

This rose-bowl, which is shown in the plate, was built up without a pasteboard outline. If one’s eye is reasonably true this is not a difficult matter, but otherwise the outline process (see Chapter II.) may be followed.

A piece of clay is first patted flat with the hand, and then rolled out with the rolling-pin, until it is six inches square and about five-eighths of an inch thick. Upon this clay sheet a circle is marked, five inches in diameter, cut out and placed on a plaster tile. The edge is criss-crossed with a steel tool and wet with slip, and the first coil is attached (see Chapter II.).

Two coils are built up, and then they are pressed outward to form the beginning of the outline, shown in Fig 31. This outline was taken from the lower sweep of the wings of a lunar moth, and the same moth forms the relief design upon it (see Fig. 32).

The bowl is then put out-of-doors until the clay is sufficiently firm to support two more coils. These are added; flaring them to follow the outline, and then the bowl is put away to harden—in the air, if the temperature is not too cold, otherwise indoors. It is built up exactly as was the flower jar in Chapter II., except that there is no cardboard outline to test it; the eye alone is the guide. Great care should be taken not to add the coils until those below are quite stiff, for the decided flare makes it difficult to keep the sides firm and true in outline. The circumference of the bowl, at its widest part, should be about thirty inches. When it is finished, the sides within and without are smoothed, first with the saw-edged oval tool, then with the smooth one. The edge is cut as true as possible by eye, and made perfectly level by pressing it quickly and lightly on the ground-glass slab, wet with clear water, as already described. A damp sponge is then passed over the piece, inside and out, while the fingers rub and polish it dry.

The bottom is finished and the potter’s mark made as described in