CHAPTER VI

POTTERY FOR BEAUTY AND USE

When one thinks of the limitless possibilities of pottery in household decoration—the great dishes for flowers and fruit, the lamp-bowls, candlesticks, and tiles—one may make, one can hardly wait to begin. Now is the chance to work out a long-treasured idea for a match-bowl, or a plant-jar to hang against the wall or window frame. Now one can show the superiority of one’s conceptions over the stupid things in shops! Let us hasten to get out the clay and begin.

_Dark-Green Fruit-Bowl_

=Materials required=:

About 4½ pounds of clay,

A plaster mould for a bowl, 10 or 11 inches in diameter at the top,

The oval tools of sheet steel,

The wooden modelling tools,

The pointed steel tool,

A flint bag,

A rolling-pin,

A bowl of slip,

A small sponge.

Take a good lump of clay, about four and a half pounds, well worked and free from air-bubbles. Beat out a piece with the flat of the hand on a table until it is about three-quarters of an inch thick and more than large enough to cover the bottom of the plaster mould you have chosen. It should be of even thickness, and may be rolled with a rolling-pin to make it smooth. Be sure that the plaster mould is clean and free from scraps of clay. Then dust it with powdered flint tied up in a cotton cloth. Now fit the flat piece of clay carefully into the bottom of the bowl mould, pressing it firmly, but lightly, against it. Cut the edge evenly around. Next a long rope of clay is rolled as described in