Part 9

The design having been traced on to the porcelain or china, you take the tube of color and uncork it with care. Squeezing out the color from the extreme bottom of the tube, you set about the tenth part of its contents on your glass palette, which should be extremely clean. Grind it with the palette knife, (of steel or of ivory, according to the color), for about a minute.

=Sketching In.= Is done with the finest pointed of your brushes, dipped lightly into the little bottle of spirits of lavender, then filled with a little of the color taken from the edge of the lump, turning the brush meanwhile between your fingers to get a fine point. It is better still to work with the color diluted with water, and with the addition of a little dextrine, which gives it the advantage of resisting the oils. Indicate lightly the nose, the mouth, the lachrymals a little, as well as between the fingers. It will be useless to efface this sketch.

You will then begin to paint the head, taking a larger brush to spread the color broadly and quickly. Still very little medium. Put a rather light local tint; while the color is still wet deepen the tone beneath the arch of the eyebrows, the cheeks, the extremity of the chin, and the parts to be shaded, taking care meanwhile to leave out the bright lights, or those reflected, which should remain of the first tint, in order that the shadows may give an appearance of roundness. Take next a small dabber, with a flat top, and holding it perpendicularly, dabble lightly before the color has time to dry. Soften and mix well the two tints, keeping them distinct the while.

Do the hair after the flesh tints have been laid on, toning the locks more or less. Here, however, no more dabber; on the contrary, the strokes of the brush must appear and mark the hair.

Pass on to the drapery, and wash in broadly the principal shadows with a still larger brush. It will be effective to preserve the white of the porcelain or china for the lights of the draperies. In the first painting, spirits of lavender are used, so that the color may dry less quickly. You must not be afraid to paint the drapery with large strokes of the brush, the effect is all the better for it. Above all, let there be no harsh or dry marks; in painting there are no marks, but shadows and lights.

Before retouching, the painting must be allowed to dry, and the medium to evaporate, and you must not work again on it unless, lightly placing the tip of your finger on the painting, you feel scarcely any dampness left; some, however, must remain, for the color would easily be removed by retouching, if it were in a pulverized state. The dessication can be hastened by heating, either at a lamp of spirits of wine, or in an oven; but you must wait until the work is quite cold again before resuming.

The first painting must be taken great care of, and kept very clean. While it is drying, it should be placed out of the reach of dust and damp; if it be a plaque, place it in a flat box with a proper lid to it, shutting hermetically.

M. Lacroix’s colors being perfectly well prepared, we will not dwell upon the disadvantages offered by the former badly ground colors. The inexperienced beginner used to put too much ‘fat,’ or too much spirits of lavender. In the former case the painting crazed in the firing; it was lost. With too much spirits of lavender the colors ran; fled in the firing. Therefore there must be no excess, but the three mediums must be used with management and discretion.

When you retouch your painting, before the first firing, you must model by retouching with flat tints, and you must do it very soberly, very lightly, not to remove what is underneath; work almost dry, that is, without much soaking the brush in the spirits of turpentine. If the color does not spread easily, the brush is wetted with the least possible quantity of oil of turpentine, a drop of which has been poured on the palette. Spirits of lavender are of no use for this second performance.

To finish the monochrome completely, it is necessary to stipple the shadows, using very little rectified spirits of turpentine. If the beginner will master thoroughly the shadows of the original, she will not find it more difficult to paint in monochrome than to reproduce a drawing either in black chalk or in stump; the brush will take the place of the stump or chalk: the only difficulty that can arise being in the use of the mediums, and in the lack of time for allowing the painting to dry.

I repeat it again, for it is of great importance, that with the colors of M. Lacroix one can work almost dry, once the palette has been set.

When the work is finished, it is submitted to the firing, either at home, (by the Gabelle process), or at a decorators. According to the result obtained, the parts which lack vigor are retouched.

In general few raised lights or reliefs are employed. Yet in accessories, they heighten advantageously the brilliancy of the painting. The paint for raised lights is taken from the palette in a particular way; the brush must lift up a lump of color at the point, that it may be laid on the easier. Raised lights are placed on small flowers, on jewelry, pearl necklaces, etc. A light in the eye is often marked with permanent white, but it should be used in great moderation, and placed at the second firing.

Photographs from casts, medals, bas-reliefs, afford excellent models for copying in monochrome painting. Copies of photographs on oval plaques are done with red brown, heightened with bitumen. Raphael’s female figures on plaques for sconces, are copied in light grey, retouched with brown grey, on a ground of very light carmine No. 1.

China Painting.

PAINTING THE HEAD IN COLORS ON PORCELAIN.

Set on the palette, at intervals of about an inch, some ivory yellow, yellow brown, flesh No. 1, flesh No. 2, light grey, brown 108, blue-green, and the other colors.

The drawing having been traced with chalk, you proceed to sketch it in, which should always be done in the same color as the object. For the flesh take some flesh No. 1 at the tip of your brush, and indicate very lightly the outline of the eyes, the nostrils, the corners of the mouth, and the ears; but above all, take care not to make a line all round the face, as the effect produced in the firing would be exceedingly bad. Paint likewise the face, the neck, and inside the fingers, but especially not on the side of the light, _which must detach itself by the local tint only_.

With the ivory knife mix one-third flesh No. 1 with two-thirds ivory yellow; this forms the flesh color for the local tint. Prepare also a little yellow brown for the reflected lights. These two tints are to be applied almost simultaneously, one next to the other. Commence always from the top of the head, and only when the sketched outline is dry, otherwise the local tint will remove it. This tint must be laid on very thin; apply it quickly with precision and without deviation of the brush, that is, without discontinuation of tint; look at the china sideways, and if the color is deficient in any place remedy that at once. Finally, the tints are made even by dabbing, and the flesh color is gently blended with the yellow brown by means of a very small fitch brush.

For faces high in color, yellow browns should be used with the reds, and some violet of iron.

While the first tint is still wet, and before dabbling, the flesh color should be strengthened with some flesh No. 1 beneath the arch of the eyebrows, the cheeks, and the lower part of the chin.

Cast shadows are commenced with yellow brown, and retouched with brown 108. Strong shadows are made of violet of iron, and the edges of blue-green and light grey.

Paint the lips with flesh No. 1, retouch with No. 2, but above all, let there be no outline either to the upper or to the lower lip, nothing but a soft, flat, pale tint, strengthened a bit for the shadow.

Blue eyes are made with sky-blue and a minimum of blue-green, retouched with blue-grey. Brown eyes, with yellow brown retouched with sepia or bitumen. The pupil, raven black. The sparkle is left white, or is laid on with a dab of permanent white.

Fair hair is begun with ivory yellow. The shadows are made with yellow brown, and brown 108 graduated, and they terminate with grey and bitumen.

Colored draperies are begun like the draperies in monochrome, a flat general tint touched up again at once with the same tint to give strength to the shadows. There is nothing prettier than pink drapery shaded with blue, and yellow shaded with pink or capucine red. White drapery is begun with an extremely light grey, mixed with green. Whites are reserved, that is, the greatest possible part of the china is left bare without paint to form the lights.

The beginner will do well if she paints a subject with several figures in it, to ascertain which colors throw back, and which bring forward. In the foreground, light colors; white, pink, light blue, lilac. In the middle ground, blue, green, purple and red are used. For the background there are dark blue, brown and dark green.

The ground is made with ivory yellow (for the lights), bitumen, grey, and a little violet of iron. Trunks of trees are begun with yellow-grey, greenish-grey, and bitumen.

The palette, set complete for figure subjects, includes the following colors: Chinese white, sky-blue, light sky-blue, dark blue, deep ultramarine Victoria blue, blue No. 29, (special for porcelain scales on earthenware), brown No. 3, bitumen, brown No. 4 or 17, yellow-brown, deep red-brown, sepia, light carmine A, carmine No. 2, deep carmine No. 3, light grey No. 1, grey No. 2, neutral grey, russet or warm grey, silver yellow, permanent yellow, ivory yellow, (47 of Sevres), yellow for mixing, (41 of Sevres), crimson lake, raven black, iridium black, yellow ochre, purple No. 2, crimson purple, deep purple, capucine red, flesh No. 1, flesh No. 2, deep flesh, orange red, grass green No. 5, brown-green No. 6, dark green No. 7, deep blue-green, deep chrome green, apple green, sap green, violet of iron, light violet of gold.

CHINA PAINTING.

STYLE OF BOUCHER, FLOWERS, FRUITS, BIRDS, AND LANDSCAPE ON PORCELAIN.

STYLE OF BOUCHER.

To paint the style of Boucher (Cupids) you begin by transferring your design on the china.

Then you sketch with flesh No. 1 the lines of the face, and the fingers and toes. When this sketch is dry, the reflected lights are marked with yellow-brown, mixed with ivory yellow.

The local tint of flesh color is laid on immediately after, the same as in the preceding lesson; the dabbling evens the two colors placed side by side, and blends them one into the other. Let it dry, then heighten by half a tone the extremities of the hands, feet, knees, etc. Sketch in the hair and accessories, the clouds and background, while the local tint is drying.

=Retouching.= When the first painting has lost nearly all its moisture, return to it again; work the shadows by stippling some brown No. 17, mixed with sepia, yellow ochre, light grey, and a touch of blue-green for the transparent parts. Where the flesh is brown, the reflected lights are made with yellow ochre throughout, and the scale of browns is more used. A touch of violet of iron warms up the shadows, and approaches nearer to Vandyke brown in oils.

=Flowers.= To paint flowers well it is necessary that the drawing should be exceedingly correct and sober in its lines, for the tints having to be very light and very pure, too many pencil marks would injure the painting. The little details of the petals are done with the brush, without previous tracing. The pencil must only mark the leaf’s contour and central vein; the direction of the brush strokes is enough to indicate the smaller veins.

A general rule for the manipulation of the brush in flower painting may be laid down thus: The handling is always done the way of the petals, converging towards the center.

=Leaves.= Each plant possesses a particular kind of leaf, and even in the rose the leaves of different varieties are not alike. Thus, for the leaves of the Bengal rose, a semi bright tint, a shiny appearance without many veins, the young shoots tinged with carmine, or else purple mixed with silver yellow. The king’s rose: the leaves of this rose are of a darker green than the preceding; they are done with grass green No. 5, the edges of the older leaves become somewhat russet, the young shoots light green. Red rose: the leaves deep green, heightened with brown, the veins dark green No. 7, the serrations carmine red, the fading leaves have a reddish brown hue. Yellow roses: shiny leaves inclining to blue-green, retouched with grey, mixed with grass green; the deeper tints made with dark green No. 7. Do not use this last color too freely.

Leaves have a direction, to paint them properly you must begin them from the top, that is, from the stalk end. Half the leaf is painted at a time, from the principal vein to the edge, making the brush twist in such a manner that the brushmarks and ridges done in the handling may represent the secondary veins. The leaves of bulbs are painted from the top downwards; so are the leaves of heartsease. The leaves of nasturtium are made almost of a flat tint, converging to the center, which is a light spot; their color is a very light blue-green, shaded with grey.

You must not be afraid to mix purple or carmine with green, to shade foliage.

=Fruit.= This style is done indiscriminately on porcelain, earthenware, enamel, and faience. It is very easy; the essential point is to match well the different shades of color, and to lay them one over the other while they are still wet. The softener flattens them and helps the tints to mingle. Leaves are not dabbled, nor are the stalks.

To describe in detail the manner of painting divers fruit would take too long, and would, in truth, have very little interest. We shall limit ourselves to one example.

PAINTING OF A PEACH. Flat yellow tints, graduated into green, and mixed with grey in the shadow. Dabble carefully. Be careful to add more oil to the red part, which is softened afterwards very easily with a dabber, and red blending freely with its neighboring color from the effect of the oil.

=Birds.= On faience birds look very well. They are also done on porcelain to imitate Saxony ware.

There is nothing particular to be said about bird painting. With regard to fancy birds, the merit consists in the servile copy of ancient and exotic types. Good examples of natural birds are not scarce. General information sufficient for the use of the colors will be found in our lessons.

=Landscape.= Landscape is not traced; it is drawn very lightly, so that the pencil may form no obstacle to the painting.

This is how the painting is proceeded with: On a square ground-glass slab of moderate size set your “palette” with green tints, in the following order: yellow for mixing, yellow ochre, apple green, grass green, chrome green, blue-green, brown-green, dark green, sepia, bitumen, violet of iron, etc. Take care to leave a space of about three-quarters of an inch between each color, in order to be able to mix them, for they ought not to be used pure; the effect would be bad and inharmonious.

Commence by the sky, using sky-blue and excessively light ultramarine; the lighter parts of ivory yellow, also very thin, and the distance blue green, with the slightest touch of carmine. Skies are to be done with a very large brush, and the mixing of blue and yellow, which would produce impossible green clouds, is to be avoided. Skies are worked from left to right; they are washed in very rapidly, covering also the place for the trees. A dabber may be used after.

The sky being dry, the trees are massed. Inasmuch as light tints would disappear in the firing if they were put beneath dark colors, fresh tints of apple green are commenced first, which are retouched or darkened at once before dabbling. When these tints have been laid and are dry, the foliage is done by manipulating the brush from left to right with little strokes close together, to imitate the leaves. Autumn tints are preferable to greens that are too bright. You obtain them by sepia and the ochres. _Trunks of trees_, light grey and sepia. _Branches_, bitumen. For strengthening touches use violet of iron.

_Houses_, ivory yellow mixed with grey; shadows, violet of iron. _Ground_, the lights of ivory yellow, and sometimes yellow ochre; shadows, bitumen; strong tints, brown mixed with black. _Water_ is done with very light blue-green, retouched with grey, and occasionally revived with fresher green to reflect grass or trees.

Strengthening touches are given at the second firing, and a glaze is passed over the tints altered in the first firing.

DIRECTIONS FOR PACKING DECORATED CHINA,

_When it has to be shipped away for firing._

Have the work _perfectly_ dry; if necessary, drying in oven, which may alter the color, but firing will restore that. Wrap each piece separately in fine paper, and pack in a box large enough to admit sufficient excelsior straw or paper to keep all steady, particularly the corners. Allow good layers at the bottom and top of the boxes. By sending directions in the box with the china, its prompt return is assured. In giving instructions with the china, be explicit as to pieces requiring gilding, and amount desired. Prices quoted on list refer to simple lines only. Gilding costs extra.

FIRING GENERALLY DONE TWICE A WEEK.

AVERAGE PRICES FOR FIRING DECORATIVE WARE.

1 Cup and 15, 20 and 25¢. Gilding inclu’d, 25, 30 & 35¢. Saucer,

6 Cup and (12 pieces), 75¢. Gilding inclu’d, $1.50 Saucer,

1 doz. Individ’l 50 to 60¢. Gilding inclu’d, 1.00 Butters,

Plates, single, 10 to 15¢. Gilding inclu’d, 20 to 25¢.

1 doz. Plates, $1.00 to $1.25 Gilding inclu’d, $1.50 to $2.00

Pitchers, 10, 15, 20, 25 and Gilding inclu’d, 20 to 50¢. 50¢.

Fruit Dishes, 25 to 50¢. Gilding inclu’d, 50 to 75¢.

Covered Dishes, 25, 50 and 75¢. Gilding inclu’d, 50¢. to $1.25

Placques, 10, 15, 20, 25 to 50¢. Gilding inclu’d, 20 to 75¢.

Tiles, 6×6 10¢.

Tiles, 8×8 15¢.

Plates Banded in any tint desired (Gilding inclu’d), per $3.00 doz.

Other pieces according to size and amount of Gilding.

Ladies who wish their China gilded must clean the edges of the same.

TERRA-COTTA PAINTING.

ENAMEL PAINTING ON TERRA-COTTA.

First outline with a lead-pencil the subject to be painted; if tracing is preferred, use tracing paper, and transfer the design upon the article, by means of a colored transfer paper. The terra-cotta is now immersed in water; when thoroughly saturated, take it out, and with a soft sponge absorb all the superfluous moisture. If, during the process of painting, some of the parts become too dry, moisten them with a flat brush dipped into water.

Have on hand a sufficient quantity of white enamel powder, and with a glass muller grind this upon a ground glass slab until perfectly smooth, with water, adding a little gum water (dissolved gum arabic), until it assumes the consistency of cream. Apply this to the surface to be painted, going over it a second time, so as to cover the tint of the ware. The enamel should be put on heavy enough so that it appears raised from the flat surface, being careful to spread it on very evenly, that none of the parts are coated lighter than others of the design. Enamel will stand firing several times, and such parts not brought out sufficiently can be restored by retouching the same, and subjecting the article to a second firing.

If the design is to be in natural colors, these are painted over the enamel after having been fired, proceeding in the same manner as in china painting. Some colors will bear mixing with the enamel before firing; in such case the dry enamel colors (China) are used, thoroughly mixed with the white enamel. Steel grey, neutral grey, blues and yellows are among the colors that bear mixing. The first three are best adapted for mottled or clouded backgrounds, if such are desired. The glaze contained in the colors and enamel when vitrified by firing, produce the effect of Limoges ware.

For ornamental work the relief enamel colors can be used successfully in the way of bead work, as well as in the entire design, they being already mixed in a powder state, consisting of about twenty-four different tints.

In doing larger pieces, where a quantity of color is used, the former instructions are to be preferred. If vases are decorated, intended for use, the inside should be washed with a mixture of enamel and color to give it a glaze, and thus prevent the outer decoration from being injured by the penetration of liquids.

Before taking the article to be fired, place it where it will become thoroughly dry, as it cannot be fired in a moist state. The Barbotine ware, which has lately come into the market, can be effectively decorated in the above manner.

OIL PAINTING ON TERRA-COTTA.

Upon terra-cotta of a light tint the design is drawn with a lead pencil; upon that of a dark tint, use the colored impression paper.

Place the article between piles of books, or fill a box with sand, and lay or stand it into this in the position required; see that the right arm rests upon an even plane with the article to be decorated.

A terra-cotta medium is made from a small quantity of gum arabic dissolved in water, to which is added a little syrup; go over the entire article with a flat brush dipped into the medium; when dry, repeat the wash. The article is now ready for the oil colors. Mix these with flake white, and use McGuilp instead of turpentine; lay the colors on fairly thick, and let them dry for some hours, then tint and finish with the colors necessary, without the flake white, but still using McGuilp. When finished and quite dry, varnish with best copal or mastic.

The artist should have at hand two or three fine oil brushes, a flat brush, and the necessary colors. Those being indispensable are the following: black, burnt light ochre, terra di sienna, Indian red, and flake white.

The artist is reminded that vases of antique shape look best when decorated in antique designs.

WATER-COLOR PAINTING ON TERRA-COTTA.

Outline or transfer the subjects as before mentioned. Moisten the terra-cotta, and absorb the superfluous moisture with blotting paper. Mix the colors with Chinese white, and use with them the terra-cotta medium already mentioned. For the blues, yellows, carmines, and the bright colors, coat the parts thickly with Chinese white, using plenty of medium; when quite dry, add the pure, bright colors. Wash them carefully over the white, mixed with medium, in order not to rub the latter up, which would lessen the effect. When finished and thoroughly dry, varnish with copal or mastic.

BURNING IN, OR MINERAL DECALCOMANIE.

A NEW AND BEAUTIFUL ART OF INSTANTLY TRANSFERRING PICTURES TO CHINA AND OTHER WARE TO IMITATE EXACTLY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PAINTING.