Chapter IV: Part 4

=Transferring.= First get the outlines of the picture you wish to paint, by use of transfer paper, or in the following manner: Lay the picture upon the silk to receive the painting, and with a needle-point prick through the picture, following closely the outlines, until you have passed over the whole, holding it to its place with one hand—with the other rub over the perforated part a black powder or fine crayon. For this purpose use a piece of velvet, rubbing it sufficiently to pass the powder through the holes. On raising the picture you have the outlines of it left on the silk, which is now ready to receive the paints. This method is merely given to aid the beginner in getting started; those more familiar with painting can commence at once upon the silk, without the aid of transferring.

=The Painting.= Stretch your silk upon a board, and lay the board flat. After you have the outlines, proceed with fine pointed brush, the same as other fine painting. Do not place a brush full of paint upon the work at once, but use paint lightly at first, otherwise it may crack and harm the picture.

In painting on velvet, with oil, place such colors as are intended to be used, on blotting paper for a couple of days, until the paper absorbs the oil. This will leave the colors in better condition for this kind of work. Use colors lightly—a great deal of stippling is needed. For raised work, or what is sometimes called Kensington painting, use sugar of lead, with the colors as a medium.

* * * * *

N. B. Use for this painting the _English Oil Colors_, and mix with gold size or opaque mixture.

After the work is completed, if it looks dull, you can bring it out again by using the sicatif gently upon the surface.

STAINING WOOD
AND IVORY.

YELLOW. Diluted nitric acid will produce a fine yellow on wood; sometimes it makes a brown, and if used strong, it will be nearly black.

MAHOGANY COLOR Is produced by a mixture of madder, Brazil wood, and logwood, dissolved in water and put on hot. The proportions must be varied, according to the tint required.

BLACK. Brush the wood several times over with a hot decoction of logwood, and then with an iron lacquer; or, if this cannot be had, a strong solution of nut-galls.

RED can be made by a solution of dragon’s blood in spirits of wine. This stain is to be laid on the wood boiling hot, and before it dries it should be laid over with alum water.

BLUE. Ivory may be stained blue thus: Soak the ivory in a solution of verdigris and nitric acid, which will make it green, then dip it into a solution of pearlash boiling hot, and it will turn blue.

To stain ivory, black, the same process as for wood may be employed.

Purple may be produced by soaking the ivory in a solution of sal-ammoniac and four times its weight of nitrous acid.

TO PRODUCE A CRYSTALLINE SURFACE
_ON PAPER, WOOD AND GLASS_.

A concentrated solution of salt, acetate of soda, Epsom salt, etc., mixed with Dextrine in the cold, and laid on thinly as possible, with a broad, soft brush, and allowed to dry. The paper must be sized first, otherwise the formation of crystals will be irregular, on account of the absorption of the liquid. The coating on glass is rendered adhesive by brushing it with a solution of shellac in alcohol.

Colored glass arranged in this way makes a pretty transparency.

A beautiful adhesive coating of pearly lustre upon paper produces a very handsome card.

CHINA PAINTING.

PAINTING ON| CHINA, PORCELAIN, EARTHENWARE & ENAMEL.

Colors Used, and the Process of Burning them in.

At the present time this art is receiving a great deal of attention among the American people, and especially the intelligent class, who are taking every opportunity of informing themselves in regard to the plan of moulding the various ornaments for use, the art of decorating them, the particular kinds of paints used, and the operation through which they pass in the _burning in_ of the colors. It would be useless for me to attempt a book on art that would meet the wants of the people, and omit China Painting, which is gaining universal favor among the higher classes in eastern cities.

The art is applied directly to the ornamentation of the house, which makes it much sought after by ladies, who take pride in ornamenting their china and earthenware by the use of the _La Croix Enamel Colors_, which are arranged especially for this kind of painting.

After the paints are applied, the ware requires a certain amount of heat to fix the colors, and prevent it from being effaced by washing. Commence work by first

=Tracing the Drawing.= For tracing, details should be left out as much as possible, or at any rate indicated soberly.

DIRECT OUTLINE. If the pupil can draw well, she will outline her subject lightly on the object she wishes to paint, directly, without tracing, by means of a lithographic pencil.

TRANSFERRING. When you want to make a minute and complicated drawing, you are obliged to transfer, to avoid getting double lines on the china.

Before transferring, prepare your piece of ware as follows: Pour three drops of alcohol on the plaque or white plate intended for decoration.

It is very easy to trace on a perfectly flat surface. We shall mention several ways.

FIRST METHOD. _Tracing by Rubbing._ After having traced from the engraving, or original model to be reproduced, the outline of your subject (figure, ornament, or landscape), with one of the lithographic pencils, you reverse the tracing over a sheet of white paper, and go over the outline again very carefully with the same pencil; this being done, prepare your piece of china with medium as we have just described. The vegetal tracing paper is then fixed, by means of little lumps of modeling wax, on the exact spot the subject is to occupy; and when that is done, you have only to rub all over the outline with an ivory knife, to make the lead that is on the vegetal tracing paper convey itself distinctly on to the previously prepared oiled enamel.

SECOND METHOD. _Tracing with a Tracing Point._ Take either black, blue, or carmine transferring paper, according to the tint of the painting that is to be done. The carmine gives all security for the success of the painting; it does not soil it. When the piece of paper has been rubbed with carmine from a soft crayon, after taking great care to remove what is superfluous it is cut to the size of the subject, or rather to that of the space you are to paint on.

To make sure of tracing on the exact spot, you must draw a horizontal line in the middle of your drawing, one also in the middle of the tracing paper, and one as well on the porcelain, with crosses and letters to each end as landmarks; two crosses marked A and B on the horizontal line of the enamel, and + + _a b_ on the horizontal line of the tracing paper. The piece is _prepared_ with oil of turpentine or spirits of wine. At the end of two or three minutes you place your drawing on the porcelain in accordance with the marks + + _a b_, taking care to place the middle lines one on the top of the other, _a_ on A, and _b_ on B; you fix the vegetal tracing paper by means of small bits of gummed paper, or else with little balls of modeling wax; the sheet of tracing paper being quite firm, you slide beneath it the piece of paper rubbed with carmine, blue, or black lead; you then take a porcupine quill with a fine point, and without leaning too hard you go over all the outline. You must be careful not to press your fingers on the drawing, for it often causes the deposit of powder to be of the same color as your transferring paper, which spoils the result and prevents careful painting. Before finishing all the work, lift up a corner of the overlying paper to see if the tracing does mark. It will be but an affair of habit to trace well, for it is by experiments frequently repeated that one comes to know exactly the amount of strength to be used so that the transferring paper may mark sufficiently. This paper lasts a long time, and improves as it grows old; you must prevent it from getting creased. For this, each time it has been used, it should be put away into a brown paper cover, wherein the tracing papers are also placed.

THIRD METHOD is by pricking the outline with small holes, and in making what is called a “Poncif.”

In a bottle containing alcohol the brushes and the dabbers are cleaned after each day’s work. To preserve these useful instruments it is indispensable never to leave any color in them; you must take care to wipe them well after this washing, and even to blow a little on them, to make the spirits of wine evaporate, for if any were to remain it would spoil the color and take away the painting already finished. With a few drops of spirits of wine, the most loaded palette can be instantaneously cleaned, and the driest painting can be effaced. For this reason I recommend that the little bottle of spirits of wine be kept always far away from you during your work; if a single drop were to fall on the painting, it would immediately smear and obliterate the work done.

Cleaning brushes with spirits of wine has to be done every day. From time to time a more thorough cleaning with soft soap is resorted to; the brushes are steeped in the soap, and are washed the next day only.

PORCELAIN AND EARTHENWARE.—COMPOSITION, USE AND MIXING OF THE COLORS.

GENERAL INFORMATION.

We borrow from M. Lacroix his classification of colors, which is very practical with regard to their employment in painting:

“CLASSIFICATION OF COLORS WITH RESPECT TO IRON.—Iron plays an important part in the composition of a great many enamel colors; for this reason I have taken it as a standard for my classification of colors into three groups.

“FIRST GROUP.—Colors that do not contain any iron: First, the white; secondly, the blues; thirdly, the colors from gold.

“A horn or ivory knife is preferable for the use of colors of this group.

“A glass muller is still better than knives.

“SECOND GROUP.—Colors with but little trace of iron. This group includes the yellows and greens, several of which colors contain iron in small quantities.

“Third Group.—Colors with an iron basis, or of which iron is one of the coloring parts: First, the reds, fleshes, red browns, and violets of iron; secondly, the browns, yellow browns, ochres, blacks and a greater part of the greys.”

The enamel colors usually designated by the name of iron colors are: All the browns; the greys, excepting platina grey; the blacks, minus iridium black; the ochres; the reds, and the violets of iron.

The enamel colors said to be with a golden basis are: The carmines; crimson lake; the purples, and the violets of gold.

TESTS.—The amount of flux added to the coloring oxides for the manufacture of enamel colors varies according to the color; this difference, joined to the diversity of the chemical elements, causes actions in the firing which may modify certain colors and even make them disappear entirely; it is said expressively that they have been _eaten up, devoured_ by the fire. We shall cite, as an example, the mixture of ivory yellow with carmine, as one of those which decompose in the firing. Other causes act likewise on enamel colors during firing; the intensity, more or less great, of the heat, the thickness, and the amount of oil in the color, the way it is used, etc.

In order to well understand the various influences, and to secure yourself against accidents, you must be continually making tests of the mixtures _yourself_; it is the only way to paint with safety.

It is indispensable for the test to be double, that is, on two small bits of precisely the same manufacture of china as the piece you wish to paint. The same mixture is made on both small pieces, they are both dried, and one only is fired in order to be able to judge what change is caused by the firing, by comparing it with the unfired test you have kept by you. Besides, you will be able to make sure of a satisfactory result by comparing your experiments with the test tiles and plates of fired colors.

Mixed colors should be stirred with the brush when used; without this precaution they would separate; light blue would rise on dark blue, yellow on green, ivory yellow on carnation.

Some hints follow which it will be advantageous to verify and to carry out by tests. They apply generally to painting on porcelain or earthenware for the ordinary muffle.

FUSIBILITY. Hard colors (those which require the greatest heat to make them fuse) spoil and often destroy those of a softer flux (that fuse more easily). The flux added by the manufacturer to the coloring oxide lightens the tint of the color; dark colors are therefore generally harder than light ones. In the palette of M. Lacroix the colors more fusible than the rest, although taking the same time to fire, are light sky-blue, light carmine A, pearl grey, warm or russet grey, and ivory yellow, all light colors.

THICKNESS. The tint of enamel colors get darker when you increase their thickness. But you must beware of doing it too much. Light and fusible colors used too thick, blister in firing; it is prudent to give them only a medium thickness.

You should apply in drops those colors only that are specially designed for the purpose; permanent white, permanent yellow, and relief. They hold on earthenware, but their use on porcelain is liable to failure.

MEDIUMS. Experience will prove that if too much oil of turpentine is added to the colors used, which is called adding “fat,” they will craze in the firing. Make some trials by exaggerating this fault. You will remark nevertheless that colors applied very thin, although with much “fat,” do not craze. The cracks caused in the firing, by the action of the resinous part of the oil, which evaporates and causes the white of the enamel to reappear, is called crazing.

CONDUCT OF THE WORK. It is very important in the first painting to use the most fusible light colors, and those most easily developed in the first firing, which is the strongest. Commence always on a lighter scale than the final tint, for in pottery painting any color made too dark in firing cannot be made light again. When the mixtures have produced, for example, some browns or russet hues which have not glazed in the first firing, the glazing is brought back by a little fusible light grey, applied before the second firing for retouches. These short general instructions will be resumed and developed in the following lessons.

SPECIAL INFORMATION CONCERNING PAINTING COLORS.

MODE OF USE—MIXTURES—CONCORDANCE OF ENAMEL WITH MOIST AND OIL COLORS,
AND THEIR USUAL TECHNICAL NAMES.

Whites, belonging to the first group. White is obtained by _permanent white_, (for high lights), and _Chinese white_, a color of very limited use in painting, it being preferable to keep the white of the china when possible.

Permanent white, alone or mixed with other colors for heightening, which is called _high light_, or _relief_, requires perfect grinding. It should be tried by repeated and well fired tests before using it for important works. It is lifted up with the point of the brush, and laid without spreading. It could not bear two firings; it is put at the second firing, which is always less powerful.

BLUES. (First group.) In his character as a chemist, M. Lacroix gives us, in his work already quoted, the general reason for excessive care in using blues. “All the blues, with very few exceptions, derive their color from cobalt.... As the mixture of cobalt and iron produces, proportionably, tints varying from light grey to black, it is well to take great precautions in painting when blues are used with reds, fleshes, browns and ochres. It follows as a natural consequence, that when you wish to have some beautiful shades of blue, you must avoid using brushes which have already served for one of the iron colors, and have not been properly cleaned.”

Blues are laid on in very thin coatings, particularly blue green.

Ordinary oil medium.

The first painting is but little loaded, and is shaded with the same tint in a second coating, added to grey in the last firing for the darkest parts.

Here are some notes on the concordance of enamel colors with oil colors and their usual names.

Sky Blue—sky blue.

Light Blue—light sky blue.

Blue Verditer—two-thirds ultramarine blue; one-third deep blue green. Slight oiling.

Barbeau Blue, or Smalt—Victoria blue.

Marine Blue (in oils)—half Victoria blue, half carmine No. 2.

Cobalt—deep ultramarine.

Prussian Blue—one-third dark blue; one-third Victoria blue; one-third ultramarine; a touch of grey No. 2; a very little touch of purple.

Indigo—dark blue; a touch of raven black.

CARMINES AND PURPLE. (First Group.) Carmines must be used very thin, lest they should turn yellow in the firing. You must put but little oil to avoid shrivelling. Never touch them with a knife; the brush must be sufficient. It is also recommended, when using purple, to fill the brush well and to turn it round and round to dissolve the little gritty lumps generally found at the opening of the tubes. When a pink color has had an addition of purple to it, spirits of lavender with a drop of oil of turpentine should be preferred to turpentine only.

All the carmines are shaded with the same tint. Purples are also used for strong shadows, and blues for reflected lights. If light tints or pinks are made with light yellows, these colors must not be spread one over the other, but side by side, otherwise the carmine tints would be injured. In the first painting, carmines and purples are to be laid on very light; it is only in the second firing that strengthening touches are made.

“When carmines are fired in the muffle at too low a temperature, silver takes the upper hand and the color has a dirty yellow tint; if, on the contrary, the temperature is too high, the silver shade is completely destroyed, and the carmine becomes lilac or violet, which explains the difficulty in firing carmines. The same thing takes place with purples, but in a considerably less perceptible degree, because of the shade being much darker and cassius being in a larger quantity.”—_A. Lacroix._

ENAMEL CARMINES AND PURPLES are equivalent to the oil colors of the same name.

Light Pink—Carmine A and carmine No. 1.

Deeper Pink—Carmine No. 2 with carmine No. 3.

Laky Red—Crimson lake.

Purple Lake—Carmine No. 1 and a touch of purple.

Peony Pink—Half ruby purple; half carmine No. 1.

Chinese Pink—Carmine No. 3; touch of ruby purple.

Lakes (in oils)—Carmines.

Crimson Lake (in oils)—Purples.

Red Purple—Deep purple.

Crimson—Crimson purple.

LILACS AND VIOLETS. (1st group, except the violet of iron, which belongs to the 3d group.) The same precautions are required in using lilacs as for carmines.

Lilac—Half carmine No. 1; half sky-blue; a touch of carmine No. 3.

Mauve—Half carmine A; half ultramarine.

Magenta—Two-thirds carmine No. 3; one-third deep ultramarine; a touch of ruby purple.

Violet—Light violet of gold.

Deep Violet—Deep violet of gold.

Light Pansy—Light violet of gold, with a touch of deep ultramarine.

Deep Pansy—Deep violet of gold, sustained more or less and with an addition of ultramarine.

REDS. (3d group, except the purples.) Red, a predominant color, is nearly always used alone. Thus, the reddish tips of green leaves are obtained by placing the red next the green, but not by putting it over. With the dark colors, on the contrary, it is red that disappears.

Chinese vermilion in oils has an equivalent tint in coral for porcelain applied thin; backgrounds are made of it, but it would be risking a great deal to use it in painting, on account of its extreme sensibility in firing; besides, it suffers no mixing. Scarlet vermilion is approached by adding a touch of flesh No. 1 to capucine red, and laying on this mixture in a moderate thickness.

Capucine Red—Capucine red.

Poppy Red—Half capucine red; half deep purple. A satisfactory result is obtained only at the third application of this mixture, which loses at each firing.

Madder—Capucine red; a touch of purple and of carmine No. 3.

Gules (in heraldry)—Capucine red and a touch of purple.

Venetian Red (in oils)—Violet of iron (third group).

YELLOWS. (Second group.) Certain yellows greatly destroy the colors mixed with them, and even make them disappear entirely. This disadvantage is perceived when too much ivory yellow is mixed with red, or when that yellow is placed abundantly over other colors.

“The yellow called silver yellow contains no silver; it is composed of jonquil yellow and orange yellow. Yellows that contain no iron (yellow for mixing and jonquil yellow) are generally preferred for making fresh greens. On the other hand, for mixing with iron colors, yellows that contain already this metal are used.”—_A. Lacroix._

Light yellows scale very easily; the dark yellows, being less fusible, need to be used moderately thin in the first painting, for the first fire develops them; at the second firing they increase in depth, and if they are too heavily loaded they cannot be made lighter again.

Avoid using yellows next to blues, which would produce a green tint. For the centers of blue flowers, which necessitates some yellow, the place must be well scraped before putting the color.

Permanent yellow, (half white and half yellow for mixing), serves for placing lights in drapery and yellow flowers, as well as high lights in ornaments.

Lemon Yellow—Yellow 47 of Sevres, with a touch of silver yellow.

Golden Yellow—Half silver yellow; half jonquil yellow.

Saffron Yellow—Two-thirds ivory yellow; one-third flesh No. 1; a touch of capucine red.

Salmon—Two-thirds ivory yellow; one-third flesh No. 2; a touch of carmine No. 3.

Straw Color—Yellow for mixing, used very lightly.

Yellow Lake—Yellow for mixing.

Dark Chrome Yellow—Silver yellow; a touch of jonquil yellow.

Light Chrome Yellow—Jonquil yellow.

Indian Yellow—Half jonquil yellow; half ochre.

Naples Yellow—Ivory yellow.

Orange Yellow—Orange yellow.

Maize—Half ivory yellow; half orange yellow.

GREENS. (Second group.) For foliage it is well to remember that dark tints placed in advance of light ones destroy the latter in the firing.

All the greens, whether in foliage or in drapery, can be shaded with browns, reds, and carmine tints.

By painting over for the second fire, foliage can be made purple or bluish.

Dark green, being very powerful, should be used with caution.

The blue-greens are used for the distance, but then excessively light; they are tinted with capucine red for the horizon.

Emerald-stone Green—Emerald-stone green.

Water Green—Half apple green; half deep blue-green.

Veronese Green—One-third apple green; one-third chrome green; one-third emerald-stone green.

Malachite—Apple green; a touch of emerald-stone green.

Blue-green—Deep blue-green.

Dark Green—Two-thirds chrome green 3 B; one-third dark green.

Bottle Green or Sap Green—Sap green.

Emerald Green—Two-thirds blue-green; one-third emerald-stone green.

BROWNS. (Third group.) The artistic browns for china which steady painters prefer, are vigorous browns, fresh when mixed, and resisting well the action of the fire, but which have not the brilliancy of the less coloring browns.

The warm browns in oils exist for china. The deep red brown and mixtures of violet of iron and of laky red correspond to the red browns.

Golden Brown—Golden brown.

Vandyke Brown—It is impossible to obtain it exactly. The nearest approach would be by mixing brown 108 with violet of iron.

Raw Sienna—Sepia.

Orange Mars—Uranium yellow and a touch of purple.

BLACKS. (Third group.) The blacks in oils are represented in the palette for pottery by raven, ivory and iridium black, which answers all purposes.

If these blacks fail, others can be composed by mixtures of simple colors, as dark reds and dark blues. It would be better to operate in two firings to avoid crazing.

The use of iron reds is not admitted on soft paste; the blacks are to be made with iridium black, which is ready made, or with purple and dark green. It is rare that black is needed for subjects painted on soft paste. It is sometimes used in decoration for surrounding ornaments with a line, but seldom for backgrounds, excepting on decorative vases of a certain style.

GREYS. (Third group.) A grey of some kind is always obtained by mixing complementary colors; reds with greens, or yellows with violets, violet being a combination of carmine and blue.

The greys obtained by mixing greens, ready made or composed, with carmine or purple, as required, are very frequently used by flower painters.

Experience on this subject can only be acquired by continual trials.

Dove Color—Dove color.

Ash Grey—Light grey used lightly, and a touch of sky blue.

Pearl Grey—Pearl grey No. 6.

Russet Grey—Warm grey.

Brown Grey—Grey and sepia.

MONOCHROME PAINTING ON PORCELAIN OR EARTHENWARE.

INSTRUCTION.

We now come to painting. Begin on porcelain by a plate, and on earthenware by a tile. If the pupil has had no practice either in water colors or in oils—if, in a word, has no idea as yet of setting a palette, undertake first a monochrome, that is to say, a painting done with one color only, heightened by one or two other tones.

Monochromes are made in the following tints: Grisailles, green, blue-green, blue, violet of iron, carmine, purple capucine red, sepia, red brown, bitumen.

Deep red brown and violet of iron are the two colors easiest to be used.

Grisaille Monochrome: Light grey No. 1, touched up with brown grey.

Greys Nos. 1 and 2; mix a little carmine No. 1 to warm up the tints.

On porcelain the bodies of cupids are often done in grisaille, with a little carmine at the extremities.

Green—Emerald-stone green and deep green.

Blue-green—Blue-green, touched up with the same color.

Blue—Deep ultramarine; dark blue; permanent white. Or common blue, shaded with itself; any other blue would spoil it.

Violet of Iron—Violet of iron, and the same with a grey tint.

Carmine—Light carmine A; deep carmine No. 3.

Purple—Deep purple, strengthened by the same tint placed at the second firing.

Capucine Red—Capucine red: orange red; sepia. Or orange yellow and capucine red in juxtaposition; the capucine red touched up with red brown.

Sepia—Sepia touched up with the same shade.

Red Brown—Orange yellow for light and distant tints; the foreground deep red brown. Or deep red brown heightened with bitumen. Or else deep red brown and sepia.

Bitumen—Yellow brown; brown No. 3 bitumen; brown No. 4 or 17.

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.

Decalcomanie has now been successfully before the public for a number of years. The above is still a later invention, and never before brought to the market. It has long been a question whether the durability of a transferred article, particularly on glass, porcelain, china, etc., could not be improved upon. This has at last been accomplished, and the choicest designs are now likewise printed with mineral or china colors, thus meeting a demand often made. Articles ornamented in this manner, and after going through the regular process of burning in, will be found as durable and impossible to deface as those painted by hand from the celebrated potteries of Europe. By this, the art of Decalcomanie is brought to perfection.

DIRECTIONS.

1. Place the mineral subject which you wish to transfer (about ten to fifteen minutes before being used), between some blotting paper slightly moistened. The object of this is to give flexibility to the paper, which thus moistened will give itself easy to the object, either concave or convex, on which you desire to transfer.

2. Cover the object to be decorated with a coat of Vitrifiable Varnish, about the size of the design, with a flat camel’s-hair brush; leave it to dry a few minutes, that is, until the varnish is nearly dry, and be careful to lay on the varnish as thin and even as possible, nor leave any spots bare. The varnish may be applied to the picture instead of the ware.

3. Press the picture on in a uniform manner, and rub at first with a clean piece of linen, then, with the handle of a tooth brush, or ivory handle of an infant’s brush, or any smooth article suitable in shape, rub constantly for several minutes, until the entire paper assumes a polished appearance.

4. Place the transferred object in a pail of water, until the paper detaches itself, or can be removed without any difficulty.

5. Pass gently a soft brush, dipped in water, over the transferred picture, in order to remove the preparation off the paper. Press down the blisters of the picture with a soft pad made of silk or linen, instead of the above manner, if preferred.

6. Now lay aside the decorated article for twenty-four hours, to get thoroughly dry, and be careful in keeping it out of the dust.

This being all done according to directions, your work is now ready for being _burnt in_ by the furnace. The _burning in_ process for which the work is now waiting, is only to be accomplished in a _china burning establishment_.