“Home would be happier were it not for the smell of turpentine,” said a lively girl as she found her grandmother, mother, and sister all hard at the plaques. It is true, this pungent liquid is necessary, and the china after being painted has to be baked—two very unpleasant accompaniments. But let us see how it is done.
One needs, first, a porcelain palette; a glass slab about eight inches square; several small and medium-sized camel’s-hair brushes; several blenders, large and small; a quart-bottle of spirits of turpentine; a quart-bottle of alcohol; a small bottle of oil of turpentine; one of oil of lavender; one of copaiba; a steel palette-knife, also one of horn or ivory; a rest for the hand while painting, made of a strip of wood about an inch and a half wide and twelve inches long, supported at each end by a foot an inch and a half in height. A flat ruler or thin strip of wood may be used for plates, or any flat piece having a raised edge, and may be found more convenient than the cumbrous rests. A fine needle, set in a handle, for removing particles of dust which may settle in the painting, and a small glass muller, are required.
The china used for decoration must be of the finest quality, and free from spots. The hard porcelain of French manufacture is the best for this purpose. The mineral paints bought in tubes (those of Lacroix, of Paris, being the best) are the colors which stand fire. Brushes, as for water-color painting, are used. Small camel’s-hair brushes with square ends may be had, which will do for blending when necessary in fine work.
In tinted surfaces and borders large blenders are necessary. The brushes used by gilders, and called “trade-gilders’ brushes,” make good blenders; No. 9 is a very useful size. In placing the color on these surfaces, a broad, flat camel’s-hair brush, rather more than an inch in width, should be used. In narrow bands and lines, brushes of suitable size with very long hair and square ends are employed.
The colors most in use are: dark carmine, flesh-red, capucine-red, dark red, brown, iron-violet. In purples—deep purple, dark golden violet. Blues—sky-blue, dark ultramarine, deep blue. Greens—grass-green, brown green, apple-green. Yellows—mixing yellow, ivory-yellow, jonquil-yellow, orange-yellow. Browns—dark brown, yellow brown. Black—ivory-black. Permanent white; pearl-gray; black gray.
Now, in commencing to paint a design on china, the first thing to be done is to sketch the outline. The best way to do this is to prepare the china by rubbing the surface with spirits of turpentine, and, after having left it a few minutes to dry, draw the design upon it very lightly with a hard lead-pencil. Alcohol may be used for the same purpose, and has the advantage that it is not so liable to catch the dust. The surface, however, does not receive the marks of the lead-pencil so well as when it is prepared with turpentine.
Lithographic crayon may be used, and without any preparation; but the outline is not so delicate as that drawn with the lead-pencil.
If the subject is a difficult one, as, for instance, a design containing several figures, time may be saved, and liability to error avoided, by tracing the design, which insures the correct relative position of the figures, and tends to produce the object desired—a correct copy of the original. It is better, however, to sketch simpler subjects direct on the china. It is commonly supposed that a tracing is of great assistance to any one unskilled in drawing; but if one is unable to draw a correct outline, it is hardly possible that the painting will be good. It is so very easy to lose the outline in working that, after all, a tracing is but a slight indication, which has for its principal use the placing of the design in exactly the right position on the plate or other object to be decorated.
There are various ways of tracing, the simplest and best of which is the following: Lay a piece of transparent paper over the design to be copied, and trace the outlines very carefully with a hard lead-pencil. Then turn the tracing-paper over on any white surface, and go over all the lines on the reverse side with a soft pencil. You can now lay the tracing right side up on the china, which has been previously prepared for the lead-pencil with turpentine, and having placed it in exactly the right position, secure it by means of bits of modeling-wax or gummed paper at the corners, and pass over the lines with a hard point, or rub the entire surface with a rounded instrument; the handle of the palette-knife may be used for this purpose. This will transfer the pencil drawing to the surface of the china.