■WMWWIirilWtWIH^ The Art of Enameling on Porcelain Dorothea Warran O'H&ra :S - :;^i«i5ti6wiSi -- i>%tH<«n«!»i£ai^iaMte CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FINE ARTS LIBRARY CORNELL UNrVEHSITV LIBRARY 3 1924 074 430 293 The ART OF ENAMELING ON PORCELAIN By DOROTHEA WARREN O'HARA Copyrighted 1912. By Dorothea Warren O'Hara. All rights reserved. CONTENTS. PREFACE. CHAPTER I — Introduction CHAPTER II— Soft Enamels CHAPTER III Hard Enamels CHAPTER IV— Flat Enamels CHAPTER V— Mixing Enamels CHAPTER VI— Application of Enamels CHAPTER VII— Outlining Enamels CHAPTER VIII— Firing Enamels Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924074430293 jsroHaha- PREFACE. The aim of this book is to help the Keramic Decorators of America, by presenting a correct kmd of decoration by which even the young student can express some beauty with comparatively small effort. Few Keramic workers are within easy reach of museums or even good books or photographs to develop the thought and fine feel- ing so essential to good work. They are struggling along, doing elaborately atrocious things, because the right thing has never been presented to them. This class of workers I am especially eager to help, not by go- ing into the history of enameling on porcelain, nor by giving formulas for making enamels (the libraries are full of such knowledge), but by suggesting a practical, artistic way of decorating our American china, and also the china brought into this country, with enamels which are very easily procured. The numerous illustrations should be very helpful in showing ways of using enamels. Some of the illustra- tions are copies and photographs of the best examples of old Chinese and Japanese enameling on porcelain to be found in this country or in Europe, while the others are good examples of present-day work. Dorothea Warren O'Hara, 132 East 19th Street, New York City, September, 1912. -'"oiraiwiiiimipji^jiiji)* BELLEEK CRACKER JAR, NO. 1. This jar is from Lenox Incorporated, Trenton, N. J., after original draw- ing by Mrs. Dorothea Warren O'Hara. Decoration: Five panels, with bell shape flower in pot. Colorings: Brown, Green and Lavender. Outlining and scribble done in Dark Brown color. Second fire a light tint of Dark Brown color was put over scribble. Flower pot: Brown Enamel. Leaves, Green Enamel, No. 2. Flowers: Lavender Enamel and Dull Violet Enamel. This design copyrighted 1912 by Dorothea Warren O'Hara. 6 I. INTRODUCTION. Every ceramic decorator knows something about enamels, but the knowledge of really good enameling on porcelain is a compara- tively unexplored field to us. In ancient times the process of enamel decoration on porcelain was earned to a very high state of perfection. The old Chmese cre- ated masterpieces of ceramics which are unsurpassed to-day, and we are told that these wonderful old enamelers had neither our scientific knowledge nor our resources for pure chem.ical products. However limited their material resources, their patience and perseverance, which we seem in this age not to possess, over-balanced all else. Sir George C. M. Birdwood in "The Industrial Arts of India" speaks of enameling as the Master Art Craft of the world. This broad assertion includes cloisonne, champleve and painted enamels, both on porcelain and metal. Cloisonne and champleve are essentially goldsmiths' devices and should not be confused with artistic enameling on porcelain. The old Chinese themselves considered metal a far less noble object for the art of the enameler than porcelain. The metal body however thin, gives out a metallic ring when struck instead of the clear, musical note which distinguishes porcelain. It is the painted enamels on porcelain with which we have to deal. The term painted enamel is misleading, as the enamel is really floated on and not painted on, but the expression "painted enamel" has come to be used to distinguish it from cloisonne and champleve. What I have said here relative to painted enamels should not be confused with the Limoges enamels of the sixteenth and seventeenth 7 PORCELAIN BOTTLE, NO. 2. Decoration: Plum Blossoms. Mei Hua Fing Period, South Kensington Museum. centuries, or the old Battersea enamels, both of which were carried over to China and are now spoken of as Canton enamels. These enamels were shaded up and worked over until they lost rank as decorative art. They were stigmatized by the Chinese, from the very first, as foreign art, and never took firm root in their country. The good ex- amples of pamted enamel, which are numerous, compare favorably with the old cloisonne and champleve enamel in the splendid decora- tive quality and effect which result from subordinating the pictorial to the decorative character. Painted enamel is a spontaneous, direct kind of work, with or without outline, which every ceramic student can accomplish in his own little studio without all the laborious work of making enamels out of ore as the Orientals were obliged to do. Nowadays the most superior products can be purchased by every- one. Enamels beautiful in color, rivaling the old Chinese pinks, blues, early Egyptian Turquoise and Persian glazes. Also enamels to suit the different kinds of wares, which is most essential as there should always be a perfect agreement existing between the glaze and the enamel. We have so much at hand to produce good work! Think of the lovely soft glaze wares our American potteries are turning out! Could anything be quite so appropriate as an enamel decoration for Belleek? The creamy glaze affords many ways of expressing great beauty by the application of enamel. Backgrounds may be floated in low relief with design in high relief, large bold flower designs with successive applications of enamel raising the design very high, or dainty little borders with gold dotted backgrounds. Graceful tea BELLEEK TEA SET, NO. 3. Decoration : Hanging baslcets of flowers. Baskets : Dark Blue Enamel. Flow- ers ; Pink Enamel, Xo. 2; Deep Pink Enamel, Light Yellow Enamel, Turquoise Blue Enamel, and Lavender Enamel. Leaves: Green Enamel, No. 1, and New Green Enamel. Tint: Dorothea Blue. This design copyrighted 1912 by Dorothea Warren O'Hara. 10 sets with hanging baskets of fruit and flowers, all worked out with enamels, in fact there is no end to the beautiful ways of using enamel. Those of us who are situated so we can see fine examples in the Museums and elsewhere are fortunate indeed and should hesitate for that reason, if for no other, before using the kind of decoration some of us do. In one of Mr. Lewis F. Day's text books, "The Application of Ornament," he speaks of this very kind of decoration as being the only kind at which to aim. In the chapter "Where to stop in Orna- ment," he says: "However limited the resources of an art, a man knows them, or should know them, when he takes it up. Besides, every medium has its inherent advantages as well as its limits, and it is these which should be turned to account. There is a liquid and trans- parent quality in water-color, which every water-color painter wishes he could retain beyond the wet stage of his picture. This is just what the china painter can get, without the least trouble, by simply floating on his color with a full brush. Surely, then, that is the kind of thing to aim at, when it is within easy reach; instead of fidgeting it, or stippling it, or dabbing it with cotton wool, to the dull evenness so dear to the commercial mind; or otherwise laboriously seeking effects more easily and much better produced by other means. That loose, juicy, pot-like look is more valuable in ceramic painting than any degree of mere finish, and should be valued accordingly." This idea of ceramic decoration can be carried out to perfection with these enamels. But before we can express the highest quality of work let us take the trouble to get behind, as it were, the obvious, to what after all is the real thing. 11 HEXAGONAL PORCELAIN LANTERN, NO. 4. Decorated in Faniille Rose Enamels. Salting Collection. South Kensington Museum. 12 II. SOFT ENAMELS. The secret of good enamel work is to choose an enamel which suits your glaze. Soft enamels belong to the soft glaze wares, such as Satsuma, Belleek, English China, soft German China, etc., etc., and may be raised m relief as high as desired with the feeling of true appropriateness if used on the chinas with which they agree. Good results with soft enamels have been accomplished by very young students proving that a simple direct method is conducive to better decoration in our studios. Soft enamels may be floated in high relief for one fire, if the technique has been mastered, otherwise the floating will be nicer by the second application. This is especially true in the case of large backgrounds or big flower designs. For example. No. 5, the Sat- suma box with the large white flower, was raised in relief by four applications of enamel. White enamel has always been more difficult to raise in high relief than any of the colored enamels, this difficulty has been entirely overcome by the preparation of a tough, elastic enamel to be used as a foundation for the soft enamel. Reamhite No. 2 is a tough cream white enamel and is very desirable as a founda- tion for the soft Reamhite, No. 1 . By the use of these two enamels this can be accomplished with perfect safety. As soft enamels on soft glazes may be fired a number of times, there is really no reason for turning out a bad piece of soft enamel work. 13 SATSUMA BOX, NO. 5. Reamhite Enamel, Xo. 2, was used for flower for first fire. Reamhite Enamel, No. 1, for second fire. Dull Yellow Enamel for center. Blue Green Enamel for bands and leaves. Satsuma color used for tint. This design copyrighted 1912 by Dorothea Warren O'Hara. 14 Untidy work can be cleaned up and brought out by re-outlining. If your color harmony has been lost or your design does not hold together, an envelop of color will serve to fix up the work. Sometimes lovely effects are produced by these tones of color: — Warm gray, Satsuma, yellow gray, gray green, or any of the neutral colors are desirable for this purpose. A safe medium to mix color for toning over enamels is Warren's Painting Medium. Soft enamels may be shaded with color; the center of a flower shaded, or a flower made deeper, also leaves may be shaded with a little violet or ruby if they seem too bright when they come from the kiln. Care should be taken not to be led astray, as one can carry this shading too far and bring perspective into the design and also pro- duce a labored appearance which destroys the real beauty of enamel decoration. But if the shading is done sparingly and artistically, it sometimes enhances the beauty of the design. Fine effects are obtained with the soft enamels by floating one color over another and firing hard enough to bring the under color up. For example, green enamel No. 1 , floated into a background and dark blue enamel floated on after the green has been fired will pro- duce a wonderfully beautiful effect, the green coming up in form of crystals. A coat of green luster over the whole gives a charming dull effect. Soft enamels on soft glazes are less difficult to handle than hard enamels on hard glazes. This makes it advisable for students to select soft glaze wares to work on until all fear of enamels being so difficult to use successfully, is overcome, and you are the master of the ma- terials. 15 BELLEEK VASE, NO. 6. This vase is from the New Jersey Pottery Co. ( WiUett's), of Trenton, N. J. After original drawing by Mrs. Dorothea Warren O'llara. Decoration : Five hanging baskets of fruit and leaves, with small sprig design in panels. Leaves: Green Enamel, No. 2. Pineapple: Persian Red Enamel. Large Apples: Dark Yellow Enamel. Dark Apples: Rhodian Red. Small apples in back: Dull Yellow Enamel. Small sprigs : Persian Red Enamel and Green Enamel, Xo. 2. Small dark panels at top : Persian Red Enamel, with centers of Dark Yellow. Baskets and bands of gold. This design copyrighted 1912 by Dorothea Warren OTTara. 16 III. HARD ENAMELS. Hard enamels are made to fit hard glazes such as hard French, or German chma, etc. They should be applied thinly to produce a liquid, transparent effect. If applied m high relief, a fine sense of fitness will be lost. Low relief and even very flat enamel is much more artistic on hard glazes, especially for table ware. Intuitively, one should feel the inappropriateness and loss of fineness of enamel in high relief, on a hard glaze. Enamels on hard glazes will not always stand repeated firing. This limitation prohibits the same amount of freedom one has with soft enamels on soft glazes. But perhaps this very limitation is for our good. Some of us might be tempted to pile the enamel up until it becomes pasty and loses all semblance of beauty. Let us aim at precisely what the limits of hard enamel will allow us to do and not waste our energies by striving after something im- possible and even ugly, by going beyond the boundaries of this field of the most fascinating kind of ceramic decoration. 17 FRENCH CHINA BOWL, NO. 7. Decoration: Sprig and panel design of apple blossom. Blossom and leaves in panel and inside band done in Sevres Blue Enamel. Background, inside band leaves and stems of sprigs, done in Rouen Blue Enamel. Sprig blossoms : Sevres Blue Enamel, The center of all the blossoms done in Dull Blue Green Enamel. This design copyrighted 1912 by Dorothea Warren O'Hara. IS IV. FLAT ENAMELS. The term Flat Enamel means a color made translucent by add- ing glaze. These glazes are soft enamel bodies, and when mixed with color and applied thinly, produce a liquid quality which has the effect of under-glaze, and is very desirable for hard glazes. The proportion of glaze added to color varies according to color. Some colors are more transparent than others and naturally require less glaze, but the general rule is to add one part glaze to four parts color. Waterloo glaze is the softest of all the glazes and can be used with all colors. The usual amount of this glaze to color is one part glaze to five parts color. As Waterloo glaze is a light blue gray violet in color it has a tendency to give a little tone of gray to all the color with which it is mixed. This is very desirable for many things, but when a clear yellow, pink, blue or green is wanted, the glaze to match the color should be used. Many lovely old-fashioned pinks are made from ruby. A quaint old magenta pink, made with five parts ruby and one part 19 APPLE DESIGN, NO. 9. This design copyrighted, 1912, by Dorothea Warren O'Hara. 20 Waterloo glaze is useful with dull blues and greens in doing little sprig designs such as example No. 8. Example No. 9. The plate with the little apple design was carried out in flat enamels. Albert yellow for the light apple, yellow brown for the dark apples and apple green for the leaves and inside band. Royal blue for the little mounds, and the band on edge. To the yellow, yellow brown and apple green, soft yellow glaze was added as follows: one part glaze to four parts color. To the Royal blue, Waterloo glaze was added as follows: one part glaze to four parts color. Dainty, refined designs should be selected for flat enamel as the enamel is applied very thmly and is not an appropriate medium for working out heavy designs with backgrounds. SPRIG DESIGN, NO. 8. .^1 SOFT GLAZE JAPANESE BOWL, NO. 10. Old Egyptian Turquoise Enamel for flowers. Dark Blue Enamel for leaves and bands. This design copyrighted 1912 by Dorothea Warren O'Hara. 22 V. MIXING ENAMELS. Place your enamel on a very clean ground glass slab. Add enough Warren's enamel medium to gather together, and thin with a good quality of turpentme (observe that the turpentine is not oily), fat oil which comes from turpentine often causes the enamel to blister. Some enamelers use fat oil to gather the enamel together and thin out with turpentine. This is not a good method. The applica- tion of enamel mixed in this way is much more difficult and nothing like as safe. For this reason I recommend the above named medium. Dresden thick oil and fat oil are dangerous oils for a beginner. Great care should be taken in the mixing of enamels. A person who puts no thought into his work is most likely to have his enamels come from the kiln blistered from oily turpentine, or full of pit holes from too little grinding, and then wonder why his enamels are not good, when he has not even made sufficient effort to see that his slab, palette knife and muller for grinding are clean and free from lint. Enamel should be ground until creamy. It is much easier to float when thoroughly ground and certainly looks better when fired. After your enamel has been floated on, if it seems inclined to run, you have used too much enamel medium, or your turpentine is oily. Your remedy is to add more enamel, and be sure your turpentine is fresh. Enamel should look dull a few minutes after it has been applied, showing it has begun to dry out. If it retains the highly glazed ap- pearance it had when first applied, you have not mixed it properly. A little experimenting may be necessary before sending your work to the kiln. The use of plenty of good quality turpentine is always ad- visable and enough enamel medium to have your enamel flow freely from your brush and not dry so quickly that you are unable to float it on with care because of the hurried feeling that it is getting dry. If we do not exercise these precautions we should not expect proper results. SATSUMA CRACKER JAR, NO. 11. Decoration : All-over pattern. Flowers : Reamhite, No. 1 Enamel for light part ; Lavender Enamel for dark part, and Light Yellow Enamel for center. Leaves : Brown Enamel. Background: Blue Green Enamel. After firing for last time the jar was soaked in the strongest black tea for four days to bring out the crackle of the Satsuma, and to also give it a very old appearance. It is recommended by some that Satsuma, should be boiled for several hours, but experience teaches that better results are attained by soaking for several days. This design copyrighted 1912 by Dorothea Warren O'Hara. 24 VI. APPLICATION OF ENAMEL. The technique of floating enamel is simple when one under- stands that enamel is not painted on but really FLOATED on with a full brush. A Japanese enameler once said, "Floating enamel is just a little trick," and so it is, but nevertheless it sometimes takes suc- cessive efforts before it can be acquired. A No. 1 or No. 2 china outlining brush is a desirable brush for most work. A large brush may be used for large backgrounds. Enamel should be taken up with the point of the brush and floated gently over the china. A short, wavy stroke is best. I will endeavor to show the technique by filling the little square with short, wavy lines to illustrate the movement of the brush. Do not permit your brush to get clogged with enamel ; wash it thoroughly every little while and you will be able to take up a full brush of enamel each time and have it flow smoothly from the brush, that is, if your enamel is kept thinned out to the creamy mixture. 25 SOFT GLAZE JAPANESE BOWL, NO. 12. Large flower, background of panels, and background of inside band, done in Dark Blue Enamel. Flower in panels and inside band, as well as center and rim of large flower, done in Pink Enamel, No. 1. Leaves: Green Enamel, No. 1. This design copyrighted 1912 by Dorothea Warren O'Hara. 26 VII. OUTLINING ENAMELS. Some of the most beautiful enamel work is done without outline, that is to say, a fired-in outline. To be sure, the design may have been planned with pencil or pale India ink, which fired away. Lovely little sprig designs and bold free thmgs are put in in this way work- ing quickly and directly. Geometrically conventional designs should be well outhned if you wish them to stand out from the background. Good outlining is absolutely essential to good enamel work. Conversely, it is quite natural to suppose that poor outlining results in poor work and would spoil the most beautiful enamel work possible to be done. Your design should be perfectly outlined with OUT- LINING BLACK and fired before floating in the enamels. If your enamel has run over the outline in places, fix it up before sending it to the kiln. The outlining black should be gathered together with Warren's Painting medium (not enamel medium) and thinned with turpentine. A drop of Warren's Outlining Medium should be added, especially if the outlining is to be done with a pen. This medium keeps the color open and makes it flow freely from the pen. 27 SMALL FRENCH CHINA FERN DISH, NO. 13. Decoration : Flower in pot. Flat Enamels. Flower pots, narrow panels and tendrils, done in Royal Blue color and Turkish Blue color mixed in ecjual parts, with one-fifth Waterloo Glaze added. Flowers : Dark Yellow color, four parts, and one part Soft Yellow Glaze mixed. Leaves ; Yellow Green color, four parts, and one part Blue Glaze. This design copyrighted 1912 by Dorothea Warren O'Hara. 28 VIII. FIRING ENAMELS. There are no great difficulties in successfully regulating the firing of enamels if one is clean and careful about stacking the kiln, and then watchful about turning the fire off at the right time. Soft enamel should not be fired higher than a gold heat, if ap- plied thinly, otherwise the enamel loses by sinking into the glaze and will require another application of enamel to bring it out. 1 he higher soft enamel is raised in relief the more heat it requires. If soft enamel comes from the kiln dull and is not smooth to the touch, it is underfired and should be fired again. This time rather hard, as an underfired enamel needs more heat to bring it out than it would require, had it not been underfired. Soft enamels on soft glazes may be fired a number of times with- out fear of chipping off, but after the third fire they lose some in bril- liancy. Three applications of enamel should be enough to raise any design as high in relief as any one should care to have it. Hard enamels require a good gold heat if they are to be fired but once. If you wish to tone with color or add more enamel you should rather underfire until the last fire to prevent chipping off, which some- times happens when the glaze is very hard. The cone system is good for firing enamels. There is a cone for soft enamel, which is gold heat and a cone for hard enamel which 29 SIX SIDED BELLEEK BOWL, NO. 14. This bowl is from Lenox Incorporated, Trenton, N. J., after original draw- ing by Mrs. Dorothea Warren O'Hara. Decoration: Basket of fruit. Baskets: Manchu Blue Enamel. Grapes: Green Enamel, No. 1. Pomegranite : Dark Yellow Enamel for outside. Manganese Enamel for inside, and Dark Yellow Enamel for seeds. Orange : Rhodian Red Enamel. Apple, Blue Green Enamel. Small apple liack of grapes: Dull Yellow Enamel. Large Apple : Dull Yellow Enamel. Leaves : Green Enamel, No. 1, and New Green Enamel. Small panels and top and bottom of bowl, in black color with little design of grape leaves, done in Green Enamel, No. 1, and New Green Enamel. This design copyrighted 1912 by Dorothea Warren O'Hara. 30 is a little more than gold heat. A hard enamel applied thinly really requires the same heat as a soft enamel applied in high relief. But the china painter who understands his kiln, the hot places and the cool places, does not need the cone system for accuracy. It might be well to state here that it is possible in this present day of progress to procure kilns equipped for either oil or gas that have perfectly even distribution of heat and the china decorator, whether working in enamels or not, can make no better investment than to ob- tain such a kiln if he is eager to work out something really good in ceramic work. 31 GERMAN CHINA TOBACCO JAR, NO. 15. Decoration : Poppy motive. Entire design carried out in Rouen Blue Enamel. This design copyrighted 1912 by Dorothea Warren O'Hara.