International studio (19.1903)

7^2*72//r/ j5*2222772^A

in warm oak sawdust; or it is rubbed bright
with pumice powder and whiting. Thus, having
obtained a clean piece of metal, the hrst layer
of enamel is piaced on the underneath side
by means of a palette knife, a brush or spatula,
and water. The water is dried out of it
by blotting paper. It is then turned over, and
the design having been drawn on the copper,
this is hlled in with the various enamels suit-
able to the design. After that it is hred and
worked on either by heightening parts with white
or foil, which are subsequently glazed with clear
enamels, or the hrst coat of different enamels is
amplihed, varied, darkened or modihed, as the case
may be, by other layers and gradations of coloured
enamel. Thus by very careful manipulation any
degree of variety in strength, in brilliancy of lustre,
or depth of colour can be obtained. The only
thing to be avoided is the danger of the plate
falling in through too many hrings or too great
heat. It is advisable in making the design
to pay as strict attention to every step in its
journey towards completion as to the 'main result.
The many pitfalls incidental to the craft, the innumer-
able combinations, and the different properties which
enamels possess, cannot be indicated here. Neither
is it possible to teach the process by any book, how
ever long, without each step being demonstrated and
then practised by the learner. But the better
trained in other arts the student is, the more chance
has he of ultimate success in enamelling.

To my mind, the domain of the enameller is the
imaginative, and herein I include all real design and
ornament. The methods of and results obtained
by oil or water colourists are not those of the
enameller; and it is quite wrong to try to translate
a design in these methods. To copy a picture
made in oil or water-colour is wrong. The method
of enamelling is different from that of any other
kind of art, and neither can the process nor the
result be imitated by any other. And this is true
of all arts. When the design is to be carried out
in opaque enamels, the work is very simple and
only requires sufficient care to make a good enamel.
But when the work is to be painted in transparent
enamels, the possibilities are infinite, as are also
the difhculties of their attainment. And I have
no doubt, in years to come, when the art is
better understood by artists, critics, and the
public, when their knowledge has increased and
their eyes have become accustomed to the
peculiar qualities of enamel—to the same extent,
at least, as their knowledge of other mediums
—that there will be established a standard by
which these qualities will be known and appreci-
ated. The awakening of oil-painters with regard
to the greater possibilities of their medium, as
witnessed by the movement, on the one hand, of the
pre-Raphaelites, and of the impressionists and
pointillists on the other seems to support this
contention and enamelling the enters more
largely into the view of the spectator than any other
question. And rightly
so. There is no doubt
that taste is acquired;
and from habit more than
frorn knowledge people re-
gard things as beauti-
ful or not. Consequently
it will take years for
enamels to be regarded
with right eyes and to re-
ceive intelligent criticism.
Let us then start by
thinking of enamels as
creations, not copies,
made, as it were, of
precious stones, only with
this difference — that
instead of a narrow range,
they are capable of an
infrnite variety of colora-
tion. And let us regard
the " pitch " as being not
due to or relying upon any


JEWEL CASKET
I 76

BY AEEXANDER FISHER