Notes on the Crafts



STRAIGHT-AW AY, DOUBLE-SIDED BOOKCASE—
KCOLMEH SHOP, CHESTER, N. Y.

JARDINIERE STAND—
KCOLMEH SHOP, CHESTER, N. Y.

painting—this was the great desideratum. In his
method of “wax-painting,” so to term it, Mr.
Parsons has mastered his problem, with results that
make a valuable contribution to the decorative art
possibilities of the Twentieth Century.
So delicate is the colouring of Opus Pictum that
it is a difficult matter to convey any idea of its
beauty by reproductive processes. We show our
readers, however, the best half-tone we have been
able to make of Mr. Parsons’ rendering of Raphael’s
Transfiguration. The colour values about the
central figure are exquisite in their delicacy, and
quite impossible to adequately render in black-and-
white. It is a specimen of Mr. Parsons’ under-
glaze work in Opus Pictum, a process whereby,
although using a final dead finish (high gloss being


DESKERETTE-KCOLMEH SHOP, CHESTER, N. Y.

ruinous to artistic repose on all modeled forms),
the colour work is as lasting and washable as any
majolica. This is one of the artist’s greatest
strides in technique since he set out on his mastery
of this particular problem.
The Kcolmeh Shop is doing excellent work in
introducing individual craftsmanship into the pro-
duction of utilitarian articles for household use.
We show a few examples of their work. The dog
basket is a capital idea. Why leave the dog out
when you are furnishing your house? Certainly,
to have a place he can call his own is only his due,
and is a benefit to the carpets and chairs, if to
nothing else. The jardiniere stand is a good,
compact, firm piece of work, and would look well
in a tiled hall, arranged with fern pots. The Shop
divulges a secret concerning this jardiniere stand.
It was designed and made for an old bachelor’s foot-
rest, and it proved a good one. Just how the foot-
rest rose in the world is not stated, but it is to be
presumed that the bachelor found a presiding
angel who worked the metamorphosis! The little
standard bookcase seems to be an admirable
smoking-room piece of furniture, and one can
imagine the top being conveniently used for to-
bacco and pipes and odd volumes in use. Particu-
larly characteristic of the Kcolmeh Shop are such
small decorative accessories made in wood as
sconces, candlesticks, bookracks, and desk fixings
generally—all of a simple constructive design, har-

LXVII