are Lacroix’s colors; they come in tubes and should be squeezed out on the palette and used as in oil painting, with a little turpentine and fat oil when desired. To moisten the colors while painting dip your brush, carefully, without shaking or moving it around, into the turpentine or oil, and then in the color. Allow the paint to lie on the palette as it comes from the tube, except when two colors are mixed, or when using the stipple for blending one tint with another, or when tinting, then the paint must be mixed and rubbed down with oil and turpentine. Keep the colors in a _cool_ place, and when returning them to the box, after you have finished painting, do not lay them back on the same side. Always remember to turn them over so that the color will not separate from the oil. If you are careful and follow these hints, your colors will keep in a good condition. We would advise you to purchase the paints as they are needed, thereby avoiding all unnecessary expenditure. OILS. Fat oil is for general use in painting. Clove oil is used in its place when two or more tints are to be blended together, as in painting a face, etc. Capavia oil is always mixed with the colors for grounding. TURPENTINE is in constant demand in china painting. It is used with all the different oils, paints, bronzes, and gilt, and should be poured in a small cup or any little vessel, and kept convenient while painting. TAR PASTE comes in bottles, and is used to take the color off of tinted backgrounds, in order to leave a clean surface of the china in which to paint the design in different colors. The paste should be rubbed down smooth on the tile with the palette-knife; if it is too hard, a little tar oil may be added. A small brush is best to use for the paste in covering the design you wish to wash out; but be very careful to keep within the outlines, for this mixture will take off the color wherever it touches. When the tint is light the paste may be wiped off in a few moments; but when it is dark, the paste must be allowed to remain on for perhaps hours before the paint will be sufficiently softened to remove. Use small balls of raw cotton-batting in wiping off the paste, and take a fresh piece for every stroke. If any of the tar paste is left on the tile after using, scrape it off with your palette-knife, and return it to the bottle. MAT GOLD is for gilding, and can be either burnished or highly polished. It comes on a little square of glass inclosed in a box. This gold can also be used as solid ornamentation or for delicate tracery, and is sometimes used over colors, greens excepted, but is then never so bright as when on the plain white china.