Prepare the paint with fat oil and turpentine, rub it down smooth, then with a small sponge apply the colors, using different shades as the first dry, and touching up afterward with a brush; in this way you can also paint backgrounds which cannot be made with the brush. =Mixing Colors.= The best way to paint with safety when you are in doubt what colors will mix, is to test them yourself. For this purpose take a French china plate and make experiments with different colors on the plate; at the same time write down a memorandum of the paints used and of those mixed, have the plate fired; then paste your memorandum on the back. Use this for reference, and with experience will come the full knowledge of the use of all the paints. =Royal Worcester Ware= is very delicate and dainty and something quite novel for amateurs in the way of china decorations. Very beautiful pieces of this ware may be seen now in all the leading china establishments in New York City, and so choice is it that even some of the largest jewelry stores have rare Royal Worcester vases among their most valuable articles on exhibition. We know of no book that teaches this art of decoration, and although we have seen some amateur work which only an expert could distinguish from the genuine article itself, we think our exposition of the method is the first of its kind printed in this country; and girls, if you would know the secret, so that you also may be able to paint and gild in this beautiful fashion, you have only to listen while the writer tells how to decorate a Royal Worcester vase as she did; then you will have a practicable and detailed method which we know to be good, having tried it. [Illustration: Fig. 188.—Royal Worcester Vase.]