Shaped pieces with ornaments in relief, masks, spouts, handles, &c. are formed in moulds made of plaster of Paris (_gesso_) upon the original models. The mould being ready, the potter’s clay is formed into a cheese-shaped mass of a diameter suitable to the size of the mould; from this slices are cut by means of a wire worked over two pieces of wood of the thickness of the required slice, and placed at either side of the cheese of clay. A slice of even thickness being thus obtained it is pressed by the hand into the hollows of the mould; that for the other side of the piece is then steadily pressed over the clay which occupies the corresponding mould, and the excess exuding from the edge between is neatly cut away. The foot would be similarly formed in another mould, and subsequently attached to the bowl by means of lute (_barbatina_). This lute is made of the finer quality of clay, much worked and allowed to dry, then mixed with a certain quantity of the shearings of fine woollen cloth, kneaded with water and diluted to the consistence of thick cream. To make shaped vases or ewers (_bronzi antiche_) a mould is formed to each side of the piece, uniting longitudinally at the handle and spout; the clay pressed into each of these is neatly cut from the edge by means of the _archetto_, a wire strained across a forked stick, and joined to the corresponding side with _barbatina_ by which also the handle, formed in another mould, is attached to the piece, the inside being smoothed at the joint by means of a knobbed stick (_bastone_). The pieces known as “abborchiati,” such as salt-cellars with ornaments in rilievo, are made in the same manner, as are also the “smartellati” or tazze, &c. formed after the manner of pieces in beaten metal (_repoussé_) with bosses and radiating compartments in relief. The basket-like pieces (_canestrella_) were similarly moulded. In his second book Piccolpasso gives the receipts and methods of preparing the glaze and colours, commencing with the “marzacotto,” the silicate of potass or glass, which is the foundation of all glaze. We are then told the manner of constructing a reverberatory furnace in which the tin and lead can be oxydized, and which is built of brick with an earth called “sciabione,” probably a sort of fire-clay. It consists of an elongated square structure divided longitudinally into two compartments, in one of which is placed the fire, while the other is occupied, on a higher level, by a shallow tray or trough made of _tufo_, a volcanic stone, or of brickwork, to contain the metals, upon and over which the flame of the burning wood is made to play in its passage to the draft hole at the end.