This method is very useful, indeed, indispensable in the manufacture of such wares commercially, when the same designs are to be repeated many times, but it is hardly to be recommended for artistic work, except for conventional designs, borders, etc. This method of casting the forms in a mold may be useful, however, in the reproduction of leaves of intricate outline, which can be made of various sizes, and, from the plasticity of the clay, can be infinitely varied in position according to the taste of the worker. When objects of delicate and intricate form, such as threads, spider’s webs, nets, and sometimes leaves, are to be represented in work of this character, it can be accomplished by dipping threads, or nets of cotton, or, if leaves, the natural leaves themselves, into “slip.” The clay adheres to the threads, or forms, and after it has set sufficiently, they can be placed upon the object to be decorated. On firing, the substance inclosed within the clay is dissipated and the clay only, remains. Some very wonderful and beautiful effects may be produced in this way; but, as these delicate forms are necessarily very fragile, especially if much detached from the surface, they are only suitable for articles intended solely for ornament. Designs in low relief can also be applied with the brush in the forms desired, which may afterward be shaped and finished by the use of modeling tools, or, when dry, carved with steel instruments. This latter is said to be the method by which M. Solon executes his exquisite designs in fine white clay upon ware which has been colored in the body. One of the greatest beauties of M. Solon’s work is the transparent effect produced where the clay has been left so thin as to show the colored ground through. Work in the very slightest relief can be done with the brush alone. Care must be observed in this, however, that the application of clay is not so very slight as to produce complete transparency upon firing. By a judicious mixture of work in which the clay is so heavily laid on as to remain opaque after the firing, and of that which is applied so thinly as to become transparent, very delicate and beautiful effects can be produced by the use of white clay upon colored grounds. The colored grounds in the Wedgwood and Solon ware are produced by the use of a fine clay body, which has been artificially colored throughout, which, in the case of Wedgwood, is finished by a very slight glaze, and in the Solon ware, by a full glaze, by which the transparent effects of certain parts of the work are brought out. The colors used in the body of these wares are blues, dark greens, and olives, and also black. Where it is not possible for the amateur, for whom these hints are written, to obtain such wares for decoration, very pretty work can be produced, as has been mentioned before, by the use of a body of naturally colored clay upon which white or a light-colored clay can be applied.