Chapter XXXI: Home-Made Candlesticks

IF you are working in clay try making a few candlesticks. If you haven’t the clay, why not get some at once and begin this most fascinating work?

Candlesticks are always decorative; even the old tin candlestick with its half burnt tallow candle has a certain picturesqueness that the artist recognizes when he chooses that as an accessory to his picture instead of the prosaic oil lamp. Then again, candlesticks give a wide scope to individuality in design, and that it gives expression to one’s originality is one of the greatest charms of pottery making.

A potter’s wheel is not at all necessary. The primitive method of coiling the clay and gradually, without hurry, building it up into the form desired is far the better way for home workers.

=Get Your Clay=

at the nearest pottery where anything finer than flower pots is made, and if it is a place where they turn out only earthenware ask for their finest clay. Very frequently they make a quantity of extra pieces for holiday trade and for these prepare a finer clay than they ordinarily use. Fifty pounds of clay will keep you busy a long while and twenty-five pounds will be sufficient for a number of small pieces. It sells at about one and a half cents per pound at most of the potteries.

Break your dry clay into small pieces with a hammer and then pound to a powder. Put it into an earthen crock that has a cover of its own, and mix with water until it is of the consistency of dough. If you are not to use it immediately, and it is rather stiff, make several holes in the clay with your finger, fill each hole with water, cover the crock closely with its lid and set away until wanted.

When you are

=Ready for Work=

take out a good sized lump of clay, put it on a pastry board and knead it like bread. This is to work out all the air and make the grain close and fine. If the clay seems too stiff spread it out in a flat cake, pour a little water in the middle, bring the edges together and knead again until the whole piece is softened. When the clay is too soft spread it out and put it in the air where it will soon stiffen. If it is freezing out of doors do not expose the clay but let it dry off in the house. From time to time, while you are working the clay, cut the lump in two with a palette knife or ordinary table knife (A, B, Fig. 559). Put the outside edges together (C, D, Fig. 560) and continue kneading. The professional potter has a wire strung above his table and on it cuts his clay quickly and neatly in half, but a knife will answer very well. You may have a number of

=Modelling Tools=

or a few, and you can do very well with two or three contrived by yourself. A wire tool like Fig. 561 is useful in cutting away the clay when the walls of a piece are too thick, but a wire hairpin answers the purpose almost as well. A wooden skewer, used by butchers for pinning meat, is also good for some purposes. In my own work one summer, when far out of reach of modelling tools, I found use for a palette knife, the handle of an old spoon, a hairpin and a steel ink eraser with a curved blade. But best of all and most to be depended upon are the fingers, for these sensitive, flexible, natural tools can perform most of the work alone. Fig. 562 is a small jar made entirely with the hands, no tool of any kind, save the fingers, having been used in the modelling. You should have a good

=Strong Table,=

one you have no fear of harming, and that stands firmly and evenly on the floor; a piece of smooth, rather thick board about ten inches square upon which to build your pottery and a small pastry board. Place the table near a window where there is plenty of light and under it lay a piece of oilcloth to protect the floor; thus prepared you may plunge into your work and accomplish wonders without disturbing the general order of the room. At a convenient place on the table set a small bowl of water and a cup of slip. The slip is simply clay softened in water until it is about as thick as cream. A large piece of old muslin, that you can tear in pieces as needed, should always be at hand, and a wet sponge on which to wipe your fingers.

Place your pastry board on the table and when the clay is kneaded lay it to one side and scrape the board, clearing off all dried particles. Unless this precaution is taken crumbs of dry clay are apt to mix with the moist clay and make it rough and gritty.

Figs. 563, 564 and 565 are three original designs in candlesticks. We will take one of these for a model. Fig. 563 is the simplest and most easily made, so we will begin with that.

Have ready a rather deep

=China Saucer,=

tear off a square of muslin large enough to cover the inside of the saucer and to extend over its edge. Dip the muslin in the bowl of water and lay it flat in the saucer, pressing it down as evenly as possible and smoothing out the air bubbles.

Now take

=A Large Handful of Clay,=

roll it between your palms, lay it on the pastry board in front of you and with an even pressure of your hands roll it back and forth until it lengthens out and forms a snake-like piece a little more than half an inch in diameter (Fig. 566). Do not let the roll flatten, keep it as round as possible and of an equal size from end to end, then press it with your fingers and flatten the top just enough to take off its roundness. When this is done place one end of the roll narrow side up exactly in the centre of the saucer and make

=A Close Coil=

like Fig. 567, bringing the edges of the coils together with your thumb nail. When you have coiled one roll make another roll and, cutting the end of each, like Fig. 568, fit them together and make a smooth and even joint.

Design Painted on the Unbaked Clay.]

A Leaf Design.]

The Little Pitcher.]

Yellow Candlestick.]

Made Without Tools.]

Hooded Cobra Design.]

Continue to coil the clay until the saucer is filled to the edge, then build it up one coil higher on the edge and cut the last end of the roll as you did the first. Press this end down to join the roll beneath it, making the joint invisible. Now

=Dip Your Fingers in Water=

and rub them gently over the coiled clay in the saucer to smooth it, but be careful not to get it too wet and not to lower the coil on the edge in the process. If depressions occur fill them with fresh clay joining the edges of the new clay to the coiled clay, making it one piece with no cracks or seams. In adding clay at any time the new piece must always become one with the old, else it will crack when dry or in the firing, and it is best to brush the place to be filled with slip before adding the clay. Set your saucer away at this stage of the work until the clay stiffens a little and the piece becomes what is called “set.” It is just here that you must use patience, for to continue to work while the clay is too soft will frequently spoil the whole thing and the only remedy is to bunch the clay and begin over again. To be successful in the making of pottery one’s enthusiasm must be of the kind that will not cool during the necessary waiting periods.

When the clay in your saucer has become firm but is still quite pliable, dip another square of muslin in water, spread it inside the clay saucer and

=Fit in Another Saucer=

of china a trifle smaller than the first. This will give you a pile of three saucers one within the other, first china, then clay, then china. Now cover your small board with wet muslin and turn your stack of saucers upside down on the board. Lift off the top saucer and you have your clay saucer inverted on top of the smaller china saucer. You will find all the seams of the coil showing on this underside and must join them and make the clay one piece as you did on the inside. With your wire tool (Fig. 561) or a hairpin, carefully

=Cut Down the Parts=

that seem too thick, but at the same time beware of making them so thin as to weaken the walls of the saucer. It is better to fill out and make a piece rather heavy than to try at first to obtain the delicacy one naturally desires, for thin walls often collapse in unaccustomed hands. As you work, turn the board around and around to be sure the contour is symmetrical. It is often a good thing to raise the work to the level of the eye in order the better to detect inaccuracies of outline.

When you have finished the underside and the clay seems firm enough to stand without support, turn it right side up on the board, always with the wet muslin between to keep it from sticking. Lift out the small saucer which is still in the clay saucer and proceed to remove all traces of the line in the clay made by the ridge on the bottom of the china saucer. This can be done by smoothing down and adding more clay to make a curve instead of an angle.

With the wooden skewer make a dot in the centre of the clay saucer, measuring the distance to be sure it is exact, then take

=A Half Candle,=

wrap it spirally and closely with a narrow strip of wet muslin (Fig. 569) and stand it directly over the mark (Fig. 570). Make little crossed lines with a sharp tool, or hat pin, around the candle like Fig. 571; then roll some clay for coiling the candle holder, flattening the roll as you did for the saucer.

Before beginning to coil cover the roughened surface around the candle with slip, then press one sharpened end of the clay roll onto the saucer close to the candle (Fig. 572) and bring the roll once around the candle. Make crossed lines on top of the coil, brush with slip and coil again. Continue roughening the top of the coil and covering with slip until you have built the holder up a little over two inches from the saucer, then sharpen the end of your roll and join it to the top (E, Fig. 573). With a brush dipped in slip, fill up, to some extent the creases between the coils and make the coil even and round where it may have been pressed out of shape, for in this part we allow the coil to show.

When the walls of the holder are firm enough gently remove the candle and

=Smooth the Inside of the Holder=

with a finger wet with slip. If this does not fill up the cracks use a rounded tool, but be very careful not to press the holder out of shape or enlarge the opening.

=Make the Handle=

of a coil of clay as shown in Fig. 574. First the small coil, joining the base of the holder to the saucer, then the larger coil which connects the small coil, and the inside and the outside of the saucer. Use your first finger for keeping the hole in the centre of the large coil the proper size. Build up the edge of the saucer slantingly to join the inner coil of the handle (F, Fig. 574) and allow a ridge to extend from the outer coil a short distance along the outside of the saucer (G, Fig. 574).

=This Blending of Decoration with the Article=

itself, making it appear a natural outgrowth from it, is a law of beauty in modeled decoration, which should always be kept in mind. No part of a piece of pottery should look as if it were simply stuck on and might drop off again, but rather as though it were a necessary part of the whole.

When your candlestick is in good shape and still moist, go over it with a camel’s-hair brush dipped in water, smoothing down any little unevenness in this way. Sometimes a coating of slip, well worked in with the brush will give a good surface. Set the piece away after this and let it stand undisturbed for several days, or until the clay has become quite dry and has turned almost white, then if it is still imperfect in shape

=Scrape it Down=

with a steel tool or pocket knife. The clay is so easily shaved off at this stage the danger lies in making too deep a cut and the work should be done gradually and patiently. For the final rubbing use a piece of fine emery paper. Even this must be carefully handled, for if pressed heavily on the clay it, also, will cut too deeply.

Do not put your work away to dry in the sun or near a fire. If dried too rapidly the clay will crack. Sometimes it will crack when it dries, never so gradually; it may be from shrinkage or because the clay has not been sufficiently kneaded.

=If Cracks Occur=

while the clay is still moist fill in with new clay and slip. If the piece is perfectly dry mix some finely powdered baked clay with water, making a thick paste, and fill the opening. You may be able to get the unglazed baked clay at the pottery, but if not put a thin cake of clay in any kind of a very hot oven and allow it to bake several hours, then grind to a fine powder. Keep this powder in a labelled box that it may always be at hand when needed.

It is generally supposed that when a piece of pottery cracks in the firing there is no remedy. This is very likely true with pieces that have been glazed, but with unglazed ware my own experience has proved that it can be mended. When an unglazed piece comes from the firing showing cracks, large or small, mix a thin slip of clay with a little finely powdered flint and run into the cracks until they are more than filled, then rub or scrape off the surplus. This formula was given me by a prominent art potter who also furnished the mixture.

In putting away

=Unfinished Work,=

cover with a damp cloth and keep the cloth damp until you are ready to go on with your modeling. Once hard the clay can no longer be worked, and unfinished pottery must always be kept moist. In the case of a piece having handles, spouts and like projections, place something under the cloth to hold it away from these parts and prevent its pushing them out of shape.

=You May Glaze Your Candlestick=

with colored glaze before it is fired or you may have it fired and returned to you in “the bisque,” when it can be glazed and sent to be fired the second time. One firing really seems all that is necessary for small pieces, however. Fig. 563 was fired but once, the glaze having been applied to the unbaked clay and it came from the pottery in a perfectly satisfactory condition, without crack or blemish.

The glaze used for all the pottery in the little group in our full-page illustration, is Marshing’s soft Limoges glaze which may be obtained where mineral colors for pottery and china painting are sold. The glaze is transparent when fired and is to be mixed with color unless the piece has underglaze decoration or the clay is colored. The proportion is one part dry color to nine parts dry glaze. Both come in powders and must be thoroughly mixed, then dissolved in a solution of gum arabic. Eight and one-half teaspoonfuls of glaze to one-half teaspoonful of underglaze color is sufficient for two candlesticks. Apply this with a No. 8 camel’s-hair brush and give the piece three coats, waiting each time for one coat to become thoroughly dry before putting on the next. Lay the color on evenly and do not allow little streams of glaze to run over the edges.

There are various

=Other Methods of Coloring Pottery.=

One is to work the dry color into the moist clay by kneading. For the little pitcher (Fig. 575) one tablespoonful of raw sienna was thoroughly worked into a lump of clay the size of a large apple and the pitcher then modelled from the colored clay. Prepared mineral color was not used, but dry “raw or green” color purchased at an ordinary paint shop. When quite dry the pitcher turned a beautiful ivory yellow, but became almost terra cotta when fired. The uncolored glaze was dissolved in gum arabic and applied after the first firing, and the pitcher was fired a second time.

Another way to color your pottery is to mix the raw color with slip the consistency of cream and with it paint a design on the unbaked clay. A little gum arabic added to the slip will make it adhere more closely and prevent its rubbing off. This must be fired before the uncolored glaze is applied. The little bowl (Fig. 576) was decorated in this way and the colors used were raw sienna and burnt sienna. But one coat of glaze was given the bowl which makes it look more like old Indian ware than if it had the very glossy surface.

Colored pottery

=“In the Bisque”=

or unglazed state is often very beautiful and if designed to hold water or liquid of any kind the inside alone may be glazed, leaving the outside in its natural dull and porous condition.

Of the various designs shown here the saucers were used only for Fig. 563, and the sooner you are able to discard all such aids and depend upon your eye alone to guide your hands the more you will enjoy your work.

Probably you can have your candlesticks fired at the pottery where you get your clay, but if you wish to carry on the work and experiment for yourself secure a kiln of your own by all means.