The gilder is mainly employed to embellish the work of others. He uses pure gold, as pure as it can be purchased.' This 'is' received in the form known as °coffee gold,° a brown granular Mass. Mercury is added. of about the same weight as the gold and the whole is ground perfectly fine. When mixed with the proper oil this can be used freely as a paint and the oil and mercury are • driven off in the fire. Gold thus prepared needs to be burnished after firing; but there is another form of gold, known as bright or liquid gold, which is mach cheaper, and therefore largely used, on com mon wares. In this case the gold' dissolved and the solution is mixed with certain oils. The fire removes everything but the metal, which is left as a brilliant film on the china.
Printing from copper plates has been in use ever since 1756, but for many ye,ars has taken an inferior position. At first it was employed for fine engravings and decorative subjects, but only for 'borders and outlines. The pat tern is engraved upon a plate of planished cop per, and the printer makes this plate quite hot i upon his stove. The color, mixed n • a very stiff oil, is also kept hot, and with this the en graving is charged. An impression is taken upon thin paper, and this print is handed to a woman who cuts away the superfluous paper and presses the print on to the china. A bath
of cold water removes the paper, and the color, rendered hard by the low temperature, remains firmly fixed. The fire completes the process.
Lithographic printing is now very popular in china decoration. The process was introduced from France some years ago and the prints were made abroad; but recently the more suc cessful manufacturers have established their own lithographic departments. The prints are made in the usual way from stone, except that no color is applied to the stone itself. The pression is taken in varnish, and the color is dusted on the printed paper. On account of the transfer the order of impression is re versed, the print which is first on the paper becoming uppermost when the impression is transferred to the china. The paper used is double, consisting of a sheet of tissue paper cemented on to a stiff backing. The stiffness is necessary to withstand the pressure of the ma chine, and when printed the tissue is stripped from the sheet and proves flexible enough to accommodate itself to the surface of the ware. The printing is done in vitrifiable colors, of course, and the finished china is fired in the usual way.