[Illustration: FIG. 2.--A PLAQUE.]
In working up the leaves, don't attempt to put many veins in them.
Hardly do more than indicate the centre vein. Nothing looks worse than
to see the various forms covered with a network of minute markings. You
will find, if you try and put in the veins in your modelled tile, your
leaves will not look as though they were veined, but as though some
stiff-legged insect had crawled over the damp clay, and had left its
trail behind it. In putting in the stamens in flowers, you will have to
have recourse to an expedient, for it is evident that you cannot copy
every individual stamen in clay any more than you can make your clay
petals as thin and delicate as nature. You must translate the effect of
nature into clay, and in the case of the stamens you will find it a good
plan to build up the centre of the flower, and then press into it a
pointed stick, repeating the operation until the whole of the centre is
perforated, as it were, like a grater.
In order to make a contrast between the design and the background, you
can dot or line over the slab upon which the design is lying, so as to
make the surface rough in texture.
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