I recommend my readers to put their work into a hot oven two or
three times after it has been drying for two or three weeks, so as to
insure the clay being quite hard. I lost several works through firing
them before they were dry enough.[2]
The heat that china is put to fix the colours is not sufficient for
baking clay, and it must be sent to some place where underglaze pottery
is fired. This first firing turns the clay into "biscuit," and if any
painting is to be done on it, now is the time to do it. Underglaze or
Barbotine colours should be used, and they should be put on in thin
washes. The whole work must then be glazed and fired. But I shall not
touch further on this part of the subject here, for I must say something
about modelled decoration applied to vases and plaques.
The plaque or vase to receive modelled decoration must be of the same
degree of dampness, or nearly the same degree of dampness, as the clay
used in modelling, for reasons already stated. You cannot put modelled
decoration on to clay that is dry, or ware that has been fired. To make
a plaque, it is almost necessary to have a plaster mould.
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