In the meantime, get some firm to
procure for you a few unbaked vases, and when you receive them it will
be necessary to wrap them up in damp flannel for a day or two, so that
the modelled work will stick on the vase. Let the shape of the vases be
very plain and simple, with a good broad surface to receive the modelled
decoration. I have chosen as the illustration (fig. 3) the blackberry,
as it is a very ornamental plant and one familiar to all readers. Throw
on your stalk first of all, letting it wrap round the vase, and so place
it that the leaves, flowers, and fruit can spring from it so as to be
seen to the best advantage. The stalks might be placed in such a way as
to form handles. Get a certain quaintness into the modelling, and don't
be too intent upon imitating nature, for, do what you will, you will
find it impossible to accomplish this. Therefore, be content to decorate
your vase with a graceful spray of bramble, with all essential
characteristics of the plant indicated, and the general "swing" of the
plant expressed in your work. Model each part separately, either by
pressing the leaves into clay and marking them round, or by modelling
pure and simple, and then fasten the various parts on to the vase with
diluted clay.
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