ate the ware as there were methods of shaping it."

"Which one are we to begin with?" questioned Theo eagerly.

"I think we'd better start with printed designs. Were you ever in
Washington, Theo?"

Theo glanced up in surprise at the irrelevance of the inquiry.

"Yes, sir."

"Good! What were some of the places you visited?"

Again the lad regarded his conductor curiously.

What had his trip to Washington to do with the decoration of china, he
wondered.

"Oh, I went to the Capitol, of course," he answered, "and to the White
House, and the Congressional Library; then Dad took me to the
Smithsonian Institute and to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, and
----"

"Stop!" cried Mr. Marwood. "I now have found out exactly what I wished
to know. So you have seen bank notes engraved?"

"Yes, sir."

"You remember then how the design is cut on a copper or steel plate?"

"Yes, indeed," came promptly from Theo.

"I am very glad of that, for it is precisely this method we use when
we print designs on china. The difference is that the designs on our
money are printed in ink, and those we transfer to our porcelain are
done with mineral colors; nor are our plates so finely made. However,
the idea underlying the processes is identical. The color is applied
to the metal plate, and what is not retained in the engraved
depressions of the design is carefully scraped away. Then on a kind of
paper expressly prepared for the purpose the picture is made, and
while it is moist it is placed against the ware and rubbed in with a
piece of soft flannel. When it is awkward to handle the design as a
whole it is cut into sections and pieced together on the china
itself."

"Does one person do the whole thing?"

"No. It is the duty of one worker to arrange the design and see that
it is in the right place; and the task of the next one to rub it in
with the flannel and soap. Then after the china has stood for some
time it is put into water and the paper sticking to it is floated off,
leaving the colored print on the porcelain."

"Is it done before the ware is fired?" asked Theo.

"Sometimes it is done on the biscuit ware before it is glazed, and
sometimes on the glaze itself. It all depends on the result the
decorators wish to obtain. If printed before the porcelain is glazed
it is called under-glaze printed ware, and must be put through a kiln,
which will take the oils out of the print; if done on the glaze it is
fired in order to bu