r way of preparing Shi is to heat a saucer until the finger can
hardly bear the touch, and then pour in some size and put the powdered
pigment in it while still on the fire. When it has dried it is taken off
and mixed with the finger very hot, a little water being added
gradually, until it is of a thickish consistency. Shi thus mixed is of a
deep red without any orange precipitate, and is used for upper washes,
for, having a great deal of orange in it, it would be too black if used
for undertones. In mixing indigo blue from a cake, the saucer is put
over the fire to dry, and a little size is added. It is then rubbed with
the finger, and water is gradually added. Taisha, when in a cake, is
also prepared in this way. Taisha is used for the face and hair. The
hair is shaded off with Indian ink, and the muscles of the face are
washed in with Taisha having no white but a little black mixed with it;
the feet and hands are handled in the same way. Then the face is washed
over again with the same colour, only a little lighter. Broad masses of
shading are introduced, and the nose, mouth, and edge of the cheek are
generally left to be shaded in. It is considered better to use a number
of light tones than one dark tone, and the washes on the face are
repeated two or three times. The hair also is washed over with a large
brush and rather dark ink; the eyebrows are put in in a single wash;
also the corners of the eyes and mouth, which are flicked in and then
washed off again. The lips are put in with vermilion and shaded off with
another brush. A mixture of red, white, and Indian ink forming a dull
purple is used for the pupils of the eyes, and the same mixture with a
greater proportion of red, and consequently a little lighter, is used
for going over the outline, and the ends of some of the lines are washed
off with another brush. The same purple colour, but lighter still, is
used as a backing to the outline in order to soften the edges, and a few
touches of purple are painted in under the eyes and ears. The lips are
touched with carmine, and the teeth and eyeballs with a little white.
The under-lip and corners of the eyes are touched with lines or dots of
light Indian ink, and the top eyelids and tops of lower eyelids are
outlined with thin lines. The outline of the pupil is very fine; but the
dot of the eye is made very black; the nostrils are painted in in light
ink, shaded off afterwards and outlined in black. The hair round the