The picture-books which are to be found at the Japanese stores
nowadays suggest numberless excellent designs for china decorating. So
do the "Walter Crane Fairy-tales." A plain olive or cream-colored tile
with a pattern in bamboo-boughs and little birds, a milk-jug in gray
with leaves and a motto in black, a set of tiny butter-plates with
initials and a flower-spray on each, are easy things to attempt and
very effective when done. Pie-dishes can be ornamented with a long,
sketchy branch of blossoms or a flight of swallows across the bottom,
and we have seen those small dishes of Nancy ware, in which eggs are
first poached and then served on table, made very pretty by a painting
on each of a chicken, done in soft browns and reds, with a little line
to frame it in and run down along the handle. What we have mentioned
here are only suggestions; a little patience and practice will soon
help you to other patterns of your own, and we can't help hoping that
some of you will be tempted to try your hands at this delightful art.