therefore, thoroughly work it up with the hands. It may be made into a
ball, and can be rolled out flat with a thick ruler or rolling pin. The
clay has a tendency to curl up round the rolling pin, and care must be
taken to prevent this. If the rolling pin be covered with leather, this
is to a great extent prevented. The design can be made on tracing paper,
and by marking over the tracing paper placed over the clay with a hard
point, an impression sufficiently distinct will be left to guide one in
doing the actual modelling. The first thing is to build up the oranges,
which can be done by sticking little pellets of clay on to the slab,
pressing them down with the fingers, and rounding the oranges roughly
into shape.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--A TILE.

_Our First Experiment._]

Don't be too particular about this part of the work; be content to get
some approximation to the shape, leaving the finishing to be done with
the tools. Build up the stem in like manner, or you might roll out a
thin piece of clay and stick this on to the slab. In sticking clay on to
clay, it is always advisable to wet both the clay and the slab to
ensure thorough adhesion, and in working the design into shape it is
even a good plan to dip the fingers into water, as the extra moisture
makes it easier to press the clay into the requisite shape.

The leaves can be modelled separately, and stuck on to the clay slab one
by one. Do as much of the work as you can with the fingers. In
modelling, the fingers are the best tools, after all. They do their work
so much more expeditiously and effectively than the so-called "tools"
do, and, depend upon it, the more the preliminary work is done with the