This department is intended for subscribers who have problems which trouble them. The editors will reply to questions, which they feel they can answer, and to other questions they will obtain replies from competent authorities. Letters must invariably be signed with full name of inquirer. All questions are numbered in the order of their receipt. If an answer is desired by mail, a stamped envelope should be enclosed. The privilege of printing any reply is reserved. Address, Industrial-Arts Magazine, Milwaukee, Wis. Florentine Ware. 277. Q: Will you kindly advise as to the method of making Florentine ware. (Woodwork such as boxes, bowls, etc., bronzed (?) and hand-painted)? Can this be imitated on flower pots with gold paint as background? Also how a mottled effect is produced.-F. V. H. A:-Florentine ware such as boxes, bowls and other ornamental work, can be prepared by producing a color ground as a base and laying thereon several varnish coatings which can be rubbed to a true surface. On this rubbed surface, the design may then be painted and if desired, can be protected by brushing on another coat of varnish, which also may be rubbed and polished. In the case of bronze effects the color ground should be prepared through the use of some hard drying flat white, tinted to imitate the color of the bronze and should be applied in as many coats as may be necessary to produce a hard, level surface. Over this the bronze coat can be applied as a brush coat and allowed to harden. A different effect can then be obtained by brushing on a thin coat of bronze liquid and when dry to the point of being tacky, should have the bronze powder sifted on it from a little cheesecloth bag and allowed to dry thoroughly. The excess bronze may then be brushed off and the whole given a starch coat of ordinary laundry starch, stirred up in cold water and brought to a thin, clear solution, by the addition of a small amount of boiling water. This should be applied with a soft camel's hair brush or fitch flowing brush and allowed to dry. This will produce an absolutely flat but very clear surface. In the case of an attempt to imitate black lacquer work in the Japanese motif, an air drying black asphaltum of the turpentine type may be used to build up successive coats. A gentle heat for five to eight hours should be used with each coat by placing the box in a warm oven. Overheating should be avoided to prevent injury to the glue joints. The last coat should be rubbed out to a hard, bright surface with FF pumice stone, felt pad and water and after sponging and drying may have the design painted thereon. A clear coat of varnish may then be applied over the whole and when hard and dry, should be rubbed to a polish. The modern twenty-four hour drying Auto Enamels offer very fine mediums for this class of work, since the same kind of varnish can be purchased in the clear as is used in grinding the colored enamels. This point is of special value in the prevention of checking and cracking which results from the use of layers of dissimilar varnishes. coarse Mottled effects can be produced by blending several spots of colors separately on a piece of glass as in pallette practice and then a small piece of cheese cloth should be wadded up in such a manner as to present as ruffled a surface as possible. A small sponge cut from a sheep's wool sponge is of benefit in this respect. Whichever is used, they should be first wrung out in water as dry as possible, in order to prevent the absorption of the oil or varnish from the colors used. By lightly pouncing the sponge or cheese cloth pad over the different colors on a glass plate a succession of mottlings will be produced which can be transferred to the objects through the use of a light pouncing motion at right angles to the surface, being worked upon. It is necessary that any rotary motion that would tend to mix these colors into an even shade should be avoided. It is hardly practical to treat earthenware flower pots in the manner above described since it is impossible to grow plants successfully in any medium which excludes the air from the soil. Red earthenware pots form an ideal container for plants because of their great porosity which enables air to filter into the soil as the water evaporates. Where this condition is prevented, aereation ceases and the growth of the plant is hindered. Were it not for this one practical factor, the writer would long ago have put on the market a process whereby common earthenware pots could have been fired to produce a soft shade of sage green and eliminate the unpleasant redness of the common flower pot. Any effect can be produced on the pots by giving them a varnish coat inside and out to seal the pores. Over this lay on a ground coat of flat white shaded to any desired color. From this point on any treatment can be given as outline above. This method, however, cannot be guaranteed as to permanency since the pot will invariably absorb moisture and blister the finish.-Ralph G. Waring. Finish for Black Walnut Bedroom Set. 288. Q: We are making a seven piece bed room set in our shop, and would like your suggestion as to the proper finish to use. As this set is to be made of black walnut, and also will be on exhibit at the State Fair next fall, we wish to give it the best finish possible.-C. H. D. A: A practical way of finishing seven piece bedroom set in walnut would be to sponge the wood thoroughly to raise the grain and open the pores. This will also tend to raise any bruises which have been missed in the first sanding. Sand clean with a 00 paper, apply a coat of Universal Brown water stain No. 200, 3 oz. to the gallon. Let dry and give a size coat or orange shellac which has been reduced one-half with denatured alcohol. Sand thoroughly with a split 0000 paper and make up a filler from silex, Van Dyke brown, burnt sienna and burnt umber to match the shade of the wood. Clean off carefully after applying, paying particular attention to corners and panel edges which can be cleaned more easily through the use of a hard wood stick sharpened to a skew chisel on one end and a rounded end on the other. Allow forty-eight hours for the filler to dry. If necessary, clean up with a slight sanding with a split 0000 paper. After dusting off the furniture should be cleaned up with a "tacky cloth" made from a piece of cheese cloth wrung dry after thoroughly saturating in varnish. Pieces may then be varnished with a good quality of floor varnish and when hard and dry should be sanded with a split 0000 paper in order to level up the foundation coat free from nibs and dust specks. The tacky cloth should then be used and a second coat of varnish applied. This may be repeated up to four coats with the last one rubbed out in FF pumice stone, felt pad and water. Ralph G. Waring. Lettering Pens. 304. Q: In the May issue you printed an article on "The Selection and Use of Lettering Pens." Will you kindly give me the address of the firms which have these pens for sale?-T. J. M. A: The following pens and their manufacturers are given as follows: Hunt Bowl Point, C. Howard Hunt Pen Co., Camden, N. J.; Payzant, Keuffel & Esser Co., Hoboken, N. J.; Spoonbill, Prang Co., 1922 Calumet Ave., Chicago; Speedball, Gordon & George, Seattle, Wash., and Prang Co., Chicago; Gillot's, Jos. Gillot & Sons, 93 Chambers St., New York, N. Y.; Esterbrook's, Esterbrook Steel Pen Co., Brooklyn, N. Y. Vocational Textbooks. 305. Q: I am interested in Mr. Rodger's article "Organization and Teaching of Industrial Subjects." From his bibliography, I am selecting a few books which I would like to obtain. Would you kindly give me the names of the publishers so that I might get them?-W. J. G. A:-Tolman's Hygiene for the Worker, $0.50, American Book Co., New York, Chicago; Rogers' Trade Foundations, $1.25, G. M. Jones Co., Indianapolis, Ind.; Gowin & Wheatley's Occupations, $1.20, Ginn & Co., Boston, Mass. The Expert Typist. Exhibition of Portraits of American Indians. By W. Langdon Kihn, New York City. Conducted under the auspices of the Art Museum of Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the Anderson Galleries. Park Avenue and Fifty-ninth St., New York City. This pamphlet represents a collection of fine portraits together with important examples of ancient and modern pottery, blankets, jewelry, bead and leather work made by the Pueblo and Blackfeet Indians. The work is printed on a fine grade of paper well suited to the colored portraits which have been reproduced. Skew or Straight Back, Old or New Style Handles Here are two saws, No. 51 with old style handle and No. 53 with the improved Perfection. Supervisors, Teachers and Students who have not used them will readily recognize their superior designs, workmanship, easy cutting and edge-holding qualities if they will, GO TO ANY HARDWARE DEALER Ask him to show you these wonderful saws. Take them in your hand, try them and purchase either the old style or new style handle design. Price of either style is $3.00 in 24" length or $3.15 for 26". (These prices apply in the United States, east of the Missouri River). We make straight back saws in a great variety and the popular patterns are Nos. 54, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69 and 401. These and many others are shown in our book SAW SENSE. If your dealer cannot supply you, write us. JUL 21 1922 The Vocational and Educational Guidance Program of the Junior High School T Dana Z. Eckert, Head Teacher and Vocational Counseler, Latimer Junior High School, Pittsburgh, Pa. HERE is probably not one authority on junior high school administration, methods, curriculum or principles who does not stress the large place that must be given to vocational and educational guidance in this new type of school. The degree or amount of emphasis will vary, but all who are interested in the movement now growing so rapidly agree that one of the fundamental principles upon which the junior high school is based is that of guidance. one of The early adolescent boy and girl need this guidance and direction. Their minds and purposes are more or less unstable. Their plans are ephemeral. They look forward to becoming famous in business this week and have dedicated their future energies to the field of aviation before another week has passed. They are not aware of their potentialities. It is as these pupils said not long ago, "When C to be up at the other school, (the elementary school) he didn't know he could draw; now he's about the best drawer in the school." This pupil had found out that same truth which all of us who are working on the problems of the junior high school must find out-the school must provide opportunities for boys and girls to unearth their hidden talents. used And after the student has discovered his individual capabilities, his strong points as well as his weak ones, then he must be given intelligent guidance and direction so that those capacities may be developed as much as possible. When this principle has been adopted by the principal and faculty of a school it will affect the whole administration of the school. Curriculum, ac tivities, school citizenship, in fact everything will be come subordinated to this central idea. It will become the unifying element, the heart of the whole. school if it has once been accepted in its full meaning. This paper will attempt to set forth a statement of certain phases of guidance which have been considered necessary in the Latimer Junior High School. The paper is not a mere exposition of guidance theory but is rather a report of certain types of guidance now being used in this school. For convenience of outline they II Try-out Courses. III Vocational Information Classes. IV Report Teachers' Conferences. V Visitation of Elementary Schools by Vocational Counselor. VI Vocational Counselor's Conferences. The fact of individual differences is established. All seventh grade pupils, therefore, who enter Latimer are classified into groups on the basis of ratings in the standardized intelligence and achievement tests administered to them by the department of measurement. The ratings of their former teachers are always considered along with the intelligence ratings in making such classification. We have found that this method of grouping gives us groups that are unquestionably more nearly similar in ability than any other plan of grouping which had been tried previously. It provides for bright and dull pupil alike a wider opportunity than was possible where such pupils were together in the same class. It develops qualities of leadership and creates a feeling of pride in accomplishment in a way that would never have been possible where the bright and versatile pupil was grouped with the slow, plodding boy or girl. Some of the opponents of such classification criticise it on the grounds that it will create a class of intellectual snobs. We have not found evidences it. As a matter of fact the students are quite unaware of it in the five semesters during which we have tried of any such plan of classification. Students from slow equality with those from the other groups in the stugroups sit as representatives of their classes on an dent council; they serve in places of responsibility with as much honor to themselves and their class as any others; in fact there is no hint or allusion ever made which in any way can attach a stigma to such a group. And what is really of most importance to the individual boy or girl is the fact that by this plan he or she can discover his potential capacities to a far greater extent and under far more favorable conditions than he could by any other way. So highly do we think of homogeneous grouping that this semester we have in our school: Thirteen classes of seventh grade pupils classified on the basis of their I. Q. Three classes of 9A academic pupils grouped on this basis in mathematics, English, and in foreign language. Four classes of Eighth grade academic pupils grouped on the same basis. The second type of guidance used at Latimer is that of the tryout course. All boys who are in the seventh grade are given at least a semester's work in the general shop. The work of this shop is so arranged that boys are given a five weeks' course in at least four of the six kinds of shop work offered in the type shops of the school. Thus the boy and the shop instructor have an opportunity to discover any particular aptitudes for one or another kind of hand work. This shop is equipped for instruction in wood bench work, wood turning, printing, sheet-metal, electricity and for light machine work. Unfortunately, the boy's sister has not such a varied field from which to select. Her tryout courses are limited to cooking and sewing. Here is an open field for some resourceful teacher of household arts to develop other courses of instruction which shall serve the same purpose for girls of this grade as the general shop serves for the boys. It must be admitted that it is difficult to find an instructor who can teach from four to six or seven kinds of shop work and who can organize his work in such a way that he can keep as many kinds of work going at one time in one shop. But once you have found such a man this kind of course certainly provides a valuable means of helping boys "find" themselves. Following the work of the seventh year, Latimer pupils have the opportunity of selecting the curriculum or "course" which they wish to follow. Careful preparation is made for securing the wisest possible choice. More will be said of this preparation in the discussion of the report teachers' conferences and of the vocational counselor's conferences. After this choice has been made and given a trial the pupil has the opportunity of changing his course at the end of the first or second semester. In fact, there is no rule nor practice of the school which prevents the student from making such a change at any time throughout his whole junior high school life provided it is evident that by such a change he will be given a better chance to succeed. This type of organization would be best illustrated graphically by a main highway traveled by all pupils alike during the seventh year. At the close of the seventh year the pupil comes to a "fork in the road." Here stands a signpost with four "arms," one pointing to the academic course, one to the commercial course, one to the technical course and the fourth to the vocational course. The general direction of these roads is the same. They are only slightly divergent at first. There are numerous connecting paths and roads by which the traveler on one can easily pass over to another. It is evident, then, that any of these courses may be carried by a pupil for a year or more as a more extended tryout course. If he finds it suited to his taste he may continue it in the senior high school. If it is unsuited to his liking or to his vocational plans he may change anywhere along the line. A third kind of try-out course is provided by the plan of "rotation of shops" which is a part of the technical course for boys. This plan assigns the boy who selects this course to ten weeks' instruction in one shop. At the end of that time he is moved on to another shop, and so on during the two, or four semesters This "rotation" plan merely gives a of his course. more extended tryout than the general shop. He has ten weeks instead of five, and he receives instruction in a shop where nothing but that one kind of work is taught. Latimer feels the need which is no doubt felt by other schools of having try-out courses in foreign language, and in commercial subjects which will provide. material which is significant and valuable, but which need not be carried over a longer period than ten or twenty weeks. The place for such work would probably be in the upper seventh grade or the lower eighth grade. A valuable kind of guidance which may be given in any high school, no matter how small the enrollment, is that which is indicated by the heading "vocational information classes." This does not include the composition work in English which has been advocated by some writers, though the English course of study in Latimer does provide for and require at least two themes each semester on topics which have guidance significance. Perhaps we may digress here for just a moment to mention the changing points of view in these compositions as the student progresses from semester to semester through the three years of his junior high school English. They may be tabulated in the following order: 7B To learn the pupil's interests and environment in order to stimulate his ambition. 7A To stimulate ambition. (Biographical themes) 8B To awaken a realization of individual characteristics and of the possibilities for future development. SA To turn the student's thought to the opportunities for choice of life work. To develop the idea of social service. 9A To appreciate the personal value of continued education. 9B The "information" classes, of course, provide for some written work, but the pupils have a regular course of study covering a semester. Textbook and referencebook study is made the basis of class discussions. This |