The colors in china painting cannot be mixed with the same freedom as in water-colors, for they are sometimes very much changed in the firing. Some yellows, for instance, will cause colors mixed with them to disappear. The rules for their use are principally based on the proportion of iron employed in their manufacture, and the colors have been divided into three classes—those containing no iron, those with but little iron, and those into whose composition iron enters largely.
The first class is composed of white, the blues, the carmines, the purples, and the violets, excepting the violet of iron, which is really a red. In this class the blues can be used with mixing yellow, the purples, and carmines. A little blue can also be used with green, when, as is often the case, a bluish green is needed. Many shades of violet and purple can be made by the use of blue and carmine. Next come the colors with but little iron, the yellows and the greens. These do not mix well with the iron colors, the yellows especially being apt to cause red to disappear. Ivory yellow, however, mixes well with the flesh red, and is very useful for flesh tints. While yellow, as a rule, should not be mixed with the reds, the most brilliant red we can get on china is
