This process is repeated on the front side of the letter, when all that remains to complete it is

THE FILING.

[Illustration:  FILING THE LETTERS AFTER ENAMELING.]

This is done by girls, who, with very fine files, rub off the edges and any protuberances which may be there.  Every letter is subject to this operation, and all are turned out smooth and well finished.

Sometimes the letters are colored or further defined by the addition of a line, but the essentials are as we have already described.

[Illustration:  MIXING THE ENAMEL]

BRUSHING OUT.

There are, however, one or two other operations of interest which we may notice.  The company do not confine their exertions to the making of letters, various collateral developments having taken place which fill an important part in this scheme of work.

Of these, small tablets, containing advertisements or notices, such as we see in railway carriages, “Push after raising window,” or “Close this door after you,” or some legend pertaining to Brown’s Soap or Robinson’s Washing Powder.  These are done by different processes, the transfer process, as used in the potteries, being employed, but the one most largely used is that of “brushing out,” which is done by plates.

Let us suppose that the tablet shows white letters on a dark ground, the modus operandi is as follows: 

The tablet has been enameled, as already described, and is white.  The operator now takes a dark enamel and spreads it evenly over the entire surface of the tablet.  He, or she, now takes a stencil plate, of tinfoil, out of which the ground is cut, leaving the letter in the center.

This is carefully placed over the tablet and held tight with the left hand, while with the right hand he holds a fine brush, which he uses with a quick, sharp movement over the surface.  This action readily removes the unfired color from the hard, glassy surface underneath, and leaves a white letter.  This is fired, and is then complete.

Sometimes two and, it may be, three plates are necessary to complete the brushing out, as ties must be left, as in the case of ordinary stencils, and these have to be brushed out with additional plates.  Two or three colors may be introduced by this process, but each separate color means separate firing.  If the letters are dark on a light ground, the process is exactly the same, the stencil only being modified.  In addition to the letters and tablets thus described, the company also undertake the production of large enameled signs, and to cope with the rapid expansion of this department of their work they are erecting special furnaces, to enable them to deal with any demand likely to be made upon them.  The call for things permanent and washable in the way of advertising is on the increase, and the enameled plates made by the company is one of the most successful ways of meeting the demand.