This design is taken from a large, round antique tin spice container in our collection. It consists of three simple ball flowers and a variety of comma strokes. Note that when transferring the design, I only used a line through the center of each comma stroke to indicate the placement; I did not outline each stroke.

Begin by using a number 5 round brush to fill in the ball flowers with naphthol crimson.

When the paint is dry, make darker red overstrokes, using a number 3 round brush and permanent alizarin. It is somewhat hard to see the difference between the shades of red in the photos. Turn your work to pull these strokes from 12 to 6 o’clock.

Next add white comma strokes, also using the number 3 round brush. Also add the white dot to the middle ball flower.

Change to thin black paint and a 5/0 liner brush, and pull a thin stroke at the top of each ball flower.

Now use the number 4 round brush with green oxide paint to pull all the green comma strokes.

Complete all the yellow comma strokes with Turner’s yellow and the number 4 round brush for large strokes and the number 2 round brush for smaller strokes.

Then use a number 2 striper brush with thin Turner’s yellow to paint a stripe around the outer edge of the tray floor. To keep the stripe an even distance from the edge, use your little finger as a guide, running it along the outside edge of the tray as you paint.