After bisque firing CLAYTIVITY projects are creamy-white ceramic and ready for painting.

You will need

• Newspaper. Cover surfaces for easy cleanup.
• Acrylic paints
• Paint brushes – provide a variety from fine to wide tipped
• Paint palette or plastic lid
• Water pot
• Gold, glitter, marker pens, tooth picks or round ended pin heads to embelish after painting all surfaces.

Painting

Allow plenty of time or plan to complete in two or three shorter sessions. Complete the base or background one session paint other areas later.

Often new ideas form or change but plan before you begin. Think about how you will paint different areas: which colours; which area first. Markings or lines you made on the project will help.

Acrylic, gold, glitter, paints. For best results and a shiny surface, use acrylic paint. Paint all areas first then add detail: glitter and metallic paints for special effects, a toothpick, fine brush or round pin head for gold trimmings, necklaces, earrings.

If the paint gets a little too globby, wet the paintbrush in the water pot to make it thinner and easier to spread. Wipe excess paint or water off the brush on newspaper or the side of the palette.

If you make a mistake, allow the paint to dry then paint over.

Paint brushes etc

Provide a selection of paint brushes, fine to wide. You can use marker pend to add lines, dots and other details after the paint has dried. Toothpicks and round pin heads are also great for adding dots, eg buttons, patterns, texture, pupils of eyes. Join the dots to form lines.

Water Pots and palettes

Give each student a palette and a little water for adjusting the thickness of the paint and cleaning paint brushes. Large yogurt pot lids make excellent inexpensive palettes, and can be used over and over again. Simply wash or peel off the paint after it has dried.

Techniques

Palettes

Squeeze a small amount of two to three colours onto a palette or just one or two colours at a time. Let the artist choose! Two or three colours can be mixed to make any number of new variations. For example, try mixing blue and yellow, or green with yellow and blue to make different greens, or any colour with tiny amounts of black or white to make different shades.

Paint brushes

 Show students how to use a paintbrush just the right size for each area, clean their brushes after each colour application and remove excess water by wiping on newspaper. For best results, encourage everyone to empty and refill water pots frequently.

Painting

Paint the largest area first, often this is the base or background and smallest areas last, finishing with fine detail once all areas are covered and. Allow the paint to completely dry before changing colours and wash the paint brush well in clean water.

Encourage students to paint every bit of their project using a fine brush to get into tiny nooks and crannies. Pay attention to detail!

Have fun painting your projects!