so i may again have gotten in over my head. As a volunteer for preschool church Sunday class i was asked to trial run the preschoolers mothers day project. they will decorate the pot next Sunday with painted fingerprints ( thumb will be center of flower , middle finger will be leaves) then be potted with cosmo seeds. for this the teacher has supplied clay pots and dry seeds and potting mix. i get it painted and let it dry over night. today i mix the potting mix with water as it states and plant the seeds. I've found 2 hours after the potting that the clay pots are absorbing the water and re wetting the paint causing the paint to leak off. my thought is to shellack the pot after dried paint but before planting . will this work or will that also leak off due to the clay pots absorbing?

Welcome

I'm not sure how to answer your question so hopefully someone much more knowledgeable than I will stop in. Off the top of my head, the shellac would be fine but I think it depends on what kind of paint you're using. Something water base since their fingers will be in it so the shellac might be a good idea.

How's that for a useless answer

Is @boopaints around? She has painted a lot of things for gardens so she probably would know how you could proceed. I've missed her here!

this article

http://www.finegardening.com/a...

recommends

Acrylic craft paints
and
Clear spray acrylic -

after the paint has dried completely

Thank you both - I'll see if I can track Becky down

Thank you all for your input. the problem i found was that we were using the wrong type of paint. we switched it to acrylics and then used a spray clear coat we dug up in the supply room.