Viewing post #139871 by dahlianut

This is my ceramic frog on a pot that I made for one of my bird baths


Now of course you're thinkin HOW did dahlianut make ceramics without breakage and explosions or a big fire in the kiln Well I discovered that there are BRILLIANT ceramic artists who will help. These ladies had a fabby idea of opening a store with unpainted ceramic pieces. You go to their store and you pick out a piece and then the fun begins. You pick out the paint for the colours you want to put on your piece and you paint, paint, paint. I chose a piece with only 2 colours cuz you need to put 3 or 4 coats of paint on it and I thought there would be less chance that I would make a boo boo if there was only 2 colours. They have little fans set up so your piece dries quite quickly between coats. For the frog I chose a paint that has little grits it in that make that warty/marbly look when fired. At the end I decided that the frog should have black eyes and you can see there is a little twinkle in one eye which just happened (oops). When you are finished they do the kiln part ( ) and TA DA! you have a luvly piece which is exactly right for that certain spot.

Now you're thinkin but I don't live near a big town/city with ladies who have a store where you can do that. BUT I bet there is a guild or group of artists in your state and there might be one near you who you could make arrangements with. TRY it, it's way too much fun! For my next project I'm going to make a platter and design my own pattern with lots of different colours. They will have lots of fabby advice for sure as these ladies make the most beautious platters.

O I almost forgot to say that you don't have to do this in the store. You can take it home to paint, paint, paint and then take it back to be fired. I'm going to do that with my platter

Now you're thinkin that this whole thing must be expensive. My frog on a pot cost me $21. I'm pretty sure they make the pieces from molds but I didn't ask. It could be expensive though when you see their original pieces but I'm determined to make my own, twinkles and all.