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A terrific way to add a personal touch to your interiors is by decorating unpainted ceramics. It’s a really fun project to do, and all you need to begin, are : ceramic paints in the colors of your choice, brushes, some flat-backed beads, mosaics, and/or rhinestones,[ your choice], and some all-purpose glue to stick the pieces to the ceramics.
What are unpainted ceramics ?
Unpainted ceramics come in all different shapes, so you can choose what you want, based on where you’ll use it. There are unique pieces that are produced in ceramics like : dolls, carousels, dogs, dragons, even chess sets and little cottages, or the usual plates or bowls, that you can use your imagination on, to bring to life.
Greenware, as unpainted ceramics are called, is unfired pottery, taken from a ceramic mold. You can choose to fire the greenware after you paint it, but it’s not really necessary. Since it’s simpler to do, we’ll just talk about painting ceramics in this article. Greenware needs to be cleaned of seam lines and you need to use a scraping tool and a damp, almost dry, sponge. Hold the greenware gently and erase any line with the scraping tool, and then use the sponge to clean away any dust and any remaining lines.
Let the dampness evaporate from the unpainted ceramics and then use non-firing acrylic ceramic paints, and several sizes of brushes, to decorate it in whichever way you like. You can use a pencil to make light marks to divide the piece into sections, for example, decorating a dragon in an array of rainbow colors.
Apply three coats of acrylic paint and allow each coat to dry before putting on the next one. One coat gives a translucent effect, two makes it semi opaque, and three coats makes opaque. You can choose to cover some parts in less than three coats to give a three-dimensional feeling to the piece.
Faux paint effects on your unpainted ceramics
Antiquing, drybrushing, marbleizing, spattering, sponging, stenciling, or stippling, are some techniques you can use to decorate pottery pieces and other items. These techniques can fool the eye into thinking that the pottery piece is made of real marble or is a real antique.
Mosaic pieces can be stuck onto unpainted ceramics, in patterns of your choice.
After you’re satisfied with the effects, the unpainted ceramics can be sealed with a coat of clear acrylic, either sponge-brushed or sprayed on.
Unpainted ceramics that aren’t fired are not food- safe or waterproof, so don’t use them to hold food of any kind, they’re just used for decorations, so Happy Painting!