How to Hand Paint Kitchen Tile
Hand painting your own kitchen tile is the ultimate way of making your kitchen truly yours. Be as creative as you wish. It is often a good idea to sketch out your design on graph paper that is sized to the actual size of the tile you will be painting.Plain shinny glazed white tiles or semi-gloss white wall tiles are the best type to start with.Check with local ceramic shops to find one that will fire your hand painted tiles for you once you are ready. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Plain while glazed tiles
- Small artist paint brushes (multiple sizes)
- Palette knife
- Odorless turpentine
- Painting mix medium (oil)
- China paints in powdered form
- Access to a kiln
Instructions
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How to Hand Paint kitchen Tile
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Buy the number of plain white glazed tiles that you will need for your project plus half a dozen extras. One extra tile will be used for mixing your paints and another tile will be used as your painter's palette.
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2
Pour a small mound of the first color you will be using onto the tile you will be using for mixing colors. Remember, a small amount of colored powder goes a long way. Using your palette knife drop one drop of oil and one drop of turpentine onto your small mound of color. Use your palette knife to crush and mix the oil, turpentine and color powder together. Scrape the mixture back into a mound. If the color is not the consistency of smooth toothpaste then add one additional drop of oil and one additional drop of turpentine and continue mixing. Once mixed transfer the mound of color to the tile you will be using as your palette and clean your mixing tile with a little turpentine.
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3
Paint your tiles with the color you have prepared.If additional colors are to be used, prepare each color as previously described and paint your tiles using a clean brush for each different color.
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4
Transport your tiles to the kiln you have arranged for. Be careful during transport that your tiles are not touched by anything that could damage the painting.
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5
Mount your fired tiles using a ceramic cement as per the cement manufacturer's instructions.
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Tips & Warnings
Once painted you may partially dry your tiles in a moderately hot oven for for 30 minutes. Allow to air cool completely before transporting to the kiln.
Always be careful not to damage your paint job prior to firing your painted tiles.
Do not paint with white paint. If a white area is required then carefully scrape away any color, revealing the white tile underneath.
