How to Paint a Christmas Ceramic Cowboy Boot

Decorating your house for Christmas is a way of creating a cheerful environment for the holiday season. You can make your own Christmas decorations for a personal touch, by using bisque ceramic. Bisque ceramics have been fired in the kiln so they are hard but are not painted or glazed. You can paint a variety of designs on ceramic shapes of your choice. If you have a cowboy boot ceramic shape, you can paint a Santa suit on it. It will make not only a great decoration but can be also be a beautiful gift.

Things You'll Need

• Bisque ceramic cowboy boot
• Red acrylic paint
• Black acrylic paint
• White acrylic paint
• Yellow acrylic paint
• Paintbrushes
• Acrylic clear coat

Instructions

Santa Claus Cowboy Boot

1. Paint the entire cowboy boot red and let it dry. Mask the boot, just above the heel with painter's tape. This will protect the boot from being painted when you are painting the heel and sole. Paint the heel and the sole of the cowboy boot with black. Let the paint dry before standing it up on the sole.

2. Use white paint to paint a 1-inch ring around the top of the cowboy boot. This is part of the fur you will be painting to resemble the fur around Santa Claus' suit.

3. Use a fine tipped paintbrush to create a fake fur texture around the bottom of the solid white ring. Dip the paintbrush in white paint. Scrap the hair of the paintbrush onto the side of the paint container to wipe off excess paint. Paint many small lines from the inside of the solid white line onto the red surface of the boot. Have the lines overlapping each other randomly. Do this around the entire bottom of the solid white ring. Once you are finished, you should not see a sharp line, just a fuzzy transition from white to red, resembling fur.

4. Halfway down the cowboy boot, mask a ring around the boot with painter's tape. One inch down from the first ring mask another ring. Paint with black paint between the masked rings. Let the paint dry then remove the masking tape. There will be a black ring around the center of the cowboy boot, resembling Santa's belt.

5. One the outside of the cowboy boot, paint an outline of a yellow rectangle. This will be the buckle for the belt. The rectangle should overlap the width of the belt by 1/4 inch on the top and the bottom. Let the paint dry.

6. Paint over the entire boot with a clear coat acrylic paint. Let the clear coat dry overnight.

Tips & Warnings

• Add other Christmas elements to the side of toe of the boot such as holly, candy canes or a reindeer. This will personalize the boot.

• The boot can be used as a vase for Christmas flowers.

• Personalize the boot by adding initials of a person or a family name to the boot.

References

• Pottery Magic: Painting Bisque