How to Paint Clay Pottery in Watercolor

You can paint pottery to look like watercolors were used.

When you make your own hand-thrown pottery, you can apply ceramics glazes in different ways to customize your work. For example, although you cannot apply actual watercolor paints onto ceramic clay pottery, you can apply ceramic glazes onto the unfinished pottery work to look like it was painted with watercolor paint. Once the pottery piece is fired in a kiln, it will look like it was painted using watercolor paints.

Things You'll Need

• Unfired pottery
• Ceramics glaze
• Water
• Bowl
• Paintbrush
• Kiln

Instructions

1. Place your pottery onto a flat surface.

2. Pour 2 tbsp. of your chosen color of ceramics glaze into a small dish.

3. Add 1 tbsp. of water into the dish, mixing the water into the glaze completely.

4. Paint the diluted glaze over the area of the pottery that you want painted using a wide-tipped brush. Allow the glaze to dry, which can take about five minutes.

5. Add more layers of diluted glaze to give the pottery a veiled, watercolor-like appearance. Allow the layers of glaze to dry completely, which can take about five minutes.

6. Fire the pottery in a kiln once you are satisfied with the look of the glaze.

7. Allow the pottery to cool completely before displaying it.

References

• Sunday Pilot Pottery by Diana: My Clays and Glazes
• Lockettpots: Glazing Tips