Bisque:

• Coupe Dinner Plate
• Coupe Salad Plate

Pattern:

• Download pattern [PDF]

Colors:

• Candy Apple
• Spruce
• White (optional)

At Your Table:

• Pencil
• Brushes
• Sponge

Accessories (Our staff will be happy to bring these to your table):

• Carbon Paper
• Paint Pen

Directions

1. Trace pattern onto the coupe salad plate using the carbon paper.
2. Using a brush at your table, apply three coats of Candy Apple Red to the areas that say “R” on the pattern.  (As an alternative to Candy Apple Red, you could use Hot Tamale or Scarlet).
3. Clean edges either:
1. By scraping using the opposite side of the brush (look for a brush that has a sloped, hard pointed edge in your brush caddy at your table).
2. By using a paint pen in the same color red along the edges (easier method)
4. The white stripe can either be left unpainted or painted with three coats of White. 
5. Using a paint pen in the same color red, apply a line in the center of each stripe as shown in the photo.
6. For the coordinating dinner plate, apply three coats of Spruce to the entire plate.

Materials

Bisque:

• Rimmed Dinner Plate

Pattern:

• Download pattern [PDF]

Colors:

• Marigold
• Black
• Tang
• White
• Tickled Pink
• Parakeet
• Hot Tamale

At Your Table:

• Pencil
• Brushes
• Sponge

Accessories (Our staff will be happy to bring these to your table):

• Carbon Paper

Directions

1. Trace pattern onto the plate using the carbon paper.
2. Paint inner circle of the plate around the kitty outline with 3 coats of Marigold
3. Wipe off any excess paint on the rim with a sponge. We left the the rim white, but if you prefer paint with a color.
4. Fill circle around spider with 3 coats of Tang
5. Paint in spider with 3 coats of Black.  Leave eye circles white.
6. Fill in kitty with 3 coats of Black.  Paint around eyes, nose, and collar.
7. Use a paint pen in black to add pupils to the spider’s eyes.
8. Use a paint pen or small brush to paint in the kitty’s eyes with parakeet.  Use a black paint pen to add pupils.
9. Paint kitty’s nose with tickled pink and collar with tang. Use a Hot Tamale paint pen or small brush to add stripes to the collar.
10. Use a white paint pen to add whiskers.
11. Use a black paint pen to add spider’s web string.
12. Paint the back of the plate with 3 coats of black.

For this entry in our ideas and techniques blog, we will take a little inspiration from our own studios!  We use cups and saucers on every table in the studio to hold water and sponges for our painters.  Our staff artists have come up with some cute ideas to decorate these magnificent mugs! 

Ever had bisque block? You’re in the mood to create but you just can’t settle on selecting which bisque piece you would like to paint? It can be the toughest part of the pottery painting process. We are here to help. Our staff can help stimulate your creative senses. Will this piece be for yourself? For your home? A gift for someone else? What’s the occasion?

Sometimes, the shape of the bisque piece itself can serve as inspiration. Here are a few examples of pieces that our customers did, inspired by the shape of the ceramic piece.

A customer took our “baby plate” and turned it into a Cookie Monster plate! The divisions on the plate inspired a section for the eyes and the mouth, with cookies around the edge.

A heart-shaped plate is turned into a chocolate covered strawberry!

A customer took our “golf mug”… a mug with a round arch in the bottom to fit a golf ball… and turned it into an elephant mug! The handle serves as the trunk!

 
A circular shape can inspire many different creations! Above we have examples of an 8-ball and a beach ball. Turn your dinner plate into a basketball, or the inside of an orange!

Our star-shaped plate was turned into a starfish!

Of course, you could also use stencils, stamps, trace graphics from the computer – many techniques for any bisque piece – that we will show you on this blog.

There are endless possibilities… and that makes pottery painting so much fun!

Here’s a really clever gift idea for that “list-maker” in your life!  Get rid of your paper to-do lists and jot down your tasks for the day with your cup of joe.  We’ll show you how to create this easy notepad-like design and also show you some variations on this idea for other fun projects and gifts.

1. You can use any style mug — here we have used our traditional 16 oz. Mug — and have painted the entire mug with three coats of yellow-color glaze (here it’s our “Light Straw” color) as a background. 
2. Give the background ample time to dry.  To create the ruled blue lines, wrap narrow strips of masking tape around the mug to cover the background.  Leave a small gap between each strip of masking tape.  The number of strips used depends on the type of mug you’re using and the thickness of the masking tape.
3. Using a paintbrush, paint three coats of ”Blue Yonder” glaze in the gaps between the strips masking tape.  The masking tape will give you the effect of a finely ruled line.
4. While the blue glaze is drying, carefully remove each strip of masking tape.  Take great care to ensure that the masking tape does not remove the yellow background underneath.
5. Once the blue lines are fully dry, you can create the vertical red lines.  To do this, use our “Salsa” colored paint pen.  Take a ruler and carefully paint the vertical line with your paint pen against the ruler.  Do this a second time directly to the left of the first vertical line for a double-line effect.
6. Finally, grab a black paint pen to write “Things To Do” on the top line of the mug.  Then label each line with a number.
7. Voila!  You now have a reusable and very cool to-do list mug!

Grab a dry-erase marker at your local crafts store to go with the mug and you have an instant gift that is unique and practical!

Variations on the idea

• Fill in the to-do list with your black paint pen to match hobbies/activities on your gift recipient’s list for a personal touch!
• Do the notepad “ruled-paper” effect as a gift for a teacher!
• In addition to the to-do list, try other “write-on” ideas on a mug:  Draw a tic-tac-toe board on your mug in paint pen, or a hangman game.  Then give the mug as a gift with a dry-erase pen and you have an instant interactive game-on-a-mug!