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Painting on Ceramics with Acrylics

25 thoughts on “Painting on Ceramics with Acrylics”

  1. I studied with a teacher for many years who sculpted functional furniture from clay. She even had a piece in The Whitehouse! All her work was painted with oils. By the time I came along, we were painting clay sculpture with acrylics with remarkable and lasting results!

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    • Thanks so much for your input, Rochelle! We are so glad it is working out for you and always appreciate when artist share the results of their practice or tests!

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  2. what product did you use as the final finish on the painted clay? i am exploring as i paint my bisque fired pieces and want to protect them with a final satin type finish. any suggestions?
    thanks

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    • Hi Andrena,

      We only tested a few and the only successful one was a two part epoxy. You may need to do some testing on your own to get something that may work for your needs.

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      • I had the same question as Andrena. Your testing seemed directly related to how well the finish held up to water. I would like to use a finish on sculpture that will not be exposed to water and will be indoors. Any suggestions?

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  3. This is a useful article for me. I have a several unglazed ceramic pieces around, and this is not a great time to work in a shop, if any are even open. Look forward to trying your suggestions!

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  4. Have you experimented with clay pot sealer sprays? Wanted to paint bisque on the outside and spray the inside to waterproof it, and maybe on top of the paint.

    Also, there are acrylics that say they work on glass and ceramics that you have to cure and bake in an oven. Any thoughts on those?

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    • Hi Mona,

      We have not tested any clay pot sealers, so you would need to reach out to the manufactures of those coatings to see if they are appropriate for your needs.

      We also do not make any heat curable acrylics and would advise against heating any of our acrylics or other acrylics made for painting, as melting plastic is unhealthy. In our experience and testing, acrylics have poor adhesion to glass, meaning you could peel it right off after application, so again you would need to work with those manufacturers to ask about their intended uses.

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  5. HI, Mona,
    If I have a bisque piece and want to use acrylics to paint it and then want to end up with a shiny finish….how can this be accomplished? It will be a non-functional piece, however will want to be able to dust it now and again!
    Thanks in advance for your help!
    BettyAnn

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    • Hi BettyAnn,

      Thank you for your question. Using a thin acrylic paint is our recommendation for biaque fired ceramics, as the paint sinking into the pores of the clay had the best adhesion in our testing. If the piece is just decorative,you could choose acrylic colors that are glossy or apply a Gloss Medium over the paint to make it glossy, but since acrylic paints and mediums are porous on a microscopic level, if you need a gloss coating that will be a tighter film than the paint for easier dusting, you could use a commercial topcoat, like a water based polyurethane or another coating as long as it is compatible with “latex” house paints.

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  6. I am wanting to do a paint pour on a glazed ceramic planter. Wasn’t sure how to do it. I knew the acrylic would not stick to the glaze but was going to sand it down and then paint it. Would that work?

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    • Hi Penny, roughing up the glaze to add more surface area for the paint to hold onto could possibly give a bit better adhesion, but it is likely that the acrylic will not make a permanent adhesion to a ceramic glaze. It could also help to add some GAC 200 into the mixture to make the film harder. We would encourage you to do some tests before painting the final piece. We hope this helps and if you have any more questions, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

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  7. Hi, I ordered some hand made salt pigs and spoon rests from a local potter. Despite me asking for a smooth white surface to paint on with Pebéo ceramic paint, (which is then fixed in a domestic oven) it appears she has given me them in bisque form.
    Sadly I know nothing about pottery. Should I ask her to put on an underglaze and return them to me to be painted with the Pebéo paint, then oven bake? I hand paint glass using the glass version of the Pebéo paints, so I am used to the paint and oven firing. I’m just not sure about the pottery.
    Many thanks in anticipation
    Jeanette

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    • Hi Jeanette, I am unaware of an underglaze that can be fired in a home oven, which is a very low temperature compared to a kiln. We would not recommend any of our products be used on something that would be used for food or putting any acrylic paint in an oven used for food, so we would suggest reaching out to the potter or the manufacturer of the products you plan to use to see what they recommend and that it is food safe.

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  8. I have a peice which has been glazed and fired. I am unhapp;y with the result in terms of the glazing colours and pattern and would like to paint over the finish. I need some advice as to method and materials.
    Vic Hood

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    • Hi Vic, Thank you for your question. As you can see in the article that the acrylics on glazed ceramics failed adhesion tests, meaning using acrylics to paint glazed ceramics will not make a permanent bond, so is not recommended. You may consider looking into other types of coatings that we have not tested. Perhaps epoxy resins could work? We encourage you to reach out to the manufacturers of these coatings for recommendations.

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