Ceramic painting

Bit of a late summer holiday post but better late than never!

I have a kiln that I use for glass because in a pre-child life I used to have a mobile ceramic painting business. Since a relocation and a course in glass fusing the kiln has not been used for it's original purpose.

My husband sent me on a fused glass course for my birthday a few years ago and luckily the kiln was good enough to have a digital controller and ramp up programme as well as the cone firing that ceramicists use. The only draw back is the size of the kiln. At least I can fire lots of champagne bottles in it!

Back to the original purpose today though. I let the boys get out the coloured glazes which seemed OK despite having been stored incorrectly for a number of years. I was more concerned with the clear glaze. That had to be stirred for close to an hour before all the lumps disappeared.

The boys wanted to draw Pokemon characters so we found some pictures to trace and with a special paper managed to transfer the image onto the plates.

An octopus was easier to paint for the 5 year old. This is the pre-fired piece.

The finished pieces!

There are mini masks, hippos, love hearts (for mummy), Christmas stars for the tree, an octopus and some pokemon plates. The boys were really pleased with the results and now have their own plates at tea time.

I had a go to at a more subtle design but 2D work is really not my strong point.

We had such a good day and now have some ideas for Christmas presents.

 I thought about painting some stars too for my etsy shop. They have a little metal loop and might look great as a tree ornament or strung together as a garland.What do you think?