Pot Painting - DIY Weekend Project

Sunday, September 17, 2017 Heba Moeen 0 Comments

Well folks, we had a long Eid weekend some time ago so I had been at the verge of painting everything coming my way. I painted my old bid cage, balcony railings, earthen pots that I am going to show you now, and could have ended up painting a human being, had the voices inside my head not forced me to stop. Yes, they go berserk sometimes and douse a strong spell of creativity (I'm not quite insane though eh ...).

I thought of sharing the pot painting story as a DIY project through step wise instructions. Here's how to go about it!

1. Take an earthen pot(s), wash thoroughly, dry out, and paint using an enamel paint. I used white. Let it dry for a day or two. In my case, one day sufficed.

 This is what the painted pots will look like.

2. You can be as creative as you can get. You can paste small round mirrors that are used for mirror embroidery or use a glass lead to draw a design (which I did with the other pot). I painted a bird and used this bird painting here as a reference that I shamelessly copied. Remember, one should always be original but this was my practice attempt and I love this bird painting and well ... I used Marie's oil paints for the bird themed painting and let it dry for another two days.
You can paint directly without applying a coat of enamel paint.

Here's a closeup of the bird I painted on the pot

 3. Once the paint has dried out completely, apply a coat of varnish. Mix gold dust (or any other colour of your choice) and apply generously making sure you're not dabbing layer after layer without the previous one getting dry as it would leave an untidy look. One is enough.

You can even use coloured enamel paint and apply varnish with gold/copper dust and that would be quite enough as well. So either way, go for whatever suits your preference.

These are the gold and copper dusts I used

Mix it with varnish and apply on the pot

Either use a brush or a tissue/old cloth for the application of varnish. Remember to use a disposable brush and not an expensive one if you opt for the brush.

Tadah! This is what my bird painted pot nest looked like!

4. Add a plant or decorate however you want to. I housed a plant in the bigger one and put marble eggs (which I bough from Haripur during our office annual retreat) in the small one. I guess I'll later use it for another plant.

I also drew a paisley design on the small pot which you can see in the video towards the end.

Here's an instruction/tutorial video for you. Enjoy with Yanni's music (A love for life)!