Pottery Painting Ideas

Pottery Painting Ideas

Posted on by Kathlyn Alix

Tired of the usual red, white, and brown glazed pots? Then this article is for you.

Today we will be talking about different pottery painting ideas that you can use to personalize your clay masterpieces.

You can use these for your upcoming pottery decorating contest, or simply a passion project on the side.

Heck, you can even use your finished creations as gifts and giveaways during events and celebrations.

Don’t worry, these aren’t too complicated. You don’t need to have an art degree to create art. 

All you will need are some tools and knick-knacks that are easily purchased from Amazon, Blick, or that Walmart branch a few blocks from your house!

Ready?

Let’s get started!

Table of Contents

Here are Some Pottery Painting Ideas

Whether your wares are freshly fired or have been collecting dust on your shelves for months, you can add a bit of a flare to make them more exciting to look at.

Wait, old wares can still be redecorated? Yep!

If you have some plain-looking clay creations that you made a while back and are starting to look kind of dull, spice them up by adding new designs.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Porcelain Marker Doodles

Have a few plain-looking porcelain mugs at home? Add a little bit of character to them by doodling fun patterns and faces using porcelain markers that you can buy on Amazon. 

Artsy cups and saucers by Patrick Knoch
Take a look at these artsy cups and saucers by Patrick Knoch.

It’s easy! Here are a few materials that you may need:

But what do I do with the materials listed above?

First, look up some printable designs and print them out. Next, cut it out in a rough triangle shape. Wipe down your coffee mug, making sure that it’s free from grease and dust. Place your design where you want. Trim out any excess.

Take your design, right side facing you, and trace over it with your pencil. Now flip it back onto your mug, and tape it on your mug.

Using a lot of pressure, draw over your printed design to transfer the pencil lead onto your mug. Revoke the paper. You should be able to see your design. Use that as a guide.

Note, using your porcelain marker, trace over your transferred design. Let it dry.

If you want a more in-depth tutorial. Here’s a step-by-step process: How to Decorate a Coffee Mug Using a Porcelain Marker.

And don’t worry, these steps can also be used to create doodles on any type of ceramic wares!

If you’re into free-hand doodling, you can create adorable Måla porslin bowls, too! 

2. Gilded Pottery

Want a more luxurious look to your wares? Add gold!

Sure, you can paint on some intricate patterns using slip or porcelain markers, but not everyone has the time, or patience, for that!

Instead, you can use gold porcelain markers or another popular method, gold leaf!

Simply brush on the adhesive on your ceramic piece, remove the excess, and smooth out the wrinkles. It’s as easy as that!

Gilded-Pottery
Take a look at these plates decorated using gold leaf.

We have to mention though, that while you can fire genuine gold leaf, the “fake” gold leaf you typically find in craft stores can’t.

Another alternative is using a luster overglaze like Duncan’s Real Gold Overglazes. These are real gold overglazes that you can fire in a kiln, albeit at a lower temperature. 

3. Fingerprint Butterfly Mugs

Decorating a mug for your little one? Give these thumbprint butterfly mugs a try!

All you will need are non-toxic acrylic paint sets that you can get from Amazon, some plain, and a few ceramic mugs.

Oh, we almost forgot. You also need your thumbs and your little one’s thumbs!

First, prep the colors you want on your mugs.

Then dip your thumb, or your child’s thumb in the pigment and stamp it on the mugs to start forming the butterfly wings.

Make sure to wash your hands before dipping in new colors to avoid mixing – but if that’s what you’re going for, don’t let us stop you!

You may also want to keep a paintbrush nearby so add smaller details later on.

Be sure your child is old enough to resist putting their fingers in their mouths. You may be using non-toxic paint, but that doesn’t mean it’s edible!

Check out this video about Pottery Painting 101: A Simple Flower Technique.

4. A Pop-of-Color Ceramic Plates

Pops of color always bring joy and warmth to a home. Especially in the kitchen and dining rooms!

Check out these adorable Handmade Cartoon Cat Ceramic Plates!

Add some colorful ceramic home decorations and dining sets by creating bright, vivid wares. Heck, go all out and add some vibrant prints too!

The best part is that you don’t need any solid drawing skills. Just get a brush, some pottery glaze like the Duncan INKIT-1 Glaze Kit, and acrylic paint!

You can make the colors as loud as you want, or as cute and pastel-y to your heart’s content! 

Check out BOTZ – Enjoying Ceramics 1 – Colouring Plate for some beginner tips on painting your ceramic masterpiece!

Smiling Succulent Pots

Check out these Quirky Ceramic Face Pots by My Modern Met for some inspiration) 

Got a small succulent garden at home that you want to “spice up” the look of? Or maybe you’re starting your journey to succulent parent-hood and want to give your little green babies cute pots to live in.

This one’s for you!

What you’ll need are:

Basically, all you have to do is to sketch out the features onto your clay pot and use the underglaze to color them in.

If you don’t have the underglaze, porcelain markers and/or ceramic paint will be good too!

For more ceramic painting advice, head on over to My Ceramic Painting Technique (Frida Mugs).

Fern and Foliage Fun

Add a tropical flare to your home decor by having fun with fern and foliage.

And no, it’s not that hard to do!

All you’ll need are:

You can also learn how to make Foliage Strokes in this video tutorial: Quick Tip 156 – Foliage Strokes

Need more inspiration? Here are a few autumn-themed salad plates featured in Crate and Barrel.

Earthy Shades

Love the clean and minimalistic look? Give earthy shades a try.

You can never go wrong with nudes, greens, and creams. These colors go so well with almost any type of interior!

Plus you won’t need as many materials as the previous pottery painting ideas we mentioned above.

Besides the pot or clay wares, paintbrushes, and underglaze, you don’t need anything else! 

Need help mixing the right shades? Take a look at this tutorial on how to mix earth tones!

There are many other ways to paint your pots. The few that we talked about above were just too darn cute not to highlight. If those don’t work for you, don’t worry. Here are a few more pottery painting ideas:

As always, you can find all the materials you need on Amazon, Walmart, and of course, Blick!

Conclusion

Excited to give those designs a try? We know we are!

You don’t need to have an art degree to make your very own masterpiece. The sky’s the limit when it comes to your creativity.

We can’t wait to see what designs you come up with. Don’t forget to show us. Best of luck to you and your painting journey!