Day 23 of The {31} Purge and I'm saying good-bye to another favorite collection of crafts that have gone by the way-side for me...ceramics. In particular...the dry-brushed technique for painting ceramics as compared to the high-gloss, fired, pottery-type ceramics. Back in the day...we would gather at ceramic studios where the studio owners' would offer us table space and supplies, for a small fee, for the evening.
We would gather each week to paint bisque figurines (that we would also purchase from the studio owners for additional fees) and to enjoy each others company.
For years I painted gifts for each and every holiday. However, painting Halloween pieces for my Mom were my favorite because her birthday is October 31st and she is the best Witch in town ;} Love you Mom!
So now I'm stuck with over four boxes of some half-finished pieces and LOADS of Christmas ones that haven't been touched in over 16 years...ever since we re-located to Charlotte, NC.
In the photo below you can see a collection of Wizards and Sorceresses for my son Mitchell who was into Dungeons and Dragons at the time. These pieces combined a glazed (fired finish) for the ICE crystals bases and a dry-brushed finish for all the elaborate clothes and bodies. Dry-brushing involves painting a dark base color all over the piece and then dry-brushing (using a thick brush to load your paint onto and then wiping most of the paint off the bristles) the lighter colors on-top, hitting all of the "raised" areas...which creates the lights and shadows naturally in your figurines.
For the Christmas holidays I painted all sorts of decorative pieces such as snow globes, night lights and ornaments for wreaths for everyone in my family. However, my favorite Christmas pieces where the collection of Santa figures from all around the world.
You can still purchase these figurines on many websites like Pine Creek Ceramics and these particular Santa Clause figurines go for about $14.00 each. I could try to sell my pieces, on e-bay or etsy for instance, but I just do not have the energy! So I've given them to my sister to sell...since on Saturday, November 19th she is setting up a vendor table at a local church's Christmas Festival...where she will be selling her handmade crochet items, along with all of these bisque items. If anyone is going to be in the Concord, North Carolina area and would like to attend this event, then please leave me a comment, with your email, and I'll send you the information ;}
For those of you that are wondering...how do you paint/finish these pieces? Don't fret...there are all kinds of instructions available on-line that give your the color and instruction guides for painting these pieces. Sites like...Ann's Ceramics Painting Instructions...where you can download or print the PDF files for the pieces that you have and/or are interested in finishing. Hope this helps ;}
Even though it has been over 16 years since I've opened up these boxes...some things never go out of style {or they come back around again...lol :} Especially old world Santas!
Fondly, Roberta
My closet has dozens of pecan resin Santas that I used to paint. I would love to get them out again! On the rare occasion that I paint on a paper crafting project, I have found a paint color in my stash to use, only to find it completely dried out, or near enough to just complete the paper project. I like to think of that as a slow purge of the paint rather than checking every bottle :) One day I do hope to go back to it, and re-invest in the paint at that time.
Posted by: June Houck | November 15, 2011 at 04:05 PM