Decorating Terracotta Is As Easy As 1, 2, 3!…

Terracotta is quite popular in its natural form, but some people prefer it to be decorated, so I wrote this article with that in mind.

This can be quite satisfying and great fun.You will require quite a few items though. Let me run through the list. Some fine nibbed poster paint markers and also one with a broad nib, scissors, masking tape, cartridge paper, a black felt tipped pen, plus some tracing paper.

Poster paints are such a handy and useful item to use for creativity. Well, for instance, you can use them on material and wood, not only on terracotta, and they produce a good finish. They permanently mark any porous surface.

However, you would not achieve permanant results on non absorbent surfaces such as rubber, glass, or plastic. It does afford you some flexibility though, as at least you can alter your design. But there is no way that I would recommend you wash this once you have painted it.

As an example you can brush on a coat of acrylic varnish to a non porous surface, which will then, in turn, make it permanent.

With cartridge paper, using the poster paint markers, start working out your ideas of design. It is probably better that you make quite a few, as you need to experiment with shapes and your chosen colours.

Now try your design against the terracotta and see how it looks or fits before you get round to painting it. With your tracing paper trace the outlines of your sketches with the black felt tipped pen. You then need to leave a little space around them and place them in position on your article.

Keep them in place with masking tape, but double this over. Now you can try placing them differently until you are happy with the result. You are now ready to draw your designs on the terracotta. So, you need to remove your motifs if you like and continue drawing them freely.

So, now say you have finished doing all your outlines, the next step is to get out the colour markers and start filling in. It is all too easy to smudge your work with your hand whilst doing this, so beware! Luckily enough, the markers do dry quickly.

Now looking at your sketches, fill in the insides of them with a fine nibbed paint marker. Then you can continue filling in your motifs with, say, your second colour. Of course you will need to fill in your background colour with a broad nibbed pen, but take care when you are near your motifs.

The motifs themselves need to have an amount of space all round them that has not been painted. Also the background you use does not have to reach right to the top or the bottom of your article. Terracotta often has a decorative edging to it which adds a finishing touch.