Create dancing brolgas on a vase with ceramic paint

In this lesson we use Ceramic Paint to transform an everyday vase into something quite special by decorating it with beautiful dancing Brolga birds.

Step 1. Transferring the Image.

On page 5 is the main Image that needs to be transferred onto the vase. Print this out to A4, and shade the backside of this printout with a 6B pencil. Lay it onto the vase. ( so the printed image is facing up). Tape it into position. Use a ballpoint pen to re trace all the line work. Once all of the line work has been traced, remove the print out. Sometimes there are some smudges that have been transferred also, these can be removed with an electric eraser.

Step 2. Laying in the Black key line.

In this step we need to redraw that transferred line work with Black Ceramic Paint. So pour out some Black into the Round Plastic Palette. Add water to the Black Paint so that it is the viscosity of milk. Next take a Mont Marte Calligraphy set and fit the T5 nib into the handle. Dip the nib into the paint, test the line on a scrap sheet of paper, and re draw in all the transferred line work. Work in stages and be careful not to smudge any of the work with the back of your hand.

Step 3. Painting the birds.

The main body colour of the birds can be done with 3 tones of Grey and White. The last page of this PDF outlines the colours that go into each mix, and where exactly the tones are to be laid. But as a rough guide; Mix 1, the darkest tone, lies in the primary feathers and legs. Mix 2 is a Light Blue Grey and essentially covers the entire bird except the head. Mix 3 is a Mid Grey and takes up the area in shadow. To understand where this colour lies one must take into account the direction of the light source. In this case it emits from the top right hand side. The white is the last tone to lay in on the body area, and it is laid onto any areas of highlight or in other words those areas that are closest to the light source.

Step 5. Finishing.

At this stage the Brolgas bodies are finished and all that is left to do is to paint pure Red into the head area, paint the beaks with a light version of mix 1, and paint in the sun with pure Yellow. You may also like to lay in some more fine Black line work over the wings if any feathers have been lost under the top layers of paint.