Anemone tea set with crackle glaze effect. By Jill Egan.
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Adjust to fit the size and shape of your tea set.
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Anemone tea set with crackle glaze effect. By Jill Egan Materials. China paints in the following colours: Black, pansy purple, Venetian red, malachite, dark American beauty and heliotrope. Two part acrylic crackle varnish, I used Polyvine which can be bought in craft shops Lilac mother of pearl lustre Self burnish gold Pen oil Enamel Food colouring or watercolour paint (test fire to make sure the colour fires out) ……………………………………………………………… Notes. I have only given an outline drawing for the flowers and not the curving band, due to the fact that I found that it was almost impossible to trace this onto the curved surface of the teapot, so I advise painting this free hand. Also the shape of your teapot, cups etc should determine the flow of the line. Inspiration for this tea set came from several sources, firstly the work of Gustav Klimt, secondly some anemone’s bought for mothers day, and lastly an aerial view of a river that I saw in a book. Being left handed means I am constantly reminded that cups mugs etc. are designed for the right handed world, so I decided that my pieces would have no front or back, however the front and back are not identical, the flower colours are random and I chose to reverse the curving band on the other side of the pot but this is up to you. I decided to use the crackle glaze effect on the bottom of the teapot, cups, milk jug and sugar bowl. This was used on the rims of the saucers and could be used on the rims of shoulder plates too. I encountered some problems with my original attempts using the crackle glaze and I had to clean it off with a pan scrubber and start again. This was
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Anemone tea set with crackle glaze effect. By Jill Egan due to the fact that the topcoat is clear so you cannot see if you miss an area until the paint goes on. I decided to test fire a sample where I had tinted the topcoat with watercolour paint so I could see where I’d covered, and it worked. Looking at my anemone photos from the Eden project I noticed the strong groups of stems, these strong verticals would contrast well with the flowing lines. The stems and leaves would be painted in gold adding a touch of Klimt’s opulence. First fire. To make painting easier first paint the handles and knob using black paint mixed with pen oil (my tea set is bone china and not prone to colour chipping but if you are painting on porcelain add a little American beauty to the black paint to help prevent chipping. You may also want to apply the paint more thinly and add another fire) Clean up any unwanted paint then leave to dry, fire at 800ºC. Second fire. Trace the outline of flowers and stems onto the china so you can see where to position the curved line. Use a stabillo pen to mark a dotted line for the curves. Using a random line that varies in width makes this easier. Using black china paint mixed as before and a long pointed scroller paint the curved band. If you feel that the curves are out of shape use a brush moistened in turpentine to reshape the line. Leave to dry and then fire at 800ºC. Third fire. Strengthen the black areas painting with the same mixture as in the first two fires. Leave to dry, then fire to 800º C. If you feel that the black is not dark enough or uneven then repeat this process again.
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Anemone tea set with crackle glaze effect. By Jill Egan Fourth fire. Trace the outlines of the flowers and pen them using the following colours, pansy purple, Venetian red, malachite, dark American beauty and heliotrope. Wash the centres of the flowers with heliotrope. Fire the pieces at 750º C. Fourth fire. ( See notes on crackle varnish technique) Apply the base coat for the crackle varnish on the bottom sections, when this had gone tacky apply the top coat which has been tinted with food colouring or watercolour paint taking care not to miss any areas and leave to dry. Wearing a face mask and preferably working outside so no airborne particles of paint can be inhaled, brush little black china paint powder into the cracks using a dry soft brush, taking great care not to breathe in the powder. Clean off the excess and then fire at 750ºC. Alternatively rub in china paint mixed with open medium but I found using this method more colour remained on the background after firing. Fifth and sixth fire. Using an open medium paint the flowers using Venetian red, pansy purple, heliotrope, American beauty and heliotrope/malachite mixed on the brush, wipe out some highlights. Paint the centres and some stamens with black. Fire at 750 ºC. Seventh and eighth fire. Apply lilac mother of pearl lustre over the ‘crackled’ area using a brush or cotton bud, leave to dry then fire at 750º C. Alternatively a thin wash of paint could be used instead of lustre. Ninth and tenth fire. Using self burnishing gold paint the stems and leaves. Using enamel mixed with black paint add tiny dots to the flower centres for the anthers. Fire the pieces at 720º C. Gallery- www.aeducanart.com Online shop- www.aeducanart.co.uk E-mail- eganj1@hotmail.com
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Crackle glaze effect. By Jill Egan To create the crackle glaze effect I use Polyvine craquelure, this is a two part crackle varnish which is normally used for craft projects. The results can be quite unpredictable so it’s worth practicing on a tile first.
Apply the basecoat as evenly as possible using a brush or sponge. Leave to go tacky, you can dry with a hair dryer to speed it up. I have found that sponging works best but it depends on the effect you want.
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Mix a little food colouring or watercolour paint into the top coat varnish to tint it. It’s easy to miss an area when applying the top coat, but you can’t tell until you get an ugly build up of paint. Tinting the top coat makes it easier to see where you have been, make sure what you use to tint will fire out.
Brush on the top coat using long smooth strokes; try not to go back over an area or miss any bits. Thick areas of varnish tend to burn away without any crackles especially when using lustres. Leave to dry, a hair dryer can be used to speed things up.
Paint mixed with open medium can be worked into the cracks. Wipe off excess paint with a tissue.
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Or dry powder paint can be brushed into the cracks, (please wear a dust mask and work outside), dust off excess paint. This leaves a cleaner background which is useful if you want to apply a different coloured wash or lustres over.
The fired tile shows that by dry dusting you get a much cleaner background. Also you can see where the thick areas of varnish have burned off. You can always do these areas again with the crackle varnish. Now you can wash china paints or lustre over the crackle effect. The Anemone teaset has lustre over the crackle but I have also used this technique to age a painted piece, and I’ve used it over a painted background. Also try metallic paints for the crackle or lustres, experiment and have fun.
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