Tastes of Culture

Many people like terracotta in its natural form, but if you do want to decorate it, this is intended as a general guide.

You can have a lot of fun doing this and really, it is quite easy to do. So, what items do you require for this? A black felt tipped pen, scissors, a soft pencil, masking tape, tracing paper, cartridge paper and some poster paint markers, which are fine nibbed, plus another one with an extra broad nib.

What a good invention poster paints are! They help you to achieve satisfactory results. These paints can be used on fabrics and wood as well as terracotta and, in fact, give permanent marking on porous surfaces.

I would not chance washing them though! If you use plastic, rubber, glass or surfaces that are non absorbent you can change your design, but they would not be permanent. So, this does give you freedom, somewhat.

Say you have a surface that is a non porous one, you could, in this scenario, achieve a permanant finish by applying a covering of acrylic varnish.

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.

Before you get around to painting your chosen design, first look at your design against the terracotta. Remember, it has to fit a certain space. The next step then being to get your tracing paper and draw the outlines of your design with your black felt tipped pen. Position them on your article, but make sure that you leave a space around the outside of your design.

Now you have to keep them in place. To do this, use some masking tape, but double it over. This way you can move your motifs any way you choose. If you are satisfied with your motifs start eliminating them and draw them freehand.

So we have now reached the colouring stage. Once all your outlines are on, you can begin to fill them in with your colour markers. The markers dry quickly, but just be careful that the side of your hand does not smudge any areas.

Take a quick look at your sketches and, with a fine nibbed paint marker, fill in the insides of your sketches. From then it is possible to fill in your motifs with a second colour. Use the broad nibbed pen to fill in your backgrounds, but just take care when you are anywhere near the 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.