Metallic China Paint Experiments with Color.

In 1971, a sociologist named Murray Davis published a groundbreaking paper that opened with these two lines:
It has long been thought that a theorist is considered great because his theories are true, but this is false. A theorist is considered great, not because his theories are true, but because they are interesting.

What Happens when Color is Painted and Fired over Metallic China Paint?

In 2012, one of the students in class, Joan, painted a bag of toys carried by Santa using metallic paint underneath blue china paint with outstanding results. At that time, I wondered if this idea could stand on it's own as a porcelain painting technique or possibly be used on larger areas to enhance a porcelain painting. Recently, I began testing gold metallic china paint in combination with china paint colors and would like to share the results with china painters.

Maryland China Company sells Metallic Gold and Antique Metallic Gold china paint. Out of curiosity, I ordered a few vials of each color of the metallic china paint and test fired each one. Because the results were so intriguing, I created a witch shoe painting study for my students featuring the use of metallic gold and black china paint. During our witch shoe painting sessions, two students decided to experiment by using china paint colors we hadn't tried yet over their metallic gold colors. In both instances, their brave decisions to experiment on original paintings without test firing beforehand resulted in exciting and interesting results.

As a side note: I love the moments when students expand on ideas that we are working on in class. This is why. If you have an apple, you've got one apple, however, if each person contributes an apple it isn't long until you have a bushel of apples. This couldn't be more true of the artists who come each week to my art classes and contribute their ideas to each project. We get a bushel full of ideas as they work their way through their creations in class. These painters are rule breakers and the results are phenomenal and I am very appreciative because they allow me to write about these happenings on the blog.

So let's get down to the nitty gritty details on this color experiment.

Test Fire #1: Refer to example #1 in the photo. I started by test firing each metallic color on 2" x 2" porcelain tiles purchased from the hardware store. Picture #1 is a sample of the Antique Metallic Gold. I learned that Antique Metallic Gold is a warmer color with a rich yellowish hue and the Metallic Gold (Not in the photo.) is slightly cooler in color temperature. Both colors are very beautiful by themselves. However, we continued to experiment by overlaying color and re-firing the art work. Following are the results for using Metallic Gold in combination with china paint colors.

Test Fire #2: Painted a 2" x 2" porcelain tile with Metallic Gold china paint. Fired at cone 014. Next, a coat of Midnight Blue was painted over the Metallic Gold china paint. Then little stars, moons and filler dots with a clay shaper/wipe out tool were carved into the paint. Fire again at Cone 014. The result was that the Midnight Blue really shines after firing over Metallic Gold china paint.

Metallic Gold Paint plus Black: Refer to #4 on the photo above. Painted the dress and ruffle with a layer of Gold Metallic china paint. Fired the artwork at cone 014. After firing, the surface was painted with Black china paint. Next, with a clay shaper/wipe out tool, stars, moons and filler dots were carved out of the wet paint to reveal the gold underneath. Fired the art work again at cone 014. The black paint over the metallic gold had a beautiful shine after firing.

Metallic Gold Paint plus Rich Brown: Refer to example #3 in the above photo. Gloria, an artist in class, designed and painted a cute shoe filled with a luscious bouquet of autumn flowers. First, she applied a base coat of Metallic Gold and fired at cone 014. Then she applied Finishing Brown china paint over the top of the Metallic Gold and wiped out simple flowers with a clay shaper/wipe out tool to reveal the gold underneath. The art work was fired at cone 014 again. After firing, the Finishing Brown china paint over Metallic Gold turned into a rich and beautiful surface that resembled patent leather that shines. Good idea Gloria!

Metallic Gold Paint plus Pansy Purple: Refer to example #5 on the photo above. Jeannie, an artist in the painting class, was designing her color theme around purple hues. She painted a base coat of Metallic Gold china paint onto the surface. The Metallic Gold was fired at cone 014 before proceeding to the next step. After the metallic gold was fired, she painted Pansy Purple china paint onto the surface and with a clay shaper/wipe out tool, formed round circles for the patterned design revealing the under painted gold. She fired the art work again at cone 014 before adding the Sap Green china paint details with a fine stroke of black china paint onto the wiped out circles. The results? Pansy Purple china paint turned into a beautiful shade of rich reddish purple when painted over Metallic Gold. Way to go Jeannie! Looks real good.

In Summary: We discovered that all of the colors we used shined beautifully when they were painted and fired over metallic gold china paint. The surprises were that Pansy Purple turned a gorgeous rich reddish purple and Finishing Brown china paint resulted in a patina similar to patent leather when fired over metallic china paint. Both black and blue china paint applied over metallic gold have an over all polished looking shine after they are fired at cone 014 in an electric kiln.

Read about the “The Great Orange Experiment”.

Blog Post about “Failure Leads to Success”.

E-mail: marylou@maryloulaberge.com

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