1

Anemone tea set with crackle glaze effect.

By

Jill Egan.

©Jill Egan 2006

2

Adjust to fit the size and shape of your tea set.

©Jill Egan 2006

3

©Jill Egan 2006

4

©Jill Egan 2006

5

©Jill Egan 2006

6

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

©Jill Egan 2006

7

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.

©Jill Egan 2006

8

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

©Jill Egan 2006

9

Crackle glaze effect.

By

Jill Egan

©Jill Egan 2006

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.

10

©Jill Egan 2006

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.

11

©Jill Egan 2006

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.