Method
Creating an African sky of yellows and oranges works perfectly with the black silhouette of giraffes. You could also use elephants or any safari animals. You can also view an printable silhouette of a tree with a couple of giraffes here.
For this example, we have used
1 – Cotton Tail
6 – Dandelion
7 – Jack-o-Lantern
8 – Orange-a-Peel
9 – Tu Tu Tango
36 – Tuxedo
- You’ll need to split your piece of pottery into four sections, using a felt tipped pen. Remember that this ink will not survive the heat of the kiln and will burn away.
- The four sections will dictate the graduation of oranges. So the bottom section will contain the yellow, the second section the lightest orange and the top two sections the orange & red.
- Start by laying down white 1 (Cotton Tail) and sweeping circular strokes of 6 (Dandelion) in the area you want the sun. Only paint yellow on one side of the sun.
- Cut out a circle which covers the painted area, and use water to stick down the paper circle to the item and press down to ensure a close contact. Do not rub the paper.
- To paint the sky, start with 6 (Dandelion) at the base, 7 (Jack-o-Lantern) & 8 (Orange-a-Peel) in the middle and 9 (Tu Tu Tango) at the top, using long horizontal brush strokes, blend the colours together.
- We’ve provided a template of the giraffes and tree you can use here. When cutting out, remember that you want to keep the integrity of the shape as you’ll be filling it in with black paint 36 (Tuxedo).
- Once you’ve cut out the silhouette, use water to stick the paper to the paint. Press down to ensure a close contact. Do not rub the paper.
- Fill the area with black paint. You can use a brush or a small sponge for this. Do not overload the sponge, gradually build up the layers.
- Peel the paper off.