{Painting Pottery}

I usually buy cheap pottery.  I might see a piece at the Goodwill, my favorite antique mall, or a yard sale, and I'll buy it.  I don't have any idea what I'm buying, I just pick up something if I like it.  I think the most I've ever spent on a piece is about $4.  Recently, I splurged and placed an order for Pottery Barn's Marissa pots for my new mantel.  They were on sale, so I didn't feel so bad, but  even on sale it was a splurge for me...

Unfortunately, I got an apologetic letter from PB explaining that they had "sold out" of the pots that I had ordered and they did not think they would get them in the future. I was bummed...

So, I decided to paint what I had. Here is what I did...

First, I primed all of the pottery I wanted to paint with a spray, white primer.

Then, with a sponge brush, I started brushing paint on the pottery.  I tried to mix a few colors together to get a "marbled" glaze look.  I used the Martha Stewart color samples from Home Depot.  They were about $2.50, and I have a ton of paint left over. 

Once, I got the look I was after.  I waited for the paint dry.  Then, I sprayed with Minwax's Fast-Drying Poly.  I used clear gloss to get a shiny, glazed pottery look.

I was pretty happy with how they turned out.  I thought they were a pretty good knock off, but definitely not perfect.  That's the great thing about it though...it's always perfectly imperfect.

Erin