How To Make Pots Made By Ancient Civilization?
Archaeologists are still digging up painted terracotta pots decorated with animals, people and geometrical patterns from the earliest civilizations. These paints would have been made from grinding rocks into powder and were painted on with sticks and feathers. Today's craft paints make it easy for us to brighten up old terracotta pots. Maybe our pots will be dug up by future generations!
Seashell pot
Things you need
Terracotta pot and saucer all purpose sealer, water based craft paint (3 colours plus white), thin black felt tip pen, small sea shells about 12, strong craft glue, water based varnish kitchen sponge (cut in half).How to go about it? Soak the terracotta pot and saucer in water for a few minutes and put them in the sun to dry completely.Dab the sponge into white paint, remove the excess (by lightly dabbing the sponge onto newspaper), then dab the sponge all over the pot, including the top 15-20 cm of the inside of the pot and around the rim of the saucer. Allow to dry.Divide the pot vertically into quarters and using the pencil lightly sketch a fish in each quarter (you can copy the shape or draw your own).Paint the fish white first to act as a base coat. Then paint with two coats of colour allowing the paint to dry between each coat.Use the black felt tip pen to draw the eye and to outline the fish.Paint the rim of the pot and a thin stripe on the saucer with two coats of paint, allowing to draw between coats.Glue the sea-shells around the rim.When completely dry finish off with two coats of varnish.
Cactus Pot
Things you need
Terracotta pot and saucer all purpose sealer, water based craft paint (4 colours plus white), water based varnish.
How to go about it?
Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the cactus pot.
Draw a wavy line in pencil around the middle of the pot. Paint the top half, including the rim, and the bottom half in two different colours. Allow to dry and apply the second coat. Divide the pot vertically into quarters and using the pencil lightly sketch a cactus in each quarter.
Paint the cactus white first then paint an outline around the cactus and using the tip of a brush lightly dab the cactus spikes around the edge. With the pencil lightly draw a row of triangles around the rim of the pot and paint them white. An easy way to get triangles the same size is to cut off the corner of a piece of cardboard and use this as a pattern to trace.) Paint with two coats of colour, when dry, paint an outline around the edge of the triangle.
Paint stripes of colour around the saucer. Allow to dry and apply a second coat if necessary. When completely dry finish off with two coats of varnish.
Note
It's a good idea not to plant anything directly into the pot. Terracotta is porous and will eventually soak up enough water to make the paint bubble and peel. Use a plastic pot inside the terracotta pot instead.
