Day 22 - China Painting....

Having managed to complete all the soft cleaning last week, and carry out a bisque firing on Friday, I now find myself in the enviable position of being slightly ahead of the posse for once.

So, this coming week, I will be mostly china painting... adding facial features to all the little dolls and toys.

I will write a more detailed post as I'm actually doing it, but basically there will be another 2-3 firings this week, each one after a specific stage of the china painting.  Unlike normal paints, china paints don't dry until they have been fired.  This makes them very durable, as the paint is literally fired onto the surface of the porcelain, similar to glazes.

However, as they don't air dry, it's impossible to add colour on top of existing colour unless it has been fired.

My own painting schedule depend on the style of dolls, but for most of my tiny dolls it goes like this.

First paint firing - cheeks, body blush, lips, iris,  eye dots, eyebrows

Second firing - cheeks, lip details, pupils,  lid lines and lashes, eyebrow details

I sometimes proceed to a third firing if additional details are required, eye highlights, eye dots etc.

I'll take photos and give more detail as I go along.... the complete schedule of paint firing will take around 4-5 days in total.

It's beginning to feel as if it might never end.....