I’ve been making small items out of air-dry natural clay (not polymer), and I’m looking for a good painting technique, especially with regards to primer.
I’ve tried a couple primers, but they don’t seem to bond with the clay any better than the paint, so they’re kinda useless.
I’ve been using a stone-finish spray paint like this with some success, but I can tell from broken pieces that it’s not bonded to the clay well.
I’ve toyed in my head with the idea of pressing the piece into sand before it dries, or even mixing sand into clay to give it a rougher texture that the paint can bond to. The mixing idea might make the whole thing weaker, I suppose, though.
I’ve made a couple test pieces, one that was pressed into sand, and another that had sand mixed into it. They dried overnight, and I sprayed them with the stone spray this morning. After work, I’ll crack them and see if the paint bonded any better.
I can see from the high activity of this thread that many will be waiting with bated breath…
I really don’t think the pieces are dry enough. There’s a reason natural clay is well-dried then bisque fired before being glazed and re-fired. Not only does it make sure that everything is really dry, firing changes the composition. Clay that has only dried can be reconstituted with water.
Try letting them dry out for a week before painting. If that doesn’t help, I got nothing.