I want to start purchasing miniature blank bisque dolls to paint/wig/clothe and sell for a bit of money.
Will using acrylic paint of decent quality produce quality results, or do I need to invest in china paints and mediums and such?
If acrylic will do, how do I make it permanent? (acrylic is water based, right? so can it be wiped off even after drying completely?) Apply a coating or something?
I have no kiln and no access to one.
Thanks.
Well, are you looking to do porcellian (sp?) dolls? That takes special paint and firing after each coat. Acrylic paints will do just fine if you are not, they won’t wash off. You will probably want to spray a sealant on after painting.
Use a good quality acrylic like Ceramcoat. It won’t wipe off,but there are fixatives you can use over it to protect it, both spray on and brush on, and you can get a variety of finishes, matte, satin, semi-gloss, glossy, depending on what you want.
Go to a good craft store like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby- they’ll be able to point you in the right direction. I paint a lot of bisque ceramics this way!
Acrylics will do the job fine, but don’t go for the cheapie kind, like PapSett said.
I am a ceramic artist, and I don’t have a kiln either. But I have always managed to find a shop to do my firing. Check the yellow pages under ceramics or clay, make some calls and see if you can find someone who provides firing services. I pay $30/load for glaze firing at the place where I buy my clay and supplies. I always take my things in in large batches, to get my moneys worth. If you have no luck with finding a shop, try the college ceramics dept. They will most likely have a large kiln and might be able to help you out.
Thank you for the advice, everyone.
Does Jo Sonja brand acrylic paint count as high quality enough?
And I thought bisque and porcelain were the same - not true?
I have never heard of Jo Sonja paint, so I am nit qualified to answer that; I always use Ceramcoat; the few times I have strayed- Apple Barrel or one of the others when they were on sale, I regretted it and ended up tossing them.
I could be wrong, but I believe the difference in bisque and porcelain is that bisque has already been fired and is not fired again after painting, and porcelain is painted before firing with a special ceramic paint, fired, then has a glaze painted on and fired again? This makes it safe for eating on. (Plates, cups, etc, not dolls!)