Painting clay pots: anyone tried this?

[Kathryn Myronuk]

(sorry for a slightly off-topic post)
I've decided that I'm tired of orange as the dominate color in my flower
garden, and I cannot afford the 12.99$ glazed pots found in stores. Thus, I'd
like to paint my clay pots--has anyone tried this? If you have, what kind
of sealant did you use? (otherwise water will seep through and push the
paint off)

...and has anyone tried painting plastic pots--are there paints that will
stick to plastic?

Thanks,
Kathryn

[kl...@cobra.uni.edu]

I tried painted clay pots once... they looked leprous in short order. Ditto
the plastic pots that had been spray painted with florist's spray paint
that I "inherited".

I made enclosures for some of my pots from barnboards, stapled together
(I'm not much of a carpenter) and salvation army matchstick blinds, cut
and fitted to cylinders. Lasted 3 or 4 years, as I recall.

Kay Klier kl...@cobra.uni.edu

[Pranab Kumar Nag]

Hi,

I paint a lot of my pots with artists acrylic colors. I have pots with
paint for 2-3 years now and non of it peeled off. My only concern is that
the pots dont 'breathe' any more. So I water less frequently.

I am sure acrylics are available cheaper at paint stores. But I dabble in
art once in a while and the range of colors available at an art store is
much more (and the price too).

Pranab

[or...@skydivskylit.dseg.ti.com]

--
I've painted clay pots with Fleckstone for a granite look - but these won't
take outdoor weather. I also glued some fabric around the pot gluing it at
the top edge and under the bottom - folding the fabric in pleats around the
pot. This allows it to breathe - another indoor pot.

For outdoor decorated pots, try sponge painting with the acrylics.

Regards, Bonnie
Mama to Bobby 9/5/91 and Aunt Bonnie to Hayden 3/7/95
*******************************************************************
Email: or...@lobby.ti.com

[sha...@olympus.net]

In article <3spdol$q...@mksrv1.dseg.ti.com> or...@skydivskylit.dseg.ti.com () writes:
>Path: olympus.net!nwfocus.wa.com!news.cyberstore.ca!vanbc.wimsey.com!news.mindlink.net!agate!tcsi.tcs.com!uunet!europa.chnt.gtegsc.com!gatech!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!news.ti.com!news.dseg.ti.com!skydivskylit.dseg.ti.com!oremb
>From: or...@skydivskylit.dseg.ti.com ()
>Newsgroups: rec.gardens
>Subject: Re: Painting clay pots: anyone tried this?
>Date: 27 Jun 1995 17:05:25 GMT
>Organization: Texas Instruments
>Lines: 13
>Distribution: world
>Message-ID: <3spdol$q...@mksrv1.dseg.ti.com>
>References: <3smgeg$m...@mark.ucdavis.edu> <3smsc6$o...@fs7.ece.cmu.edu>
>Reply-To: or...@lobby.ti.com
>NNTP-Posting-Host: skydiv.dseg.ti.com

My parents have painted their VERY old clay pots for many years. Inside as
well as outside the pot. I've also painted the outside of several clay pots.
It has worked well. The paint is latex.

Regards, Sharon O'Hara

[Janet B. Daum]

Re: painting flower pots; decorating flower pots;
covering/hiding/adapting flower pots.

I've not tried this, but common sense reasoning suggests it
should work.

Try vegetable dyes--beets, etc.;
or try permanent dyes for fabrics.
soak the pots in the dye solutions. once the pots have been
redried (sunbaked??) the color should be fairly stable. I
can't imagine too much color leaching out even if you soak your
pots to water the plants within. (once cloth is dyed, it is
expected to hold color through laundering.)

Good Luck,
Jan Daum
lurking on the net when I can't lurk in my garden jungle

[wall...@jaguar.uofs.edu]

I painted several clay pots, with varying levels of success. The first
set I painted using regular household latex paint. It peeled off
in short order.

The second set I aprayed with gloss white enamel, then stenciled al floral
design on them. These lasted quote well, but aren't really a fair test,
since they were indoor pots.

Finally, I sprayed gloss black enamel onto some of those sandy colored
30s style clay pots with the quilted design. The finish came out
more like black Wedgwood than glossy--very chic! And these have looked
good, both indoors and out for a few years now.

Carol

[Michelle McCormick]

Please,PLEASE...do not use fabric dyes on your flower pots! Not unless
you are very skilled in growing plants in an environment with a saline
content many times higher than the ocean. The salt from these dyes will
leech directly into the clay and never come out. As for vegetable dyes,
the will not harm your plants physically (depending on whether or not you
use a mordant), but many of them will affect the color of plants,
especially flowers. It's that old science experiment of putting a white
carnation in food-coloring tinted water. You can go to a local hardware
or paint store and purchase acrylic sealants for terra cotta (a little
bit goes a long way) and then paint the exterior of your pots with any
old acrylic paint. You can even give them a topcoat of urethane or other
glossy finishes without risking harm to plants AFTER the sealant is
applied.
I have tried both the fabric and natural dye methods before: the latter
is entertaining (blue impatiens) the former is disastrous.
miche>