How to Choose a Ceramic Piece to Decorate

Patricia Lázaro, founder and designer of Chichinabo Inc, shows us how to choose the ideal surface to decorate with ceramic decals

Creating objects full of style and personality, whatever the craft discipline, is obviously fashionable. Ceramic decoration lets you leave your mark on everyday objects that makes them stand out.

But will any kind of piece do? Designer Patricia Lázaro, founder of Chichinabo Inc, an atelier and store in Madrid, explains that there are advantages and disadvantages to different pieces you can design with ceramic decals. Learn more below:

Choose pieces with flat surfaces.

This is the golden rule. Because of their characteristics, objects such as tiles, flat plates, bowls, and even cups are much easier to decorate. These last two may seem complicated, as they have curved sides, but they almost always have smooth surfaces that allow the application of decals and designs in a cleaner and faster way.

Try to avoid vintage or colored pieces

Decals are usually translucent. Thus, Patricia advises against colored pieces, unless you can match the different shades of the design with the surface you’re putting it on well.

Another type of piece to avoid are vintage plates. "They are beautiful, but keep in mind two things: the translucent decals will show what's underneath and they can give you problems when firing them in a ceramic oven", explains the expert.

Did you like these tips? Remember, you can learn more about ceramic decoration, and even how tell stories with them them, on Patricia's online course Decoration with Digital Ceramic Decals.

English version by @harry_davies.

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- Ceramics at Home for Beginners, a course by Paula Casella Biase
- Ceramic Illustration and Modeling Techniques, a course by Pepa Espinoza
- Ceramic Glazing for Beginners, a course by Paula Casella Biase