Can bisque be painted with acrylic paint, then glazed and fired in a kiln?
We have just opened a ceramics shop, but many people want to take items home to paint with acrylic paints and bring them back to be fired. I think I have heard that this is not possible, but I wasn’t sure why.
We have a vent system on the kiln, so the fumes would not be released back into the shop.
You could do this but your results will not be as you want them, the huge temperatures in the kiln will burn the acrylic paint which will in turn react with the glaze. Most probably the glaze will crackle over the burnt black paint and flake off, probably ending with a mess in both your kiln and on the ceramic itself.
Consider placing a table and chairs in the shop so people can paint with underglaze on site, you can then glaze them to be collected later.
You could also stock something like the Marabu ceramic paint pens, either as a kit with a blank ceramic object or just the pens alone – these can be fired in a home oven and are permanent (link below). Maybe keep in stock an assortment of plain glazed products and sell these alongside the pens for home decoration, might be a nice sideline.
