Cat Jewelry Painting On Porcelain

Materials Needed To Make Your Insert From Bread Clay: 

• 1/2 recipe bread clay dough (do not color your dough).  Click here for recipe
• Rolling pin and wax paper to roll dough 1/16" thick
• Oval, square or round cutter (desired size) for insert

• Chains, jump rings or headpins, beads, etc.
• Quick glue to attach insert to the setting
• Oval, square or round cutter (desired size) for insert
• Acrylic paint burnt umber, white, black, red and dark blue or desired colors 
• Thin line sable paint brush, 1/4" sable flat brush
• Matte craft varnish
  

Cat Jewelry Painting Instructions:  

This project can be completed in less than an hour.  The cat will be painted into the wet background.   If you've never painted or drawn before, just let your brush shape the cat's head and features.  If necessary, draw the cat's face on a piece of paper to practice.   

1. Mix the dark blue with white until it appears a light blue. However, let the color be more of a mix of medium to light blue rather than all one color.
   
   a.  Load the end of the flat sable brush and paint over the complete insert with a light coat of the paint. Do not thin with water.  Clean your brush and dry the bristles.  


2. With the same brush, mix a little white with burnt umber to create a medium taupe color.  Use the thin line brush to paint the outline of the head, complete with ears.  This will only be an outline.  


3. Paint an outline for the nose, eyes and mouth, using the photo as a guide.  Fill in the ears.  


4. Make downward strokes below the chin and side face areas to create the chest.  Make the strokes uneven as shown, right into the blue background paint.


5. Mix white with burnt umber to create a creamy white with taupe tones. Use the 1/4" sable brush to fill in the face area with light, short strokes to create the fir around the dark areas.     


6. Fill in the eyes with light blue, using the thin line brush.
   
   Outline the eye with black and then fill in the eye with a black pupil from the top of the center of eye to just below the middle of the eye.
   
   Paint a quick white splash of paint on each pupil for a shine. 


7. With the thin line brush, make quick light strokes over the face and neck area to create the nose and mouth, the shadow areas and to give definition to the neck fir as shown.


8. With a mixture of the taupe and black fill in the mouth lines and nose separation line, and give more definition to the nose from the nostrils to the eyes if needed. Paint a dot for each nostril.  


9. Use a little pink (red mixed with white) to lightly fill in the ears over the dark color and the tip of the nose.  Let the dark show through.  


10. Continuing with the thin line brush, make quick strokes with the light taupe color over the face to create the fir,  more definition and shadowing.  Make the strokes in the directions shown in the photo above.   Make the wiskers the same with a little darker color.     


11. With light taupe, make rapid strokes through the blue background as shown.  
    

Finishing Your Cat Jewelry Painting:

Let the paint dry and then spray the top surface with the matte spray with two light coats.  Make sure to use a well ventilated room.  

Make Your Own Cat Jewelry Painting Insert.

• Use cookie or clay cutters the size of your filagree setting (see left) to insure that your insert will fit when it is ready to be mounted. 


• Let your painted design dry and then spray one or two light coats of varnish over the top of your inset before inserting it into the finding. Make sure that the varnish is dry first. 

• Findings can be found at at any craft or jewelry making store. 
  

You can also use small cutters to decorate the cat jewelry painting to make it unique..