Stocked and overstocked with leftover house and craft paints, one day I got the idea of decorating some old and boring terra cotta pots that were sitting around the garage. The result was better than I expected! In a fit of enthusiasm, I painted a bunch more to use as gifts for friends, and that’s when I discovered that you can buy terra cotta pots at crafts stores for a fraction of what they cost at the Depot or a nursery. Thus was born a cool, easy-to-make, frugal gift and decorator item.

You need:

1. • Terra cotta plant pots—OK if they’re old or chipped; just be sure they’re clean and dry.
   

2. • Water-based paint—either house paint or craft paint
   

3. • Wide paint brush
   

4. • Small artist’s paint brush that tapers to a point
   

5. • Ordinary lead pencil
   

6. • Old, clean tin cans or plastic containers to mix paints in
   

7. • Optional: faux paint glazing liquid and small piece of sea sponge
   

First, make sure the pot is clean and dry. Then paint the pot’s interior with at least one generous coat of the ugliest paint you have around the house. This is your opportunity to get rid of the stuff.

It’s important to coat the inside of the pot well. Notice the way green pot pictured here is peeling. That’s because I didn’t know to paint the inside: when I put a plant in it, water seeped through the porous terra cotta and lifted off the paint. A layer of paint on the pot’s inside surface will make your artwork last a lot longer.

Now paint the exterior with one or two coats of your desired base color. Allow the paint to dry, and then with a pencil lightly sketch out whatever design you wish. Using the artist’s paint brush, color in your design or images.

Remember that you can combine colors--including housepaint colors--to create new hues, thereby heading off any new paint purchases:

1. • red + yellow = orange
   

2. • red + blue = purple
   

3. • red + white = pink
   

4. • blue + yellow = green
   

5. • red + green = brown
   

6. • red + blue + yellow = brown
   

7. • black + white = gray
   

Use throw-away food containers, such as old cans and shredded cheese containers, to experiment with mixing colors.

To create an antiqued look: mix faux glaze liquid with a desired color to create a fairly thin glaze. Test the effect on a piece of cardboard or stiff paper before applying to your masterpiece. Apply over dry paint by dabbing or streaking with a sponge.

The fake water effect on the “fishbowl” pot was created with a very light glaze of off-

white paint. On other pots, I achieved a been-in-the-garden-for-fifty-years look by combining layers of dabbed-on green, blue-green, and reddish brown glaze.

All these were made with leftover house paint supplemented by some glazing liquid and a few small bottles of inexpensive craft paint. If you seal the containers tightly after each use, the products will last for months or even years, allowing you to continue using them in many future projects.

frugal crafts