Ceramic Finishing Techniques
There must be a thousand finishing techniques for ceramics but my personal favorite is acrylics. Why? Because it's quick, easy, inexpensive, and does not require a return to the kiln. Catch acrylic craft paint sales at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Joann's, Walmart, and other retailers to save a bundle. Do not, however, use acrylic paints from Dollar General or Dollar Tree. These two stores carry only very low-quality paint. Acrylics come in a variety of effects - pearls, metalics, shimmers, florescents, glow, chalk, glitter, texture, etc. The technology in the use of acrylics is absolutely amazing.
There is an airbrushing technique but that requires a little bit of equipment and know-how. Airbrushes are now available in hobby sizes at Amazon. For me, though, it's too much work in clean up and maintenance. Mine is still in its never-opened box. All equipment takes maintenance but this girl just wants to have fun. Oh, I'll open it one day to find it just as addictive as clay but not today.
Dry brushing is another favorite technique. Dry brushing is a little more time consuming but worth the effort if you desire an exquisitely detailed end result. I love the effects of dry brushing. I just haven't mastered it to the level I desire just yet, but artists are never satisfied with their own work, are they? That's the definition of a good artist anyway. It's called dry brushing because that's exactly what it is. If you were to dip your brush into paint and then wipe as much of it off as you can without rinsing, that's how dry your brush needs to be to use the dry brush technique. An application of a solid color base coat is required prior to dry brushing. You'll also need a set of stiff, round-headed brushes that are specifically designed for dry-brushing.
Of course, there's always the super easy way if you want a "sort of" airbrushed effect or a solid color piece that you don't plan to use for food. Spray paint also comes in a variety of colors and textures and worth giving a go. If for no other reason, the experience will do you good. I use spray paint a lot in my crafting projects but rarely on ceramics unless it's a clear finishing coat. Of course, this could change at any time, also.
Antiquing is the art of detailing a piece of painted ceramic to expose its detail with darker hues. Brown and black stain is the norm but I've also used dark greens and blues as well. To apply this technique, just brush on the stain and wipe it back off with a clean dry cotton cloth so that the stain remains only in the detailed crevices. This also provides a lot of painting error forgiveness. Only apply to a dry painted piece and let the stain dry completely before spraying on your clear coat. Clear coat comes in both gloss and matte finishes at the locations mentioned ealier.
Translucents is another technique I've studied but have yet to try. I've invested in the full kit at near $100 but the kit contains very little product and I was somewhat disappointed in its contents. However, the product output for translucents presents the most elegantly detailed pieces I've ever seen. It does require base coat (primer) before applying color in full strength and then wiping it back to achieve the detailed look you desire. Colors can be layered for more detail, if desired. Then seal with acrylic sealer. The problem I find most troubling about this technique is that the kit's primer is only enough to complete one small piece. Each piece is to be coated twice with this primer before adding the stains atop. I thought about this a while and learned that primer is primer and it doesn't matter what primer you use. I'm sure the kit's manufacturer would have us all believe that their expensive primer is the only primer that you can use with their translucent stains but I bought a small can of primer at Walmart that will go a long way for about $14 and that should get my creative jucies flowing to start one of these projects soon. I believe The Birdhouse Tree would be exquisite in translucents.
The last and most expensive technique I'll mention here is glaze finishing. Glaze includes many techniques of its own - from clear white finishes to pop-and-spread bead textures. I won't go into a lot of detail here except to say that glaze technology has also come a long way in 40 years. I still use glaze but not as often as I used to due to its price. It's about $20 a pint, often more, and one ceramic Frasier fir tree will take that entire pint in its required three coats.
Decals are decoration over glaze, if desired. It's not considered a finish but it is worth mention. You can only apply decals to fired glaze and then fire the decals in the kiln on the decal setting (.018). There's also pure gold and silver applications, puff snow, suades, leather, and many other technqiues - some require fire and some don't - but all these you will learn as you dive deeper into the art of ceramics.