Beaded Ornaments
Decorated with Luster

These are the same ornaments as in the photo above this one
but with the ornaments reversed.
And I used a flash which lightened and distorted the colors somewhat.
The actual color is more like the first photo.
But, in this lighter photo, you can see the "dotted" effect (on left ornament) and the halo effect (on right ornament) more clearly

These ornaments were completed in two fires (except for the signature which was done in a subsequent fire).

I have lately been firing all my china to cone 015, higher than I used to fire.  Many china painters are starting to do this as some of the newer paints are able to take a higher fire.  I have even been firing my luster painted pieces to cone 015 (about 1450-1500 degrees Fahrenheit - 750-800 Celsius).  That is the temperature that I fired these ornaments.  But I believe that the higher fire is the reason that the green luster, applied to these ornaments, came out blue.  I used to fire lusters at about cone 018-017.

I painted the two luster colors on the ornament first, then fired them.  For the ornament that is on the left in all photos except the second down, I used Hanovia Halo Rose Red and Hanovia Halo Surf Green.  For the ornament that is on the right in all photos except the second down, I used Rynne's Rosey Red Luster and Green Luster (unknown brand name).  Both of the green colors came out more blue.  As I said above, I believe this was caused by the higher fire.  

For painting on these ornaments, I tried something that was suggested to me by my PPIO partner, Marci, some time ago.  Instead of painting the luster with a brush, I used Q-Tips.  I really like using the Q-Tips.  I think you get a smoother surface, if that is what you want.  If I had used a brush to paint the top portion of the ornament on the right, I think the brush strokes would have shown more prominently.  Also, cleanup is much easier as you can just throw the used Q-Tips away.

In the center frames of the ornament on the right, after I applied the luster with the Q-Tip, I kept coming back into the painted surface, dotting it with the Q-Tip until it was dry.  This created the "pebbly" surface that you can see.

For the ornament on the left, I applied the two Halo colors.  Then, while the paint was still wet, I touched the paint with the tip of the Q-Tip, still coated with luster.  This causes the paint to "Halo" (creates circles or rings in the paint).  The more you touch the surface, the more circles you get.

For the second fire, I used a small brush to apply Liquid Bright Gold to the beaded areas of the ornaments.

For the ornament that is on the left in most of the photos, using Liquid Bright Gold, I made penwork drawings of four different flowers found growing in Hawaii: Hibiscus, Plumeria, Bird of Paradise and Poinsettia.

For the ornament that is on the left in most of the photos, again using Liquid Bright Gold, I made penwork drawings of a Hibiscus flower.

Then I fired the ornaments to cone 015.  That was it.  Only because I forgot to sign them, I had to fire them in a third fire.  If I had not forgotten, I could have signed them for the second fire.