Have you always wondered how I get my dots so perfectly round? How I came up with that intersecting-circles-of-dots pattern? How you might be able to duplicate that pattern on a piece you are painting? Well, look no further! I’ll tell you how. Better than that, I’ll show you how with lots and lots of photos, most of them taken by my partner in crime painting, Brenda. (You can tell from the length of my hair and my non-pregnant state that these photos were taken a while back…almost a year ago! I guess I’ve been busy writing about other stuff since then.)

Step 1: Go to Starbucks. Purchase caffeinated drink of your choice. I guess this step is optional but I rarely skip it.

At the pottery studio, browse the shelves until you see a piece that is just crying out for dots. I usually dot mugs and bowls…

…but I’ve dotted spoon rests, butter crocks, a few Christmas ornaments, a teapot, a wee play teaset, and plenty of plates. I find that plates and mugs are the easiest things to dot, though. Which is why I chose a cute little rounded mug to dot for you.

Once you choose your piece, next you need to decide what colors you want to paint with. Sometimes I walk into the studio knowing exactly what colors I want to use, but usually I dither over the paint selection forever before I decide on a combination I like.

On this day, I went for a bright rainbow of colors, minus red because there only happened to be five wells in the palette I was using. Also, I find that five colors is about right for “actually dottery.” Note that you don’t need much paint to dot with; a teaspoon or so of each color is more than enough to cover a regular-sized mug.

Okay! We’ve got our blank mug, our paint palette, and five paintbrushes. I don’t always use one brush for each color; the way I dot it’s possible to use one brush and just wipe off the paint each time you switch colors. But this day I decided to use one brush for each color.

Now we pick up our paintbrush, and…are you ready for this? It’s the big secret to painting dots…

…turn the paintbrush over. That’s it! When I paint dots, I use the wrong end of the paintbrush. (Make sure you’re using brushes that have a rounded end, not the sliced-off-slanted ends that you will find on many paintbrushes so they can be used for scraping paint.) You can also use cotton swabs, toothpicks, or your own fingers, depending on what kind of dots you want, but I almost always use the wrong end of a paintbrush. It’s that simple.

To recap: for dottery, this is wrong. You do not use the bristle end of the paintbrush.

You use this end. Okay, I think I’ve made that pretty clear. Now, we’re ready to paint!

We dip the paintbrush, wrong-end first, into the first paint color, annnnnd…

Dot! One dot, right where you want the center of your first circle to be. This is not a science, it’s an art, so where you want that circle to be is totally up to you.

Then pick up the next brush, dip it in the next color, and just make a circle of dots around that first dot. It’s okay if your dots aren’t all the same size—again, art not science. Move on to the next brush and the next color, add another ring of dots around the first two. We’ve made a good start.

Whew. This painting stuff is hard work.

What I need is a refreshing sip of my iced latte. Ahh, that’s better. Now where was I?

Right! Painting. I have no idea what’s going on with those two behind me and that ceramic skull, though.

But who cares about those shenanigans, because I’ve finished my first circle! Usually when I’m dotting, I use each color once, and then I do the last ring in the same color as the center dot. That’s a personal choice, and I don’t even consider it a hard-and-fast rule. I just think it looks complete that way.

It was at this point that Brenda got a little bored watching me paint dozens of dots, so she got up and wandered around the shop for a minute. She took this photo of some mugs and a plate that always cracked me up: it’s a heart-shaped plate painted with an octopus, a rainbow, and a couple of phrases in French, including “Je t’aime.” Sure. Why not?

While Brenda was taking pictures of octopus-rainbow plates, I kept dotting away. Once I finished my first circle, I picked a different color for the center dot of my next circle, decided where I wanted the center to be, and started on that one. I use the colors in the same order for each circle because I find that’s less confusing for me personally. If the circles start to run into each other, I just imagine that one circle is underneath the other, and I leave off the dots where they overlap. Does that make sense?

As the mug fills up with dots, I pause in my painting to look at the mug. Are there any spots that seem blank? If so, I might add another circle of dots there. If it’s a small space, sometimes I place the center dot right on the edge of the mug, and end up with only a semi-circle of dots. Or I try to make the dots, and thus the circle, smaller by very lightly touching the surface of the mug with the paint instead of pressing the paintbrush down.

Ah, dottery makes me happy. Can you tell? It really is a very relaxing type of painting to do, once you get into it.

Too bad for Brenda that dottery is kinda boring to watch. Nah, just kidding! This photo was totally staged. After all, Brenda was keeping busy taking pictures. And we were laughing our heads off and having a great time being silly.

Ooh, I’m concentrating hard, now. Must be getting close to done.

Hmm, what’s this? I’m pretty sure that I was pointing at some kind of mistake here, but I don’t remember for sure and I can’t see the mistake. Which just proves the point I was trying to make, that it’s okay to mess up a little in dottery. No one will notice anyway.

All done with the dots! In this photo you can see what I was talking about before, how when circles run into each other I just imagine they’re overlapping and leave off the dots of the parts that overlap. You can see that when I added that ring of orange dots, I ran into the purple dots on the right and the blue dots on the left. And on the lower-left circle, the yellow ring ran into the orange ring of the center circle.

I like to paint little phrases on my dottery. Usually I paint a very small “be happy” somewhere along the edge of a circle. In order to do that, I need a decent tiny paintbrush, so I whip out my trusty paintbrush kit.

The fabric case I use to store my paintbrushes was actually made to store crochet hooks. It’s not the best material for storing paintbrushes, because the bristles rub against the fabric and can get bent and frayed. My paintbrushes are fairly inexpensive, though, so it’s not a big deal if one of them wears out faster than it should. This case has worked pretty well for me for the past year and a half, and it’s small enough that I can carry my paintbrushes in my purse all the time. It’s really annoying to go paint, to need a decent tiny brush, and not have your paintbrushes with me.

Most of my paintbrushes were purchased at Michaels. I bought a couple at an art-supply store and at least one of them came from Wal-Mart. I think the most expensive brush I own cost less than $3. They all have been a worthwhile investment for me. Why?

Because painting tiny words is fun! I love doing it, and regularly offer to paint words for other people if they don’t want to do it themselves. I also loved making posters when I was an RA in college.

Most pottery-painting studios do have tiny paintbrushes, but they generally are pretty crappy and hard to paint with because the bristles stick off in five different directions. That’s exactly what you don’t want when you’re trying to paint a fine line.

See the difference?

I often like to paint a little something on the inside of my mugs, just for fun. And guess what? It’s much easier to dot the inside bottom of a mug than it is to paint there. So I added a little circle of dots.

Then I painted my name and the date on the bottom of the mug, which I do with all my pottery. And Ta-daa! Done. All that’s left is for you to pay for your piece, leave it to be fired, and come back and pick it up. Then you get to show it off to everyone and let them marvel at what a great job you did painting such a gorgeous piece of pottery.

I hope some of you find this tutorial helpful, and that you all have as much fun creating your dottery as I do mine!

Remember my post on how Brenda and I painted flower t-shirts using freezer-paper stencils for party favors for Annalie’s 5th birthday? That post is being featured today in the InsideBayArea’s Kids Crafts Column, aPARENTly Speaking!

Once upon a time, way back in March, the lovely Claire asked me if I would be willing to face a crocheting challenge for her. She wanted seven crocheted balls, in varying shades of red; and one ball crocheted out of jute twine, representing the city of Dundee, Scotland, where she lived. (Dundee is famous for, among other things, its jute mills.) I assured her that I loved a challenge! I could do it!

Yeah, did you notice the part where she asked me in March, the month during which we were moving into a new house and hosting a variety of houseguests at the same time? That was also the month during which I unknowingly became pregnant and started requiring 14 hours of sleep per day and not wanting to drink coffee. I was also working on a million other crochet projects at the same time. I got the red balls done by mid-April, and then…just…came to a stand-still. I looked around locally for the jute, but couldn’t find what I needed. I ended up having to order it online, then went out of town, blah dee blah, etc. FINALLY I finished all seven of the red balls and the jute ball. I emailed Claire to tell her it was done! I had completed her order!

Naturally, Claire (who was extremely gracious about my slowness throughout the spring and summer) and her husband were about to move away from Dundee. She assured me that the balls would be a lovely memento of their time there, and that she still wanted them. That was when I realized I’d forgotten that one of the red balls was supposed to be striped in the six other shades of red.

Sigh.

I scrounged around through my yarn bins and found most of the red yarns I’d used originally, and made an eighth ball, red and stripey. And now, finally, five months later, THE ORDER IS COMPLETE.

Claire, the red and jute crocheted balls are in my Etsy shop, waiting for you! I have no idea why this order took me so long, other than the obvious reasons of (1) moving cross-country, (2) being pregnant, and (3) not finding jute locally. Those things should have made this order take two months, maybe, but not five. Thank you again for your kindness and understanding.

(I saw we take my banner’s advice and just blame it on the baby. She won’t mind.)

I painted this mug way back in April, when I was in Omaha and I went painting with Katrina and Kassie. This mug is notable because it’s the first time I tried painting in script rather than printing. It turned out better than I thought it would. The quote is from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. It’s one of my favorite lines from a good play that was made into one of my favorite movies. That line has always struck me as a sweet and hilarious sentiment at the same time. I found myself thinking, Someone should put that on a mug! So I did. And then I put that mug in my Etsy shop.

I was trying to branch out from my typical brightly-colored dottery when I chose these colors. It turned out to be one of my favorite things I’ve ever painted. I love this color combination, so cheerful and summery with the sky blue and lilac and violet and apple green! And a little bit of gray for summer storm clouds. Perfect. It’s in my shop too, if you like it.

This is the red-white-and-blue plate I painted as an example when I taught that dottery class in June. I used a speckled paint for the white dots, so it has tiny bits of blue, red, and yellow paint in it that help the white dots stand out a bit more. I also used a larger paintbrush than I normally do, so it looks a bit different from most of my dotty plates. I really like it! If you like it and want one, I can paint another one for you—just ask.

A couple of months ago, I painted this green dotty mini bowl for no one in particular. (I don’t think I ever blogged this…it’s been a while since I’ve blogged any pottery-painting.) Brenda saw it on Flickr and asked if I could set it aside for her to buy. Instead, I set it aside to give to her for her birthday. Then I forgot to put it in her birthday care package. So now it’s going to be her thank-you-for-letting-us-come-visit-you-in-California gift.

Sonja saw the first green dotty mini bowl on Flickr too, but Brenda had already claimed it. She proclaimed her love for it, and asked if I could paint her another one. Alas, this is not exactly the first bowl’s twin; it’s slightly larger and has a couple of different shades of green in it, since I painted this one at a different studio. But I think it’s just as adorable in its own way. So this bowl is going to be Sonja’s thank-you-for-letting-us-come-visit-you-in-California gift.

Last Christmas, Melissa saw the star ornament that I painted (the one that now lives in Bex’s cubicle at work year-round), and said if I ever came across another star ornament, she’d love it if I’d paint her one. Unfortunately my pottery studio in San Diego had already run out of stars, and I’d never run across any more. Then when I painted with Anna at the beach, they had star magnets. I threw caution to the wind and painted one for Mel in bright colors, adding the word ‘hope’ just because it seemed like the right word to use. Mel might have thought she was going to buy this magnet from me, but I decided I just wanted to send it to her as a gift. Because isn’t hope always a gift, really? Mel, it’s already on its way to you!

Here’s the dotty ‘be happy’ mug I painted in Omaha last month, thinking of citrus fruits when I chose the colors. Not sure what I’ll do with it. Anyone out there want it? Let me know, I’ll throw it in my Etsy shop for you. (Gently! I will gently throw it since, as Sonja pointed out to me, it’s breakable.)

Finally, here’s something I’m really proud of. I’m kind of throwing caution to the wind posting it now, because a blog reader asked me to paint this as a birthday gift for her mom. She assured me her mom doesn’t read my blog, so it’s most likely okay to post photos here, but I’m not going to mention who commissioned it just in case.

I wasn’t sure how this one would turn out, because I rarely paint with the “right” end of the paintbrush. In my head, the dotty center looked good, and the shades of orange and golden yellow I chose for the sunflower’s petals were just right, and the true blue color I chose for the outside of the bowl and the dotty pattern inside complemented the colors of the sunflower perfectly…in my head. But once it was painted and I was waiting for it to be fired I got nervous. What if I was wrong about the colors? What if the petals were totally brushy and amateurish? What if I was too freeform on the blue dotty pattern and it looked like crap!?

But when I saw the fired bowl, I breathed a sigh of relief because I loved it. I hope my reader’s mom loves it too! And I hope I remember this lesson and branch out of my painting comfort zone a little more often because sometimes the end results are worth the nail-biting.