My kids love to colour and paint anything, last spring one of the projects we did was painting terracotta pots. With minimal mess they had so much fun painting, mixing colours and just creating. Kids painted two pots each (3.5” & 4.5”) and myself painting (4.5” & 6.5”).
Washing the pots the night before in hot water, soaking for 10 minutes, wiping clean and placing on a tea towel to dry overnight.
Once the kids and I painted the terracotta pots the next day we let them dry upside down for a good 3-4 hrs before I flipped them to dry overnight.
Eager to use my newly painted terracotta pots, I replanted my African Violet in the 6.5”. I went and watered only to notice later that the paint had bubbled. Having decided not to seal the paint as it was going to be indoors, now I have a nice texture added to the bottom of the pot. Not realizing how pores terracotta pots are, so lesson learnt.
Planting my Aloe Vera plant in the second pot I painted. I decided to seal just the outside, hoping it would be enough that the paint didn’t bubble this time when I watered. Success!!!!
Having learnt from the two pots I did so far I decided to spray sealer on the outside and inside of the kids pots as we were using them outdoors. I didn’t want them cracking from any moisture that maybe left once we started getting colder temperatures.
We planted various types of flowers in them for summer. Starting out great and then with the craziness of our weather they struggled. Too wet from all the rain then too dry from the heat waves we got. I am hoping this spring/summer will be better for flowers to grow in the pots.
Make sure to seal the paint before adding plants whether you’re using them indoors or outside. Both techniques I used to seal the pots have worked great for us so far.