Etched, Hand-Painted Two-faced Tiger by Kathie Camara

I have to tell you a story about my Two Faced Tiger.   Back in 2007, I was attending a Donna Dewberry One Stroke painting convention in Orlando, FL.  One of the vendors was Etchall etching cream and the founder of the company, Barbara ‘Barbee’ Bosler was at the convention showing us how to use her great product.  She passed out some small 6″ X 6″ glass disks that were etched with a 3″ circle on the inside and stars around the outside.  Her challenge was to paint something inside the circle and submit it as a contest entry which would be judged by a number of people, including Donna Dewberry.  The winner would be awarded a basket of Etchall goodies.  

Although I loved to paint One Stroke Flowers, I also loved painting animals.  I had a black marking pen with me and a limited palette of paint and an idea in my head of a white tiger.  I inked the design on the front of the etched disk and then colored in the face with the white paint, magenta for the nose and blue for the eyes.  I turned it around to look at the back and saw that the tiger looked just as good on the backside as it did on the front.  Apparently the judges liked my design, as I won the contest and the basket of Etchall goodies. 

Fast forward to 2024 and I want to show you how to paint a white tiger on a Dip ‘n Etched plate.  Since we will be painting on the back side of a 10.5″ clear plate with a 7″ circle in the middle, it will be food safe.   

I used Etchall® Dip ‘n Etch which is a re-usable liquid, the consistency of water.  When you submerge your dish into the liquid, it will etch the entire dish, front and back.   For a plate, you need to use a large, round rubber/plastic container, like a pie keeper, to etch your piece.  You can weigh the plate down with marbles or glass rounds to hold it down in the liquid.  Set the timer for 15 minutes.  That’s all it takes!  After the timer is done, remove your plate from the Dip ‘n Etch liquid and wipe it with paper towels or cloth.  Take it to a NON-PORCELAIN sink and thoroughly rinse and wash the liquid off.  When it is clean and dry, you can begin your design.  Pour the dip ‘n etch back into it’s container.   Remember this stuff is reusable.

Tracing the Pattern:   Print, size and cut out the Tiger Face Pattern and place the plate over the pattern upside down, centering his face in the inner circle. Tape the pattern to the front side of the plate using blue masking tape, a piece at the top and a piece at the bottom. Look through the glass and use your marking pen to ink the design on the bottom of the plate. You can give it more details if you like. The dotted areas are where the shadows are on the face. Use the marking pen to dot the face in those shadow areas. If you make a mistake while inking, moisten a Q-tip with alcohol or Windex and use it to gently remove the unwanted ink. Before you remove the pattern, lift the tape on the bottom of the pattern and lift the pattern up, using the tape at the top as a hinge. Look at the design on the plate to make sure you haven’t missed any lines.  If you have, you can just lay the pattern back down and ink those lines you missed. 

 When you are inking the fur, think of the Tiger’s face as a clock, with the nose being in the center and the fur lines radiating out from the center like the hands of the clock.   

When you are finished inking the design, lightly mist the surface with a Matte Sealer Spray. Let dry. (You should probably do this outdoors, as most sprays have a strong odor to them.) 

Adding Color to the design: Water down your paints by dipping into the water 4 or 5 times with the brush and brush mixing to an inky consistency on the palette. 

Eyes: With a liner brush, paint the eyes a light shade of blue. Let dry. When dry, come back with your liner brush and white paint and dot a highlight on the opposite side of each eye. Again, think of a clock. If you put the highlight at 10 o’clock on the left eye, you should put it at 2 o’clock on the right eye. (Animals eyes reflect the light different than human eyes. Human eyes would have the highlight on the same side in each eye.) Now, with your liner brush, paint a crescent (or “c) shape directly opposite the highlight. 

Nose & Mouth: With your flat brush loaded with Pink, paint the nose and the mouth. 

Fur: Mix some Paynes Grey into a puddle of White to get a light grey color. With this mix on your flat brush, lightly paint in some shadows on the face and ears where the dotted shadow areas are. With your flat brush loaded with inky White, paint the fur on the entire face, except for the eyes, nose and mouth. Remember the clock again, and stroke the fur in the direction it grows – radiating out from the center like the hands of the clock.  You may need to go over some of the dark Tiger stripes if you put the white paint on too heavy. 

Finishing: When you are finished painting the design, take it outside and lightly mist the surface a couple of times with the Matte Sealer Spray. Let it dry completely.  You are done and you have a beautiful one-of-a-kind plate.  Try this method with other designs.  The possibilities are endless.

If you turn the plate over, you will see why this design is called the “Two Faced Tiger”. You will have a complete tiger face in reverse that is food safe on the front of your plate.  Display your design proudly. 

And, as always, have a colorful day.