Tower of London Poppy

[loganshort]

Has anyone got this problem with their Tower Poppy? I kept mine outside in a plant pot so I could see it each morning through the kitchen window. I brought it inside when I realised the red paint was peeling off ! Having washed it I find that most of the thin rubbery paint has peeled off leaving a very dull red finish to the ceramic. I thought these poppies were glazed after painting like other ceramics but it seems not. What would be the best paint to bring it back to it's red glory again?

[Dragon]

You could contact Paul Cummins https://www.paulcumminsceramics.com/contact/ or message him on his Facebook page.https://business.facebook.com/PaulCumminsMBE/.

[loganshort]

thanks for the link dragon.

[Ray Tomlinson]

Until I read this post I’d also assumed that they were glazed rather than painted. Having looked at mine, I’m pretty sure that they are painted.

 

In the numbers they were produced, it would have been far more economic to paint them. Glazing them requires the ceramic to be fired twice - once for the clay and then for the glaze. The glaze, which is essentially glass, will stick/harden against anything it touches and the poppies would have to be individually supported in the kiln which leaves marks. I see no evidence of this on mine - unless they found some clever way of supporting them using the hole in the middle!

[JJen]

My poppy has been in my garden here in Canada since they day I got it, a few months after they started dismantling the display.  It has survived some -40C winters. It is still in great condition.