New here. Have questions.

[TaraDactyl]

I have a traditional Japanese tea cup made of some sort of unfinished ceramic pottery. I would like to decorate it and use it.

There is a place that has kiln services that I can use.

 

My query is:

What type of paint and glaze should I use (where to find it?) and I am on a pretty low budget. I really only need a couple colors- Basecoat + accent(s), and it must be food safe.

 

Thanks!

[Min]

Do you have any more info about the tea cup? Really can't give suggestions without knowing if the cup is made from low fire, mid range or high fire clay. 

If you don't have that info then the safest thing to do would be to low fire it so it doesn't melt or distort in the kiln. Problem with that is if the cup is mid or high fire clay then it literally won't hold water when low fired so it would only be suitable for decorative purposes.

Commercial glazes are available either at your local ceramic / pottery supply store or online. Perhaps the place where you will be firing your cup has glazes also? Has the cup already been fired once with no glaze on it or is it unfired dry clay?

[hitchmss]

Go to the place which offers kiln services and ask them. They are going to tell you like Min said whether or not they will allow you to fire an unknown clay body in their kiln. If you're only glazing one cup then its cheaper and easier to go to a paint your own pottery and use their materials. They may not have the exact shape that you want, but you'll end up with a product that your happy with. More than likely, if this is your first foray into ceramics/glazing, unless you get lots of (good) advice, and understand exactly what you are doing, and need to do properly, you will end up with a product you will likely dislike, and maybe not even get back from the kiln in one piece or recognizable condition.

 Ceramics is not like acrylic paints where you can fudge the "rules" of the media. In a situation like this, a fully guided experience will be better than all the advice you can gather up and assume you know how to use properly.