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Painting with majolica is like painting with watercolor on very absorbent paper. Using good brushes, such as watercolor brushes is important. Brushes that hold a lot of liquid and can make it to the end of a long brushstroke are important. If you are serious about your majolica imagery, don’t skimp on the brushes.

Test your brush strokes and “practice” a little with your designs on paper towels before actually applying to the glaze surface.

Remember that once you have laid down a mark, you cannot erase it. If it’s a major boo-boo, you might as well wash the whole thing off, thouroughly dry the ware, and start over, glaze and all. Attempting to scrub out a section and dab glaze back on with a brush will usually show in an unattractive way after firing. So – be careful and confident with your brush work.

If you have a complex design that needs to be sketched on first, you can paint it on with food coloring, or coffee, then paint the majolica over it. The "sketching material" burns away in the early stages of firing.

Try using a sgrafitto technique through the color. This is especially effective if you have used a white slip on the leatherhard clay body – and you are using a coperta glaze at the end.

Fire the ware at a normally paced firing cycle for glaze ware. If you rush the firing or drag it out too long, the colors could be affected.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with mixing the colors. The theories and practices of traditional color mixing in a typical design or painting class will apply here. Tonal ranges of color can be achieved by adding complements and water, if lighter tones are desired– darker values by adding small amounts of black to a color, and lighter values, by watering the stain down.