Peeking panda

1. Wipe it, and find your line

Wipe the bowl, then mark where your lip sits. The top of the panda's head — ears included — has to sit below that, so work out where the ears go before you paint anything.

Ears first in your head, paint second. Ears added as an afterthought are what push a panda up over the line.

2. The face

Flat brush, white. Paint one big circle filling the bowl, edge to edge, from just under your line down to where the bowl meets the stem. Two thin coats.

Bigger than feels right. A small face floating in the middle of a wine glass looks like a sticker; one that runs off both sides looks like a design.

3. Ears

Two solid ink circles sitting on top of the head, one either side, each about a third the width of the face. Let them overlap the white — a panda's ears sit on the head, not beside it.

4. Eye patches

Two ink teardrops, fat end down, tilted so they lean away from each other. Put them lower and wider apart than instinct says.

This one step is the whole panda. If it looks like a bear, the patches are too round; if it looks cross, they are leaning the wrong way.

5. Eyes, nose and mouth

A white dot in each patch, near the top and looking inwards. Then a small ink nose between them, and two shallow curves under it for the mouth.

Both white dots looking the same way is what makes it alive. Two dots dead centre stare straight through you.

6. Cheeks, bamboo and gold

Two soft blush cheeks under the patches, a little leaf-green bamboo sprig at the bottom of the bowl, and a gold band right around on your line.