DIY Gifts: Your New Favorite Mug
I thought giving out mugs with cool phrases, weird symbols or very stylized images would be kind of cool. I've seen so many tutorials on Pinterest for Sharpie Mugs that I kind of wanted to gag. But did I try that? Nope. Because I'm pretty sure that the Sharpie comes off in the wash. Not wanting to spend a lot of time and effort on something that would ultimately be destroyed by the dishwasher, I devised my own, hopefully permanently personalized mugs.
I puttered around on Amazon until I found this Porcelaine paint that is meant for painting dishware and the like. Because this paint is a gloopy, gel mess that is much less easy to work with than a Sharpie, I needed a template.
Tips
- You can paint freehand with this paint, but the stencil is so much easier. It keeps the paint from spreading if you pile it on thick. With the thin coats that I actually recommend, it helps you keep those sharp lines.
- Removing the stencil is not as easy as I would have hoped. The paint wants to peel off with the template, so I suggest scoring the paint gently to keep that from happening.
- I guess one of those fancy Cricut or Silhouette cutters would be absolutely perfect for this. If you don't have funds for one of those machine, I suggest making your stencil as simple as possible. I'm not talking about a square box or anything, but a single letter, symbol, word, etc. are a good place to start. I tried a whole sentence and it did not go that well. The Ampersand template I used is linked here.
- If you mess up or get paint in the wrong area, you can wash it off before it dries.
Tutorial time!
