This project is something I’ve been meaning to do for the longest time… Since I first saw it on Pinterest, looked for “Sharpies”, couldn’t find them, and then put it to the back of my mind. This Craft Advent gave me a great opportunity to try it out! I had no plan on starting, and just drew leaves, but, really, the possibilities are endless. If you aren’t confident about what you are going to draw, I’d advise you to sketch out your ideas first. (If you wanted to bring it one step further, you can, quite inexpensively, buy porcelain pens, which give even better results and are more hard wearing)
You need:
Oil based “Sharpie” markers
Ceramic plate or mug… Or whatever you fancy drawing on (cheaper actually works better)
I bought an inexpensive platter and two mugs (el cheapo, in Tesco) The platter, I felt, would be most suited as it wouldn’t probably get as much use and handling as a mug. It also had a nice flat surface to draw on! With the mugs you need to be a little slower when drawing to take account of the curve you were drawing on, and so the pen doesn’t “slip”.
I gave them a wash to remove any surface grease or dust. Then, off I went!
You need to be quite sure of your lines, but the simplest of marks and lines can be used to great effect (I mostly only used simple leave shapes here) Some dots or hearts add great interest to something like this. If you make a mistake, a quick wipe with a babywipe seemed to remove errant marks.
Once happy with your drawing, leave it for 24 hours, then you bake it.
THIS IS THE IMPORTANT BIT!!!
Make are the pieces go into a COLD oven. Turn it on, then, to 220’C, 425’F, gas 7, and once it has reached the temperature, time it for 30 minutes. Then turn off the oven, and let them cool down in there, to prevent cracking from going from hot to cold.
Once baked, they are fairly hardy. They are also supposed to be dishwasher-safe, but I would recommend hand washing instead. No plate or mug will be safe from now on!!
There was an annual art event in Ft. Worth that we went to & they let the kids use Sharpies to draw on a larger than normal coaster. They had so much fun decorating it. But, most of it wiped off soon afterward. So, I’m going to look for cheap porcelain & better oil based pens than regular Sharpies. Do y’all not have Sharpies there? We have them in an array of colors. I could include them in my package. Just let me know which colors you would want & I’ll see what I can find.
Thank you 🙂 we have them now, but a couple of years ago they were in short supply! It’s such a great idea for personalised gifts, esp the mugs!
Wow! These are gorgeous! What a lovely gift for someone.