Surprise Picnic with a View of the USNA

Tyler, the husband, surprised me with a picnic lunch today and the view was too good not to share. We went to the Jonas Green Park, right over the USNA bridge on the other side of the Severn River. Our weather was perfect, and so was the water.

Relaxing, and delicious, a great break in the day!

This park is the starting point for the Baltimore-Annapolis trail. The visitors center has maps and information on the walking/running/biking trail that can take you all the way to BWI airport. It was a wonderful find!

Painting on Ceramics - A Better Mug

I wasn’t wild about the way my Sharpie Mug turned out. It wasn’t that bad of an idea, and the project is great for a fun kid’s activity, but I wanted something of a higher quality for my dad thank-you gift. So I did a little research. The whole – sharpies on ceramics – phenomenon is really a quick and dirty method for painting on ceramics. So I got to thinking… how hard can painting on ceramics be? The truth – not that hard. Here’s how to get a much better mug than the usual sharpies on a mug.

I started with a similar image. A compilation of three photos of me and my sisters with the brightness and contrast cranked up. Throw in a mug, enamel paint, and some carbon paper and you've got yourself an easy project.

Next, rather than using charcoal for the image transfer like I did in my previous post, I used carbon paper. You can pick up carbon paper at any craft store. I think it is a little pricey for how many sheets you receive, but you can use the pages over and over and they are much cleaner than charcoal so it’s worth it.

Cut your photos and the carbon paper to fit, and then tape both to your project. (Carbon side down)

Using a mechanical pencil, or ball point pen, trace around your image. After you have fully traced, take off the papers and take care not to smudge the transfer.

Using enamel paint (also from the craft store, less than $4 for the whole bottle) and a fine paint brush, paint in the design.

One huge benefit to the enamel paint over the sharpie method is that you can correct your mistakes. The paint isn’t permanent till you bake it in the oven (or allow it to cure) so you can take a damp Q-tip and wipe away mistakes.

Once your piece is finished, bake it according to the directions on the bottle. (In my case, 350 degrees for 30 minutes)

That’s it. Easy-Peasy and it looks fantastic. When comparing the two methods this is above and beyond my preferred way of designing your own ceramics. Which do you prefer?

Design on a Mug with Sharpies

There are several different methods floating around for personalizing ceramics. They got me thinking – what a great gift. It sounds cheesy, but I never know what to get my dad and since he has quit the coffee addiction, I decided to make him a mug with his daughters’ faces on it. (I know, ridiculous. But I have a feeling he’ll love it.) I’m going to try 2 methods:

First – the quick and dirty method. Sharpies on a mug. This had some big pluses. It’s fairly quick, not to messy, and most people have all the supplies hanging around. I would recommend this for someone who needs a fun kids project, or has a design that is a lot of lines. As you’ll see from my mug, the sharpie gets a little streaky when you are filling things in.

I started out grabbing some photos of us girls and mashing them together on the computer. Then played with the contrast and brightening tools to take out all the details. For this one I used a basic photo editing program. You don’t have to have Photoshop or to be an expert to get the look you need.

Next, make sure the photo is the size you are looking for and print.

I was looking for an easy transfer method to trace my design and went with charcoal. (Because I had charcoal and didn't want to run to the store) Just rub it all over the back of the photo and tape the picture to the mug. You want to make sure it can’t move at all. Charcoal can get messy and you want to make sure you get the best possible transfer.

Take a pen, pencil, stylus, knitting needle, whatever is around, and trace the outline of the photos. You want enough traced that you know what the photo is, but not so much you are spending your whole time filling in your tracing. You can see the pencil line on my mug –just enough to see what’s going on with your design.

Pull off you photo. BE CAREFUL. The big bummer about charcoal is that it smudges easy. You probably won’t have the world’s most precise tracing. It works – but you are going to have to be sure you don’t smudge the mug.

Grab your sharpies and fill in your design. This is where I recommend not using a design that takes a lot of filling in. Lines are your friend, streaky hair is not.

Once you have everything drawn in, just wipe off your charcoal. (Hopefully without getting it all over your clothes)

Now is your last chance to fill in any details, sign the bottom, or rubbing alcohol-off a design.

When you are good to go, put the mug into your oven and set the temperature to 325 degrees. You want the mug to warm up with your oven so it won’t shock the ceramic and break it. Bake for 30 minutes and then let it cool.

There you have it, sharpie design on a mug. This method has a couple pluses: You probably already have all the supplies, and it’s really easy. This is the way to go if you want to design plates with your kids for mother’s day, or just want a quick project. The other method of putting family portraits on ceramics, I tried, works well for those that want something a little more precise or want a more polished finished project.

Stay tuned for method number two.

The Ever Important Introduction.

Well hello!

This silly compilation of how-tos, fun-facts, and general nonsense has come to be after a good push from friends. Thank you friends, all the comments have been noted. 

Affectionately (I hope) nicknamed "Martha", I'm an odd combination of things. As a social media/techy, with a love kicking it old-school and creating and building things with my hands, it's been a little hard to find a place of normal.  After discussing at length what makes a good pie crust, how to re-roof your house, and how non-profits should be using Twitter,  friends suggested putting it all together and finally attempting a blog. 

Hence: the blog. 

Thanks for taking a look. In future you're going to find projects for the house, garden redesigns, recipes, and hopefully a little of what you're looking for. 

So hello world, I'm Sarah. Let's get started.