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?