Sharpie Mugs

Hello world!

It's been a while, but I'm back with more crafts! I haven't uploaded anything in a while because I haven't done anything interesting/new lately. I also have a few craft projects that are ongoing and incomplete. Sooo.... Yeah! Haha. Plus, with Christmas rolling around... I've been focusing my time on making gifts, but haven't been as diligent in documenting and uploading. Perhaps some of them will come out after Christmas. Haha.

This time I did DIY sharpie mugs!! I've been wanting to try my hand at these for a while. I've read so many different blogs on it, I really wanted to try them. Super easy, and super simple and fun. Most of the items needed are fairly easy to access, unless you are looking for specific types of things (like I was... I'll explain later). 

Before I embarked on this sharpie mug adventure, I wanted to make sure I had done my research right. I was a little bit worried because I was skeptical of whether or not the sharpie design would actually stick. Good thing I found this blogpost that told me all the tips I needed! I didn't follow all the instructions exactly, but this blogpost gave me a lot of very helpful hints.

First, gather all your supplies:

- Sharpie(s)

- Cups/mugs

- Oven

For sharpies, regular sharpies are supposed to work fine... but I wanted to be extra sure that mine would stay on, so I bought an oil-based sharpie. They are on the pricier side, so I decided to just buy one color: black. Haha. Maybe if I really like making these cups, I'll invest in more colors.

Since I bought a black sharpie pen, I wanted to find white, ceramic mugs. These were, strangely, the hardest things to find. The blog told me that cheap, ceramic mugs work best... but I went to 3-4 different places... and couldn't find ANY ceramic mugs. I was so tired of walking around... looking for these mugs that seemed to be ever-evasive. Everywhere I went it was porcelain, porcelain, porcelain. So... I finally went with porcelain and hoped for the best. I bought cups that had a square base, and a circle mouth. I forgot to take a picture of them... but they kinda looked like this:

Why are ceramic mugs so hard to find??

After finally purchasing the mugs, I rinsed them and dried them. Then, I let the cups sit for a while to "ensure maximum drie-ness." I'm not sure if that was needed... or even scientifically necessary, but whatever. Haha. During that time, I sat down and tried to figure out what I wanted to draw on my mugs. I thought about freehand drawing on the mugs, but realized that I was overestimating my creative capabilities. Plus, I didn't want to have to get rubbing alcohol to erase my mistakes and start over. Took me a while... but I finally got a design I wanted!

Creativity takes trial and error

Next, I had to carefully draw out my design on the cup. Be careful not to get any oil on the mug, or else if you try to draw over it, the oil will cause the ink to rub off when you wash it, even after the cup is baked. I was extra cautious, and I wore gloves while drawing on my cup. Haha. XD

One thing to consider is which side will be facing outward. If you mostly hold the cup with your right hand, you want to make sure that your drawing is on the right side (when the handle is pointed towards yourself). This ensures that your drawing faces the outside when you hold your cup. A small detail... but hey, if you want others to see your work... you have to consider every aspect. ;)

Right hand

Left hand

After I finished drawing, I set the cup aside to dry for a few hours. The blog said wait 24 hours just to be safe, but I ended up being too impatient, and I put the cups into the oven after 4-5 hours. I followed instructions and baked the cups at 425 degrees F. Remember to put them in and let the cups warm up with the oven, and leave them in the oven afterwards to let the cups cool down with the oven. I let them sit in the oven for about 30 min (start the time after the oven has finished warming up), and then let them sit overnight in the oven to cool down.

The next morning I ran the cups under hot water, and even tried scrubbing them a little. But they looked fine! I'm sure the design will stay for... at least a few washes. Haha. XD I've used one of the cups for a few days now, and still going strong! If it ever starts rubbing off.... I'll be sure to update this post. Haha.

And, there you have it! DIY sharpie mugs. One more craft checked off my bucket list! 

Thanks for reading!

:)

UPDATE:

This is a very, very overdue update on how the sharpie mugs held up... But I'm going to claim "better late than never" for this bit. Surprisingly, I still see people re-pinning this on Pinterest, which leaves me flattered and honored.

But anyways, I'm sure most of you are more curious about the mugs themselves as opposed to my inner thoughts.

The sharpie mugs lasted about 2 years of hot water washing before I started to notice that the drawings were starting to wash off. I would recommend avoid using soap on the actual design (inside is fine), and just rinsing the outside with water. As for those that chuck it into the dish washing machine, I would probably avoid doing so as much as you can.

One of these days I'll experiment again and see how that goes!