DIY Mug Art

DIY Mug Art! The gallery you see below features mugs decorated with Sharpie/porcelain pens. It’s pretty exciting to think that you could design mugs with just a pen. Just think of the endless design possibilities – no limitations, especially if you have the talent!

Expressions of love... DIY coffee mug art — Expressions of love…

But as some of you might have guessed or already know, decorating mugs with pens is not as easy as we hoped it would be. Several DIYers have shared their experiences and there seems to be no one sure fire way to successfully do it – meaning making designs that are guaranteed dishwasher safe. One method produced varying results for different people. 🙁

We’ve read and compared the different techniques and below are the steps that produced great results for most, if not all, attempts:

Choose a cheap, oven safe porcelain mug – you don’t want the mug with expensive, high quality glaze.
Clean and wipe mug with rubbing alcohol to get rid of residue/oil on the surface. Be careful not to touch your drawing surface at this point.
Draw your design using a regular Sharpie or porcelain paint pens, then let design to air-dry for at least 24 hours.
Place mug in a cool oven. Turn on oven to around 400 degrees F and bake for 30 minutes. Turn off oven, but leave mug in slightly opened oven until it has cooled. Air-dry for another hour.
You can choose to re-glaze your mug with krylon spray to protect your design.
It is recommended to just hand wash these mugs, but of course you can always try it in the dishwasher. ?

Again, this particular method is only a compilation of steps that produced mostly positive results. Situations may still vary and this is simply a suggestion to minimize the risk of your design disappearing in the wash. It doesn’t guarantee success. But if you’re in to try it, we’re hoping it will turn out perfectly for you 🙂

What we can guarantee though, is that these photos below would inspire you to create your own masterpiece!