Oil / Paint Sharpie Mugs

We offered this activity for a wide range of ages for our Homemade Holidays gift making series. 

You will need:

Oil/paint sharpies (less than $3 each)

White mugs

rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer

oven

This activity was really fun for both the children and parents who attended our Homemade Holidays workshop: Design Your Own Mug. Although we printed out a few designs from the web, most of the participants needed little help with inspiration. This is a quick and easy activity with relatively little mess. 

There is a downside...heating the mugs in the oven at a high temp gives off a very unpleasant odor. Plan on baking these on a day you can get plenty of ventilation from the fresh air and perhaps heading out on a brisk walk while they bake. 

Tip: we found out we could erase any errors with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer. Have some cotton swabs ready for repairing any smudges or mistakes. We also prepared the surface of the cups by wiping down the outside, rim and handle with rubbing alcohol prior to painting. 

Here are some of the designs.....

A mug for a teacher.

A Hunger Games themed mug "May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor" with an arrow.

For the cat lover....

Write your name on the inside rim.

All smiles here!

Note on the far right: all of Dad's favorite teams as an inspiration.
Not pictured was a mug with a bicycle and dad's name written as a seat...for an avid bicyclist.

Family members names on the stems of flowers. 

And from a mom who heeded our parenting workshop advice "Nagging makes it your problem, silence makes it theirs".

Since we weren't in a hurry, we waited a few days for them to dry and ensure the paint set.

Then we placed all the mugs in a cold oven, heated to 425 degrees F. Once the temperature reached 425 degrees, we let them cook for 30 minutes and then turned the oven off, leaving the mugs in the oven to cool slowly. Once fully cooled. we wrapped them up. 

After cooking the colors deepened. Pink became purple and orange became brown. Black was a great color all around, looking sharp after baking. If you want to decrease the cost of this activity, purchase and work with only a black pen. 

There are different reports about how these types of mugs fair over time. We washed in a dishwasher and the drawings held up. How they might fair overtime, we haven't tested yet. To be safe, you may want to hand wash with a soft cloth to prolong its life.