Creative Mug Ideas

I’m sure you’ve no doubt seen the idea for ‘DIY Sharpie Mugs’ floating around – and I wanted to try my hand at them. I noticed a lot of people who’ve made them say that the black Sharpie tends to fade rather quickly or doesn’t do well in the dishwasher, so I wanted to do it a bit differently. Enter, the oil-based Sharpie marker.

What I used:

Cheap ceramic mugs (the cheaper the better) – I chose black mugs instead of white
Oil-based Sharpie marker – I used white
1-2 Q-Tips
Rubbing alcohol
A pencil
Instructions:

Ensure the mugs are fully washed and dried to remove any residue.

Using a pencil, sketch your design on each mug. I, being the cornball that I am, came up with two cheesy hot beverage-related puns. It’s not an easy task, drawing on a curved surface (or being so witty!), let me tell you. Just wait until you have to retrace the sketch with the Sharpie – that’s where the rubbing alcohol and Q-Tips come in!

Once you’re happy with your sketch, carefully trace it with the Sharpie. Like I said, this is not an easy task. You will mess up. About 100 times. More than once. When you do, just dip a Q-Tip into the rubbing alcohol and carefully rub off what you don’t want. The marker comes off really easily. Just ensure that you wash the mug off each time you use the rubbing alcohol.

I let my mugs sit for a few days before I threw them into the oven to ‘bake’ the design on them. Preheat your oven to 425° and bake for 35 minutes. To prevent any cracking in the mug, I put the mugs on a cookie sheet and put them into the oven as soon as I turned the heat on – letting them heat up with the oven. Once the 35 minutes was up I turned the heat off and left them in the oven to cool down as well. After an hour or so I took them out.
I let them sit for a few days before (hand!) washing and using them. And there you have it – your very own DIY Sharpie mugs! A perfect customizable DIY gift!

Side note: When I baked the mugs, the white writing did ‘yellow’ a bit, so I have a feeling that if you use any other colour it will also change slightly when baked. They still look great through. I have heard mixed opinions when it comes to washing them – some say they are okay in the dishwasher, others say they aren’t and fade quickly. Given the amount of time it took me to design, I have opted not to test them in the dishwasher and to hand wash them. I’ve hand washed them well over 20 times since I made them and they still look as good as new!