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I have literally seen this DIY over and over and over again. After tons of debating, i decided to give it a try. I read plenty of people’s opinions, attempts, successes and failures at this, however, I figured I should give it a shot.
I absolutely love how this cup turned out and in the future I definitely want to do more and experiment with various sharpies and procedures.
Materials:
-mug (i have heard the cheaper ones hold up better so i just bought this $2 one from Target)
-sharpie (i bought oil based paint sharpies at Michael’s)
-rubbing alcohol/q-tips (just for small mistakes)
Procedure:
1. Clean your mug. I washed mine as well as going over it once with rubbing alcohol to get all the dirt off.
2. I used a quote that I found on Pinterest and hand wrote it on the mug. Some people print off silhouettes using a silhouette printer, or you can print of an outline of something and trace it onto the cup. Whatever floats your boat.
3. Be careful when using the sharpie; test it out on paper first and then write on the cup. Do not touch sharpie once on cup or IT WILL smudge.
4. Use the q-tips and alcohol for minor smudges and mistakes. Once you are finished let it dry. I have heard to let it dry 24 hours before you put it in the oven and so that is what I did.
5. After drying, set oven between 350-425 degrees. I used 375, but other tutorials state that the hotter the oven the better absorption of sharpie onto the mug. PLACE MUG IN OVEN BEFORE IT HEATS UP.
6. The mug should be in the oven through heating and cooling to avoid cracking. Leave in oven for 30 minutes and then turn off oven to cool. Leave mug in oven.
7. After the oven is completely cool I left the mug out on the counter for a few hours before testing just to make sure the sharpie wasn’t still wet.
8. TEST IT OUT! I hand washed the mug and used it a few times without any problem. I haven’t tried the dishwasher (as people have stated that it comes off).
**see below for updates on tutorial
Here is the finished product. I will have to take some more pictures but it looks pretty good!
UPDATE:
For future attempts- crank up the oven to 400-425; use colored sharpies, find a top coat to seal in the sharpie (maybe from michaels/joanns/hobby lobby?), test out the dishwasher!
Let me know if any of you have tried it out and what did and didn’t work! I would love to know to help out fellow DIY-ers.
xo,
Leanna
