Doodle Decorated Mugs

These doodle decorated mugs were created using ceramic pens and plain white ceramic mugs – personally I find the pens are simpler to use than brushes. I came up with the idea while browsing in my local craft shop.  I was in the ceramic painting section, and a sample mug had been placed by the ceramic pens so that customers could try them out.  And try them out they had – the mug was covered in multi-coloured doodles, rather like a piece of graffiti, and I thought actually looked rather good.  I liked the idea of a collaborative project which had developed ‘organically’ and I thought it was an idea that could be transferred to the home using contributions from family and friends.  If a mug and pens were left out in the kitchen for a week or so, any one with a spare moment could add to it.  The quality of the drawing is not important, as this is more about fun and friendship. If people don’t want to draw, they can scribble a message instead, or just their name.   The paint dries almost instantly and there is no mess involved.

After about 24 hours the paint is fully hardened, and with the kind of pens I used, no oven baking is required.  Once completed, the finished project is meant to be dishwasher safe, but I did find that it’s not a good idea to leave them soaking in water, or to scratch them in anyway, as this will remove the paint.

This is an activity which everyone can join in with, children and adults alike. I found it quite addictive, and the design possibilities are endless. You can cover the mugs with doodles as densely as you like, even overlapping the drawings to create a layered, more graffiti-like effect. Restricting the colours, or doing a range of mugs in different colours would also look good I think.  As I have a weakness for black and white artwork, I also produced one with just a black pen.

Hmmm, I think I may be doing more of these….