By Mummy B.
Mimi B. doesn’t go to school. So she never brings home surprise gifts for Mother’s or Father’s Day. Therefore I needed to be creative this week so that Daddy B. can have a gift made by his precious princess.
While shopping in Marshalls, I found what I was looking for: a ” #1 Dad” white mug. Not very beautiful, but just perfect to be personalized by Mimi B. with the porcelain markers I bought at Michaels (it should resist a hand wash). The markers are the medium point oil based Sharpie.
We didn’t need any other equipment, so this DIY is easy to do and quite affordable.
As Mimi was drawing a great Father’s Day Card, I began to draw a heart with the letters I above and U under. Rather conventionnal, but “I love you” is the perfect message for that day, isn’t it?
Then I let Mimi B. choose how she wanted to decorate the mug. And she was in the mood for… abstract!
But drawing on a mug is not so easy because of its shape (and it is a very big mug!), so it ended up being a reasonable choice and the result is colorful and lovely. A more realistic drawing would have been more difficult for her.
She used different colors, choosing them with special care and then asked me to write that this mug was for “Father’s Day”.
So we chose to write it under the mug so that Daddy B. will remember it even after years.
To make it even prettier, I added some dots on the mug handle.
We were both very pleased by the result… as well as Daddy B., delighted by this surprise gift!
If you want the colors to resist time, you should bake the mug for 20 minutes at 350°F (no preheating to avoid thermal shock which can crack the mug, and you have let it in the oven until it is cold again). This can modify a little the color of the painting (for us, the orange turned a bit darker but it is not obvious compared to the initial color). Anyway the painting is more resistant to hand wash than dishwasher.
Father’s Day was the perfect occasion to try porcelain painting, but there are so many opportunities year long to make this personalized and lovely gift. Moreover it is very easy for kids at any age to create it as you can decide the difficulty level of your drawing. And why not customizing plates, glasses or trays too?
