How to Make Beautiful Coffee Cup Art!

Great Gifts come in varieties!

This 'How-To' will go over just what you need to make a great personalized coffee cup for someone!

There are multiple methods, but I have found the two specific methods that I think work best.

• You can use either Porcelain or Ceramic cups.
• Recycled cups work the best.
• Each type of cup works best with specific markers.

What you will need

You will need:

• Ceramic or Porcelain Cup
• Sharpie Markers and/or Sharpie Paint Pens (for Ceramic cup)
• Porcelain Pens (for Porcelain cup)
• Desired Design
• Tracing paper (optional)
• Graphite Paper (optional)
• Any type of tape (optional)
• Scissors (optional)
• Oven

****The optional supplies are for people who would prefer to trace their design onto the cup instead of drawing it free hand. I often trace the design myself.****

Black Sharpie with White Sharpie Paint Pen from Michael's Arts and Crafts

Why use a Ceramic Cup?

Why are there different options you might ask? Why does it matter what kind of cup to use?

Well, simply put they react differently with different markers. Ceramic cups are more porous than Porcelain. Also, ceramic cups might be easier to find already in your house or at a good will for cheap.

Sharpie markers work best with ceramic and likely you already have these in your home somewhere. That is why this is such a cool gift idea or fun craft! You can actually do this with any dish (plate, bowl, etc.) as long as it is ceramic and you use sharpie markers.

I also suggest using recycled cups, because they will have less of a finish on them, thus making it easier for the markers to seal. Also, it's good for the environment!

I think it is best to use a white cup so you can draw with multiple colors, but if you can only find colored ones that will work with black and white markers just fine. You can see in the picture that I chose a mustard colored cup here. I thought the design would go really well with a cup that color.

What is the difference with Porcelain?

Well, Sharpie pens just don't show up as well with Porcelain cups. They typically have a better finish on it that is more difficult to seal to.

If you must use Porcelain you will need to get Porcelain Markers to go with it. They are more expensive and you can't always find them at Michael's Arts and Crafts. It would be easier to buy them from places like Amazon or eBay.

If you do use sharpie markers they won't be as brilliant once you have sealed them. As you see on the Pikachu themed cup. I used sharpie marker with a Porcelain cup and it looked amazing before I heat sealed it. Sadly the colors faded. This was my first attempt though and it did still sell on Etsy recently!

The How-To Part!

Okay now that you have all of your supplies and have made a decision on what type of materials you want here is the actual How-To part!

1. Gather your materials.
2. Wash and dry your cup (better mark you with my dear cup)
3. If you can free hand, go ahead and free hand your design with your chosen pens.
4. Not good at freehanding? me either.

• Go ahead and trace the design you want on tracing paper.
• Take the Graphite paper and tape it together onto the cup with the traced design. The order is Graphite paper, tracing paper.
• Take a pencil and trace around the design firmly.
• Remove the papers carefully.
• Now you can draw over the line with your markers!

5. Are you all done drawing? Now comes the hard part. You have to wait for an entire 24 hours to make sure the ink sets. Ugh, I know, I hate waiting too.

6. Take your cup and put it into the oven. Pre-Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Some people suggest 350 degrees, but I have found that 400 seals better and it lasts longer. Once the oven has pre-heated, set the timer for 30 minutes.

PROTIP: Make sure to let your cup warm up in the oven as it Pre-heats and let it stay in the oven to cool down to avoid it cracking!

Extra Advice

• The sharpie paint markers are amazing to work with. They cover over lines better and don't erase as much as it writes over itself. The Sharpie markers work fine, but sometimes they erase themselves much like dry erase markers.
• These are supposed to be dishwasher and Microwave safe. However, I suggest only washing them by hand and NEVER scrub at the design.
• If you get a design randomly from the internet, remember that the design might belong to someone else and you cannot sell the item. If you want to avoid that problem, I suggest using images for inspiration to create your own unique design. The general rule among artists is at least 30% different from the original to count as your own.
• DON'T FORGET TO HAVE FUN!