Sunday, June 10, 2012

Father's Day Mug for Kids to Make

There's an idea that's been floating around Pinterest these days that I've been curious about for a while- color a ceramic mug with sharpie and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

So simple and exciting if true- but it made me wonder why anyone would bother to buy real ceramic pens if a sharpie works just as well.

With such a fun idea though and all the materials already in our house...definitely worth a try.  First, I used a black sharpie to draw a bubble letter outline for "I Love Dad" on one side and a blank face on the other side of a plain white, ceramic cup.  I baked it at 350 for 30 minutes, waited for it to cool and let my preschooler use our colored sharpies to decorate.
  Back in the oven for another 30 minutes.

So what were the results from our little experiment?

1.  The marker does not smudge when it is handled.  It didn't even come off when we ran it through the dishwasher.

But-

2.  If you work at it with your fingernail or with a rough sponge, you can get some of the marker to rub off.    Rubbing alcohol erases it completely.

3.  I imagine ceramic pens work better and don't rub off, but for a child-made mug for Daddy I think the sharpie is just fine!

I looked it up, and it does seem that sharpies are non-toxic, but since they are not manufactured for use on food items, I think playing it safe and keeping the pen marks out of the inside of the mug and away from the rim might be a good idea.

Looking for more Father's Day ideas?  

Fill-in-the-blank Father's Day letter
10 Ideas for Building Memories on Father's Day
Daddy Banner






5 comments:

Teach Preschool said...

What a super cute idea!

maryanne @ mamasmiles said...

That is a really cute idea! Do you think the sharpies stay on better after being baked than they would before? 

Kmagill1212 said...

That's a good question, MaryAnne- to me they seemed to, but I didn't go about testing it scientifically; so I can't say for sure.

Deanna said...

I love his expression in that photo - almost a grimace of accepting love!

Thanks for posting this. I was wondering how it worked. I had a disaster of a time using those ceramic pens last year- half the ones i bought were dry and unusable (but Michael's on brodie took them back anyway - yay!). I tried a few of my scrapbook pens and have had the best luck with my Identipens. I bought some more on ebay. 

Mark Per said...

Hi,
Personalised Father's Day Mugs & Beer Steins are sure to make Father's Day one to remember. Father's Day Gift that looks great and is very affordable with Personalised Father's Day Mugs & Beer Steins. Thanks to sharing it.
Fathers Day Mugs