Pinbusters – Sharpie on Ceramic Dishes

Have you ever wondered if the stuff people post on Pinterest is true? Well I have, and I test them all so that you don’t have to, ’cause ain’t nobody got time for that.  Click here to check out all of the pins I haven taken on. You might be surprised by some of the results!

This pin claims that you can use a permanent marker on ceramic dishes to write, draw, etc., and then bake the item to make the marker permanent(er). In the spirit of DIY Christmas, I definitely wanted to try this one out, because it would make unique personalized gifts. For a test, I bought a mug at the Dollar Store, and wanted to make something cute for The Boy. I have mentioned that we kind of have our own language. [WARNING: mushiness ahead!] It isn’t a secret language I spoke with my imaginary friend or anything weird like that, but certain phrases and words that would make strangers think we are “special” (and our friends, probably), but that only we get the meaning to.  Some we have actually forgotten the origin of, which makes me realize how long we have been loving each other. I chose “MDT” because it is our own way of saying “I love you” to each other, and we text it often. [End of mushiness]

Since I am no calligrapher, I pulled up a font that I liked, then made it ginormous on my screen, and tried to freehand replicate it, with some minor adjustments.

 

My version on the mug:

The Boy got home, I showed it to him, and he said, “Oh cool. Who is MDJ?” [Death of mushiness]

I baked it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  The marker looked the same as when it went in, and I gave the mug to The Boy with instructions to use it, which he has several times. We very rarely use our dishwasher, so we have only been hand washing the mug, and although I do not scrub it vigorously on the outside, I haven’t treated with any extra care or anything.

After about five washes, you can see a few spots where the marker is coming off.

After Washing

It isn’t terrible, but this is with only a few hand washings. I can’t imagine it would fare well in a dishwasher. We will keep using and washing it, and I will throw it in the dishwasher next time we use it (Thanksgiving? ha), but it is pretty apparent to me that this pin is busted.

Sidenote: the author says this is “safe” but if tiny pieces of permanent marker are flaking off with hand washing, I cannot imagine putting hot food on a platter or plate with this marker on it. In fact, I don’t even want to try it.

Happy Friday!

UPDATE!  Two months later, and the mug is looking like this:

Pinbusters - Sharpie on Ceramic Pinbusters - Sharpie on Ceramic

Sorry kids, this Pin is busted(er)!

7 thoughts on “Pinbusters – Sharpie on Ceramic Dishes

  1. I tried this too! I made mugs with special dates for the in-laws, but promptly hid them in our cabinet because they were so ugly. Dishwashed one and it got lighter.

    • Haha, I was worried mine would be ugly, and it wasn’t great, but I was actually surprised it came out as good as it did. Now I’m going to wash away all of that hard work! I did see a tip to buy a “ceramic marker” instead of a Sharpie, so I think I am going to try that also and see if it works better. I will let you know! (And I will probably get stencils for the next attempt!)

  2. mine came off too… but i have heard of people who did it and it actually stayed… i guess it might just depend on the type of ceramic? (i thought there was only one type, but i guess since diff companies make ceramic,im sure they dont all make them EXACTLY the same)

    • I know there are special markers for writing on ceramic, which should stay better (I think you still have to bake it on, though). I will try it and update the post!

  3. You have to buy the markers that are used for writing on ceramic. There are sharpies out there that are for projects like this. They sell them at the local craft stores. Buy those then try this. :)

  4. We bought the “oil based” sharpies and it worked great! They’re a lot more expensive than regular sharpies but I used a 50% off coupon for a multipack and it wasn’t bad. Threw those bad boys (not literally) into the dishwasher twice before giving them away as gifts and they’ve stayed perfectly… So far…

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