With the holiday season fast approaching, it’s time to get busy planning your crafty gift list.
This year, you and the kids can have fun and get creative with keepsake gifts that all your friends and family will love, appreciate and actually use!
Using paints and markers specially formulated for home crafters, you can decorate ceramic, porcelain or pottery dishware with your unique style and flair. Kids can join in the fun, with your supervision, and your littlest Picasso can proudly present his creations to admiring aunts, uncles and grandparents.
A Ceramics Studio In Your Own Kitchen!
Now there’s no need to go to a ceramics studio to decorate dishware. There are several paints and markers that are specifically designed for the home crafter and can be fired in a kitchen oven at temperatures as low as 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
These products produce no fumes or odors, so you and your family can enjoy painting fun and useful china pieces like mugs, plates, vases or bowls. Paint fanciful designs, write custom quotes, verses or zany sayings on any china piece, pop it in the oven for half an hour, and you’ve created a custom gift that’s sure to bring a smile.
Porcelain Paints
The most commonly used porcelain paints are Pebeo and Marabu. These paints are water based, and they can be painted on pottery, porcelain, china or glass. They dry quickly, and mistakes can be removed with rubbing alcohol. The paint comes in jars and while the paint is wet, brushes are easily cleaned with water.
It’s recommended to let your painted porcelain item cure for 24 hours before baking it in the oven. Instructions normally suggest about one-half hour at approximately 300 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure a permanent finish.
When the paint is properly applied and baked, your creation is dishwasher safe and non-toxic – safe to use with food or drink. However, just like any commercially produced product, scratches can appear if you try using a steak knife on it or scraping it with a metal spatula.
Pebeo Porcelain Paint
Marabu Porcelain Paint
Oil-Based Markers
If you want to do precise lettering or fine detail you can incorporate oil-based markers in your creation. These pens come in several widths, so you can do dainty detail or wide, bold lettering. You have a lot more control, and they’re perfect for kids, as they are easier for little hands to manipulate and there’s less danger of messes.
The baking requirements for these markers are the same as the porcelain paints, so they can be used in conjunction with them.
White Dishware
You can certainly use any color you choose for your ‘canvas,’ but you may find that some paints aren’t opaque enough for their true color to show up on colored surfaces. Using plain white ensures your paints appear accurately.
