Craft Lab: Upgrade your Cup

Plain white ceramics get a boost of color from teens in the Craft Lab.

Featured Project:  Painting on mugs (and one bowl)
Supplies:
plain ceramic objects (I bought mine from the Dig-N-Save), clean and dry
rubbing alcohol & tissues or q-tips
Pebeo Porcelaine 150 Paint Pens
Sharpie permanent markers
Baking instruction sheets to send home

Pros & Cons of paints vs. markers:
--Pebeo paint pens come in less colors than Sharpies.
--You have to "pump" the paint pens to get the paint to flow into the tip of the pen and if you're coloring a large area, you may have to pump several times throughout your project to keep a constant color.
--Sharpies are a little less predictable in the oven and dishwasher.  If you love your Sharpie-decorated mug, you might want to hand-wash it only.
--Neither are considered "food-safe" so please only decorate portions of the dinnerware that will not come into contact with food or your mouth.

(see more photos of our projects after the jump)

 What we did:
The stash of undecorated pieces:

 Some designs went on quickly:

 Others took a lot of time and concentration.  Mistakes in both paint and markers can be removed with rubbing alcohol.

Thorough instructions for this project can be found all over the web.  I especially liked these links.
for Sharpies
for Pebeo Paint Pens