V-day Sharpie Dish

Here's a fun craft for Valentine's Day or a nice gift for any occasion. A pinterest favorite, this craft has been all over the internet. Usually one to veer away from fads and trends though I had to try it for myself. It's basically decorationing a ceramic item with sharpie markers, and making the design adhere permanently by baking it in an oven. Here is the dish (I saw it in a shop in town) that was my inspiration. 

So I got a small soap dish at Walmart, which was the most comparable white ceramic dish I could find. I figure this is a good gift for placing jewelry, pins, odds n ends, (any of those little things you need to put somewhere so they don't get misplaced!). I wasn't sure if it was oven safe so it was a big risk to test it out, but it turned out fine. You can use any ceramic dishes for this project, and to save $$, check out thrift stores, dollars stores and walmart for steals. Or maybe even dress up some boring dishes you already have!

So I drew out my design on the dish with sharpies. I practiced first on cardboard to figure out exactly how I wanted it to look. If you mess up on the ceramic, you can wipe it off immediately with a wet paper towel. If it has been on the dish too long and is harder to get off, try using something to scrape it off and you should be able to start over. The fine tip sharpies allowed for some adequate control and blending as well which was nice. Simple lines work best, but blending with small dots works too if you have a variety of colors. (We were fortunate enough to get a full set of sharpies in every color for only $8 at Walmart on Black Friday.. which we were also fortunate enough to survive the experience lol!)

I was a little nervous about baking the dish in the oven so to test how permanent the sharpies were alone, I got it a little wet and the marker came right off. I also saw on one tutorial to add clear gloss finishing spray.. so I tested it on the bottom and what a mistake. The sharpie started spreading and smearing everywhere... fortunately after scrubbing with soap and water I was able to get it off and start over. Therefore.. don't add any sprays or protectants on the sharpie before baking.

Once finished, I first cooked the dish in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. After allowing it to cool, the sharpie still came off if rubbed hard enough.

So I tried again at 425 degrees for 40 minutes. This did the trick, because now I can't get the sharpie to come off. Here's the final product.

After doing more research, it is believed that this project is only truly permanent when using "oil based" sharpie paint markers. For a decorative dish, regular sharpies are fine (and cheaper.. and come in more colors!) but if you're aiming for a dish that will be washed often, please use oil based ceramic sharpies. I have recently redone this project several times and had more success with the oil-based markers being permanent. If you want to try this project, I recommend starting off with the oil-based to be safe and not waste your time with something that may come off eventually (especially if making dishes that will be used and washed repetitively). Also make sure that you put your ceramic piece in the oven before heating it up, so the ceramic will heat up with the oven to avoid cracking. If your ceramic dish will be used strictly for decor, you should be fine using regular sharpie markers. It isn't recommended to use markers on any dishes that will come in contact with food or your mouth. So on mugs, keep the designs an inch or so from the edge of the cup, and on dishes, it is best to use them for display purposes only. Some people say they are dishwasher safe, but that is only up to you to be willing to risk your artwork! Happy crafting :)

(My design was inspired by the hedgehog dish at the top of the post. Using the same quote you can illustrate the relationship with an adult animal with its baby. Makes an excellent mother's day gift, birthday gift, or valentine's day gift for mom!)