Love mug

Use a stencil and bake-on enamel paint to turn a kitschy mug into a valentine (or a piece of coffee-holding art)

Step 1 Gather supplies

You will need:
a mug (I found this fine San Francisco souvenir item at my local thrift store)
enamel paint (Wal-Mart craft section)
scrap of contact paper
sharp exacto knife
some sort of design
an oven

Also nice:
a paintbrush

Finally, I'll share the factoids about the San Francisco Cable Car system that are on my dorky mug

Comments

[mawga]

can I use permenamel paint? this has been used for painting ceramic tiles and it is diswasher safe and no baking,

[mdhaworth]

I think you might be able to but I'd keep it away from areas food or your mouth will touch since it might be toxic...

[shiroa]

is there any way to remove the initial logos/paintings?

[finfan7]

sandpaper and reglazing

[mdhaworth]

Not that I know of--sorry

[shiroa]

no worry, great instructables btw =D

[SlothOnSpeed]

The easiest way to lift a stencil without lifting the paint as well is to use that lovely stencil cutting blade and use it to sort of hold down each edge as you lift the stencil. If you come across a spot that wants to stick, use the stencil cutting knife to cut the paint. I do this when the paint is "leather hard," dry to the touch, but not hard as a rock and bonded to each surface. Terrific instructable. Gives me an idea about what to do with the twelve zillion promotional coffee mugs that are kicking around our house.

[canida]

A neat way to reclaim boring or ugly gift mugs! As for the stencil-peeling, I'd guess this is much like figuring out when to remove the tape if you're painting with gloss or semi-gloss paint. There you just want it to lose that initial wet look, and yank the tape after that point but before it develops a skin. This is a trial-and-error method, though; I don't know of a better rule of thumb.