Christmas DIY

After reading this blog I decided to try and make some personalized gifts. We have two international students living with us (and for a month we had three!). So I thought the painted mugs with both English and Chinese characters would be nice.

I picked up the pens at Home Depot (5 colors for around $13) and got a box of Cynthia Rowley mugs at Home Goods (8 for $15). Plus one extra mug to practice on. The stickers were from AC Moore and I think they were about $8. These were the most expensive stickers they had but I wanted the initial to be big.

After applying the stickers I began to dots the paint around each letter.

I did red, black, gold and finally silver.

Since we have a Chinese student with us I had him write each student’s name in Chinese. Then on the others were, Mother, Grandmother, Oldest Son, Strength and Perseverance. If you have a little mess up just clean with alcohol and a Q-tip, very carefully.

The blog said to peel off the sticker and bake the mugs.

Well, taking off the stickers proved to be the most annoying and arduous part of the whole process. It might be the stickers I purchased but the stickers came apart and had to be slowly and carefully scraped off with an Exacto knife.

Of course the paint had to be completely dry so it wouldn’t smear. Ugh. Suddenly this became a multi-day process. Some of the paint leaked under the stickers, I just carefully scraped it off. I would not use alcohol at this point since it is super easy to smear the paint.

Finally my mugs were finished and ready for the oven.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and then just leave them to cool. The whole process from painting to baking can be a little smelly so have some ventilation going.

The mugs came out GREAT. The red got a bit darker but otherwise the colors all stay true and bright. This gift takes a bit of planning but it is well worth it.

UPDATE: Sept. 2015. Sadly the paint did NOT turn out to be permanent. The dishwasher did take off the paint after several months. Hand washing was better and the gold lasted the best of all but, sniff, I'm still looking for easy to use, PERMANENT, paint!

New Work - Hollows

Here's a sample of some of the new work I've been exploring - hand built hollows. I learned this with Stephanie Maddalena when I first learned how to create lampwork beads. For a while I used the "hollow mandrel' approach to making big, hollow beads but there are problems with that.

First, the mandrels are expensive. Unless you make your own (somehow using car brake tubes) they can get very pricey when you want to make more than a couple. I find that 5 beads make a nice necklace. You'd need at least a half dozen mandrels to start. Secondly, the mandrels crush easily. If the bead release decides not to release easily it's easy to smash the mandrel with pliers as you try and remove the bead. And it usually happens anyway when you use the mandrel a lot. It's easier and cheaper to master than hand built technique.

Here's a speckled set I did recently. The clear glass really sparkles and the chain really can't be seen due to the surface decoration.

Fall is here - and since I am not working I have a lot of free time. I love this idea! Trying it today!

Fall leave swag