DIY: Chalkboard Mug

December 14th, 2011

Naturally when I discovered porcelain chalkboard paint I had to grab some. The inventor must be some kind of genius. Now I have the most amusing coffee mug ever, and you can have one too. This is a much easier version of the hand painted mug project—no drawing or painting skills required!

you’ll need:
a porcelain mug (mine is from CB2)
painter’s tape
Pebeo Porcelaine 150 Chalkboard Paint (available at Dick Blick or Amazon)
(Don’t use regular chalkboard paint. This only works with porcelain paint.)
a soft bristle paint brush (a watercolor brush works well)

how to:
1. Make sure your mug is clean and dry.
2. Use painter’s tape to mask off the part of the mug you don’t want to paint, 0r you could skip this step and paint the whole mug. Personally, I think it looks snazzy only partially painted.
3. Apply the paint with a soft bristle brush. If you mess up just wipe the paint away with a wet paper towel and try again. Please note that this particular porcelain paint says it’s not recommended for surfaces that come in contact with food. (Although it’s water based and nontoxic, so I don’t understand what the problem would be.)
4. As soon as you are done painting carefully remove the tape. If you remove it before the paint dries, the tape will be less likely to peel up the edges of the paint.

DIY chalkboard mug

4. Let the paint dry for 24 hours. Then, bake your mug according to the paint package instructions. After baking turn off the oven and leave the mug inside until it has gradually cooled to room temperature. After you bake it the paint is dishwasher and microwave safe.
5. I recommend chalking up your mug before you fill it with a hot beverage. (I learned this the hard way!)

DIY chalkboard mug

(Check out that extra large marshmallow floating in my hot chocolate. Oh yeah!)

108 Comments

  1. MB

    I’m trying to buy these items but I can’t order them from amazon.com as I’m in Canada. Does anyone know a solution for this or a retailer in Canada that would sell the porcelain paint particularly?

    I can find a mug here, and it looks like the mug website will ship in Canada.

  2. Jorge

    Will the mug break in oven from heat when baking at 300 deg. F?

    • Amanda (wit & whistle)

      Mine didn’t!

    • Janette

      As long as you put the mug in the over BEFORE turning the oven on you should be fine. If you put a room temperature mug in a hot oven then you increase the chance of it shattering.

  3. Celia

    Very cute! I’m going to add this to my list of crafts to do!

  4. Renee

    I really do love this idea…trying to come up with ideas for my granddaughter & I to do together. This just may be one she will like. Thanks for sharing..already thinking of things to do with it.

  5. Sally

    Re lettering: Tape two pencils, markers, etc together. Hold at 45 degree angle & start writing. This will give you the thick & thin lines in calligraphy. Fill in thick areas. Good luck!

  6. Loved this! will link to your blog from one of my DIY article.

  7. Samantha

    i absolutely love this.. going try this asap but with a bigger cup. going try Michaels or Jo-Ann hopefully they have it dont buy anything online..

  8. Can you redo the continually wash the chalk off and write new things? Or is the one chalk design you put on there stuck for life? Thanks!

    • Amanda (wit & whistle)

      You can wash the chalk off and write new things—just like a regular chalkboard.

  9. Emily

    Any idea how many mugs (roughly) you can get out of a bottle that size? I’m trying to figure out the cost-effectiveness of doing this as gifts. Thanks!

    • Amanda (wit & whistle)

      I would guess you could do at least 10 mugs (half painted like I did) with one bottle of paint.

    • Stacey

      I have been painting glass and tea sets for almost 2 years and one bottle of paint goes a very long way. You would be surprised. I have done about 5 sets (4 per set) of claret glasses, the entire bases covered in paint plus a variety of decorations (I have done sports teams, ladybugs, dragonflies, etc). I will link the bee glasses I painted and you can see just how much paint is used (I did about 3 or 4 layers on the bases to make sure it was opaque). After one set, just a small fraction of paint was gone from the bottle. this is the link so you can see: http://www.etsy.com/listing/81630127/custom-hand-painted-claret-glasses-set
      Happy painting!

  10. Tracy

    I really love your idea of creating a chalkboard mug and I’d rather have a try myself. Even if I haven’t try making DIY things, this seems easy for beginners like me to follow. However, as I’m not living in the US and Amazon doesn’t ship this product outside the US, do you know any other online shops that I can try to get this paint? Thx~

  11. Donna

    Will this work on wine glasses, too? I saw some wine glasses at World Market that had an oval of “blackboard” surface on them,,, but not sure glass can handle the hot oven.

    • Amanda (wit & whistle)

      The paint container says it works on glass, but I would be concerned about baking a fragile wine glass.

    • Stacey

      Amanda–I bake the wine glasses all the time and I have never had one break from the heat.

    • Amanda (wit & whistle)

      Oh sweet! Thanks for letting me know Stacey. I’m going to have to try this with wine glasses. It would be perfect for labeling them with people’s names!

  12. Wow… This is a brilliant idea…!!! Lovely work..!!

  13. Patty

    Hey!
    I loved the idea and as soon as I’ve read your post I ordered this paint!
    Found it here, though:
    Since it was out of stock on the other website
    It arrived yesterday and I just tried it! Can’t wait for it to dry so I can bake it and start writing on it (:
    Loved your website and specially your DIY posts!
    I was glad the paint was rather cheap, because I’m from Brazil and it doesn’t sell it here!

    Have a great day :)

  14. Izhanshane

    Can i bake it in a microwave oven? or must i bake it in those big oven where you bake a cake?

  15. Taz

    Hey I’m from Australia and REALLY struggling to find this type of paint. Any suggestions

  16. How long does it need to bake for? doesn’t say on paint bottle

  17. mary

    Do you think if I use another color beside chalkboard black, I’ll still be able to write on it?

  18. Ami

    This is adorable! Can’t wait to do this for my whole family :)

  19. Pam

    can u put it in the dishwasher or should u just hand wash it

I love your comments more than I love chocolate (almost).

 

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