Father's Day DIY Cornish Blue Mug

This year my hubby made it easy for what he wanted for Father's Day from our 3 year old. A Cornish Blue mug. For something he's wanted for quite a while, he gave me about a week's notice! Just enough time to order some bits off Ebay and do my thang! Of course I wanted to share with you how I made it if you wanted to have a go yourself.

As I have been painting mugs for a while, (my shop is open, there's not many products on there but please do take a look! Click on 'mug shop' on the side bar!) it seemed obvious to create my own version of the traditional style. Rather than just buying one.

Here's what you'll Need:

• Washi tape (any colour, purely for masking out your areas).
• A plain white mug.
• Cornish blue toned ceramic paint.
• A paintbrush.
• I also used a ceramic paint outliner but found I didn't really need it! The purpose of outliners is to give you a guide to fill areas in. But the washi tape kind of does that for you!

Step 1

Wrap the washi tape around the mugs in alternate lines. Start right at the top as this will be left white to allow for drinking. The areas you mask with washi tape will be left white. So mask in alrernate lines so it will be white, blue, white etc. So it should look like this:

Step 2

At this stage I used my outliner along the washi tape. But I'd recommend skipping this step. If you decide to try it this way, this is what mine looked like:

Step 3

Paint your mug! Simply fill in the white lines in between your washi taped sections.

Step 4

Let it air dry. If you have the patience, I'd let it dry for a good hour. But if you can't wait, be careful in peeling off the washi tape straight away. It may be tacky and you don't want to ruin it.

Step 6

If you're making this for Father's Day then use a black porcelain paint pen and write your message on one of the blank white areas. As my child is 3, I just wrote 'Daddy' with 2 hearts. You could write 'For You, Dad' or 'Happy Father's Day'. Whatever fits you best.

Let dry completely overnight/24 hours. Then bake in the oven 180 degrees C for fan, 200 degrees C for conventional. Bake for about 35 mins. Make sure you put it in a COLD oven and don't pre-heat! Equally, when the timer dings, turn the oven off and don't open the door for a good half hour afterwards. The extreme change in temperature could cause the mug to crack!

I'm quite pleased with the end result. It's a bit rough and ready but when it's for the hubby, I know he won't care it's not perfect. What will you be making for Father's Day? I'd love to see your makes. Feel free to share your creations!

Credits - green 'mermaid' flat lay vinyl background (in top and bottom picture) by Capture By Lucy.