Saturday 6 May 2017

Sharpie Painted Plate

This plate was just pure relaxation, adult colouring books don’t really do it for me, if I used one colour that I thought looked wrong I would just get disgruntled and the page left as it was to annoy me, but just doodling and colouring as I went along certainly soothed this savage beast!
I used an old Ikea plate (diameter 19.5cms) I already had in the cupboard, it was a little scratched, but it was soon covered up.
Sharpie Pen Handpainted PlateI just started doodling and just let it flow from one thing to another as the pictures show ……
Sharpie Pen Painted Plate 1Sharpie Pen Painted Plate
I used Sharpie pens for the design.
Sharpie Pen painted Plate 6Sharpie Pen Painted Plate 3
POST NOTE: Before baking in the oven, I let the plate dry for about 48 hours to make sure it was really dry,  I then baked it slowly in the oven at 130c for two hours after reading several articles on the net on the best ways preserve/secure the ink from the rigours of washing up - http://www.destinationdecoration.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-sharpie-mugs/ - however, this did not work, the temperature was not hot enough and an awful lot of the design came off in the first wash ........  I am now in the process of more experimentation, however, with a higher temperature comes risk the fading of the pre-baked brilliant colours ....... (please also see added comment left by anonymous reader below)
Sharpie Pen painted plate 7If I was being critical, the “flower” in the middle is well off centre, but as this plate is just for me and my marmite and toast to brighten my morning, it really doesn’t matter that much!


Re my ink adhering problems, this comment was left in my comment box, for which I am very grateful ..........

"That is GORGEOUS! I don't know if this will help, I've tried using Sharpie markers before and found they didn't "bond" to the ceramic, when I looked into it I found that most of the tutorials I'd read were American and their "standard" Sharpies seem to be different to ours (from memory I think it was something to do with alcohol content) I found some UK bloggers had had success by giving the ceramic a light sand before colouring in but even then they'd had issues. Hope your experiments go well and you find a technique that works, the plate is lovely & I'd love to have a go again. Maybe any overseas readers can help as they don't seem to have the problems we do in the UK. If all else fails you used to be able to buy a clear glass paint that you baked in the oven (it was designed to be used to tint and lighten coloured glass paints) - a layer of this would seal the design but can't remember if it was food safe or not? Good luck with your experiments."