A Guide for Successfully Writing on Ceramics with Sharpies

Hello again! This is going to be pretty short. If you're finding this post on Pinterest, you have probably seen pins and posts about using Sharpies on ceramic plates, baking them, and then they are permanent, right? However, if you're like me, you tried this and failed miserably...Or maybe that's just me? Who knows. :)

Anyway, I've done a good bit of research and trial and error testing, and I have actually had some success! Here are some of the tips to my triumph.

1. Make sure you wash the dish first. You need to remove all oils!

2. Use oil-based paint, not regular Sharpies. There are oil-based Sharpie paint pens, and that's what I use and it works really well.

3. Set the oven at 400-425 degrees (F). 350 doesn't quite cut it.

4. Put the dish in before you turn the oven on, then leave it in for 45 minutes. When that time is up, turn the oven off and let the dish sit until it's cool. 

5. Be prepared for changes in the color. I took a couple of pictures to show you what the oil-based Sharpie pens look like.

This is a plate with all of my colors before I baked it (you can click to enlarge):

Here's what they look like after:

As you can see, some of the colors stay fairly true, but a lot of them get subdued. If you're looking for vibrant colors, you may be better off working with genuine ceramic paints. But if you're okay with slightly more muted tones, this is a really fun project! 

If you've found any other tips or tricks, feel free to let me know in the comments!

Love y'all!

-Kittye