"Mom" tattoo cover-up on repurposed mug

[theantihipster]

alright, I wasn't sure where to put this but I guess since I had to use Pebeo Ceramic Paint and the item was originally ceramic, it goes here?
p.s. omg that paint is a serious pain in my butt.

my idea: I had a customer who wanted a "Mom" tattooed heart mug. Rather than buying new, I always try to repurpose things. So how many of us have seen a ga-zillion perfectly happy and functional ceramics in thrift stores with something stupid on them that makes people get rid of an otherwise perfectly good liquid receptacle?
I figured I would apply my tattoo skills to the mug and treat it like a tattoo cover-up, by tracing the original design and drawing a design over that one (yep, that's how we do it. Not rocket science)
here is the finished product:


and here's the tracing w/original mug (from World Market, apparently. I bought it for like  $0.30 USD)

frankly, if my mug was instructing me to drink only tea, I might have gotten rid of it too. Demanding ceramics are a drag.

Once I got the design worked out, I drew straight on the mug, making sure that the black parts of the banner lined up with the biggest letter parts.
here's some close-ups, can you spot the tea? it's the same mug!


thanks for looking! if you have any success stories for re-using ceramic mugs, let me know! I'd like to find paint that is more opaque, then I'll start painting mugs like this all the time

[CamillaDog]

I love what you did...and yes when ceramics nag you, it really takes away any desire to use them, eh? Fantastic tattoo drawing you did. Really quite cool - WAY cooler than "t e a" Now you can use 'em for coffee!

[CohesiveChaos]

you did a fantastic job and I find your post quite entertaining lol! The mug is wonderful and I love that you made the heart blue

[funtobewith]

Fantastic! I have a dozen mugs with some corporate logo on them... I really need to do this.

What sort of prep did you do?

Any tips?

[Melazdee]

I love it! I especially love that you found a way to repurpose something instead of buying new. You're right, there are always TONS of coffee mugs at thrift stores with weird things written on them...I always pass them up because I never thought of doing this to them! So if I were to do this, I would want to find mugs that had simple drawings on them or something in similar colors to what I was doing, right? So that it would blend in? Ahh you're a genius
Thanks for the inspiration!

[Ramsie]

1 shot paint really is the way to go. I use it on everything from leather to wood and glass. It's opaque and flexible so it won't crack if you use it to paint purses. It's sign painter's paint so it's also good for stuff that will be outdoors, and it's used to pinstripe cars so it's SUPER permanent. If you can't find it in your local art supply store check out Kingpin Tattoo supply.

[Ramsie]

Oh also, I forgot to mention that you don't need to seal it with anything either. It takes longer to dry than acrylic but, saves you some work.

[lindyv321]

Love them!

[freestyle]

That is amazing! What a cool idea!
Guess I should confess...I own the Tea mug. 

[when_im_sixty4]

Love the colors and the design. Very classic!! Awesome idea