DIY Mugs

DIY’s, how great they are. If you are feeling crafty and want to be creative there is almost always a DIY or craft for you to do.

Today I am in my crafty corner and decided to do something easy. We have some clear white mugs laying around that we never use, so I chose to dig them out from wherever they were and draw on them to create some cute mugs.

I had some posca markers I simply used since I had no sharpies or porcelain markers.
Unfortunately I figured out (too late), that they are not permanent on porcelain, they are “only” permanent on paper, photos, metal, glass, shrink wrap and plastic.
Because I was happy with the result, I chose to say whatever and keep the mugs as is. That means I will not be using them for drinking, but instead as décor and for storing pens or stuff like that.

I had a few ideas that I wanted to make, but because I only had black markers, I ended up having to trash some of the ideas.
At first, I wanted flowers and lots of them, but it is quite difficult getting many colourful flowers with only black marker. So I changed my mind and went back to an ooooold idea I had, that I have been wanting to do for years, but was afraid of doing (because I thought I would make it incredibly ugly). That is; Studio Ghibli inspired mugs.

This paper right here, together with some pictures from Pinterest, really set my mood for the mugs

You may go watch this post as a video on my YouTube channel.

This is what I used:

• Mugs
• Marker/pen

I made 4 different mugs:

My Neighbour Totoro: Totoro.

I absolutely adore Totoro, and find him quite iconic, so of course I had to make him for the first mug. I found a picture that I liked on Pinterest and chose that I wanted the exact same (just a bit bigger).
It was quite simple making him, as I simply drew the outline for him and his details, and then filled the black parts in with my marker.  He did become a bit wonky, and not at all perfect, but I still find him absolutely adorable!

Kiki’s Delivery Service: Jiji.

Jiji is to me also quite iconic, really adorable, and really easy to make with just black marker.

I found another picture on Pinterest and chose I wanted Jiji kind of like that, but with an extra paw and a less round (and derpier face). Again, I drew the outlines and simply filed in with black marker.

Spirited Away: Soot spirits.

The soot spirits from Spirited Away are some of the first I think off when thinking Studio Ghibli characters. Though they are also present in Totoro, Spirited Away is the movie that I first saw with them (and they are present in that movie quite a bit). Somehow, they can be expressive, they work hard, and they are super cute.

It was a bit embarrassing for me because I had completely forgotten what they were, so I simply saw them as dust bunnies until I remembered what they actually were.

For this one I could not really draw the outline, as they seem quite fluffy, so instead I drew some circles (three in this instance), and with quick and short strokes, drew their fluff by swiping my marker from the inside and out. Then as with the others, I filled in.

Howl’s Moving Castle: Calcifer

I adore Calcifer so much I cannot even. He is so cute, quirky, expressive, and not at all what I would first think of as being a demon.

Calcifer was much harder for me to make as I had no previous mugs to look at, so I kind of figured something out myself. Beside this, since Calcifer is a fire demon, and I only had black marker, it was really hard actually making him look like himself.

I chose to do two of him (one on each side of the mug), because I could not choose between him frying bacon or eggs, or him almost falling off a piece of wood.
For the one where he makes bacon and eggs, I started drawing a round pan, and drew in bacon and eggs with my marker. The edge of the pan was “fortified” and made a bit thicker to show that it was indeed not just an accidental line. I then drew Calcifers fire around the pan, as if he did indeed warm up the food, and I made him a bit flat, as to show how he was pushed down by the pan. This drawing did not look at all how I wished, but what can you do, when you just realise afterwards that you can’t really draw a fire without colours – lol.
For the one where he falls down I had a much easier time. I could draw the log of wood pretty much without colour, and just fill in Calcifer in black. I drew his outline, and filled in as with the others.

This mug overall is my least favourite even though I love the character; I find I did him no justice.

These are the four mugs together, I love how (three of them) they turned out!

I hope you guys enjoyed, and I would love to hear in the comments down below, if you ever have made this type of mugs before, and what you did to make the marker stay on?

I hope you all have a happy life, one day at a time