Stamped Clay Mugs

Painting coffee mugs are my thing, I’m always looking for new ways to make them. For these stamped clay mugs, I used pasta letters! Here’s how I made these – and if you would rather buy a mug, I also have these up for sale! I’m not sure if I’ll be making these again, they are pretty labor intensive, but worth it!

SUPPLIES:

Letter pasta (I purchased it on Amazon.com)

White clay

Roller/brayer

Bisque mug

Packing tape

Duncan Concepts Underglazes

Duncan Pure Brilliance Clear Glaze

Duncan French Dimensions, White

Stilts and a kiln

Roll out your clay and cut out small rectangles that will fit nicely around the mug. Press the letters into the mug, press so they are in deep and snug.

I used packing tape to make sure they dried as close to the curve of the mug as possible. Let dry until they are BONE DRY. Then fire in your kiln on Cone 04, slow speed. This will turn them into bisque!

Once they are cooled, remove the pieces from the kiln. You’ll find some ash from the pasta letters left over in the grooves. simply use a hard brush to get rid of those.

Now add some Duncan French Dimensions to the backs of the pieces and press onto the mugs. Let dry completely. French Dimensions is like puffy paint for ceramics. It also works to fuse pieces together!

Once the pieces are dried and glued, then paint with the underglazes. I used Duncan Concepts in a small writer bottle to fill the lettered areas. It worked perfectly, no mess at all!

Let dry, then add three coats of Duncan Pure Brilliance Clear Glaze (let dry between coats). Now in order to fire these without the pieces sliding off, you’ll have to stilt them from the back. After firing and cooling, use a nail file to smooth down the parts where the stilts were. Try to use newer stilts with sharper points so you’ll have smaller marks where the stilts were. Fire to Cone 06, medium speed.