Porcelain Mug Painting for Beginners | Test a Hobby

Sometimes a hobby starts because you’ve always wanted to learn something.

And sometimes it starts because you’re standing around talking to someone and they casually say, “I’ve always wanted to try that.”

That’s pretty much how this one happened.

I was talking with Kristina, one of the leasing consultants in my building, and somehow our conversation wandered into things she’d like to learn.

Painting porcelain was one of them.

And my brain immediately went:

Well… we can fix that.

Not because I’m an expert in porcelain painting.

I’m not.

But I love finding information. I love figuring out what someone actually needs to get started. And more than anything, I love handing somebody enough information to begin and then watching where they take it.

So I put together a little starter kit for her.

A couple of mugs.
A stemless glass.
Paint pens.
Rubbing alcohol and cotton balls.

And instructions.

Not ART INSTRUCTION.

Not WELCOME TO YOUR 47-PART MASTERCLASS IN PORCELAIN PAINTING.

Just enough information to sit down and try the damn thing.

Because that was really the point.

What if you could just test a hobby?

We make trying new things way more complicated than it needs to be.

You get curious about something, so you start Googling.

Then suddenly you’re researching the best professional supplies.

You’re watching people who have been doing it for twelve years.

You’re comparing brands.

You’re reading about techniques you didn’t know existed 20 minutes ago.

Now you need six colors you hadn’t planned on buying, three different brushes, some mystery product everyone insists is absolutely essential, and apparently you need to understand glazing.

You haven’t made a single thing yet.

You’ve just spent three hours preparing to become a person who might someday make a thing.

I wanted Kristina to skip all of that.

Here’s a mug.

Here’s something that makes marks on the mug.

Here’s how you prepare it.

Here’s how you make the design stay.

Go play.

That was it.

The instructions I made for her literally described the activity as:

Doodling on a mug. Baking it. And calling it yours.

There was no expectation that she needed to discover a hidden artistic talent.

She didn’t need to make anything worth selling.

She didn’t even need to be particularly good at it.

She just needed enough information to try it.

And then something really cool happened

Kristina kept doing it.

What started as this little here, try this experiment became something she looks forward to.

She told me it has become her “happy place”.

She can’t wait to get home at night and work on it.

And THAT is the part I love.

Right now, she’s making things for herself and creating gifts for friends and family.

Maybe that’s all it ever becomes.

That’s a perfectly good place for a hobby to live.

But she’s also started thinking that maybe, someday, she’d like to take what she’s creating online.

And if she does?

That’s another road she can explore when she gets there.

Because there doesn’t have to be a plan before you begin.

Sometimes you just try the thing first.

Want to test it yourself?

If you’re sitting here thinking, Okay, this actually sounds kind of fun, here’s what you need to try it yourself.

When I put Kristina’s kit together, I included porcelain mugs, a stemless glass, paint pens, rubbing alcohol and cotton balls.

But here’s the important part:

You do not have to buy everything I bought.

Remember what we’re doing here.

We’re testing a hobby.

We’re not stocking a porcelain-painting studio before we’ve made our first dot.

THE ACTUAL STUFF
Here's what you need, what you can thrift, and where I'd actually spend the money.

Porcelain mugs

Check Goodwill or your local thrift store. Look through your own cabinets. You may already have a plain mug you’re willing to experiment with.

The point isn’t having the perfect mug.

We just need something to paint.

Stemless glasses

Glass gives another surface to experiment with. It’s a little different from painting a mug because the pen feels more slippery against the glass.

In the guide I called it the mug’s “slightly dramatic friend.”

Still accurate.

This is another perfect Goodwill or thrift-store find.

You might find a single wine glass, stemless glass, little vase or another piece of glassware for a couple of dollars instead of buying an entire set.

And if all you want to try is the mug?

Skip the glass completely.

Porcelain paint pens

12 Colors Permanent Ceramics Paint Pens, 1-8mm Brush Tip Porcelain Markers

These were the pens in Kristina’s kit. The link is to save time searching. The prices vary between brands. Make sure to choose paint pens that state they are suitable for ceramic and glass

This is where I’d actually spend the money.

The paint pens are really the only specialty supply you need for this project.

I chose pens instead of traditional paints and brushes because I wanted this to feel like doodling.

No brushes.

No water cups.

No learning painting techniques before you can begin.

Pick a color.

Make a mark.

Keep going.

Rubbing alcohol + cotton balls

Before you put either of these in your Amazon cart…

Go look under your bathroom sink.

You may already own both.

They’re simply used to clean the surface before you start painting.

If you already have them, congratulations.

Your hobby-testing budget just got smaller.

So, what does it really cost to test this hobby?

Potentially?

Not much more than the paint pens.

Thrift a mug.

Skip the glass if you want.

Use rubbing alcohol and cotton balls you already have.

Buy the paint pens.

That’s enough.

If you love it, then you can start wandering around looking at different mugs, glasses, colors and other things you might want to paint.

But we don’t know that yet.

First we’re going to make a mug.

Before you make that first mark

Give your mug a quick wipe with rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball.

Then comes the strangely intimidating part:

Make one mark.

Not a design.

Not a plan.

One mark.

A dot.

A line.

A little curve.

Then put another mark next to it.

That’s basically how we get past the I don’t know what to paint problem.

And if you suddenly hate what you did while it’s still removable?

Wipe it off.

No ruined mug. No dramatic music.

Try again.

I made you the same visual guide I made for Kristina

I could put every single instruction here and make you scroll through another seventeen paragraphs.

But that seems unnecessary.

When I put together Kristina’s kit, I also made her a visual step-by-step guide because sometimes seeing the damn thing makes considerably more sense than reading another explanation of it.

So, I’m giving you the guide too.

Test a Hobby: Porcelain Mug and Glass Painting Sneak Peek

Inside, I walk you through preparing the mug, getting past that weird blank-mug paralysis, making your first marks, fixing something you don’t like, letting the paint set and finishing your piece.

It isn’t an art class.

It isn’t going to teach you how to become a professional porcelain painter.

It’s exactly what I wanted Kristina to have:

Enough information to start.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE PORCELAIN MUG PAINTING VISUAL GUIDE

Then you get to see where you take it.

Maybe you’ll paint one mug and decide that was plenty.

Maybe you’ll make gifts for people.

Maybe you’ll become the person haunting every Goodwill in town because:

“WAIT. I COULD PAINT THAT.”

Or maybe, like Kristina, you’ll discover that somewhere between that first blank mug and whatever you make next, you found yourself a happy place.

That’s why we’re testing the hobby.

Want to test another hobby with me?

I have no idea what we’re trying next.

That’s kind of the point.

Leave your email and I’ll let you know when the next Test a Hobby experiment is ready.