I've been wanting to do some lettering on ceramic for a while now, I love the idea of being able to make a beautifully lettered mug or decorative dish for someone. However, I had no prior experience and whilst I kept seeing people recommending great pens for the job I couldn't seem to find any I wanted in local craft stores or on UK sites. Purely by chance I found some reduced porcelain paint in Hobbycraft, I'm aware there's a difference between ceramic and porcelain but I went ahead and everything seems to have gone well! I did however learn some key tips so I thought I'd share them:

1. Practice before you go to the final piece

I found it very beneficial to do some swatches before going into my design and getting a feel for how the paint worked. It was much thicker than the watercolours I'm used to so getting a feel for how it went on to a surface was hugely beneficial before going to my ceramic mug.

2. Use a small brush

I think something I've come to learn through my lettering journey is that I always opt for brushes that are slightly too big, so I'd recommend that when painting with porcelain/ceramic paint to use a small brush because you'll always underestimate the chunky downstrokes you can get with a thinner brush! I have brushes ranging from 1-12 and I used my 1 for this piece which was perfect. It creates fine detail but when pressure is applied is perfect for making the thicker strokes you want.

3. Plan your design in pencil before hand

Now, I don't have a photo of this because it's something I didn't do, but in retrospect wish I had! Thankfully my design worked out okay but I'd suggest with any longer pieces you'll be lettering to do a plan of the hierarchy and layout you want. This is so beneficial to do and something I should do more. If anyone would like some examples of times when I've done this or other great examples then pop a comment down below saying so and I'll happily make a post of this process!

4. Do a rough version first, wipe off any mistakes etc

The above photo shows what it looked like after two coats of black paint, however to get to this point I found it incredibly helpful to do a faint thin coat (almost like a version of a pencil design I guess..!) and then any mistakes or pieces I wanted to re-do came off easily with a wet cloth. When I was happy with my faint version I took a lot more paint on my brush and just went over it and filled it in, something that would have been incredibly difficult to do with the small letters the first time round.

5. Follow the directions provided