Tutorial: Painted Monogrammed Plates

I sort of dropped the ball with posting last week. There were presents to be made, cookies to be baked, white elephant gifts to concoct, presents to be wrapped, a house to clean… you get the gist. I’m surprised I remembered to shave my legs. Oh wait… I didn’t.

Shame on me.

Here’s a super easy, inexpensive project that will cost you less than $15 to make. You will need:

• Plates –> I used salad plates from Target. I got four plates for $8 – but there are cute white plates at The Dollar Tree (I just couldn’t find any at mine that weren’t chipped).
• Pebeo Porcelaine 150 paint –> You could use paint pens, sure. However, I prefer using porcelain paint. It is safe to eat off of and it is also dishwasher safe. One bottle is $5.00 at Michaels. They also make porcelain paint pens, but unless you are writing, I recommend paint. I tried this project with the pens and ended up tossing the plate.
• Oven
• Paint brush
• Stencil (or you can freehand if you’re talented like that. I’m not.)

Start by creating a stencil.  I used my Silhouette SD, but you could easily use Microsoft Word to do the same. I prefer to use different fonts on each plate to give it a fun, funky look. You may want to use just one font. Either way is fine!

I used fonts found in Microsoft Word – Bernard, Lucinda Calligraphy, Century, Abadi MT, etc. Just play around with fonts in different sizes into you find something that appeals to you. Print your letters out on thick cardstock and cut, creating your stencil.

Trace your letter onto your plate with a Sharpie.  The first time I did this, I used a porcelain paint pen, and the color leaked underneath and around the stencil. A Sharpie left crisp lines.

Shake your porcelain paint well.  I shook, and then used only the paint left in the cap. A little paint goes a long way. Don’t load up your brush. Work with little bits of paint at a time.

Here’s a tip, one I learned from my error: paint from the top down. DO NOT go back over areas you have already painted that are still wet. Your brush will pick up all the paint, leaving you with a bare spot.

Trust me on this, grasshoppers.

Your first coat will be super streaky. That is ok. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: 2nd coat and Right: 3rd coat. By your third coat, your letter will look nice, even, and glossy.

Let your paint dry 24 hours. Then, bake in your oven at 325 degrees for 40 minutes.

Package it up all pretty (i.e. not like mine) and you have the perfect, personalized gift! I also think this would look great in a plate rack in someone’s kitchen.

Happy Sunday, y’all.