One of the great but affordable gifts to give to your friend would be personalized mugs. These specialty items can be given for any occasion. You can purchase blue mugs and then have your own designs to make it more special.
If you are a creative type of person, you can choose those plain blue mugs and paint it on your own or have a print out that you have created using your own creativity and imagination.
Aside from being an ideal gift to your friends, these personalized mugs would also be an effective marketing strategy especially for company owners who would like to increase their market awareness. These personalized mugs can carry the logo of your company so that whenever people are using your mugs, they will be reminded of the existence of your company. Mugs are perfect promotional items because it is very useful.
When you want to create your personalized mugs, you should purchase plain mugs first. Be sure that when you purchase your mug, it should be durable and not easily broken. You can try out blue mugs and have a unique colored personalized mug.
Once you have purchased your mug, you should already conceptualize the design that you would like to have for your mugs. Whether you are going to use it as a promotional item or as a gift, it would be best to plan the design so that you won’t start from scratch when you are designing your mug. You can try sketching it first on a piece of paper so that you won’t have problems when it comes to actually designing the mug. Make sure that the colors are in harmony and perfect combination. The size of the design should also fit perfectly on the mug.
When you have already created your sketch, you can gather the materials needed to design your ceramic mug. First, you need to clean the mug by wiping it with a clean towel. You can use alcohol to ensure that it is clean and grease free. Aside from that, alcohol can also help in eliminating that soapy feel on the surface of the mug.
Using your craft paintbrush paint your mug following the design that you have sketched on your scratch paper. You should allow the layers to dry out first before you decide to apply colors. You should also clean your brush before switching colors or you should consider having different brushes for every color so that the colors won’t mix.
Once you are done painting it, you should let it dry so that it won’t mess up. You can place the finished mug in a cool oven. Make sure that the oven is not yet warmed before you place the mug. If you preheat it before you place the mug, it might break the ceramic and all your hard work will be ruined. Allow the ceramic to bake for 30 minutes in 300 degrees Fahrenheit. After 30 minutes, let the mug cool down but do not immediately remove it from the oven because the ceramic mug can crack or shatter if you let it out immediately.
If you are going to give it as a gift to your friends, you can wrap it in a nice package and hand it to your friends. They will definitely appreciate it especially if you designed it according to their taste.