Better (and safer) than S and M.  No, we’re not changing our tag line anytime soon.  Actually, this post don’t have much to do with salt and pepper.  More than anything, we wanted to share a hand-made gift idea.  It all started with, you guessed it, Pinterest.  I saw adorable painted mugs from Country Living.

Even before seeing the article, I had a similar idea, but only knew about the Porcelaine paint pens, but wasn’t thrilled with the results.  Country Living mentioned the PermEnamel brand, found at JoAnn, so I stopped in to see what our local store had.  I found the paints, but the color selection was very limited.  After JoAnn, I went to Michael’s to see what they had.  And there, right next to the regular acrylic craft paints, I had a revolution.  Americana not only makes acrylic paint, but Gloss (and Crystal) Enamels, too.  Perhaps I hadn’t noticed before because these paints are packaged in the same tubes as acrylics.  And, the color selection was much better than the PermEnamel paint.  So, I grabbed a turquoise color and went home to get started.  Started on what, though?  Good question!

You see, before we started the kitchen reno, we kept two small bowls on the back of the stove.  One for salt and another for pepper.

Yes, I am lazy enough to get annoyed at shuffling the spices around to find salt and pepper nearly every day.  The system worked, but I didn’t like that the containers were open.  That, and we now have a backless stove.  Oh, and it didn’t hurt that I found these cute lidded bird jars at World Market for $4.99 each.

Sure they were in the bath section, but why keep these cuties confined?  I bought two for salt and pepper.  That solved the problem of exposure, but now I had another problem.  Which was the salt, and which was the pepper?  And that’s where the ceramic paint comes in.

Actually, in my excitement for the newly discovered painting world, I accidentally grabbed a tube of the Crystal Enamel paint, which is for glass.  Back to Michael’s to get a tube of the Gloss Enamels.  The Porcelaine paints must be baked to set properly.  Bonus, the Gloss Enamels paints can either be baked, or can air cure for 21 days.

After cleaning one bird with alcohol, I started painting.  I worried the paint wouldn’t apply smoothly, but it was wonderful to work with and coverage was great.

This guy has been air curing for about two weeks, with use, without problems.  That’s a win in my book.  Now we know  before taking off the lid, that the blue bird has pepper.

All that to say try the Gloss Enamels paint.  You could paint mugs similar to the Country Living article, but personalize more with a family pet, child, monogram, whatever tickles your pickle, really.  Or, you could paint decorative plates.  Note the emphasis on decorative as the instructions are clear the paints are not for use on food surfaces.

Have you painted a design on glazed porcelain or ceramics?  Thinking of painted gift ideas now?  What would you make?