Make Personalized Glasses

For some time I've thought that I should buy the kids individual glasses. They could each have their own glass that looked different from everyone else's. I was growing tired of washing glasses over and over, or reaching in for a glass to find the cupboard empty. If everyone had their own glass, then they would be able to remember which one was theirs and not reach for a clean glass for every sip of water. My idea was to take the kids to the store and let them each pick out a glass they liked. 

Lydia (6) is my craft girl. She is continually pulling out a giant book of craft ideas she has and picking out crafts that she twists my arm to do. There is no brushing her off either. She has a great memory.  If I tell her, "Maybe we'll do it sometime,"  she will bug me weekly until we actually do it. Then the other day she picked one from the book that involved painting glass. Aha! We could paint glasses to personalize cups for each of us. 

First we headed to Goodwill to find some plain glasses. We found just what I was looking for, six simple juice glasses for a quarter a piece. 

Then I stopped at the craft store and purchased a beginners bargain set of glass paint. It included a liquid to prep the glass, black liquid lead for the edging, and eight colors of paint. I also picked up a bottle of silver liquid lead. All told it was about $12. I probably could have purchased glasses for less than that, but we hardly used any of the paint, so it is available for other projects. Of course this project also let me do something crafty with the kids and create something practical for the family.

After we covered the table in newspaper and gathered all the painting supplies, it was time to get started. The prep liquid was brushed on and allowed to dry. Drying only took a few minutes. During that time we talked about what the kids wanted on their glasses. 

The next step was to create the outline with the liquid lead. We learned that bigger, simpler designs work best, and that thick outlines help keep the colors from running outside the design. Then the outlines have to dry. This took awhile. We let them dry several hours. 

Then it is time to add the color.  The kids liked this part best of all. 

They aren't perfect, but we had fun creating them, and now everyone has their own glass to use throughout the day. Less dishes to wash! Whoo Hoo!

According to the package the glasses need to dry one hour before use, and ten days before they are washed.