My Dragon Valentine

Make an easy dragon-themed glass for your Valentine (or yourself!)

I’ve seen DIY instructions for hand-drawn glasses and mugs all over Pinterest, but I’ve been hesitant to try it myself. Even with a stencil, my artistic abilities are… lacking. (If you’ve seen any of my nail art posts on Facebook, you know that even drawing a straight line is a bit beyond my skills.)

Then I stumbled over some reverse silhouette designs and thought “I can do that!”

No drawing, or even tracing, necessary!

In a nutshell, it’s as simple as applying a stencil to your vessel of choice and applying dots of color around it. When you take the stencil away, your left with the stencil-shaped blank spot in the middle of the dots.

What you need:

*Glass or mug – I picked one up at Target for a couple of dollars that already had a heart on one side.
*A stencil of some kind – I searched for a free clip art image of a dragon that didn’t look like it would be too difficult to cut.
*Double-sided tape or something to adhere the stencil to the glass/mug – I tested a piece of the tape on the bottom of the glass to make sure it wouldn’t leave any residue when I pulled it off.
*Sharpie Paint Pens – I used silver and red oil-based pens. (I had a choice between water- or oil-based. I wasn’t sure which would be better, but the oil said “good for writing on wood or glass” so I went with it.)

Step 1 — Attach the stencil

I put small pieces of double-sided tape anywhere I thought was important to get a clear line around the shape of the stencil. (Head, tail, feet, spine, etc.)

Step 2 — “Paint” dots around the stencil with the paint pen

Make sure the dots are really tight along the perimeter of the stencil and then slowly space them out. The dots will form the outline of the image, so the closer together they are, the more detail will be defined.

I added the red in a sparse, random pattern. I only wanted to add a pop of color.

Step 3 — Let dry then remove the stencil

I let the paint dry for a few minutes then peeled back an edge of the stencil slightly to see how the outline worked. My first try, the dots weren’t as thick around the outline and replaced the stencil and went over it a little more thickly. Once dry again, I pulled the stencil and tape off and had my cute Dragon Valentine glass!

NOTE: This is not dishwasher safe, so you’ll need to hand-wash the glass to make sure your hard work isn’t washed away.