Porcelain paint pens – also called porcelaine paint pens or porcelain brush pens – are available from various manufacturers, including edding, Marabu and Kreul. For unglazed ceramics, on the other hand, there are special ceramic pens, also called ceramic paint pens, pottery pens or ceramic brush pens. Below you will find a comparison of porcelain markers for firing from different manufacturers, as well as sets that also include cups and egg cups, and the instructions from the respective manufacturers.
- Porcelain paint pens
- Which porcelain pens are available?
- Edding porcelain pens
- Marabu porcelain pens
- Kreul porcelain pens
- Painting a cup with a porcelain pen or anything else
- Where can I buy porcelain pens?
- Ceramic pens
- Template generator from edding
Porcelain paint pens
To paint porcelain at home, you can use special pens for porcelain, porcelain pens. There are many different glazed porcelain dishes, such as porcelain cups, porcelain bowls, porcelain egg cups or porcelain plates, often in white. This porcelain can then be painted with a porcelain paint pen. To fix the colour, you have to burn it in with the porcelain pens presented here.
[Photographer: unknown, source: Bundesarchiv/ Wikimedia Commons, licencez: CC BY-SA 3.0 de]
Porcelain pens are available from various suppliers, including those in the following list (overview):
- edding
- Marabou
- Kreul
In the case of ceramic pens, which are also suitable for terracotta ceramics, there are two main types from the manufacturer edding, as can be seen in the following list (overview):
- edding 1255 calligraphy pen
- edding 1455 calligraphy pen
Which porcelain pens are available?
There are several manufacturers of porcelain pens – including edding, Marabu and Kreul – some of which also have porcelain pens specially designed for children, which do not require pumping and shaking before use, but can be used immediately.
But even with the porcelain pens from edding, or more precisely the porcelain brush pens from edding, which have a brush tip, pumping and shaking before use is not necessary.
Edding porcelain pens with brush tip
From the company edding, for example, there are such porcelain pens with a brush tip, actually porcelain brush pens. These are suitable for painting glazed porcelain or glazed ceramics, even for beginners. The flexible brush tip can be used to paint large areas as well as fine details. The paint has a creamy consistency. The porcelain pens from edding have the following properties:
- Fibre pen
- calligraphy tip: 1 to 4 mm
- flexible brush tip
- pigment ink is water-based
- after baking: porcelain paint dishwasher safe up to 50 °C
- no running
- no drop formation
- no clumping
- fast drying ink
- odourless
- lichtbeständig
- painted areas can be corrected before burning in
- pens in 15 different colours
- cap can be changed to the end of the barrel
If you want all 15 colours of the edding 4200 porcelain brush pens, you can buy three sets of 6 as a complete set, with three colours repeating, namely black, brown and red:
Edding porcelain pens instructions (burn-in included)
In the following keyword-instructions for painting ceramics or porcelain with the edding porcelain paint pen, you will learn how to use the edding porcelain paint pens, including how to bake them after using them:
- Choose glazed porcelain or glazed ceramic
- Clean in the dishwasher before painting
- Remove fingerprints/grease residues with cleaning agent
- Paint porcelain or ceramics with porcelain pen
- Allow the painting to dry for 15 minutes
- Preheat the oven to 160 °C
- Bake: Place porcelain or ceramic in oven at 160 °C for 25 minutes
- Allow porcelain to cool
If you use several colours for a design, you should first let the colour applied in each case dry and only then apply the next colour.
According to the manufacturer, the edding brush pen should only be used for decoration. The cut surfaces, eating surfaces and drinking surfaces of the porcelain or ceramic should not be painted, i.e. leave out all areas that come into contact with food. So for a ceramic cup, bowl or deep plate, you should only paint the outside. For a flat porcelain plate with a rim, only the rim of the plate should be painted.
Also, when cleaning the painted porcelain or ceramic, avoid rubbing or scouring the painted surfaces.
In this video you can see the edding 4200 porcelain pen in use.
Marabu porcelain pens
There are different porcelain paint pens from Marabu: porcelain pens with a universal tip, porcelain pens with a calligraphy tip and porcelain pens for children.
Pens with universal and calligraphy tip
The porcelain pens from Marabu with universal tip are available in the stroke widths 0.8 mm (contours as well as filigree painting and writing), 1-2 mm (painting and writing) and 2-4 mm (brush painting feeling). The Marabu porcelain pen with calligraphy tip has a stroke width of 1-2.5 mm and, according to the manufacturer, is used for “effective writing of names, sayings and signatures”.
Marabu porcelain pens instruction
Marabu also provides instructions and advice on how to use the porcelain pens with universal tip and calligraphy tip. You can use the pens to paint porcelain, glazed ceramics and terracotta, among other things. The porcelain pens contain a water-based pigment ink that is odourless as well as lightfast. The pens work via a pump system.
Before painting, the porcelain or ceramic objects should be cleaned well. Then you have to activate the valve system of the pen by shaking it vigorously with the cap closed; matallic and glitter porcelain pens have to be shaken longer, as the colour pigments they contain weigh more.
Now it’s time to pump by briefly pressing the tip of the pen several times on a neutral surface. You should be careful when pumping, as over-pumping can cause the paint to leak out of the side of the barrel. The thin 0.8 millimetre tip only needs to be pressed in twice.
When painting, make sure that no fingerprints get on the surfaces to be painted, because a dirty painting surface can lead to adhesion problems of the painting. If you want to paint contours, you should first allow the applied contours to dry briefly.
After baking, the paint is dishwasher-safe up to a maximum of 50 °C. The paint must be allowed to dry for four hours before firing. Then place the painted porcelain or ceramic in a cold (not preheated) oven at 160 °C for 30 minutes. After this time, the piece is left to cool in the oven. According to the manufacturer, the pens are only suitable for decorative purposes, i.e. not for food contact, which is why the inside surfaces (of cups, for example), cut surfaces and drinking rims should not be painted.
Marabu KiDS Porcelain & Glas Painter
Marabu also has porcelain paint pens for children in its range, namely the Marabu KiDS Porcelain & Glass Painter with a universal tip of 1-3 mm. However, according to the manufacturer, these pens, which are available in 13 different colours, are also for decorative purposes only and the paints should only be applied to surfaces that do not come into contact with food. Cut surfaces, drinking rims and inner surfaces (such as of cups or bowls) should not be painted.
Before painting the porcelain or ceramic, the painting surface must be cleaned well and must not be contaminated later by fingerprints. The pens have a filter system. The porcelain pens work without pumping and without shaking.
The colour of the Marabu KiDS Porcelain & Glass Painter must also dry for 4 hours before baking. Then the porcelain or ceramic is placed in a cold (not preheated) oven at 160 °C for 30 minutes. Afterwards, the painted piece should cool down in the switched-off oven. After baking, the paint is dishwasher safe up to a maximum of 50 °C.
Kreul porcelain pens
The Kreul company, which was founded in 1838 by the artist Carl Kreul, offers even more variety among the porcelain pens. Kreul offers various porcelain pens for children, classic porcelain pens, transparent porcelain paint pens.
Kreul offers the following porcelain paint pens:
- MUCKI Porcelain Pirate Porcelain Pen Set of 5 (for children)
- KREUL PorcelainPen easy (for children)
- KREUL PorcelainPen easy Set of 12 or 5 (für Kinder)
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Classic Set of 5
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Classic fine
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Classic fine Set of 4
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Clear 5er Set (transparente Porzellanmalfarbe)
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Clear fine
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Clear medium
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Metallic fine
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Metallic medium
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Metallic medium 5er Set
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Glitter medium 5er Set
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Glitter medium
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Chalky medium
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Chalky medium Set of 5 (soft matt colour with chalk look)
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Classic calligraphy
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Glamour Set of 4 (gold, silber, weiß, schwarz)
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Handlettering Set of 4 (four different pen tips: fine, medium, calligraphy, brush)
- KREUL Glass & Porcelain Pen Neon medium
Kreul porcelain pens instructions
The instructions for the respective porcelain pen can be different in each case, for example with regard to the baking time. The drying time before firing is 4 hours.
As a general rule, Kreul recommends that the porcelain pieces to be painted should not be cleaned in the dishwasher, but by hand and using washing-up liquid, as a “beading effect” could be applied in the dishwasher. Kreul recommends not to paint the useful and eating areas of the porcelain objects, i.e. to leave out drinking rims, the inner surfaces of cups or bowls and the cut surfaces of plates, i.e. all surfaces that come into contact with food.
If you have already painted something, you can remove the Kreul porcelain pen colour with water as long as it has not yet been burnt in. Apart from the porcelain pens for children, you should shake a Kreul porcelain pen for 1 to 2 minutes with the cap closed before using it. The tip of the ceramic pen should then be carefully pressed onto the paper several times to pump up the ink. Then you should write on the paper with the porcelain paint pen. The porcelain pens for children – “MUCKI Porcelain Pirate Porcelain Pen” and “KREUL PorcelainPen easy” – do not require pumping or shaking.
Painting a cup with a porcelain pen or anything else
A porcelain pen can be used to paint a wide variety of porcelain shapes, such as plates, egg cups, butter dishes or cups. And there are also different shapes for the cups, which you can find in the article on painting pottery.
Porcelain pens set with cup
If you don’t want to search for a long time, you can also buy porcelain pens and a mug in a set:
Here are special porcelain pen sets for children, separated by girls and boys::
Porcelain pen set with other object
There are also sets that include not a cup but another object besides the pen, such as an egg cup or a piggy bank. Below you will find a few such porcelain pen sets:
Where can I buy porcelain pens?
Porcelain paint pens can be bought in bricks-and-mortar stores (Müller Drogerie) or online, for example on ebay or amazon. You can buy the pens individually or in a porcelain pen set with pens in other colours or in a set with pens of the same colour but with different line widths. As already mentioned, there are also sets that not only consist of pens, but also include a porcelain item, such as a cup, piggy bank or egg cup.
Ceramic pens
There are special ceramic pens – ceramic paint pens – for unglazed terracotta, such as the edding 1255 calligraphy pen or the edding 1455 calligraphy marker with flexible tip.
The 1255 calligraphy pen from edding is a fibre-tip pen and this pen for terracotta ceramics comes in three different line widths: 2 mm, 3.5 mm and 5 mm. It is available in five different colours, including red, blue, green, dark brown and black. The pigment ink is water-based and fast-drying. According to edding, the painting result is smudge-proof, abrasion-resistant, waterproof and lightfast. The cap can be attached to the end of the barrel. According to edding, the 1255 calligraphy pen is suitable for terracotta painting.
The edding 1455 calligraphy pen has a flexible tip with which you can achieve a line thickness of 1 mm to 5 mm. The pigment ink is also water-based. According to edding, the ink is waterproof and lightfast on almost all surfaces. It is also fast-drying, abrasion-resistant and smudge-proof. The cap can be attached to the end of the barrel. The edding calligraphy marker is available in red, blue, green, dark brown and black. According to the manufacturer, the edding 1455 calligraphy marker is suitable for terracotta painting.
Template generator from edding
The company edding, which offers porcelain pens – the edding porcelain brush pens – has also developed a template generator that allows you to create your own template from a specific photo motif. The generator converts a motif from a photo into a drawing by simplifying the photo into a black and white sketch. This sketch can then be traced onto a ceramic or porcelain cup, porcelain bowl or other ceramic/porcelain object.
Using the template generator from edding works as follows:
- Upload photo (of pet, for example).
- Print out the sketch converted by the generator
- Clean the porcelain object thoroughly, e.g. using a dishwasher
- Place graphite paper on the area of the motif to be painted
- Place the template sketch on the graphite paper
- Trace the template with a sharp pencil
- Trace the traced sketch with a dark edding porcelain pen
- Allow the paint to dry for 15 minutes
- Preheat oven to 160 °C
- Place porcelain in oven at 160 °C for 25 minutes
- Allow porcelain to cool