How to Make Water Marble Mugs

DIY Marble mugs are up there on my list of favorite crafts to make! They make great gifts and always turn out gorgeous. (Even when my 3 and 5 year old help!) The best part? You only need 3 main ingredients to make water marble mugs: Nail polish, water, and a mug!

Here’s what you need to make DIY marble mugs

• Plain white mugs – This is a great deal on a set of 6 white mugs!
• Nail polish – I have found that the quality of the nail polish matters.
• Bowl – Large enough for your mugs to dip in.
• Room temperature water
• Toothpick
• Water

How to make DIY water marble mugs

Water marble mugs are mu favorite!  They’re s easy, pretty and make great gifts. If you’re making these for Father’s Day, its’s fun to add stickers to make them even more personalized. In the example below, I used bicycle stickers, but it would be fun to use simple letter stickers and spell “DAD” or “LOVE” too.

Step 1- Sticker

This step is optional, but a fun addition to personalize the mugs with a name using stickers. Adhere the sticker to the mug making sure that it’s fully stuck to the mug. You don’t want any nail polish to get under the stickers.

Step 2- Fill a bowl with water

Fill a bowl with room temperature water. If the water is too hot it will dry up your nail polish before you get a chance to dip your mug.

Step 3- Add drops of nail polish

Strat by dropping 3-5 drops of one color of nail polish into the bowl of water. Then, add a few more drops of another color nail polish to create a bulls eye pattern on top of the water. This step is time sensitive since nail polish can dry, so don’t over think the pattern. Oh and the more colors the merrier! I’ve used the water marble technique on fingernails before and used up to 10 colors of nail polish. It also looks great to use only 1 color of nail polish. It’s totally up to you!

Step 4- Swirl

This step is optional. You can choose to make a pattern or leave it as a more natural marble effect. My kids love this step so I always let them use a toothpick to pull the nail polish into a pattern.  Try not to take more than 2-3 minutes between step 3 & 4.

Step 5- Dip

Once you’re happy with pattern and colors you created in the water dip your mug into the bowl and watch the water marble adhere to the mug. It’s that easy!

Strep 6- Blot with a paper towel

Sometimes I use a the toothpick to remove the access nail polish from the around the mug in bowl. When the mug is out, use a paper towel to blot the drips and set the mug aside to dry. You can always dip again if you want to add more water marble effect to the mug. If for some crazy reason you don’t love the design you created you can always use nail polish remover to take off the design and try the entire process again!

Step 7- Remove the Sticker

When the mug is dry, remove the stickers and voila! Gorgeous water marbled mugs! For both of the mugs below, I dipped twice. You can tell the first time I dipped I had the bicycle sticker on the mug and used a green nail polish. For the second dip, I took the sticker off and water marbled with a bright blue.

Are DIY marble mugs dishwasher safe?

The short answer is, no. I mean you can put them in the dishwasher, but the designs will peel off over time. I recommend hand washing your marbled mugs. To make the mugs dishwasher safe, I recommend using dishwasher safe Mod Podge over the water marble design. The mug will need to cure for 28 days, and should be placed on the top rack of the dishwasher.

Water marbling is such a fun process! I love that you literally only need 3 things: water, nail polish, and an object! I’ve water marbled white wax candles, white plates to use as jewelry dishes, and of course, mugs galore. The options are endless. Happy crafting!

Psst… If you like water marbling, try shaving cream marbling with the kids!