This plate was just pure relaxation, adult colouring books don’t really do it for me, if I used one colour that I thought looked wrong I would just get disgruntled and the page left as it was to annoy me, but just doodling and colouring as I went along certainly soothed this savage beast!
I used an old Ikea plate (diameter 19.5cms) I already had in the cupboard, it was a little scratched, but it was soon covered up.
I used Sharpie pens for the design.
POST NOTE: Before baking in the oven, I let the plate dry for about 48 hours to make sure it was really dry, I then baked it slowly in the oven at 130c for two hours after reading several articles on the net on the best ways preserve/secure the ink from the rigours of washing up - http://www.destinationdecoration.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-sharpie-mugs/ - however, this did not work, the temperature was not hot enough and an awful lot of the design came off in the first wash ........ I am now in the process of more experimentation, however, with a higher temperature comes risk the fading of the pre-baked brilliant colours ....... (please also see added comment left by anonymous reader below)
Re my ink adhering problems, this comment was left in my comment box, for which I am very grateful ..........
"That is GORGEOUS! I don't know if this will help, I've tried using Sharpie markers before and found they didn't "bond" to the ceramic, when I looked into it I found that most of the tutorials I'd read were American and their "standard" Sharpies seem to be different to ours (from memory I think it was something to do with alcohol content) I found some UK bloggers had had success by giving the ceramic a light sand before colouring in but even then they'd had issues. Hope your experiments go well and you find a technique that works, the plate is lovely & I'd love to have a go again. Maybe any overseas readers can help as they don't seem to have the problems we do in the UK. If all else fails you used to be able to buy a clear glass paint that you baked in the oven (it was designed to be used to tint and lighten coloured glass paints) - a layer of this would seal the design but can't remember if it was food safe or not? Good luck with your experiments."