Friday 26 April 2013

I Made This #4: What to do when you have too many mugs


I have a little problem. I have a ton of oversized mugs! They don't really fit in the cupboard anymore. And then, for my birthday, a friend bought me the biggest mug I've ever seen and I joked about how you could use it as a flower pot. But after I said it I thought, wait, I WILL make this a flower pot! And then I did.

And you can too! The project won't set you back more than $20, so if you have some mugs or ceramics or whatever that you want to repurpose, read on! The key issue is drainage.


So, getting the plants was cheap and easy. I just picked out a couple of low-maintenance plants from Ikea, one of which was on sale for $2! The expensive part was the diamond tipped drill bit, which was about $12 before tax and can be found in the tile department at the hardware store. See here.

I drilled a 1/4" hole.


So here's a few tips if you wan to try this. Wear your safety glasses! Little glass particles and the eye do not mix. You might want to wear gloves too, just in case your mug breaks. Don't let my warnings scare you off, though. My mugs were never even close to breaking. It's just better to be safe than sorry.

You will want to turn your mug/bowl/whatever upside down to drill so put a towel under it to protect it and keep it from slipping.

Put some water on the spot you want to drill. This will help to prevent your drill bit from getting dull. When you drill, do not apply a lot of pressure and back off your bit every now and then to declog the bit and let it cool off a little. To help you get started, you can begin with the drill on an angle using the edge of the bit to mark the spot you want the hole to be.  Once your hole is started, straighten up the bit and be really patient. Drilling may take a minute or two.

This elf mug has a butt hole now!

 And that's it! Once you're through your mug has drainage and can be used as a planter! No root-rot for you!

Here's my planter saucer after decorating.
Next you will want a plant saucer to catch any water that drains from your planter, right? I got these terra cotta ones from the craft store for less than $2 each. Then I decorated them with some paint markers that I had at home, but you can decorate them however you like. Now they go with my planters.


And that's it! Now I have two truly weird unique planters!





It's actually kind of useful to have plants with handles.


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