To understand why ceramic imprints are permanent and dishwasher safe we have to first know how ceramics are made and how they are printed. To make ceramics you need a special kind of clay that has to be molded into a shape. This shape is then placed into an oven at very high temperatures where it is cooked for several hours. Then it is left to cool down gradually so the end product won't be too brittle.

The painting of the ceramics takes place before the ceramics are cooked, so while the ceramics are still a hardened mixture of clay, water and several other ingredients that strengthen the final product, a painter creates a design using a paint that will mix chemically with the clay at very high temperatures. So, on the final product the ink is imprinted and is a part of the ceramics and it cannot be washed away, not even with powerful chemicals or high temperatures. The ceramics are created to withstand temperature of 1000-3000 degrees Celsius, and the temperature of your dishware is 100 degrees so it has no affect whatsoever on the ceramic imprints. This is how the traditional printing is done but new technologies open the way to many printing techniques.

Today ceramics are printed using modern technologies for most important printing methods: pad printing, screen printing and heat stamping. After the process of printing the objects are placed into an oven at very high temperatures which solidifies the painting onto the surface. For most daily home applications like oven cooking and dishwashing inside a machine, the ceramic painting doesn't need to be cooked industrially so they are made blank and later on a company may chose to print their own ceramics at lower temperatures of less than 1000 degrees.

As a general idea, paints that are cooked in oven at high temperature are permanent and can never be washed away, at least not with water and soap alone.

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