We are a contemporary paint your own pottery studio & more.  The first part is painting pottery that has already been kiln fired once (now bisque) and waiting to be painted (glazed) and kiln fired again – by you!  We do not have pottery wheels or raw clay at this time.

The second part, the “& more” part includes glass fusing, candle pouring, workshops and special events.  

Newly formed clay is called leatherware and becomes greenware when it dries.  The greenware is fired in a kiln, resulting in bisque.  The bisque, which is what we have lots of, is what you paint (glaze) and then the piece is fired again and becomes your masterpiece.

The short answer: 30 minutes (typically toddlers through 5 years old), 60 – 120 minutes (older children and adults).

The long answer:  “How long will it take to paint my piece?” is kind of like asking “how long does it take to make dinner?”  To make dinner, some people whip together the first thing they find, pop it in the microwave or toaster oven and dinner is prepared, served and eaten in 30 minutes or so.  Easy peasy!  And then there are those who brainstorm what to eat, scour the internet for the perfect recipe, gather the ingredients and then start to cook.  These people enjoy prepping for the meal, they like to dice, chop and sauté and will add extra spices or ingredients along the way to kick it up a notch. And after what can sometimes be hours…viola!  The meal is prepared and served like that of a fine restaurant.

In the end, there is no right or wrong answer to how long it should take to paint.  It really just depends on the age of the painter, the size of the piece and how involved you want to get in painting your masterpiece.

No worries!  Due to a huge selection of pottery to choose from, reservation schedule and two-hour table limits, sometimes it is hard to finish in time. We will wrap your piece up and give it to you to take home.  Return to our studio with your unfinished piece and we will set you up with the colors needed to finish it. To simplify things, we suggest taking a quick picture of the color used, this will help when you return. There is never a charge to return to the studio and it usually only takes one return trip, at the most, to complete your piece.

No worries again!  Absolutely NO experience is needed!  We have lots of tips, tricks and techniques to help you along the way.  We have transfer paper (like carbon paper), stencils, stickers and a ton of ideas for inspiration.  

We can paint a piece for you – we do lots of custom painting.  We can either paint the whole piece for you or finish up what you started.  Click here for details about personalization and customization.

Kids at any age can paint, providing they are old enough to hold a paintbrush or use their fingertips.   The paint is lead-free and nontoxic and very washable – so no worries if some paint ends up on the clothes.

We encourage the kiddos to do their own artwork and for the parents to NOT worry about touching up here and there or making it just right.  There are no mistakes in art, just a change in plans.  And we strongly believe you will appreciate their artwork years to come and a certain piece that was painted age-appropriately will be a snapshot of a certain time in your child’s life.  And based on our experiences with our own kids; you may not appreciate their artwork now, but when that little one is older and paints like a pro – you will cherish those beginning pieces…sigh…sniff…sniff.

All of our projects are kiln-fired and will be ready in 7 – 14 days, depending on the time of year.  You will leave your pieces with us the day of painting and we will give you a call when after they are kiln fired and ready for pick up.

Once you leave, the behind-the-scene magic occurs!  Even though your piece may look dry when you leave, we give it a good 24 hours to make sure there is no moisture left between the bisque and paint layers.  We then carefully hand dip your piece into a giant tank of clear glaze.  Clear glaze is the product used to make your piece shiny, bright, and food safe once it’s fired.  This process is a two-step process, with 24 hours between each dip.  Again, we must wait for the clear glaze to thoroughly dry…tick tock tick tock.  Once it’s dry, the piece is ready for one of our kilns.  The kilns heat up to about 1850 degrees and then must cool naturally and slowly…tick tock tick tock.  During the warmer months, the total time in the kiln is 30+ hours and roughly 26 hours during the cooler months.

Yes, no and no!  Yes, all pieces are food safe unless we specifically state otherwise on a particular project.  Unfortunately, no we do not recommend using the microwave or dishwasher.  We know there are lots of you who have put your pieces in the dishwasher.  But as industry professionals, we’ve got to stick with what our industry suppliers tell us and that is a big NO for microwave and dishwashers.  After all, it’s hand-painted, why not treat it with special attention?  And if anything else, it can serve as a great lesson in dishwashing for the kiddos!

Due to the nature of kiln-fired arts, slight imperfections can occur. Your individually handcrafted pieces along with their imperfections and slight slips of the artist’s hand are what make them special.  On rare occasions, kiln-fired pieces can crack or shatter during the firing process.  And on even rarer occasions (I promise – it is far and few between), there is human error on our behalf or factors that are beyond our control.  If a piece cracks or shatters, you will be notified immediately and a credit will be issued.  We value your patronage and rely heavily upon your recommendations to friends and family. Please know that if something unfortunate does happen, we will make every effort within reason to rectify the situation to your satisfaction because we pink puffy heart love our customers.

Though your Aunt Lucy was probably the coolest aunt ever, the answer is, unfortunately, no.  To ensure the quality we expect, we do not fire outside pieces. Most pieces from online sources are incompatible with our glazes. If you are looking for someone to fire your pieces, we suggest Googling “kiln rental” to see what pops up locally.  We do not rent out our kilns.  Hope this helps!