So Margie had a brainstorm about a venue for Katherine’s birthday party — hold it at this ceremics-painting shop we’ve seen over near the Rock Bottom restaurant by Park Meadows. And it turns out that Color Me Mine does indeed host parties, so, as an experiment, we headed over that way for dinner then a special “treat” for Katherine.
She took to it like a duck to water, picking out a cool kitty cat, then painting it pink, then putting large purple spots on it, then little black dots around the purple spots, then highlighting the ears and nose and eyes in red, then little black pupils, then …
She had a blast.
Many years ago, I was much into this sort of quasi-scuplture stuff as a hobby (family members are still groaning under the load of ceramic Christmas ornaments they received for a couple of years). Of course, the shop I went to started from close to step zero: you got an unfired ceramic piece that had been molded into the desired shape. You had to use tools to clean and smooth it. Then you chose and underglaze, came back next week after it had been fired, then added any further glazing. Fun stuff, but time consuming and not cheap (all materials were your own responsibility — the shop only sold the pieces, the kiln time, and table space).
CMM cuts right to the chase — you get a fired bisque piece, all cleaned. They have a rainbow of glazes/paints (the piece will get a clear overglaze on it), brushes, sponges, templates, tape, stamps, etc. All you provide is the time, creativity — and money.
Still, we had fun, and I did a goblet that will probably be hideous when done next week, but what the heck. Margie did a fish-shaped plate that will doubtless be good enough to serve on at parties.
And I think we got a good place for a birthday party.