Happy Friday everyone!!! Hope you are staying warm in this deep freeze.. BRRRRR!
One of my favorite ways to spend a cold, snowy evening is to paint ceramics! My favorite place is "U B The Artist" located in McKenzie Towne... If you are located in the north part of the city the best is "Fire Escape" in Bowness... Amazing staff!!! The staff are AMAZING and SO helpful. I do tons of projects around Christmas time and there is nothing more special than a personalized Christmas gift. You first choose a bisque which can be anything from a sushi platter to a tea cup to a flower vase to a dinosaur!:
Once your bisque is chosen you can really let your creative side go wild. Scared you don't have an artistic bone in your body?! Not a problem! Ceramic shops specialize in customized "TLC" as they call it to help you create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. They have inspiration books, stencils, examples hanging around the studio and tons of different techniques to teach you such as sponging or different textural effects. Most ceramics need three good solid coats for a solid color and you can do one or two coats for a more transparent color. Here are some fun examples from some of my past projects!
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| This was a super easy project.. One of my first!!! |
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| This is the piece I am most proud of. I made this for my mom for mother's day three years ago and it took me quite a few hours to complete. I would NOT have been able to do it without Lise's help from U B The Artist! My mom hangs it as a piece of art :D |
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| This was a class I did a few years back as well... Mine is actually purple and pink and I gave it away as a gift but it looks identical thanks to their techniques ;) |
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| I painted this koi fish platter for James as a house warming gift when we moved to our new house.. On the back it reads "May our home be a place where friends gather, memories are made and love grows".. The koi fish was actual just a Google print out that was then put on carbon paper which I traced onto my piece with pencil and then painted.. All the tricks of the trade ;) |
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| This is the only piece I've done from Fire Escape but I had a lot of fun painting it with a group of gals over Christmas. I did the outside of the bowls a darker shade and the inside a lighter one.. Thought it would be good for dips!.. I actually got this piece for my bridal shower and JUST completed it ... SAD! You can take kits to paint at home as well which is what this was!!! |
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| Hilo from baby Fraggle!!! hehe.... This vase was a really unique class using Q Tips and alcohol to get this drop effect. It's James' favorite piece strangely enough... |
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| This was another really easy class... I know you probably don't believe me!!! But it took about two sessions and we had a lot of help with technique and shading. |
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| Hehehe... This is a CD holder I made for James for Christmas one year.. On the other side is a bunch of his favorite hobbies etc and this part is an ocean scene because we love to snorkel. |
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| U B The Artist also offers Glass Fusion which is SO MUCH FUN! I made my first piece last night and here is what it looks like before it was fired... It will look completely different once it has been in the kiln and will be completely flat... It will also be "slumped" to shape a "sushi bowl".. I shall post when it is ready. You choose a background piece and then looks through different boxes of "treasure" to find pieces of glass to make a design and then glue them on until the piece can be fired.. This is my first piece so I'm not expecting anything crazy but it was super fun.. |
Here are some more experienced glass fusion pieces!:
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| Love this funky bowl that was made layering different colors of glass of top of each other to create the different colors inside each square. |
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| Cute! Same size as I worked with last night. |
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| So gorgeous!!! |
Check out U B The Artist for a fun night out... Girl's night, birthday party, bridal shower, etc!!!
