NYC Masti: Let's get crafty!

I have a confession: I am addicted to online group deals! Doesn't matter if it's Groupon, Living Social, Buy With Me, or Lifebooker...I just can't help it! The deals are so creative and great savings.  Back in December a bunch of girlfriends and I bought a group deal for pottery painting at a cute little place called Baked in Brooklyn.  After months of trying, we finally were able to coordinate a time to go and get crafty!

I've lived in the city for about a year now, but I've never really ventured far from my home in downtown Manhattan, so I wasn't sure what to expect in this area of Brooklyn.  I have to say I was very impressed.  I believe the area was called the waterfront (I think) and it reminded me a lot of the South Congress area in Austin, Texas...cute little restaurants each with it's own theme and feel along with fun boutiques and shops...many a bit on the pricey side, but fun nonetheless.

In Baked in Brooklyn, we were presented with a store full of things to choose from to paint into our masterpieces.  While it was great to have so many options - from dog bowls to water jugs and martini glasses to salad bowls - it really stopped me in my tracks!  I kid you not when I say it took me like 30 minutes to decide what I wanted to paint...it actually took me less time to figure out what design to paint.  So finally, after much going back and forth, I decided on...drum roll please...a plate!!! I know, how original, right? Well, I already have plates this same size and shape at home so I figured I could paint an accent serving plate for the set...too bad we haven't really entertained much since our apartment is the size of a closet, but that's besides the point.


We all started with a very blank canvas and were limited only by our imagination and patience.  I found this great Japanese cherry blossom inspired design (yes, they even provided us with designs and stencils!) that I really liked. Since it wasn't a stencil, I had to use a different technique to use it.  Using a pencil, I traced the design then I set it pencil-side to the plate and traced the design again.  This allowed the pencil design to transfer onto the plate - genius, right? Yeah, I didn't come up with it, but I was able to do it...that counts, doesn't it? And it tuns out that after they fire the piece in the kiln (the pottery oven) all pencil marks disappear...woo hoo!

Then finally onto the painting - keep in mind that by this point the friends that I went with were almost done with their projects!  Since the plate set that we have at home is green, I chose the make this one red with green accents.  After painting the design, I went back with a pen-like paint tool to trace everything in black to really make it pop...keep in mind, this was now the 3rd time that I traced the same design!

After I transferred the design onto the plate

Needless to say, with all of the tracing and steps, I wasn't able to finish the plate in one sitting so I had to go back to finish up.  The way the process works is after you finish painting, they have to fire and glaze the piece and it's usually ready to pick up in about a week...they even email you to let you know when your piece is done. So I ended up having to make the trek out to Brooklyn 3 times in this whole process...but in the end of it all, I am proud to report that I am now the 'mayor' of Baked in Brooklyn on foursquare! Yes, I realize this is probably because most people only go there 2 times, but why focus on the half full? I tried to document each step so you can be part of the fun! I am happy with the final product.  You can tell it's homemade and not professional, but I think that's part of the fun...Enjoy!

Branches done...on to the green accent buds

In come the red blossoms

What it looked like after I was done painting before it got fired and glossed

The finished product...all glossy and ready to party!