I am so fortunate to live in a community-focused community. That may sound kinda redundant, but I live in an area where there’s something amazing going on every weekend. Live musicians, charity events, food truck rallies, brewery gatherings, farmer’s markets. I search Facebook events often to plan our weekends. A few weeks ago, I discovered several local art venues, places where we can go as a family to create different projects to bring home, including Corks & Colors Canvas and Pottery Studio. We decided to attend a class where we each got to paint one tile {they referred to it as a coaster} for Halloween. I shouldn’t say paint – it’s actually a glaze that needs to be fired in the kiln. Since this was for a set of four, it was perfect. Each of us selected one design, stenciled it onto our tiles, and glazed the tiles.
I let the kids pick their designs first. Bryce chose a mummy, Lydia chose a pumpkin, I chose Frankenstein’s monster, and Richard painted a ghost. After selecting our glaze colors, we began by transferring the drawing provided to us on to the tile. From there, we painted three layers of glaze on the tiles, allowing the glaze to dry between layers. Lydia, Richard, and I stuck to the original design for the most part {I changed the monster’s eyes from black to yellow}, but Bryce created a very interesting mummy with lots of colors. He is definitely my outside-the-box thinker.
After just a few days, we were able to pick up our projects from the studio. I expected them to take much longer! This is what they look like before they were fired in the kiln. I remember from my high school ceramics courses that once pieces are fired, they turn out looking completely different!
And here’s what they look like after. I purchased little tile stands online so that we could display our awesome Halloween artwork. These tiles can be used as coasters or can be hung on the wall. I think our display is really cute, though!
What Halloween projects are you working on with your family?
Any Comments?