On our last day at Blue Mountain we spent the morning riding the gondola and hiking along the top of the mountain. After making our way back down into the village we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed over to Crock-A-Doodle where we settled in to create some one of a kind artwork. Each girl picked out a plain clay piece to paint. There were tons of different pottery pieces to choose from. I was amazed by the selection.
In the end, G-Girl chose a fairy statue while Baby-G went with a robot bank. The girl that was working there was great. She helped the kids pick out paints, explained everything really clearly and was always right there on hand to answer any questions. She assured me that the paints were all washable, though there were also cute smocks to help keep the kids tidy. The whole place was bright, open and full of inspiration in the form of completed pottery creations.
We settled in at our table and G-Girl got down to the very serious business of creating a masterpiece. She was quite focused and enjoying herself immensely. Baby-G, not so much. She was happy to paint, for about ten to fifteen minutes and then she was done. Don’t get me wrong, she enjoyed painting her robot, but she was more then ready to move on to our next adventure. Painting just didn’t hold her attention for long. My mom ended up talking Baby-G off to walk around the village and do a little window shopping while G-Girl and I sat and painted for another two hours or so.
I had a blast. It was relaxing and fun to sit there painting over top of Baby-G’s robot while chatting with G-Girl. (They suggest two or three coats of paint to get a nice bright colour, so I sat there painting on top of the design Baby-G had made, basically just tracing her work. It was sort of fun. It definitely left me wanting to go back and try my hand at actually painting my own piece.)
The end result looked like this:
We were told that the soft almost pastel shades of paint would look much brighter after having been fired in the kiln. Crock-A-Doodle keeps the pieces and fires them in the kiln overnight. Normally you would return the next day after 4pm to pick up your piece. They also offer shipping for a reasonable rate. As we were leaving that afternoon, we arranged to have the pieces shipped to our home. They arrived about five days later.
It was exciting to open the box and see how they had turned out. The pottery pieces looked great after having been glazed and fired in the kiln. I was pretty impressed with G-Girl’s fairy. She’s currently gracing the mantel in our front room, a delightful reminder of our stay at Blue Mountain. While Baby-G’s robot bank is seeing active duty on the top of her bedroom bookcase, collecting her pennies.
Overall painting at the Crock-A-Doodle was even more fun then I thought it would be. Crock-A-Doodle is actually a franchise and I’ve now been eyeing the Tecumseh studio, considering a local art outing for the big kid and I. During the time I spent sitting and painting in the Blue Mountain Crock-A-Doodle studio, I noticed the patrons were evenly split between young kids and adults. It’s definitely not just a kids thing.
What about you folks, have you ever tried your hand at painting pottery? Is it something you or your kids enjoy? Have you ever visited a Crock-A-Doodle?
Disclosure: My family was invited to visit Blue Mountain as part of their Family Blogger Retreat. We stayed at the Westin Trillium House and and enjoyed three days as guests of Blue Mountain Resorts. We were also invited to visit the Crock-A-Doodle as part of our stay. As always, my words and opinions are my own.
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