Does your family love pottery painting? It makes a great party activity too!
My kids absolutely love a visit to the painting pottery studio (something that is usually saved for Chol Hamoed). They really take it seriously and quietly paint for–get this–at least 3 hours! They’re very perfectionistic about it and it’s literally probably the only time they can go so many hours without one fight between them.
So when I saw that Oriental Trading has so many adorable ceramics for such a low price, I knew I would bring the painting pottery to my home for my Chanukah party last year (where there would be a few dozen nieces and nephews).
They come in packs of a dozen for about $19.99 – just a little more than $1.50 a piece! I ordered a few dozen so there should be plenty to go around (enough for the adults to get painting too)!
For easy clean-up, I covered the table with kraft paper (on top of a tablecloth I don’t care about).
NOTE/Update: Thank you to those who commented below. While this is a great, fun craft activity, the ceramics and paint are not food-safe. We did not recommend painting any items which you would use to hold food (if you find ceramics elsewhere), nor does Oriental carry unglazed ceramics which are intended for food use.
About the paint:
I don’t know what kind of washable paint is used in ceramic studios. I did research to find out what kind of paint would both work on ceramics and be washable, and learned that tempera paint was the best option. And while I chose a paint that is labeled “washable,” I still told my guests to bring some junk clothes to put over their real clothes while painting (I didn’t want to be responsible if it didn’t come out!). In the end, the paint was washable, but some paint stains (basically the heavier paint stains that happened during the post-party painting when they were no longer had their clothing covered) needed some extra work and Oxyclean to come out. Only the Modge Podge did not. I still recommend painting with a smock/sweatshirt/t-shirt over your good “party” clothes.
About the glazing:
1-You have a few options with glazing since there’s obviously no kiln at home. The metallic paints that come in the paint set I bought look GORGEOUS and don’t need any glazing.
2-The next option is coating the ceramic piece with Modge Podge, but beware, I have not had success getting Mod Podge out of clothing.
3-The last option, which looks great but will entail a trip to the garage, is using a gloss finish spray paint.
You’ll need:
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