Group canvas paintings are on a 9″ x 12″ canvas, square canvases shown here are adapted to fit. Some pictures (ex. the fish, the monsters, the sunflowers) are actually multiple canvases, they were just photographed together for simplicity.
These are only a few designs we’ve used before but we are open to most other designs ides you may have or come across. We generally look for a single subject or an open land/sea scape design allowing for painters to add their own unique touches. A single flower is much easier to paint than a field of sunflowers with a flock of birds flying overhead.
We’re shooting for everyone to paint the same thing but not necessarily the same way. For example, the fish are essentially the same shape but can be made to look quite different depending the painters preference. On beach scenes, painters can add dolphins, planes, starfish, etc. to their liking.
Its time for the Your Creation StationChristmas Ornament Workshop! Come to the studio on a “workshop” day to make your own Christmas ornaments out of clay, after they’re fired come back to paint them any other time we’re open. You’ll get a message when they’re ready to pick up and hang on your tree or give as gifts.
How It Works
Workshop Days
There are several designated Workshop Days through out November and into the first week of December to come in and make your Christmas Ornaments. We’ll have everything laid out and ready to roll when you get here. Hopefully, there will be extra staff on hand to help out as well. Reservations are not required. If you can’t make it on a workshop day, come by when you can and we’ll go from there.
Workshop days are highlighted in the calendar for November 2022 and December 2022. Check our full calendar to see all our upcoming workshops and important dates.
Plan for two trips to our studio to complete your ornaments and one trip to pick up the final project. It takes about two-three weeks from the day you make your ornaments to the day you can pick the finished pieces. There isn’t a time limit but expect to spend an hour, give or take, making your ornaments. Once your finished making your ornaments, its about a week before they are completely dried, bisque fired and ready to paint. Expect to spend more time painting your ornaments then you did making them. Once your ornaments are painted its no more than 8 days until they are ready to pick up.
Making Your Ornaments
Use our cookie cutters or bring your own.
Making your own Christmas ornaments is a lot like making Christmas cookies. You get a pound of clay to roll out in our slab roller and then use the cookie cutters we have on hand to cut your ornaments. There are buckets of fabric, pieces of wood, pasta and other textures you can use to press into your ornaments to add interest or highlights. The number or ornaments you make depends on how big or small you make them. We’ve seen anywhere from 2 to 45 ornaments from a single pound, in general, expect between 12 and 15 Christmas cookie sized ornaments.
Finishing Your Ornaments
After you finish making your ornaments, you’ll leave them here to dry completely before we fire them the first time before you come back to paint them, in about a week. After you paint them we’ll glaze and fire your ornaments a final time and send you a message they’re ready for pickup.
Here’s a picture of the Underglaze Color Chart at Your Creation Station.
The Underglaze Color Chart at Your Creation Station. Each tile has three stripes, roughly equal to one, two or three coats, to show how the color becomes less translucent the thicker it is applied.. Click on the chart to open the full sized image in a new window.
The tiles are grouped by color with warm yellows, oranges and reds on the left, cooler purples and blues in the middle followed by the greens, and neutrals all the way to the right. The number in the top right corner of each tile indicates the product number for that underglaze. We use that number to identify exactly which color we want to use. Click on the image for full sized view.
New Colors Available
On election day, 2020 Duncan Enterprises was bought by Mayco Colors and the Duncan Concepts Underglaze and specialty glaze lines, the paints we used at Your Creation Station, were discontinued. From a pottery perspective, this was like Apple buying Google and then stopping production of Android phones. As the Duncan colors eventually sold out, Your Creation Station made the switch and while we still have some of the old colors and glazes left, we’re mostly all switched over.
Translucent Colors
All of the colors in this particular line of underglazes are translucent and become more opaque the thicker they are applied. Looking at each tile individually, you’ll notice each has three stripes. From top to bottom, each stripe is about equal to one, two and three coats. Where the glaze is thinner on the top, you can see the color of the bisque showing through as well as the brush marks in the underglaze. As the underglaze gets thicker, the brush marks tend to be less noticeable and less of the bisque is visible.
Work In Layers
The key to getting the look you want is to remember you are applying the material in layers and you need to allow one layer to dry before applying the next. Remember these colors aren’t like acrylic paints, the underglaze is made up of tiny particles floating in water and the bisque is very porous, like a sponge. The bisque absorbs the water from the underglaze leaving it where you painted. Painting more while the layer is still wet actually removes more glaze than it puts on. Its OK to paint one color on top of another but remember the colors are translucent. Its easier to cover a lighter color with a darker color than the other way around.
Dry Between Layers
Use the cool or low setting on the hairdryer to keep from drying to fast.
It doesn’t take long for the underglaze to dry enough to touch, in fact, once the initial sheen disappears, you can touch the piece without worrying about the underglaze coming off. At this point, if its your first coat, you can probably start the next coat without too much trouble. However, the more you paint, the longer it will take for the underglaze to completely dry, remember the bisque is like a sponge and it will hold the water and dry slowly. If you don’t want to wait for the piece to dry by itself, you can put it out in the sun or use a hair dryer. If you do use a hairdryer, use the low setting, sometimes cracks appear in the underglaze if you dry them too fast.
Work Area and Clean Up
You can paint your pottery with these underglazes almost anywhere. You can work at the kitchen table, on newspaper or not. Our underglazes clean up easily with a water and a sponge. They don’t stain and come out of hair, clothes and skin easily. If fact, if you get some on your shirt, you’ll be able to brush most of it away once it dries. The underglaze will be more difficult to clean on more porous surfaces, like untreated wood. In our studio we work on laminate top tables from the old Howard Johnson’s in Dover. We use a big grout sponge to wipe the big stuff off the table before going back with spray cleaner and a clean paper towel to get up the remaining dust.
Living Happily Every After on YouTube and Facebook
When we had to close our studio to walk in customers in March 2020, we didn’t want to stop doing our Story Times, they were a lot of fun. So, we started broadcasting them live on our Facebook page. Once we got into the groove of it, we went back and recorded all the stories we read live in person and posted the videos to our YouTube channel. Then we started recording them after broadcasting them live. Then we had to do something with them, so we made some playlists and posted them on social media where they’ll live as happily ever after as a video file for everyone to watch.
Facebook and YouTube Video Story Time Playlists
There’s a couple things to note about the playlists. The YouTube Playlist includes all the stories we’ve read from when we first started this series, the Facebook Playlist only starts in the last week of March. Mostly because of our setup and skill level, remember – we’re potters, not video producers, the recordings are smother than the video from our live broadcast. Both lists are fun to watch.
If you want to paint one of the companion pieces that goes along with the story, you can purchase individual pieces from our online studio or choose any three, in stock, companion pieces and get each for the original Story Time price, a 25% savings.
We are pleased to announce on May 8, 2020, we return to our regular operating hours. We will be open for curbside pickup and drop off only Tuesday to Saturday 10 to 7, Sunday Noon to 5 and closed Mondays. We are closed on Mother’s Day.
Picking your piece is still the hardest part. However, now you can peruse our selection from the comfort of your couch on your phone, laptop or tablet. Our entire selection of animal figurines, mugs and bowls as well as a growing selection of fantastical creatures, is available. After you pick your pieces. take a look at our color chart and select what colors you want. During the checkout process list the colors you want before completing your purchase.
Packing an Online Order For Curbside Pickup
After successfully submitting your order, you’ll receive a confirmation email. Once your order is filled, we’ll notify you through email and a text message to come by and pick up your order. Once your finished painting drop your projects off to be fired and we’ll notify you when they’re ready.
Ordering Pottery for Delivery
What’s better than being able to drive right up to our door, pick up your stuff and go? Having it delivered right to you! We recently teamed up with our one of our suppliers to have complete pottery painting kits delivered right to your door. Each kit has bisque, paints, brushes and instructions. Once your finished, bring your pieces back to the studio to be glazed and fired.
Pottery Painting Kits Delivered Right To Your Door!
Our long time supplier recently put together a selection of pottery painting kits available to ship straight from their warehouse, right to your door allowing us to offer you more choices for painting pottery at home. Each kit contains a themed selection of three or four pieces of pottery, nine – two ounce bottles of paint, a set of five brushes and set of instructions. There are six options available, four with pottery paint that get fired and two with acrylic paints. Some of the items are pieces you’ve seen on our shelves before and some are new.
Pottery Painting Kits – Glazed
Each of the kits include nine – two ounce bottles of pottery paint (aka ceramic underglaze), a set of five brushes, three or four pieces of pottery and a set of instructions. The colors included in the kits are: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink, Tan, Black. Everthing in these kits need to be glazed and fired after you’re finished finished. You can drop them off during our scheduled Pickup and Drop Off times.
These two kits come with acrylic paints and don’t need to be fired. Each kit comes with the bisque pictured, a set of brushes, 8 colors, a bottle of clear sealer and a set of instructions. Included colors are: Red, Yellow, Blue, Purple, Pink, Tan, Black, White & Clear Sealer. No extra trip to our studio, or anywhere else, is needed. These kits also make great gifts for family or friends who don’t live close enough for Curbside Pickup.
Pick the paint kits you want, add them to your cart and complete the check out process. When your pottery project arrives, open it up and dive in. Each kit is self contained and contains everything you’ll need. Remember, there are two types of kits, one with acrylic paints and one with ceramics paints. The kits with the ceramic paints need to be brought to the studio to be fired. Please note there are no substitutions, returns or exchanges on these items.
The angel on the left was painted with regular acrylic paints. The angel on the right was painted with ceramic paints (underglazes) and then fired.
Shipped Directly To You
You’ll have a chance to enter billing and a shipping information during check out. If you would like to send a kit to someone else, enter a separate shipping address but make sure the billing address is the same as the billing address on the credit card you use to pay. Only one shipping address per order.Shipping within the continental United States only. Once we receive your order, send it directly to your shipping address and send you a message via email with tracking information.
When to Expect Your Kit’s Arrival
We generally receive shipments within a day or two of placing the order but please expect up to five days to receive your order. This is a new service for us and our partner and is outside the scope of how we normally operate and do things. There are a couple more steps and it may take a day or two longer. From experience, orders placed earlier in the week tend to arrive by the weekend. We’ll send you tracking information as it becomes available
After You Are Finished Painting
If you purchased a kit with acrylic paints, make sure your colors are completely dry and apply a coat, or two, of the clear sealer included with the kit. Once its dry, its done. Please, take a picture and post it on our Facebook page. We want to see how they came out!
Dropping Piece Off For Firing
If you purchased a kit with ceramic paints, you’ll need to bring it to our studio to be glazed and fired. We are open for pickup and drop off in three to four hour blocks every day but Monday. Please see our temporary schedule for more specific times.
Curbside Pick Up and Drop Off
When you come to drop off, there will be a table out front with with a box. Place your pieces there and we’ll bring them into the studio. Don’t be afraid to wrap everything up in the box you got them in and bring them over. Please include your name and order number from your receipt on the bag or box you drop them off in. Also, either paint or write your name/initials/symbol on the piece. Don’t forget to year so you remember when you made it. If you write your name and year in pencil or Sharpie, we’ll go over it with the special pencil as the studio. The easier it is for us to identify your order as yours, the easier it will be for us to get it to you.
Picking Up Fired Pieces
Once we receive your pieces, we’ll glaze and fire them. Lately (Mar/Apr/May 2020) we’ve been firing on Saturday for Sunday pickup. So, if you want your piece by Sunday, drop it off by Saturday at 4. After its fired, we’ll wrap them up, put them on the table outside by the door and send you an email and text message its ready. Pretty much the same as drop off but in reverse.
Your imagination is the limit when painting any of the ceramic bisque shown here. You can opt to go with traditional unicorn colors, that’s anything with glitter, or go your own route and use a rainbow of colors! Either way you can’t go wrong.
Unicorns, mermaids, gnomes and wizards are among the types of pieces you can expect to see at Your Creation Station. Our inventory changes from time to time so you can always look forward to seeing something new.
For years, it was easy to know when you could come to the studio…10 to 7 everyday but Monday, Noon to 5 Sunday. I don’t think our hours changed once since we opened in 2008. From the start, being available as much as possible and keeping a predictable and reliable schedule helped us stay open during a time when many other businesses weren’t able to. Between that and the the tremendous support from the community we’ve enjoyed through the years, here we are, ready to weather another storm. However, circumstances being what they are, it seems this time a temporary adjustment is in order.
For the time being, inside access to the studio is very limited. Please call ahead or contact us through our Facebook page if you need more paints or other supply so we can prepare if for you to pick up. We are making pottery, canvas and other projects available online for pickup and are looking forward to introducing some new projects for home. We look forward to continuing our Facebook Live Broadcasts of Story Time.
Order Online – 24/7
There’s a silver lining in the cloud. Although the present situation put a strain on our walk in traffic, it has allowed us to expand our capacity to order take out pottery from our Online Studio. We’ve been taking online workshop registrations for some time now but ordering Creations to Go kits through our website is brand new. We expect to expand the projects you can do at home in the coming weeks and continue our online service once things get back to normal.
When To Pick Up and Drop Off
We will be available to pick up orders placed online, drop off projects to be fired, pick up completed projects or for more paint as follows. We may also be available by chance, call and check or message us here to see.
Hours for Pick Up and Drop Off
Tuesday: 11 – 2
Wednesday: 11- 2
Thursday: 4 – 7
Friday: 4-7
Saturday: 12-4
Sunday: 12-4
Monday: Closed
When Will Things Get Fired
We plan on keeping our normal, at least once a week, more if we need to, firing schedule. For the time being we expect to projects to be ready for pick up on Sundays. If you have a project to be fired please have it to us by Saturday.
Subject to Change
Given the way things have been going, looking even a few days ahead feels bold. Much like everyone else, this is new ground for us. If things come to pass such that circumstances warrant more changes, we’ll adjust again, update this page and let you know what’s up as best we can.
A quick guide to picking and using the pottery paints at Your Creation Station
We have a large selections of ceramic underglazes and glazes available to use when your painting pottery. These paints are only good for pottery and need to be fired. Please keep in mind, you may also use acrylic paints to paint pottery but acrylic paints are not fired. You can use one or the other, but not both.
If your ordering Creations to Go through our online studio, we’ll need to know ahead of time what colors you want and about how you think you’ll use them. For example, if your painting the little mermaid on the shell, you can let us pick some for you or ask for groups of colors (pastel, cool, same as Ariel, etc.). You can also be very specific, (291 for her fins, 222 for her skin, 502 for her eyes, etc) or any use any combination of these.
After you picked your colors, there will be a place to describe the paints you want during checkout. Once your order has been placed, we will put your selections into small cups and include them with your take out pottery.
Paints at the Studio
The best colors to pick are the ones you like. Some people like purple and blue turtles and some prefer a more realistic palette. Go with what makes you feel good. If unsure where to start, pick the one you’ll think you’ll use the most of or that your sure you want to use, and start with that. After you get started, the other colors will start to fall into place.
Using the Ceramic Underglazes
After you get your colors, take them back to where your sitting and squeeze some out on the glazed tiles right in the middle of the table. Take all you want but please use all you take. You’re welcome to come up for more. We can help you find colors, you can grab some yourself and we also give hints on where to find it and what to use.
if you’re at home, find a comfortable place to work, put down a piece of paper if you’d like and use the paints right from the cups or put onto a paper plate. Regular kitchen plates work well too. The paint washes right off, it may take an extra wipe or two for the dust but ceramic underglazes are easier to clean up than you expect. If you’re paints dry out, don’t worry, just add some water at a little at a time until they are the right consistency.
