Customer Interactions

“Awesome!  Have we been here before?”

Yes - “Great!  So remember that everything is priced as marked. Anything you paint today will be ready for pick up in one week on___. Ya’ll are welcome to start looking around and doing your thing!  I’m _______, and I’m here to help if you need me.”

No - “Okay great! So we’re an all inclusive studio – meaning there’s no fee to participate, the cost is simply the cost of your project. All of your options are in the room and have a price mark, typically on the front. Your first job is to pick a project. Once you’ve done that, grab your favorite seats and we will come over and talk to you about the paints and supplies; you’ll will pay at the VERY end. One thing to note is we do keep pieces here for kiln firing so your pieces will be ready for pick up in one week. I’m gonna let y’all take a look around and get settled then I will be back; please let me know if you have any questions while you’re looking around!”

I typically wait until everyone has their pieces to go over paint.  If they’ve been to the studio before, I just stop by their table as they start and remind them about 3 coats. “We want to paint 3 coats, right?  Three coats of paint will make a bright solid color.” They’ll typically nod their heads and say “Right!”. Full Paint Spiel for Newbies comin' up soon....

“Great! What name is the order under?.... Do you remember what you painted?... I’ll check our shelf and grab your pieces. You’re welcome to open them up here if you’d like to see them before you go—we'd love to share in your artwork with you!”

From there, you can either use the POS to look up the receipt by searching the guest name and/or phone number to get a good look - that way you know what you're looking for, even if they don't. 

“Okay!  Let me know if you have any questions or if I can show you around - I'd be happy to!"

When guests are ready to paint, we bring them paint palettes and meet them AT their table to go over paints and supplies. We need to make sure everyone knows that the glazes are not permanent, what the sponges are for, how to rinse a brush in the water bowl and make it pointy, how the glazes work, how they can do some sketching, where the extra tools/bathroom/supplies are, and what happens when they are finished painting. 

Everyone comes up with their own natural flow of how to  convey the  information over to the customers. Here's a sample "Paint Spiel" to  give you an idea of what we're going for:

"So, we’ve got 75 colors up here and that’s what they all look like after 3 good coats AND firing.  So, I wouldn’t fall in love with the color in the bottle, I would fall in love with the shiny fired version up top, because when you’re painting, red looks pink, black looks grey, but after firing, they look exactly like what’s up there.

Please help yourselves to the paint. I've brought your some paint pallets that you are welcome to take as many trips as you need to fill them up! If you need more, you'll find them at the edge of the counter, where the lamp is along with some paper towels should you need them.

You’ll go straight into the paint with the brush. Water is just on the tables for dirty brushes or if we want to change colors. We can get all that color off in the water and then dry it off real good on these sponges before going into the next one. After rinsing your brush, roll it against the sponge to help make the bristles pointy again!

If you'd like to do some sketching, you'll find markers in your brush buckets. The only tool we don't have here is pencils and that's because the lead will often repel our glazes but the markers fire right off in the kiln -- they're basically just colored water!

At our design center, over there, we have stamps, stencils, ideas books, all kinds of cool stuff.  We also have larger fan brushes and teeny tiny brushes, as well as writer bottles - good for making thin lines for writing or even polka dots. 

We’ve also got these specialty glazes, where some, when you paint them on, look like there are little grains of sand in the paint, but during firing those melt and make a cool effect. The only thing about these is they are more gravity prone and will shift a little in the kiln, so no writing on top or stamping on top because the melting crystals will make that all wonky.  These are all in the back though, so if we want one you can just take it off the wall and bring it to me, I’ll grab it for you.

It's good to note that this paint is not permanent paint, meaning it will wash off of your hair, skin, and clothes. We have a small selection of aprons to the right of the paint bar and the restroom is on the pink wall should you need a sink to wash up. 

When you're done, just bring your pieces up to the counter to get checked out -- leave all of your paints and supplies at the table; we'll take care of the clean up.

My name is _____, and I’m here to answer any questions you may have. Do you have any before I leave you to get started?”

(Smile Big)

●      While the customers are choosing colors, we will go ahead and fill out a receipt with the piece SKU numbers, their prices, and customer information. We’ll also grab any extra parts and pieces (frame glass, bank stoppers, etc) and take them to the appropriate post-fire box. It's really important to do this part so we don't accidentally mischarge a customer or forget about their extra parts.

●      This is also a good time to let our guests know we offer drinks for $1 and lollipops for .50. It’s easy to upsell drinks and lollipops just by asking!

Welcome! Everything here is all-inclusive—there’s no studio fee, and you only pay for the piece you pick.

Once you’ve chosen your pottery, use the color chips up top to decide on your palette. They show you how the colors will look after firing—what’s in the bottle will usually look lighter or chalkier than the final result.

Use three solid coats of paint for vibrant, even color. That means layering the same color on the same spot three times before switching to the next. You can blend colors, layer designs, or use sponges, stamps, or stencils for extra texture.

When switching colors, just rinse your brush in the water bowl and dry it off on the sponge to avoid drips.

You can’t mess this up—ceramic is very forgiving. If you make a mistake, let us know and we’ll help fix it. Once you're finished, bring your piece to the counter and we’ll take care of the glaze and kiln firing. It’ll be ready in about a week!