Decompression Day

One day I woke up feeling lower than I had ever felt before. My friends weren't -- and still aren't -- speaking to me. Oh well. I decided to head over to Oakway Center to do something creative.

Potter's Quarter is a small paint-your-own ceramics shop tucked away in a back corner of Oakway Center. Despite its small size, the store was open and airy, unpainted pottery and finished samples sat side by side on shelves, and calming New Age and alternative rock music provided an inspiring atmosphere. It's the perfect place to escape from life for a few hours and concentrate on making beauty. And it's one of those rare activities that's fun to do alone or with a group.

I chose to paint a big coffee mug -- I guess even when I'm treating myself I'm frugal -- that I figured I could use either for a ridiculously huge cup of tea or as a substitute soup bowl. I wanted something utilitarian; I don't need any more knickknacks.

Here's the work in progress. The girl at the store said the mug would be ready for me to pick up on Monday, so I'll post pictures of the finished piece then.

After the first few spots on the outside were done.

The inside.

Potter's Quarter has these really cute palettes to put the glaze on.

Getting fancy with the dots.

More fancy dots.

The completed dots on the inside.

Starting to paint the inside.

One coat on the inside done! Now three more to go.

The colors are done!

Three coats on the inside.

Pretty.

My mom would love this palette because it has frogs on it. I grabbed another one to put the white glaze on because I didn't want to interrupt my creative mood to wash the one I had.

It's done!