Just before Christmas, Tall Dad and I spent a delightful Sunday morning painting pottery at Brooklyn Pottery Studio and Cafe. Read on to see our creations.

It’s 6 months since Tall Boy arrived! Whilst some days seem to go on forever, overall the time is passing in the blink of an eye and I am already struggling to remember the very early days. Our not so little baby is changing all the time. He’s getting better at sitting, he’s stronger on his legs, and last week he demonstrated that he is able to roll over – hasn’t done it since mind you!

Moments that have passed in a whirlwind punctuated by one night of broken sleep after another are recorded in thousands of photographs but they don’t capture every detail, so we decided to preserve Tall Boy’s footprints in pottery – we tried his hands too but, at 4 months old, we didn’t achieve much more than a smudge!

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is a pottery painting studio cafe situated not far from the A6 in Stockport. It’s a place to while away happy, creative hours personalising plates.

The studio has the vibe of a vintage cafe and offers a tempting selection of cakes and drinks to keep your sugar levels up while you work.

The walls are lined with shelves that are stacked high with every type of pot to paint. Items are individually priced so you can decorate as many as you have the time, or patience, for and pay when you’ve finished.

You select your colours from painted tiles that have been through the kiln to help you visualise the end result.

Footprints

Luckily staff were on hand to offer tips on how to get the best print from a wriggly baby; suggesting that we applied the paint to his feet with a finger, then lifted each item up to them.

It took a bit of practice but we ended up with some successful prints. Those that were less perfect, we removed with a baby wipe and started again.

I added the lettering with a tube of paint tipped with a fine nib for the purpose.

When we’d finished we took a leap of faith and left our items to be fired.

Unfortunately the firing process carries some risk of breakage but, this being the way of things due to otherwise unidentifiable weaknesses in the pottery, if you are unlucky enough to lose a pot you can recreate your masterpiece at no extra cost.

Entertain the kids

Pottery painting is great for entertaining older children and you can even host a pottery party if you’re looking for something a little different. It’s a lovely way to make unique and personalised gifts for any occasion, so with Mother’s Day and Easter just around the corner, why not give it a try?

And, if you’d love to capture your newborn’s hand and foot prints but the idea of leaving the house to paint your baby all sounds like a bit too much, you can arrange for a member of the team to bring it all to you at home!