Smarty Paints

My boyfriend Ben and I are no strangers to the pottery painting game, incidentally. We have been a few times before to a studio in Berwick-upon-Tweed called Pot-A-Doodle-Do, but this was our first venture in London (and without the premise of supervising young relatives!). We went with our friend Paul and Angharad.

The set up of the studio was much what I was expecting – several tables, with paints laid out and paintbrushes abounds. The idea was: you select your “raw” unglazed pot/figure of choice, paint it up with the paints provided, and in a week’s time you could collect your finished, glazed piece! I picked out a big fat pussy cat “piggy bank”, whilst Ben took a big mug, Angharad a little oil jug and Paul managed to get his mits on the biggest bowl he could find.

We took a good two hours painting our pieces (although I’m sure we would have stayed longer if we could – the lady had to keep reminding us that they had to close the shop soon!)

Comments on the shop itself: the table we were sat at was a little limited in space. I sat in the corner (as is my wont) but was firmly wedged in there as the table was very close into the corner. Also, unlike our experience in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Smarty Paints charge a “studio fee” of £6 per person, on top of the price of your piece. This I suppose I can forgive them, as everything is more expensive in London, and they have to make money SOMEhow. Finally, and I find this with all art&craft activities and studios, there was simply not a wide enough range of brushes. Either they were too big, or were small and had been hammered to death by someone’s small child. I keep reminding myself I have to bring my own brushes to these sorts of things (because I am a mad perfectionist) but always, always forget.

But on the whole, a hugely enjoyable experience. The staff were friendly and helpful, but didn’t pester – they knew we were loopy, and just let us get on with our “thing”.

Our studio is a fun & creative place where we encourage everyone to pick up a paint brush! You can paint all types of pottery & we also offer T-shirt painting! We are very helpful, especially to parents with babies wanting footprints.
We offer delicious italian coffee & have some snacks to keep you going.