A Homeschool group to Creative Cafe in Barrie Ontario

Today we went to Creative Cafe in Barrie with one of our homeschool groups. We have never been before and enjoyed our time there a lot.

***I have not been compensated for this post in any way. It is my honest opinion of how we enjoyed our time spent there for your reference only***

The studio is big and bright and oh so full of goodies! There is a great selection of ceramic pieces to choose to paint and lots of sample work if you need a little bit of inspiration.

I thought the studio was only for ceramics but learnt while we were there that they do many many art forms. There's a good selection of wood pieces to use. They offer canvas, pottery, and  glass fusing mediums as well.

Upon arriving you choose a piece of bisque to work with and find a table. The tables are set up with everything you need (brushes, water, sponges) except your paint.

You select your paint from here. There is a good selection of colours to choose from.

You can see two frogs on wall (above) that represent what your colours look like after painting and after firing. When fired the pieces become much darker in colour (when you use at least 3 layers of paint).

Step one (after you choose your bisque piece) is to wipe it with a damp sponge. You want to wash off any little bits of dust that might still be on your piece from the mold when it was created.

Next choose your paint. The pallet of paint colours shows two tone squares which the light half represents just 1 coat of paint and the dark colour represents what 3 coats of paint look like after firing.

Each square has a number on it which corresponds to a bottle of paint. I got my girls to search for the colours they wanted and then find the correct number on the paint bottle to help them learn to recognize two and three digit numbers.

You want to put just a little bit of paint in your tray at a time so not to waste any colours (there's a marker line on each individual pallet). Below Sierra has chosen and found her six colours. She ended up only using 4 colours so Aayla used some of hers in the end so as to not waste the paint. Even though we followed the recommended guideline and shared paint we still had a fair amount of left over paint when finished. This extra paint basically just gets wasted as it can't go back into the bottles and just gets washed away.

FYI We also had to go back a few times to get more of certain colours so be careful to keep track of the colours you chose to make sure you get the same colour on your refills.

Now for the fun part... let the painting begin.

 Such concentration...serious work going on here while we paint.

They also have a selection of very fine tipped containers to add small details like eye lashes. You also use these to write your name on the bottom. I added the year to our girls as well so they will always remember when their masterpieces were created.

 Both girls chose two small pieces. Aayla made an Easter egg and a unicorn (and is busy washing her hands below).

Sierra made a bunny and a small owl.

Aayla finished much faster then Sierra and spent the remaining 15 minutes washing her hands with the sponges... She is a water girl and always  jumps right in to water when ever she gets the chance.

Now we wait 5-7 days for a phone call to go back in and pick up our pieces and see how they turned out!

Creative Cafe also offer a variety of classes, workshops and summer camps. HERE is 2014's summer camp lists. The week of August 14th is right up Sierra's alley and if our house doesn't sell by then she will LoVe it! They also has a separate space for birthday parties.

There are certain days with discounts too and Ladies night sounds good to me...what do you think ladies?

Overall I was impressed with both the space and the staff at Creative Cafe. The staff were very helpful and informative. We received a home school  group discount and paid a $5.00 per painter studio fee instead of the regular $8.00 for children and $10.00 for adults. The four pieces my girls chose cost $27.00 in total so for $37.00 plus tax we made 4 items that they can keep for years to come or use as gifts.

Creative Cafe does not rush you by giving you a set amount of time to use the studio (as some studios charge per hour). You can stay and paint at your leisure. We spent about 2 1/2 hours painting and talking with friends we haven't seen in awhile as well as meeting new friends. A wonderfully creative, memory making morning full of FUN!