Fun Times Painting an Angry Bird

On Sunday, JSL had a birthday party to go to.  So, when I picked NHL up from Hebrew school, it was just the two of us.  What to do, what to do.  Luckily, B came up with a great idea to leverage NHL’s love of art class: Pottery painting.

After going out to lunch (at a favorite of NHL’s and mine, Five Guys), we went to a nearby pottery painting location.  The staff member who greeted us explained the setup.  We would get to pick out whatever we wanted to paint.  When we were done, we would be charged for the item plus a fee per painter per hour.  Paints, equipment, and firing was included in those fees.  NHL and I looked over the selection and a few items stood out.  Finally, though, NHL found exactly what he wanted.

An Angry Birds pencil holder.

Sorry for the poor photo quality.  I had, in my rush to pick NHL up, forgotten to take my camera with me.  I was limited to my cell phone camera.  (This isn’t the first time I’ve forgotten my camera recently.  Clearly, I need more sleep!)

We filled out the paperwork and were brought a bird for NHL to paint.  The first step was to wash our project.  This removed dust and other items that might interfere with the paint.

When this was done, we were given a tutorial in painting by another staff member.  You would think painting is pretty self-explanatory, but it’s actually quite complicated.  Simply putting one coat of paint on the bird would result in a washed-out looking bird.  You need to dry the paint first (by using some fans they have set up) and then apply two or three coats.  In addition, the paints don’t seem as vibrant when they go on as they are after the project is fired.

NHL was actually very patient through this.  I expected him to be antsy and trying to run off to paint.  Instead, he listened to all of the possibilities and pitfalls.  He even asked a few questions and pointed a few things out.

Then, it was paint time.  We chose some colors based on the paints on the wall.  (Tiles pre-painted and fired to show you what the colors would look like when done.)  NHL chose five that he liked and they were brought to him.  As they were brought over, NHL chose some brushes and sponges to work with.

We got back to the table and NHL began painting.

Slowly, but surely, the bird began to take shape.

Finally, NHL’s bird was done.

 

This is one colorful bird.  Don’t worry, though, pigs.  This guy’s not about to fling himself at you.  (I was quite clear about that with NHL.)  Instead, we left him to be fired and finished.  He’ll be done Saturday, so we’ll return then.  NHL and I both can’t wait to see the finished product.

NHL had a blast with the painting.  We wound up only staying for an hour, but he loved every minute of it.  Still, it isn’t an inexpensive endeavor.  The entire project (bird and one hour of painting) cost us $28.  This obviously isn’t something we’ll do on a weekly basis, but for special events, I could definitely see us doing this again.