Painting ceramics at Biscuit in Greenwich

I’m now the mother of a one-year-old. Eek! But, more on that in another post…

For Pumpkin’s birthday weekend, we weren’t sure what to do, but the cold wet weather on Saturday didn’t leave many options open. So, we decided to head into Greenwich – first for lunch at the market, then for an attempt at ceramic painting at Biscuit Cafe in the town centre.

I’d seen the cafe plenty of times before and have always been curious about it. Ceramic painting seems a bit 1990s to me – at least that’s when it was popular in America – but every time I’ve ever walked past, the place has looked busy, so I figured they must be doing something right!

Standing outside the shop, we looked at the various project examples in the window, as well as the cakes.

The sign outside the front door also made our situation perfectly clear.
So, we headed inside.

When you first walk in the door, you’re faced with a big display of the various pottery pieces that you can paint. You simply choose the items you want and then head to the counter to pay – and order any food items too.

I chose a little heart-shaped plaque – I wanted Pumpkin’s handprints on it. And Daddy-man got a mug – also for some hand prints. In addition, we ordered some hot drinks, but skipped the cake since we’d just filled up on market food. Also, I don’t think our table would have been big enough for ceramics, food, drinks and a baby-safety zone.

Then, we tried to settle in for some painting.

Pumpkin has been teething and was in a bit of a bad mood, and after various failed attempts, we finally appeased her with her dummy and her favourite video playing on Daddy-man’s phone.
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I have to say, as lovely as the cafe was, it felt a bit cramped – especially since it was a busy Saturday and we had a pram. Plus, as clumsy as I am, I feel like I need a few feet around me at all times so I don’t break anything!

The grumpy baby and run-down feeling Daddy-man didn’t help with my stress levels and I got in a bit of a huff for a while. Eventually, though, things calmed down and we were able to enjoy our painting.

There are plenty of supplies in a little kitchen area to the side – big bottles of paints, brushes, pencils and pallets for your personal paints. A number of small bottles with thin nozzles for writing were also available

The hand prints were much more difficult than I expected them to be. Luckily, the paint can be completely washed off, so if you need to start over, you can.

The heart got cleaned off once. The second set of prints were much better than the first – although still not perfect, but I figured they were probably as good as we were going to get.

The mug was another story entirely. Since I’d spent ages putting the base colours down and getting them nice and smooth, I didn’t want to wash the failed attempts at hand prints off and start again.

So, we just stuck with the very blurry hand prints – Daddy-man liked them like that though. He said he knew what they were, and that’s all that mattered. Awww. 🙂

When it came time do to the writing, I went to find some of the bottles with the tiny nozzles. But the *very serious* painters at a corner table had taken almost all of them and they didn’t look very keen on sharing. So, I just used a thin brush and hoped my fairly steady hand would be good enough.

Once we were happy with our decorative efforts, the pieces got handed over to the staff behind the counter. Both pieces will be fired sometime this week and will be available to be picked up on Saturday. I’ll post an update with pictures after I retrieve them.

The cafe also offers the option to have items shipped to anywhere in the world – perfect for visitors who don’t have a week to wait. It’s probably safer than packing the ceramics in your luggage too.

While our trip to Biscuit wasn’t perfect, the issues we had weren’t really with the cafe itself. I’ll definitely go back when Pumpkin’s a little bit older and more capable of taking part in the actual painting – and on a day when it’s not so busy! If nothing else, I want to try their cakes.

The shop always has seasonal items too, so hand-painted pottery may become a regular gift for the Grandparents!

Biscuit is located in Greenwich town centre, a short walk from Cutty Sark DLR station. It’s open seven days a week and you can find out more by visiting their website.