Paint your own pot

Deidre Lee has turned running a business into an art form. The Washington native opened Color Me Mine, a paint-your-own-pottery studio in Silver Spring, just over a year ago. Since then she has watched hundreds of customers turn a colorless piece of pottery into a masterpiece.

More than 20,000 pieces painted to date.

“We’re entrusted with people’s creativity,” said Ms. Lee, 31. “Every piece is important.”

On this summer day, the shop is busy with a steady stream of customers. Some are just curious — browsing the shelves of unpainted pottery, asking questions about studio fees and how the paints work.

“Most people come in to look around,” she said. “Our goal is to keep the environment friendly so people aren’t intimidated.”

Other aspiring artists are engrossed in their projects, choosing from a colorful palette and brushing the paint on mugs, plates and vases.

“You don’t have to be creative to do this,” said Jenna Fletcher, who has worked at the studio for nearly a year. “You have to be open-minded and ready to have a good time.”

The shop, between Chick-fil-A and Cold Stone Creamery on Ellsworth Drive in downtown Silver Spring, is filled with bisque pieces — clay that has been fired but not glazed. They range from $6 to $60 and include a butterfly-shaped box for $12, a cookie jar for $31.50 and a vase for $60.

It costs $10 for adults and $6 for children, plus the price of the pottery.

The shop has 60 different underglaze paints, which are dull in color when they are first used. The colors become bright and vibrant after the pieces are glazed and fired in one of two kilns in the back of the studio.

Once the pieces are painted it takes about a week for the pottery to be finished. The staff glazes each one and lets it dry for a day.

Pieces are then loaded into the kiln for an eight-hour firing process. The kilns get as hot as 1,900 degrees, baking the paint and the glaze into the ceramic. The pieces then have to cool before they are removed.

On this day, Ms. Lee prepares for an afternoon class with a group from the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning’s Traveling Teen Camp, a camp for teenagers with special needs.

The seven teenagers get to choose from five pieces: a mug, a bowl, a plate, a horse and mermaid.

After the students make their selections, Ms. Lee walks them through the process, which includes cleaning their pieces with a damp sponge.

She then distributes palettes of six underglazes with names such as Pumpkin Pie, Banana Boat, Passionate Plum and Sea Mist. She explains how to use the paint and warns the teens to brush on two coats so the colors won’t look streaky once they are fired.

The teens begin painting — taking their time, concentrating on each stroke.

Ms. Lee is patient. She watches the class and helps some of the students add details.

“This is really fun for them,” said Kim Brown, assistant director at Traveling Teens. “They like doing arts and crafts.”

So does Ms. Lee.

She has painted furniture and made mosaics, which is a decorative design made by inlaying small pieces of colored glass or tile into cement. But she had never painted pottery until she attended a birthday party at a Color Me Mine in Philadelphia in June 2002.

Ms. Lee, who has a master’s degree in business, was working at a corporate development company in the District at the time but was interested in starting her own business.

After a lot of research, she decided Color Me Mine, a franchise with worldwide locations, was the right match for her.

She signed the lease for the Silver Spring location about 18 months before opening and she spent that time taking pottery classes, getting comfortable with the art form and mastering it.

And now she is considering opening a second location in the area.

“You should be able to have fun and work toward something you love or otherwise it’s not worth it,” Ms. Lee said.