COVID Mandates are Lifted!

Woohoo! All kinds of mandates are being lifted this month and like many of you, we are excited yet cautiously optimistic for what’s to come and we brace ourselves for the many pivots that may be needed to respond to this ever-changing and challenging situation.

WHAT’S BACK?!

Starting this month, we have re-arranged our studio back to how it was before the pre-COVID era. We have taken down the curtains that separated the tables and we have placed the tables back the way they were. Currently, we only have party reservations during the weekends (Friday – Sunday), but starting March 14, you may again reserve parties any day of the week you want. We will hold weekday parties in our main studio and continue to hold parties in our temporary space on weekends. And starting with parties on the week of March 14, 2022, we will no longer require Parties to purchase their items 3 days in advance – kids may, again, select their items on the day of the party.

Special Pottery Glazes will again be offered as soon as our new shipment arrives to ensure that you are working with fresh glazes.

Since indoor masking will be lifted on March 12th – we will no longer require masking in the studio, but we like to encourage masking while walking around and perusing the items in our store. Our staff has been directed to also do what’s comfortable for them and have been encouraged to continue wearing their masks when engaging with customers, especially when the studio is busy.

As it was pre-COVID, we continue to ask you to wash your hands before touching the bisque items as to not transfer any oils onto the bisque which may create resistance to the glaze.

WHAT’S NEW?

A new service that some of you may have noticed is that we are now TEXTING! Don’t worry – we will never spam text you. We are only texting to inform you that your pieces are ready for pick-up. We are also texting to remind you if your pieces or work-in-progress have been here too long and it’s time to pick them up before they are gone from our studio. And if you happen to be on the waitlist to paint, we will also use texting to let you know when your table is ready. Opting out of these texts means you do not get reminders and that increases the chance that your pieces will be gone in 90 days without having the opportunity to be notified. We know that life gets busy and so you might not have realized that you haven’t picked up your painted pieces or that you haven’t finished that piece you were working on, so if it’s important to you to be reminded, do not opt-out of these texts.

Again, we promise you that we will never spam text you – this means we will not send you promotional messaging. All our marketing information will continue to be done through our email campaigns, website, flyers, and social media.

OUR GRATITUDE

The last two years have been difficult operating either in limited capacity or limited staff. We have made it through, all THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!!! We have appreciated our customers so much for continuing to patron our studio and for appreciating what we do. So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

It’s as good of a time as any to reiterate why we do this – we do this because we are committed to providing creative forms of engagement and enrichment for our youth, families, and community, particularly now. We know that creativity provides comfort and relief from anxiety and stress. And it is also a lot of fun for kids and adults to create and paint, whether it is for personalized gifts or for themselves.

We were determined to beat COVID and be here when it is all over. Now, we’re peeking on the other side and we’ve made it!!! Again, A HUGE GRATITUDE TO THIS COMMUNITY!!!

Peace, Love, and Paint Away!

Reopening Plan

Embrace Phase four, and paint more! We can’t believe that after 15 long months of uncertainty, Paint Away! made it through the worst of the pandemic, though we’re not quite out yet. We hope that everyone is feeling more comfortable being out and about and supporting their local businesses again. We appreciate so many of you for sticking with us and for supporting us through our pottery to go program, Summer Camp, and virtual events. We tried to pivot our services with the needs of the time as quickly as we could. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all!

During the pandemic, we said goodbye to Katie Hughes after 7 years. She and her husband bought a house in Arizona. She has led our Summer Art Camps and has been the reliable face of Paint Away for the last 7 years. It is an understatement to say that she will be greatly missed. But we wish her and her husband, Josh, the best in their new adventure. If you want to wish her well, please go to visit us page and write your well-wishes. We’ll make sure it gets to her.

We are now looking forward. Here’s what to expect.

• All our employees are vaccinated. They will have the option to continue wearing their masks or not, depending on their comfort level. It will be their personal choice.

• Customers who are vaccinated may now come in to paint without a mask.

• We recommend unvaccinated customers to continue wearing a mask when walking around the store but may remove masks when at the table.

• We will not require proof of vaccination and trust that the adults are doing what they need to do for their personal well-being.

• We recommend children under the age of 12, who are not eligible for vaccinations, to wear masks when walking around the store, but may remove mask when seated and painting.

• We will continue to have parties on weekends only in our temporary space through the summer.

• Parties reserved after August 31st, will potentially be held in our store.

• Any staff dealing with parties and camps will continue to wear masks for the safety of the kids. If you see your party host without a mask, please kindly remind them to wear a mask. It’s easy to forget especially if they have been working at the store with general customers without a mask.

For more information on what’s new with regards to our new protocols, please visit our Health and Safety page. We look forward to seeing you and let’s do our part to stay safe!

Love, Peace, and Paint Away!

We're in Phase 2!

It’s been an interesting few months without seeing people creating those many personalized gifts for the holiday season! We missed the hubbub of a busy season, yet, thankful that we are still here!

We are in Phase 2 as of Monday, February 1, which means that we are open again for in-store painting. Yay! We’ve made a few changes – here’s what to expect:

• We will not be taking reservations for in-store painting, instead, we are going back to seating walk-ins as they come.

• We will offer Glass Fusing in the near future by reservations only. This is the only table reservation we can take, and we will only be taking a limited amount since they have to be seated next to the Glass Fusing Center.

• We will limit in-store capacity to 4 tables only, with maximum 5 people per table from the same party. Phase 2 allows people from 2 different households.

• We will be taking “Party” or “Group” reservations in our temporary space (separate from our regular storefront). This meets the current Phase 2 guidelines of 25% capacity and we are limiting two people per table (5 per table is allowed). For more details, go here.

• Please dress warmly as our doors will be open for ventilation.

• For the safety of everyone – we will require facemasks to be worn at all times even when seated at your table to paint.

• We will continue to ask everyone to wash hands prior to painting and to not touch the items from the shelf, and instead, we will take the items off the shelf and bring it to your table.

• We will also be doing paint explanation from your table and taking your initial paint order from your table. Should you require additional paint or supplies afterward, you may come to the paint center and request the items you need from an employee. Of course, please wait until the paint center is clear of other customers to maximize social distancing and minimize foot traffic.

• Please visit our Health and Safety Phase 2 Policy webpage for the full details.

We will continue with pottery-to-go for anyone who is more comfortable painting at home with in-store or curbside pickup.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all and we can’t wait to see our tables filled with people painting again.

Peace, Love, and Paint Away!

Check Out our Video Blogs

We’ve been enjoying our new offering - Design Stickies. Here are two videos we created on how to use them.

What's New with the Mandate

After reading the Governor’s latest COVID-19 Guidance, we will have to make some adjustments in our store operations. We will stay open for in-store purchases, pick-up and drop-off (curbside or in-store), and online pottery-to-go. However, we will have to cancel all socially-distanced parties and events that have been scheduled and all in-store painting reservations. Also, in-store painting will not be allowed until the mandate lifts on December 14th.

With the COVID numbers accelerating in such a rapid rate, I think this is the responsible thing to do for our employees and community. We’ve always said that we want to be part of the solution in flattening the curve and not part of the problem.

We regret having to take these measures, particularly because in recent weeks, our sales were increasing and we were seeing more people painting inside our studio to the point that there have been times that we have reached our limited allowable capacity and have had a short waiting list. We loved seeing so many of you again!

We love what we do! It gives us such great happiness to be able to provide creativity to all our customers. We also know how badly needed it is for many people who find comfort and fleeting relief from worries and stress to be able to be creative. And we know how much fun it is for kids and adults alike to create personalized gifts or items for themselves. We are determined to beat COVID and be here when it’s all over. That’s our hope. But we cannot continue without this community supporting us.

If you were planning on coming-in to the store to paint, we hope you consider buying pottery-to-go or make in-store purchases and still paint in your home. And we hope you support our local eateries too. We are feeling the impact of COVID in so many ways. Let’s all do our part to buoy each other during this time.

We are wishing you, your family, and all your neighbors good health. Stay safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Grace, Peace, Love, and Paint Away!

I will leave you with this poem by James Crews, from the column American Life in Poetry, curated by Ted Kooser, a Pulitzer-Prize winning Poet.

Winter Morning

When I can no longer say thank you
for this new day and the waking into it,
for the cold scrape of the kitchen chair
and the ticking of the space heater glowing
orange as it warms the floor near my feet,
I know it’s because I’ve been fooled again
by the selfish, unruly man who lives in me
and believes he deserves only safety
and comfort. But if I pause as I do now,
and watch the streetlights outside flashing
off one by one like old men blinking their
cloudy eyes, if I listen to my tired neighbors
slamming car doors hard against the morning
and see the steaming coffee in their mugs
kissing chapped lips as they sip and
exhale each of their worries white into
the icy air around their faces—then I can
remember this one life is a gift each of us
was handed and told to open: Untie the bow
and tear off the paper, look inside
and be grateful for whatever you find
even if it is only the scent of a tangerine
that lingers on the fingers long after
you’ve finished peeling it.