Creativity brings me joy. Trying new things makes me happy. Spending time doing experiences with those that matter to me makes me smile. So, when my Mum suggested we go pottery painting at Jasmine Pottery Studios in Wakefield, West Yorkshire I jumped at the chance.

To attend a session, each session is usually two hours long, you need to book in advance. When you go to book you have to pay a £5 deposit per person but when you attend that will get taken off the price of item(s) you paint.

So you turn up and are greeted by some really friendly members of staff. They ask if you’ve ever been there before and explain the initial process, take you to a take and then bring you an apron as well (which if you’re as messy as me is an essential thing to have!).

At that point it’s time to select what you might like to paint from the shelves. The price of the item will vary depending on the item itself, I went for a pretty large vase so it had a larger price tag than something like a small mug.

The thing that I love about it is that you can go for either a quirky item or something will have a real purpose in your place (or perhaps a gift for someone). I went for the vase because I don’t have one in my flat and I’ll be able to put either real or Lego flowers in there! But if you’re looking to get a new set of personalised and matching but slightly different plates, bowls or mugs then you could create your own. Or you can take a child to do a fun experience but for them to paint a gift for a family member too.

I went in with a plan; A pastel ombre with some splatters on it and I think I ended up managing to pull it off fairly well. The thing you have to remember, and it’s why they have the tile for reference, is that it takes three layers of paint to make it a solid colour but also that the dried/kiln colour will be slightly different to how it appears in the paint tub.

Whilst you’re doing the painting you can also get drinks, I went for an iced coffee that packed a strong coffee flavour and was really well balanced with the milk and ice, but you can also get food through from cakes to pizza. I will say that depending on how quickly you paint you might not want to also be trying to eat, especially pizza where you might end up with mildly greasy hands, whilst painting because of that two hour time limit.

Not only do they have the sponges, brushes and the paints they also have smaller bottles with precision nozzles for smaller details as stencils for specific designs or to put words onto your items. If you wanted to make different cups for tea or coffee you could specify or if you want to do a gift for somebody and put their name or title on it then that makes it super easy to get added accuracy.

They also explain that if you wanted to draw out a design on your item first then you absolutely can because the pencil marks will essentially burn off in the kiln.

I found myself doing a little paint mixing to get slightly different overall colours and they mixed together really well so if you did want something in between then you could. Some of the paints even had what looked like little specks in them!

My Mum went for the plant pot and checked that when kilned it would be weather-proof so I think it will end up with a plant in it on her little patio.

When you’ve finished getting splashes all over the table, walls, your item and yourself they give you a ticket with a number and the date you attended. They also take your contact number so that when it has gone into the kiln and is ready for collection they can send you a text message (this usually takes 2-3 weeks so we’re still waiting for them to come back, when I get them I’ll share the photos below and on my Instagram stories).

I truly had a fantastic experience doing this and when my partner moves here I’ve already suggested we go back and he can perhaps make a cup/mug that is uniquely his! They would 100% make you feel welcome if you went alone or if you wanted to book a bigger event, perhaps for a hen-do or birthday party, then they will be happy to discuss and find a time and way to make it work; Later on the day we went it sounded like they had two big groups of 12 going along!