Paint your own pottery at Village Ceramics

Do you need a way to relax or an outlet for creative energy? Fallbrook has the perfect place for you to visit. Village Ceramics offers individuals and groups the opportunity to paint and personalize a variety of pottery items. A lifelong love of ceramics led Cynthia Thompson to open the shop in April of this year. There she delights in watching children and adults enjoy themselves while painting their choice of pottery — including all kinds of animals, fairies, vases and mugs. If Cynthia does not carry the item you are looking for, she will special order it for you. The drying and firing process takes a week to complete before the finished product can be picked up, or delivered if necessary.

Village Ceramics can be found upstairs at the London Square Building at the corner of Ivy and Main Avenue. Customers can call for a weekday appointment or drop in on Friday or Saturday between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. For those who cannot make it into the shop, Cynthia will go to them. She can do pottery painting parties for any occasion based on any theme the customer chooses. (Four week’s notice is requested.) Besides taking her wares to shut-ins and groups, she also provides paint-to-go kits for people to use at home. Other popular services are Ladies Night on the first Friday of every month from 7 to 9 p.m. and Date Night the first Saturday of every month from 7 to 9 p.m. at the shop.

Village Ceramics is family owned and operated. Cynthia’s husband Dave is her silent business partner, while her mother, Ann Harter, and her sister, Barbara Lawrence, help out on the weekends. Cynthia and Dave are also raising their grandsons, Brent, 5, and Bobby, 4, who are frequent visitors at the shop and avid pottery painters as well. Cynthia herself started making ceramics at the age of 9 and wants to pass on the sense of pride and success that she felt with her first finished piece of pottery. She also enjoys being able to help people “learn what is inside of them” and express themselves creatively.

Area residents may have met Cynthia with her pottery during Hot Summer Nights this summer or at the Bonsall Country Festival last Saturday. She will offer ceramic Christmas ornament painting in the Village Square after the VFW parade on November 11, then on November 18 and as part of the Joyful Traditions events on November 25, December 3, 10 and 17. A family donation of $15 will be requested and the families can take home the ornaments. A part of each donation, $5, will be given to the Boys & Girls Club.

Cynthia is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Merchants Association and the Contemporary Ceramics Studio Association, which helped her set up her shop without a franchise. This enables her to keep her costs and prices affordable for everyone. For the holiday season she is also offering ceramic nativity sets at package pricing for families to create their own unique keepsakes.

October is Paint Your Own Pottery Month, a good time to stop by and revisit an old hobby or start a new one with family or friends at Village Ceramics Fallbrook’s Contemporary Studio.