We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stefaine & Rachael Hansen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Stefaine & Rachael , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business
One crazy thing that has happened at our studio (multiple times) is that people will walk into our building and ask for things completely unrelated to what we do. We’ve had everything from customers coming in and ordering coffee, donuts, and even had a few calls asking if we sold huge stuffed teddy bears. One man came in, walked up to our counter, and began ordering a family’s worth of Chinese food! He got through the entire order before our staff was able to tell him that we sell pottery.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Crazy Glaze Ceramic Studio wants to provide you, your family and friends with a fun atmosphere by creating your very own pottery. We host numerous types of events for families, friends, coworkers and everyone! We offer numerous classes and events suited for you and your family, at all ability levels. In our studio you have the creative freedom to make any style of pottery and having fun with the people you care about most. We welcome you to bring in your own ideas or to get ideas from previously done works. Our staff is friendly and wants to help your idea come to life.
Join us for a class by registering online or come paint during open studio hours!
How Open Studio Works!
Step 1: Choose Your Bisque
A bisque is a piece of pottery. At Crazy Glaze, you get to pick your own piece to be painted and glazed. We usually have more than 300 items that you get to choose from at our studio. We have everything from bowls, plates, mugs, picture frames, vases, figurines and more!
Step 2: Orientation & Preparation
During your first time to our studio, we will provide you with an orientation on preparing your bisque, how to layer the paints on the bisque and will show you how to use the stamps, stencils and transfer papers.
Step 3: Choose Your Paints
At Crazy Glaze, we offer more than 200 underglazes and paints. We welcome you to bring in your own ideas, but we also have books and examples of previous works we have created for inspiration and ideas.
Step 4: Time To Glaze
Once you have painted your bisque, it’s time to make your piece come to life! The glaze we use is food safe after it has been glazed. It takes 20 hours for the piece to be fired in our kiln and pieces are ready to be picked up in at most 10 days.
Step 5: Take It Home With You
Once it has been glazed and is completely dried, your master piece will be ready for pick up and to go home with you.
No Reservations Needed!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Resilience doesn’t just mean bouncing back to normal, it also means transforming to a new normal. We have been lucky to survive through the pandemic, while many pottery studios, throughout the nation, have shuttered their doors. When the 2020 shutdown hit, we petitioned the county to designate us as an essential business so that we could deliver pottery kits to local families. With schools being virtual, children were not receiving the creative outlet they needed to continue to grow. Our free porch delivery and pick-up allowed parents to provide creativity as well as save their sanity from being shut in. To this day we continue our pottery-to-go option allowing families to stay home and create in an environment they feel comfortable in.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
When the studio was purchased in October 2014, we had very little pottery knowledge. We understood the painting process and the former owner showed us the ropes. That first quarter we spent time with one of our major suppliers taking classes and determining not only what we needed to be successful but what to offer as additional art mediums. We also joined the national Contemporary Ceramics Studio Association and attend their yearly convention to learn new techniques, backroom procedures, and best business practices. In addition, we continue to attend both classes offered by our vendors and regional conventions offered by other PYOP studios. To keep our staff’s knowledge relevant, we provide professional development classes to them throughout the year.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.crazyglaze.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crazyglazefv/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crazyglazefuquayvarina/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/crazy_glaze_fv
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/crazy-glaze-ceramic-studio-and-art-education-center-fuquay-varina
Image Credits
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