Razzle Dazzle Pots
Well Hello!
December 2020 is yet another challenge for us! Last week we found out that when the country exits the current lockdown on Wednesday 2nd, that Nottinghamshire is going in to Tier 3. Initially we had thought that this was okay, we had been able to open up for customers in the studio in October when we had been in Tier 3 before. However things are a bit stricter this time and alas we are not able to have painters sitting down in the studio.
Normally November and December are super busy times for us with many people painting Christmas decorations and presents for special people. We hope that to some extent this can continue in December but rather than painting at the studio, you will paint at home instead.
During December we will be open on Fridays and Saturdays as a non essential shop. We have re arranged the downstairs space yet again. It is now opened out for customers to browse our shelves in a socially distanced way.
This month there are two ways to choose your take away items, either book a 15 minute session to come along to the studio to browse for your items or go to the Take Away Kit page and order online.
Included with your chosen items of pottery you will also get several pots of glaze and brushes if you need to borrow them. The pottery will need to be brought back to us to be fired. If you don't then it won't be super shiny or useable.
Another big part of this time of year is baby hand and foot prints on things like baubles, mugs and other decorative items. Babies aren't babies for long and we don't want you to miss out on capturing their tiny prints.
During December 2020 on Friday and Saturday mornings there are several one to one sessions available to book where we will help you take the various prints you need. We must stress though that this is not an opportunity for you to sit and paint. If you want to spend time personalising your items you can take them home to finish them off. If you just want some writing and a bit of holly we can do this for you.
We would like to thank you all in advance for continuing to support us and we hope to see you all very soon.
All our love and festive greetings
Jane & Nichola
It is time to announce our next Me Time Evening at Razzle Dazzle Pots. Open your calendar / diary and mark down Thursday 10th December. Only a few weeks left now to paint all the lovely things for Christmas. Follow the link and book now just go to the date you want and choose the 6:30pm slot.
However much we don't like or don't agree with all of the Covid restrictions that are currently in place we do need to be making the effort to stick to them as much as we can. So with this in mind you will need to book a table, wear a mask when you are in the studio. If you are more concerned about mixing but would still like to come then write in the note that you would like a table upstairs. That way you can be in your own room with limited contact with others.
If you have not been to one of our Me Time Evenings but are wondering what they are all about, well here is the basic run down. Once a month (generally) we run an evening session of pottery painting, or sometimes hand building with clay and these sessions are for grown ups, no kids allowed. You can bring your own alcohol and snacks but remember we do serve the most delicious hot chocolates...
The cost depends on the pottery you choose to paint and the session runs from 6:30 - 9:30pm. You do NOT have to arrive exactly at 6.30 - this is just the general time the session starts. But we do ask that you are on your way home by 9.30pm!
If you would like to sit upstairs please write it in the note when booking. Otherwise we will allocate tables depending on numbers.
If you are interested in having a go at hand building with clay - please mention this in the note section on the booking. We DO NOT have a pottery wheel and it would be more about making decorations, wall hangings, pinch or coil pots. We can give you a basic introduction but it is not a taught / guided session but more like play with clay. The cost for this is £15 each. There will be additional costs if you wish to come back and have your items decorated and fired. (painted, glazed and fired)
On an evening you can ask for all the help you need, we can show you how to use the carbon paper, the writers and any manner of special tools. We have a couple of videos on the website of these if you need a sneak preview.
Check out a few fabulous items painted by some of our talented customers.
This post is just to touch base with all our valued customers with an attempt to make sure you all know what is going on with us here at Razzle Dazzle over the second lockdown period.
In summary we are closed until we are able to open again, which we hope will be at the beginning of December. We will send out another post when we have confirmation of a definite date.
We were hoping to do Take away kits as a click and collect or delivery service but we are now not going to do this. We will instead stay at home and do our bit to stop the spread of the virus.
The booking system is still open for dates after the 2nd December. We are hoping that December will be super busy with people excited about painting things to make Christmas 2020 a special one. It is our suggestion that you book now to ensure you can get a table. Knowing that you are all desperate to come in again will mean a few things to us:
We do ask though that you remember to confirm in the note section of the booking that you are from one household and also - and this is important - if you are planning to paint a bauble. (like the ones below) This will help us a little with our stock levels!
We will of course contact you to rearrange bookings if dates are different.
All items that you are waiting to collect will be kept safe and you will be able to collect them in December. Even if we aren't able to open, we will find a way! Anything taken away to paint at home please keep it safe and bring it back for firing when we are open again.
Finally we just want to wish everyone well, stay safe and see you in December. (fingers, toes, legs and arms crossed!)
All our love Jane & Nichola
What was it we said yesterday? Things are constantly changing and we are making it up as we go along....
In light of the guidance from the Government about reducing non-essential travel and also the support they are offering for staying closed - we have decided to stay closed fully from Thursday 5th November and *HOPEFULLY re-open on the 3rd December. This means that we WILL NOT be offering the Take Home Kits like we had planned, after Wednesday.
So if you do want to order something then please get it ordered right away. We will do deliveries over the next two days if you are unable to get to us and we are open Tuesday and Wednesday for the following.
Once again we would like to thank you all for supporting us now and in the future. See you all, we hope in December!
Lots of virtual hugs Jane & Nichola
PS We have a Christmas Decoration Gallery on the website now!
*If we can open in December we will!
It seems that we have to post every week about some change to our business operations.... No one can say that life in 2020 is straightforward and boring!
Like all businesses small and not so small we need customers and we really appreciate all of you. We have had a busy couple of weeks over half term with lots of smiling faces and we had hoped to continue the trend right up until Christmas. However a spanner has been thrown into the works and we are thinking on our feet again! All the pottery painted over that period is fired and ready for collection on Tuesday & Wednesday. After that please call ahead and we will arrange to have your items ready for you at the door. We will keep you updated on any changes we have to make to our opening hours.
If you would like to come in to paint your Christmas decorations, gifts for family members or just have some me time then you have two days. Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th November, we will then close our doors to customers in the studio reopening on the 3rd December. Go online to book a time. For these two days and if there is enough demand we will stay open until 7pm. For same day bookings you need to call the studio on 0115 905 6029.
Remember all the Tier 3 rules still apply so you do need to be a single household or support group.
We know that this time of the year is all about the decorations so over the next couple of days we will update the Take Away page with the Christmas decorations we currently have in stock. As a bonus feature we are looking at making an online shop so you will be able to order and pay for them straight from the website. The choice available will change as we receive new ones into the studio so check back regularly. In the mean time use the order form on the website and we will call you and go through your choices with you. We will be operating a variation of our opening hours during the November Lockdown so please confirm our opening hours before setting out.
Once again Thank you for being our fantastic customers.
As Nottinghamshire is now in Tier 3 of the Governments strategy for bringing down the number of Covid cases and ultimately casualties we here at Razzle Dazzle Pots have sought and received confirmation from Gedling Borough Council that we can remain open for the time being.
Our Covid secure procedures have been in place now since July and moving into Tier 3 we now have a few minor amendments. The latest tweak is that now you are required to keep your face mask on at all times whilst in the studio. Both moving around and whilst sitting at your table. Obviously those people who are exempt from wearing one are still exempt! Our staff members also wear a face mask whilst moving around in the studio.
Our procedures are a process of give and take with you our customers. Below is a reminder of this relationship and how we can work together to keep our little business open.
As we move out of October into November we will be transitioning from Halloween to Christmas. Over the next few weeks we will be highlighting all the lovely Christmas decorations and ornaments we will have in stock for you to paint and then display in your homes. Here are a few great tea lights that we have out at the moment. These were painted recently by our talented customers.
So much speculation in the media at the moment about whether or not Nottingham, including Gedling, will move to Tier 3 - Higher risk. We are still unsure about what that will mean for our particular business. Studios in other areas in the same level are open, some are closed. We will be seeking advice on this one. However, if it happens that we won't be able to have painters in the studio we hope that we will still be able to offer Take Away Kits.
Back in March we introduced our Take Away service. We made a new page on our website and added videos of all of our shelves so that you can browse our stock and choose something to paint without having to come to the studio.
These videos have recently been updated so they are fairly accurate. Obviously there may be the odd thing that we will no longer have but we hope that is a rarity!
This page is also a great place to go even if you are able to come into the studio to paint as you can have a sneak peak and get some idea of what you want ahead of time.
The process is simple: It is time to announce our next Me Time Evening at Razzle Dazzle Pots. Open your calendar / diary and mark down Thursday 29th October. If you have children you will have just been through half term and I am sure you will be desperate for some time away from them for an evening. Get someone nice to look after them for a few hours. Other dates available so far are 19 Nov and 10 Dec and you can follow the link and book any of them now just go to the date you want. A single booking must contain only those from your own family household or support bubble. If you have made a booking for October Me Time and you do not fit this criteria please let us know or cancel your booking. We have emailed everyone but not heard back from some. At the moment we have only a few tables left but this may change when people update their booking. If you want to come book online now. However much some of us don't like or even agree with all of the Covid restrictions that are currently in place we do need to be making the effort to stick to them as much as we can. So with this in mind you will need to book a table, wear a mask when you come (but not when sitting down) and we do take peoples contact details as part of the booking process so that bit is covered. If you are more concerned about mixing but would still like to come then you can choose a table upstairs. That way you can be in your own room with limited contact with others. Please state this on the booking so we are aware. This is important as we may move bookings to fit the availability. Bookings only for single households or support bubble. If you have not been to one of our Me Time Evenings but are wondering what they are all about, well here is the basic run down. Once a month (generally) we run an evening session of pottery painting, or sometimes hand building with clay and these sessions are for grown ups, no kids allowed. You can bring your own alcohol and snacks but remember we do serve the most delicious hot chocolates... The cost depends on the pottery you choose to paint and the session runs from 6:30 - 9:30pm. You do NOT have to arrive exactly at 6.30 - this is just the general time the session starts. But we do ask that you are on your way home by 9.30pm! On an evening you can ask for all the help you need, we can show you how to use the carbon paper, the writers and any manner of special tools. We have a couple of videos on the website of these if you need a sneak preview. Check out a few fabulous items painted by some of our talented customers and a couple by us! Lets look to the pumpkins... I mean positives! Our studio is still open, we have lots of socially distanced tables and a great new booking system so that you are guaranteed to get a table if you book in. We are also offering take away kit so you have every opportunity to enjoy pottery painting this half term ... what ever Tier Nottingham may be on! We have several different ceramic pumpkin options which you can paint at home or in the studio. The large and medium pumpkins are made here at the studio and we have cut many different faces so there are lots to choose from. Take Away Pros In the Studio Pros Its October 2020 and here is yet another post about new restrictions on bookings. As you will all know by now Nottingham & Nottinghamshire are now on Tier 2 of the Governments lockdown scheme which means that we have to amend the way we live our lives for a while longer. This means for us: Due to the previous rule regarding a maximum group size, we now do not take single bookings for more than six people. We are still open for Half Term bookings and we have lots of availability at the moment and we need your support to stay in business. Remember if you do not or can't come to the studio you can still order a Take Away Kit, pop over to our website for all the information on this.
Could it be raining cats & dogs?
Latest booking limitation!
Do we need to wear a face mask?
New to Me Time..
Pumpkin Take Away Kit
Booking