Fav Sculpting and Ceramic Resources
NYC artists love to visit The Compleat Sculptor for their sculpting supplies and services. It is considered the largest supplier of its kind in the world. Compleat offers sculpture media (stone, clay, wax) tools and support services including photographing your piece and shipping it anywhere in the world.
As you would expect, they also offer a full range of classes and workshops in topics such as wood carving, clay sculpting, metal coatings, anatomical portraits, and body casting. For Valentine’s Day preparations, they even offered a class in making chocolate from your own body parts - “Lips, Nipples, & Fingers, Oh My!”.
Compleat is located at 90 Vandam Street (between Hudson St. and Greenwich St.) in West Soho. So hop on the 1, C, or E train and enjoy a day of DIY fun. The store is open everyday except Sunday and on Wednesdays it is open late till 8 pm.
If you are not quite ready to dive head first into sculpting - you might want to give ceramics a try in a nice relaxing atmosphere. There are a few places in Manhattan that you can try.
Color Me Mine
Located in Tribeca at 116 Franklin St, Color Me Mine, offers you the chance to “Paint –it-Yourself”. You can choose from over 400 pieces that they have already ready for you to paint. They will then glaze and fire the piece for you and have it ready within a week. They offer a flat studio rate - so no need to hurry while creating your masterpiece. If you have created ceramics before, this may not meet your needs - you won’t have the chance to pour the clay into the molds and prepare the piece for firing. But, it’s the next best thing if you have limited time. The closest subway is the 1 at Franklin St.
tribeca.colormemine.com
Little Shop of Crafts
You can also create pottery at the Little Shop of Crafts. They have 2 locations. On the Eastside, you will find this craft house at 73rd between York and 1st Ave. (take the 6 and get off at 77th St. - walk to 73rd and Lex., then walk east on 73rd street to York). On the Westside, you will find this craft house at 711 Amsterdam Ave. on the corner of 94th St. (take the 1, 2, or 3 train and get off at West 96th St.). This fun place seems to be a hit with New Yorkers wanting to play. You can even bring the kids, but make sure you bring them early -starting at 6:30 pm it’s adults only - complimentary wine 6.30-10.00 Wed.-Fri evenings. They also offer beading and art classes.
littleshopny.com
