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Business Sells Coffee, Ceramics

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: February 25, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - For anyone planning a party or shower, searching for a novel way to spend quality time with the family or just looking to beat the there's-nothing-to-do-around-here blues, there's a new place to go downtown to add a little color to your leisure time.

"I just had my first customers," Shelley Dubois said Thursday. Dubois is the owner of Shadee's Inspire and Fire, 5647 Main St.

"This is kind of a soft opening," she added. After being delayed a couple of months getting the place up and running, Dubois was eager to make her studio's presence felt prior to a splashier official grand opening sometime in the beginning of March.

Shadee's Inspire and Fire offers something a little different in the way of low-cost, low-key entertainment, a combination paint-your-own pottery studio and coffeehouse. Guests come in, choose from a selection of ceramic pieces then sit at tables for as long as they want painting the figures. While they work, they can enjoy an organic coffee drink, juice or fruit smoothie.

Though novel to West Pasco, the concept isn't unusual or even particularly new. Dubois came across a paint-your-own-pottery studio on a family trip to Kitty Hawk, N.C., several years ago. She and her daughter tried it and were hooked. Pottery painting became a staple of Dubois family road trips, she said, they have a trove of do-it-yourself souvenirs at home to prove it.

Dubois believes the already proven concept will find equally widespread appeal here in West Pasco. For starters, it's a great way for families to spend time together, she said. She has stocked her shelves with a variety of ceramic pieces meant to appeal to young and old, male or female, from practical household items to just-for-fun desktop trinkets.

For parents who may not be feeling the muse, the studio is equipped with WiFi, so they can set the kids up with their brushes and paints while they dabble on their laptops.

For any kind of informal group activity - bridal showers, birthday parties, girl's night out, etc. - pottery painting makes for a good centerpiece activity, Dubois said.

It's nothing for a couple of hours to fly by, talking and laughing while painting, she said. And when it's all said and done, everyone has something to remember the occasion by.

The idea to offer coffee, juices and smoothies just seemed like a natural way to enhance the sense of relaxed, casual fun. To start, Dubois said, she will be offering a small menu, playing it by ear what to add as time goes by. Likewise, she thought along with pottery painting, she might add jewelry making and T-shirt decoration to the activities offered at the studio sometime down the road.

Guests pay for their ceramic piece - prices vary from piece to piece. There is also a studio fee of $8 for adults and $6 for children under 10. The fee includes studio time, supplies, paint, stencils, stamps, glazing and firing.

Dubois said she anticipates a regular rotation of discount deals, with one policy set for sure: a "rainy day discount" of $2 off the studio fee whenever it rains.

Once guests are finished, they leave their pieces for finishing. You have to allow 24 hours between painting and glazing, Dubois said, and another 24 hours between glazing and firing. And then it's a matter of how many pieces of pottery are waiting for space in the kiln. Generally, guests can come back and get their finished pieces in seven days.

Dubois has not yet determined what the studio's hours will be. She anticipated, however, being open to the general public during regular business hours Tuesdays through Saturdays. In addition, "after-hours" arrangements are available for large groups.

Anyone with questions or interested in booking an event can call 727-847-6000.

Klint Lowry can be reached at 727-815-1067 or klowry@suncoastnews.com.

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