(gentle music) - All right, here we are at The Mud Room.

I'm looking for the mud, looking for the mud, but I see paint, I see other ways to use the word mud in The Mud Room.

- Sure.

- Congratulations on your success.

- Thank you.

- What a gift you have here.

- Thank you.

- Yeah.

How would you describe The Mud Room?

Well, The Mud Room is really a creative art studio.

So, most of what we do is pottery painting, where you come in and paint your own, but we also have wheel throwing classes, glass fusing events, wood sign painting.

We do kids classes.

- So who walks through the door?

- Lots of families, moms and kids.

Sometimes first dates, sometimes corporate groups, people going for work outing.

Really, it's for anyone, all ages, but a lot of families come in for sure.

- So, what do you do at The Mud Room?

- So I manage it.

I'm in charge of making sure that things flow smoothly.

- Tell me how you would prep a person for their art.

- First, let them choose an item that they would enjoy painting.

- And then this is the painting part of it, right?

- Yeah, the painting part.

And then one of our staff members will give them directions of tips, how to, what to do, what not to do, and show them where everything is and show them ideas and examples.

- So if I ask you who's a typical client guest, are we mostly inexperienced and just looking for a new thing to do?

- [Kris] Most people come in here and they always say, "I'm not good at art."

But I'm like, "Well, today you are."

Today is the day where you're gonna be able to be good at it.

- [Rachel] When you come in, we've got all the brushes, the colors, different technique tools for you to use.

And our staff is always here to guide you, and you just decorate it however you want.

And if for some reason you come to the studio, you can always come in and purchase your pottery and supplies and paint at home or at your own site also.

Most of what we do is the pottery painting, as I mentioned.

And you just come in and you pick out a piece of pottery that's already shaped, and then we'll go through some basic instructions with you, which you'll get to do in a few minutes.

You just decorate it with colors and patterns.

And then you're gonna leave it here for us to add a clear glaze on and fire it in our kiln, and you pick it up about a week later.

(bright music continues) - Kris K., I am your student here at The Mud Room.

What am I in store for?

Teach me.

- So we are gonna learn about how to paint with bubbles today.

Okay, so what we're gonna do, go ahead and squeeze- - [Shelley] is that the bubble machine?

- [Kris] Three little things.

That's the bubbles.

- [Shelley] And I can do this if I come in here to The Mud Room.

- [Kris] Yeah.

- [Shelley] 1, 2, 3, 4.

- Yeah, we'll do it fourth for a good measure.

- [Shelley] Now, what are you putting in there?

- [Kris] Put a little bit of color in there.

- [Shelley] What color is it?

- [Kris] That's pink.

- [Shelley] It's my favorite color.

- [Kris] Your favorite color.

- How'd you do that?

Okay, so a little pink in here with the bubble sauce.

- [Kris] Yeah, with the bubble sauce.

- [Shelley] I hope it doesn't, oh, oh my gosh.

(bright music continues) - Magnificent.

I almost wanna sign it, but maybe I'll wait till it's done.

All right, what's next?

Do we flip it over?

- We can flip it over.

It's dry.

- [Shelley] Okay, do that for us.

Oh!

- [Kris] So now we got the backside to do.

- [Shelley] Okay.

All right.

- And now, what we can do is we can grab a paint palette and then we can do some sponge.

- We're back to our pink again, right?

- [Kris] We're back to our- - [Shelley] Oh!

- [Kris] This is like a little bit of purpley pink, so it kind of matches.

- [Shelley] Okay, that's even better.

And what's our goal here ultimately?

- [Kris] Create a sponge dotted pattern.

- [Shelley] Sponge dotted.

We've gone from bubbles to sponging.

- [Kris] Yes.

- [Shelley] Water's prepared.

Looks like water's on every station.

- [Kris] Water's every... Everything is right at your spot.

And then what you can do is you can dip it.

- [Shelley] Oh!

- [Kris] And then you can just kind of, start to kind of... - Are there memberships included?

In other words, can I come in anytime?

- [Rachel] You don't need a membership.

You can walk in anytime.

And seating is first come, first serve.

- [Shelley] How unique are you to our West Michigan?

- One of the things that's unique about The Mud Room You don't have to do it step by step.

You don't have to come in to try and build your creative skills.

You can literally just come in and relax and enjoy time to be creative.

- Not only do we do pottery painting, we do glass fusing.

We do pottery classes, so we get to learn how to throw pottery on the wheel.

And we do wood signs with stencils and stuff too.

So it's pretty unique to the area.

(upbeat music) - [Shelley] If I'm soft and gentle, it's nice.

- [Kris] Yeah.

Yeah.

- [Shelley] Okay, and what is this called?

- [Kris] And this is called sponge.

- Let's get into the potter's wheel.

- Yes.

- What's that all about?

- [Rachel] That's where you take a lump of clay and you put it on a spinning wheel, like in the movie "Ghost."

So that's what people my age always pick up.

- [Shelley] That's a whole nother visual.

- [Rachel] Yes.

And you use your hands to form it into a bowl or a vessel or a cup.

(upbeat music) - In these times of maybe needing to slow down, how important is it to get our creative juices going where it might not be our comfort zone?

- Like retirement home, people come in, and it helps them go back to being a kid, just having fun, just having not to worry about a whole lot with people that you know and love.

- Are you making memories for families in closing?

- [Rachel] Definitely making memories while you have a fun experience.

- [Shelley] And you get muddy while you do it.

- Not too muddy.

Well, in the potter's wheel, you do get muddy in those classes.

But coming in into paint here, it's not too bad.

And everything's washable, and we clean up after you.

- That sells my ticket.

- Thank you, Rachel.

- You're welcome.

- S-R, let's just do SI.

- [Kris] There you go.

- How's that?

That could we worth some money?

- That works.

Yeah.

- Wonderful.

- When you get famous- - I get working on it.

Thank you very much, Kris.

- Yes, you're welcome.

(upbeat music fades) (bright music) - Celebrating vibrant people, captivating places, and remarkable things.

This is "Living West Michigan."

(bright music continues) (bright music fades)