Ceramics By Tess

I LOVE this place! I frequent it about every week. I love how they have adult night! You can enjoy a relaxing night with no screaming kids. Makes whatever I paid for my item that much more worth it for me. The staff is very nice and Brandon is very knowledgeable with painting techniques. Great place!

I had such a great time here with my niece yesterday we painted for a couple hours and left… The staff was very friendly and it was a nice and calm environment.

We went here this past weekend with my 4 year old son as a fun family activity for my birthday. And, while we had a great time, I was totally blown away by the prices. Small Christmas ornaments a little smaller than the size of my palm started about $ 8 and up. The piece came with paint and you had the option of getting it fire glazed or getting a spray on glaze. Lots of selection, but comparably the prices were much higher than other painted pottery locations in Houston.
There were a lot of choices and the atmosphere was nice. I would definitely go back– if it was affordable. But $ 8 for 10 minutes of work is not an activity I can indulge in often. Too bad because we had a great time!

I love this place! It’s a great place to take the kiddos. I hope one day I can go for myself.

We’ve done pottery painting in Wa and we would have easily paid twice what we paid here. Staff was friendly and the pieces are beautiful with variations of detail and sizes. The only downside would be the paint brushes have seen better days. We will definitely be going back!

Very cute and fun place! It can be a little pricey for 3 people but it includes everything… the item, paints and the glaze… not too mention staff assistance. The only thing I would suggest is to replace your brushes regularly… many were frayed at the ends and it made it difficult to keep a steady line. Will definitely return!

Cute place, close to home and the kids love it! I’d love to see the items not marked up so high price wise, but it’s a great family outing especially on rainy or extra hot days. So that is definitely a factor I consider regarding some of the marked up items. You go in and basically pick out your item and choose from ceramic glaze paint or acrylic. Let your artistic side wonder and an hour or so later voila! You have that unicorn box that you always wanted. Tip: if you choose the ceramic glaze you will need to leave it with them for about a week so they can fire it in their kiln. The owner is there often and is very nice and helpful.

To comment on the complaints about the 20% off is nothing… You have to understand that is a LOCAL SMALL BUSINESS and 20% is the entire profit margin! This isn’t Walmart. You pay for the experience of having a professional staff giving you professional advice on your artwork.

Came in here looking for a craft to do with my son, a little too expensive for us.

I’ve only been here once but I have SO MUCH love for this place. My little sisters go here all the time so I went with them when I was home for the holidays.
Even though it’s staffed by teenagers, they were all very helpful and friendly whenever I had a question or needed help– which was quite often as I stayed there for 5 hours working on my bowl.
Now that’s great and covers the basis for why it deserves at least a 3-​star rating. Here’s why they deserve a 5-​star rating: after the ceramics came back glazed on New Year’s Eve, I noticed mine had a tiny chip on the top and being the anal perfectionist that I am, I knew that would bother me for as long a I had the bowl so I asked if there was anything they could do about it. They said they could touch it up and re-​fire it, which would take about 2 days. Problem is I was leaving for New York first thing January 2^nd and they were closed the next day– January 1^st. The gentleman helping me made a call to his mom, Tess, to see what they could do. EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE CLOSED THE NEXT DAY, THEY WOULD STILL TOUCH-​UP AND REFIRE MY CERAMIC FOR PICK UP THE NEXT MORNING.
They took down my number and told me it’ll be ready about 10am tomorrow. Stupid me, I slept it and forgot all about it post-​New Year’s Eve. I woke up around 10:45am to see that I had a missed call and text from Tess around 10am. I felt horrible! But she still waited for my mom to come and pick up my ceramic for me.
Now that is above and beyond customer service and that is why it deserved at the very least a 5-​star rating. I am definitely coming back the next time I visit Katy.

Great place. Yes, it’s staffed by teenagers, but the place is a «help yourself» kind of place. Pick whatever brushes you like, they provide the smocks, beat up shirts, whatever you like. A couple years ago the owner, Tess, came in on a Saturday and helped me with a special request for Mother’s day. She went out of her way to get stuff fired and set up for me. Really nice. Becuase of the special attention, I new I would come back.
The prices seem a little high, but then again, it’s Katy, TX. I’m sure the rent is REALLY high. Recently, I noticed she had expanded and was offering some evening stuff, later hours. I took the opportunity and brought my little girl in to paint a big coffee mug for her mother… it was awesome… my daughter had SUCH a great time… You pay a bit for the mug, but then after you paint it, they fire it, glaze it, then fire it again. They have to do a lot of work for that one little mug.
Now it was my wife’s turn. She got a bug for me… loved it. My daughter loves it too. we really enjoy it.
I’ve since learned a little about Tess. She lost her husband a few years ago and has been raising several teenagers by herself, plus running the store. Talk about working hard. Typical small business owner working her butt off… GO GIRL!
OH… and Tess. if you see this, I’m coming back… again… this time with my son.

I love the artsy craftsy places that keep popping up everywhere. I really do. But I have had my share of disappointment in these supposedly feel-​good events.
First of all, it is expensive. Ridiculously expensive. I wonder if these poor people of Katy actually know what they are looking at? Do they realized that a place north of Boston sells items cheaper??? Methinks NOT.
A small butterfly — not much detail to it all, $ 18? SERIOUSLY? I’ve acrylic painted a large butterfly with lots of detail for wikked less.
Second of all, the lack of friendliness. No greeting, no assistance NOTHING. I kinda walked around and found some things to paint and found myself at the counter being told (at that time I had no idea) wrong information about the application of paint to my item.
After 2 hours of frustration trying to not have a stamp bleed through every color, I had a short conversation with the «manager» — she came over to see what was up and showed me some things that weren’t really necessary as the colour bled through while she was sitting there.
She said she would call the owner «Tess» because she seemed to remember being told something about the stamps, stencils and acrylic — she said «I guess I should have paid attention»
Come to find out that yeah, you were not supposed to use stamps with acrylic and because it was her fault they would give me a whopping 20% discount.
Oh Thanks so much. $ 2 dollars and a bit of change for 2 hours of my life that I can never get back. I didn’t even want what I made… it was horrid — I would have appreciated a «here’s your money back — we screwed up» talk instead.
Yea I couldn’t wait to get out of there — even though she gave me 20% off on the two items i bought — wow ok I can get a starbuck coffee with that thanks, maybe they will have a sale on 2 hours of time there too.
whatever.

LOVE it! We had a place like this in Waco where I went to college (Go Baylor!), and I just knew there had to be a place like this in Katy, so I went on the search. My fiancé and I went here for my birthday «event». Everything is pretty well priced (not inexpensive — but you get what you pay for). The ceramics to choose from are nearly endless! As well as the paint colors to choose.
You can bring in your own food and drink too! When we went to pick up our items a week later, there was a birthday party there as well.
Also, they have adult nights where I’m assuming you can bring in your alcoholic beverages if you would like.
Will definitely be going back!