The story of the pottage
The Pottage is the home of pottering around in a cosy cottage.
Inspired by crafting at home with your favourite elder, The Pottage is a place that provides a comforting space to craft, create and get inspired.
We offer a variety of different services such as groups, workshops, hire spaces and our Paint Your Own Pottery sessions. Complete with everything you need to create a pottery masterpiece, you pick it and paint it, we glaze it and fire it, you collect it and enjoy it for the rest of its life span.
The Pottage brings together creativity, joy and the revive of vintage pottery moulds. Bringing you a relaxing art experience to enjoy wherever your creativity thrives.
Our sessions aim to inspire your inner artist. You know, the little part of you that loves arts and crafts, the part of you that just wish you had a project to work on with all the materials provided, a project that you can be absolutely proud of.
Paint your own pottery workshops used to be in every town through the 1970’s. Now it’s a little trickier to find these classes as not many potters specialise in pottery moulds anymore.
Our biggest passion is reviving this somewhat lost craft. In the process we are uncovering memories, nostalgia, vintage beauties and magical wonders.
Meet our founder and the story behind the collection of moulds
A story about an artist and their love for pottery…
It was a slow Sunday evening during October 2020 when Shelby was scouring the Gumtree marketplace for a pottery wheel for her small ceramics business. Little did she know, this little Gumtree purchase was going to change her business for the better.
A sought after item that sold nearly as quickly as they were listed. It was 8pm and there it was, a beautiful Venco in Gum Leaf Green. Without hesitation she called up and asked the seller if they could hold it until she could travel to the other side of Victoria to pick it up. Thankfully, they were able to and said there was a whole pottery workshop to clear out if she was interested in the other items.
Excited to collect her new wheel, a week past and it was finally time to collect!
When Shelby arrived at the location, the seller explained that the Pottery Wheel belonged to their father who had sadly passed away earlier in the year. They loved their hobby’s and had a little studio fitted out with kilns, glaze ingredients and something that unexpectedly excited her.
A lot of Vintage Pottery Moulds.
Shelby had experience with these moulds as she had turned her own unique artworks into them before. However, she had never come across the commercially made moulds before but was eager to find out what they all are.
The seller explained that they had no idea what all the moulds were. Some came in the original boxes but others were strange and obscure shapes.
On the two hour drive home, Shelby was brainstorming how she could test all the moulds out and figure out what each one was alongside her usual artwork designs. It hit suddenly, each week she would record a video showcasing what each of the Mystery Moulds were. As soon as she came home, she shared the footage on social media and it went viral. Over 3 million views in the first 24 hours.
That was the story of how the Mystery Mould series began but Mouldy Bisquits is what this series has evolved into.
The Mystery Mould series evoked memories, nostalgia and the creativity of art lovers everywhere.
Every week a new mould was posted the comments section filled with people sharing their stories, cherished moments and memories of these creations. A big goal of this series was to not only unveil what each of these wonderful mysterious items are but to also inspire creativity and joy in the world.
As the series developed more people reminisced about the Pottery studios that offered a ‘Paint your own Mould’ experience. Many people asked and wondered if it was possible to get the blank moulds to paint for themselves in their own unique way. This was something that met Shelby’s mission of sharing the creativity with more people. Then began the experimentation, the exploration and the development of the Mouldy Bisquits.
Shelby wanted to bring to life a beautiful DIY painting pottery kit that offers the opportunity to paint your own unique, vintage creation at home.
This mission has since flourished into its first physical location, warmly titled ‘The Pottage’. Bringing together the cosiness of home crafts, in a cosy location for you to pick and paint your own pottery creation.