Long Beach Pottery Painting: $12 Fee and a 2-Hour Table

Color Me Mine Long Beach, at 5255 East 2nd Street, charges a flat $12 studio fee per person for all ages, and pieces start from $29. The fee covers paints, glazing and firing, but it buys a two-hour table, and the studio holds to that limit. The studio offers 400 ceramic items to choose from, from plates and mugs to dragons and garden gnomes, and it asks you to reserve because walk-ins are seated only as tables open up.

The studio's How It Works page lays out the cost in a single line: the price of the pieces you pick out, starting from $29, plus a studio fee. The studio fee is a flat $12 per person for all ages and includes all necessary supplies, paints, glazing and firing. In practice a first visit with one small piece costs about $41 before tax, and a pair of painters with two mugs sits in the $80s.

The studio fee is tied to time. Each paid fee covers a two-hour painting period, and the page states a two-hour paint time limit outright. That is a useful constraint if you are the type who keeps adding dots to a plate, because it forces you to finish and hand the table to the next group. Plan a design you can finish in under two hours, and you will leave satisfied.

There is also a group rule that catches people out. The studio allows only one free, non-paying person per group or reservation, so a parent who sits and watches counts as the free guest, and a second watching adult does not.

The FAQ says reservations are highly recommended. Walk-ins are welcome and seated first come, first served as tables become available, and if the studio is full the staff will add you to a waitlist and let you know when your table is ready. The studio's reservation page and phone line, (562) 433-4177, are the two routes in, and a Belmont Shore Saturday is exactly the kind of day when the waitlist becomes real.

The studio posts different closing times through the week. Sunday and Monday run 12 pm to 6 pm, Tuesday through Thursday run 12 pm to 7 pm, and Friday and Saturday run 12 pm to 8 pm. The studio notes that its last seating and pickup times are one hour before closing, so a 7 pm arrival on a Saturday leaves you very little time on a two-hour clock.

Opening at noon every day rules out a morning painting session, which makes this a studio for afternoons and early evenings. If you want a table with room to breathe, the weekday afternoons from Tuesday to Thursday are the calm stretch.

The studio says you can select from 400 different ceramic items and that it receives new ones every week. The categories it names give a good picture: plates, mugs and bowls for dinnerware, vases and flower pots for the house, garden gnomes for the yard, and banks, figurines, dragons, sports-themed pieces, animals, princesses, boxes and unicorns for kids, plus seasonal items. Everyone is meant to find something.

The studio's help for beginners is practical. Staff and a wide variety of supplies, including stencils, stamps, tracing paper and easy paint techniques, are on hand, so you do not need to be an artist. The paints are non-toxic and lead-free, which is why the FAQ says the studio is perfect for hand and foot prints and why there is no age limit.

If you want a piece with a clean, finished look, a flat plate or tile is easier to control than a figurine. If you want something a child will actually use, a bank or a dragon is more fun than dinnerware.

Your piece will be ready for pickup in 7 to 10 days. The studio holds pieces for 30 days beyond the pickup date, and the FAQ is direct about what happens next: due to limited space it cannot store items beyond that, they are donated after 30 days, and unclaimed pieces are not eligible for refunds or credits.

If you would rather paint at home, you can shop in the studio for pieces and colors and pick up a to-go kit. The kit costs $10 and includes 5 colors, 3 brushes, glazing and firing, and each item needs its own kit. Return the painted piece to the studio and it is glazed and fired as usual.

Two rules apply to both options. Only Color Me Mine paints may be used, because paint from anywhere else will either burn off and leave a blank spot when the ceramic is fired or damage the finish. And the studio does not accept pottery that was not purchased from it, so you cannot bring your own mug.

The studio takes party bookings online so you can see date and time availability. Its holiday party notice sets a minimum of 10 painters for the package deal and recommends booking at least 2 weeks in advance, with earlier meaning more availability, though the staff say they will do their best even when the booking is sooner.

For larger groups or family reservations, the studio asks you to call (562) 433-4177 in advance so it can arrange the seating. Because the two-hour limit applies per table, a big party should plan its painting timeline before it arrives rather than debating colors at the shelf.

The studio sits on East 2nd Street, the shop-and-restaurant strip that runs through Belmont Shore, so the sensible plan is to eat on the street, paint for two hours and walk to the beach afterwards. Because the kiln needs 7 to 10 days, you will come back for pickup anyway, which gives you a second reason to wander the neighborhood.

The honest caveat is the clock. If you are painting a large piece or want to experiment with several techniques, two hours goes quickly, and the studio's last-seating rule one hour before closing makes late arrivals tight. Come early in the afternoon, keep the design simple and let the kiln do the showing off.

Address: Color Me Mine Long Beach, 5255 East 2nd Street, Long Beach, CA 90803. Phone: (562) 433-4177. Hours: Sunday and Monday 12 pm to 6 pm, Tuesday through Thursday 12 pm to 7 pm, Friday and Saturday 12 pm to 8 pm, with last seating and pickup one hour before closing. Studio fee: $12 per painter, pieces from $29, to-go kit $10.

The facts above come from the studio's own How It Works page and its Q and A, along with its calendar and to-go kit pages. The Karpo APP can help you line up the rest of your Long Beach day around your two-hour table.