Many paint-your-own-pottery places know how to help you get cute baby footprints on plates, mugs, etc.
We made trivets (the cheapest pottery available was a flat tile). I recommend tackling the cheaper pieces instead of taking on the set of pasta bowls, but suit yourself.
At Berkeley’s Brushstrokes Studio, they have seen their fair share of Moms’ Group outings and newborns squishing their hands and feet into paint and onto ceramic and had a few tips for us:
- Paint and stamp feet instead of hands because babies clench their fists when they freak out. (Also they stick their hands in their mouths with much greater ease! So, Yuck.)
- If you’re going to decorate the piece, do that BEFORE waking up your baby, because the baby may freak out necessitating a hasty retreat.
- If the little footprint is less than perfect, you can use a paintbrush to fill in missing toes.
Again, I will stress to you: Paint everything you want on your piece while baby sleeps (or friend holds him) then do the feet and race out the door, because he’s likely to be pissed off.
At least that’s how it was with us.
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This is a great idea and sounds like a fun outing.
Looking for a cheap alternative? I was at loss for father’s day gifts a few weeks back. My son Carter was only a couple weeks old and I wanted to do something personal and keepsake worthy, but wasn’t sure I wanted to dish out $30 bucks at a craft store, only to have the whole project melt down to a big blob. Instead, I invested $6 in washable inkpads of multiple colors and dug up some old picture frames. I set Carter up on a big bath towel. Using a clipboard and some plain white computer paper, I stamped each foot with the ink pad and then brought the clipboard with computer paper to each foot. After a few practice trials, we perfected the process, and I settled on a couple prints that I felt were “frame worthy.” Using a plain ol’ sharpie pen and some fancy penmanship, I labeled the masterpiece with his name and age at the time of the impression. We made one for Dad, and one for each new grandpa. Priceless!