Sheri Smith once stored her ceramic creations in her father’s workshop, but the clutter started to bug Don Smith.
So Don, the owner of Camper Capitol USA, decided to purchase a building for Sheri and her mother, Sue, “so they would move all that junk out of his space,” Sheri says. “Within minutes, we were store owners.”
That “junk” her father complained about now is stored in their ceramic shop, Finishing Touches, 9870 Plano, and business is booming, Sheri says.
“It seems like they (neighborhood) were so hungry for a ceramic shop,” Sheri says. Three area ceramic shops closed about the time the Smiths opened their doors two years ago, Sheri says.
“We just jumped in with both feet and put our heads together,” Sue says.
The shop sells ceramic tools and paints and has plenty of open space allotted for people to work on ceramics free of charge. Finishing Touches charges for supplies such as greenwear (molds), which cost from 50 cents to $20.
The greenwear can be fired at the shop and turned into bisque (the glossy product) for about half the price of the piece of greenwear.
Free instructional classes are held every Tuesday and Thursday night, and children’s classes are held on Saturdays. The studio is open for private ceramic parties Friday evenings.
Finishing Touches “regular” Linda Darnall visits the studio to paint ceramic pieces several times a week. Many of her friends meet at the studio at night to socialize and paint, she says. By watching each other paint, Darnall and her friends formulate new painting ideas, Darnall says.
“It’s like a B.B. gun pellet bouncing around a small room,” Darnall says.
The Smiths say many of their customers have become friends. Many customers are busy making ornaments for the Smiths’ next Christmas tree, Sheri says.
For information, call 214-340-5050.
