Ceramic zombie heads and Khobar’s "paint your own pottery" cafe

Desperate to do something different, my friends and I went to a ceramics cafe in Al Rashid Mall. It's a place where you can sit down and order food, all while painting your own pottery. On their Facebook page the cafe markets itself as a kid friendly place, but after double checking that they did in fact sell food and ceramic items to those who've gone through puberty, my friends and I indulged our inner five-year-olds and painted zombie faces.*
The place has shelves upon shelves of different plain white blank items (bisques) you can choose from. They've got bowls,

A lovely finished product that was on the shelf among its brothers and sisters waiting to be painted.

mugs,

teapots,

They also had a really strange looking teapot with a handle that stuck out horizontally. Do you know what that's called?

Yes I know that's a cookie jar in the middle.

 plates,

I can confirm that that is a worm coming out of its nose.

 and figurines.

Finished products waiting to be picked up. Reminds me of Toy Story!

Once you've picked your bisque and are ready to start painting, a waiter brings you your ceramic paints (underglazes), brushes, a sponge and some water. First you have to wipe dust off your bisque with the sponge and a teeny bit of water, then apply three coats of underglaze, unless you want a more transparent look, waiting at least 30 seconds in between each coat for the underglaze to dry. The studio/cafe then puts it in the kiln for you and you come back in a week to pick up your artwork. Be prepared for your piece to be many shades darker than you expected. It's fun! Plus if you go in the morning you pretty much have the place to yourself. Just don't expect the staff to open on time because Khobar traffic's a pain in the neck. I'd also recommend you wear the art smocks they provide for the children. Mine was really great at catching my ful as it fell in my lap.

Also, give yourself enough time to paint and enjoy what you're doing! My friends and I only gave ourselves a little over an hour and who knows what kind of masterpieces we could have come up with had we the time?

*That's right. You don't get to know what we created until you come back and read the follow up post. HA!