How to book a pottery, painting or craft workshop in Bengaluru

Paints and a canvas are a small part of a studio ticket. They cost about ₹260 to ₹310 at shop prices. The rest of an ₹1,800 class pays for the teacher, the room and the time, and for pottery the wheel and the kiln, which you can't have at home.

For a child's party, a local art teacher works too. You can ask a neighbourhood art teacher, a college student or the school's art teacher to run a table. Agree what they bring and who clears up.

A date for two. A public class runs 4 to 10 people, so you'll share the room unless you book a private session. No studio we read prints a price for one. A private session usually costs more than two public seats, because the teacher and the wheels are kept for the two of you, so expect more than the ₹3,300 to ₹4,500 two seats cost. Maati Sona, a pottery studio in HSR Layout we work with, runs private sessions for couples and friends, and both pieces come back fired and glazed in 3 to 4 weeks. Ask it for the price.

Friends, a kitty or a bachelorette at home. A host brings the paints and materials, sets up and clears up. Little Creatives Club's crafts for adults and kitty parties start at ₹5,000 a booking, planned around your budget, so ask what that covers for your number.

Your room. A host needs only the space. Tables and chairs help. Acrylic paint won't come out of a rug or a sofa once it dries, so cover the floor. A pottery or slime station needs floor space and a power point.

A team in several cities. Paint Cafe's kit, ₹599 in its sale (a pre-marked board, paint, a brush and dotting tools) comes with free shipping. One live online Lippan class lists ₹2,999, plus ₹540 for the kit. Post the kits well ahead, so every kit arrives before the session.

• For a date: pottery if you can wait for the pot, painting if you want something to carry home tonight.
• For small children: painting, or clay at a table. Paint Cafe takes children from 4 in its regular classes. Wheel and Potter's children's classes are hand-building and pottery painting, for 5 to 12, and Mud Effects' is hand-building, for 8 to 13.
• For an office or a kitty: something everyone finishes in the time, like a painted pot, a diya or a canvas.
• For yourself: one class first, then a course if you like it.

You don't need to be any good. Wheel and Potter, Mud Effects, Mudcast and Paint Cafe all say beginners are welcome, and the teacher leads the whole way.

What the extra usually pays for. Mostly people's time. With fewer learners to each teacher, you get more help at the wheel. After class, a potter trims your bowl, glazes it and fires it, and a studio with its own kiln and a shelf of glazes can give you a choice of colour. This is how the trade usually works. Studios don't print why they charge what they do.

Compare the whole bill. Ask how many pieces you take home and whether firing, glazing and GST are in. If you want one mug for yourself, the price per piece matters more than the hours. At Mud Effects, ask what the firing costs before you pay.

• Firing and glazing: firing is in at Wheel and Potter, Mudcast and Fabrizo, and extra at Mud Effects. The glaze is in at Wheel and Potter and Fabrizo. Mudcast's price list names firing, and its page says fired and glazed, so ask.
• GST: in at Mud Effects, and in Wheel and Potter's courses. Ask the others.
• Per person or per group: Mud Effects, Wheel and Potter and Mudcast price per person. Art Beat sells tickets, including couple tickets. Ask Paint Cafe.
• Extra heads: Little Creatives Club adds ₹500 to ₹1,000 for each child over 10. A party station is priced for the 3-hour slot, so ask how many children it can take.
• Travel: Sankalana Decorations is free within about 20 km of Varthur and adds transport beyond, and Little Creatives Club charges none for now.
• A minimum: Little Creatives Club's is ₹5,000 a booking for adults, and 10 children on its children's menu.
• Collecting the piece: Mud Effects hands pieces over on weekends, 11 am to 3 pm, and a piece not collected within a month is thrown away.
• Beginners' work: ask the host for photos of what beginners made in their sessions.

Pottery. Clay has to dry before it's fired: over 15 days at Mud Effects, and 3 to 4 weeks at Wheel and Potter and at Maati Sona. Mudcast's page says wheel pieces go home the same day, and doesn't say if they're fired. At a party pottery station, ask whether the pots will be fired.

Getting it home. Plan to go back for it. Studios usually keep your piece for you to collect, and some will courier it if you ask, at the courier's rate. Mud Effects hands pieces over on weekends and throws away what isn't collected within a month.

Painting. A canvas or a painted pot goes home the same day. Acrylic won't wash out of clothes once it's dry, so wear something old. Fifty wet canvases at an office need a table to dry on.

Resin and air-dry clay. Resin needs a day or more to set, so it isn't ready that evening. Air-dry clay needs no kiln, but it cracks and won't hold water.

Drinking from it. Maati Sona glazes its workshop pieces with a food-safe glaze and fires them twice. Ask any other studio before you drink tea from a mug you made.

As a gift. Book the class and give the pot when it's back, or ask the studio for a voucher so they pick the date.

Ask what the children take home from a station. A pot that hasn't been fired stays fragile clay and won't hold water. And with one wheel for a whole party, ask how long each child gets on it.

A station suits children who arrive at different times, or a big crowd, since it runs for three hours. If you want everyone busy at the same time, each making a piece to carry home, choose a table.

What the more expensive craft buys. At Little Creatives Club, ₹5,000 for 10 children paints a keychain, magnet, cloth bag or coaster. ₹7,000 makes bracelets or decorates a photo frame, and ₹10,000 makes a hand mirror, sunglasses or a magic wand. Each takes 1 to 1.5 hours and includes the same things. The money buys a craft with more parts to put together.

What parents told us they'd spend. One wanted two hours of hair beading, glitter tattoos and a craft to take home, then an hour of games, for 15 children, at ₹10,000. Another had ₹11,000 to ₹15,000 for a host to run games and a craft for 15 seven-year-olds over two hours.

Little Creatives Club takes enquiries from offices too. Her smallest booking for a group of adults is ₹5,000, and she plans the craft around your budget.

People who don't come. A host usually buys the canvases, pots or clay for the number you confirm a few days before, so that's the number you pay for. Ask the last day you can change it, and whether a few extra people on the day can join.

For a big team, ask how many teachers come. For pottery, Wheel and Potter brings wheels to your office and sets no limit on numbers there. At its own studio it takes up to 20.

Pick a craft everyone finishes in the time. A painted diya or pot can go home that evening. Canvases need a table to dry on, and fired pottery comes back to the office weeks later.

Settle the paperwork first. Ask for a GST invoice and the payment terms before you book, since a small host may want UPI on the day. Mud Effects prints its prices with GST in, and Wheel and Potter its courses.

Drinks and a team in other cities are in Q2.

If the studio cancels, Wheel and Potter refunds in full. If it closes for severe weather or an infectious disease such as Covid-19, it moves your class and doesn't refund.

If your child falls sick or it rains. Neither party host here has told us a rule for this. Usually a host moves the party to a date she's free, and keeps the part of the advance already spent on materials. So ask both before you pay.

For an office or a big party, get it in writing: the advance, the last day you can cancel for a refund, and what happens if fewer people come.