Express Yourself at Bisque & Brush

by Jan

How many times have you been spurred on in a creative endeavor after seeing someone else’s work and thinking, "Hey! I can do that!"? Well, that’s just what happened to Bisque & Brush owner Candyce Custer. On vacation in Delaware she discovered a beachside paint your own pottery place. She had so much fun there, that she returned home expecting to spend all her money at local paint your own pottery shops.

Surprisingly, there were no such operations to be found in her hometown of Rochester, NY. As fate would have it, things just fell into place, enabling Candyce to open a shop of her own. That was almost three years ago and Bisque & Brush has been going strong ever since. Located in a storefront on trendy Park Avenue, the shop has developed a loyal group of repeat customers who can either walk in and sit right down to paint or book parties in advance for any occasion.

Candyce stocks a wide variety of pottery pieces that have been fired once, turning them from greenware into bisque. So when you visit, you can just choose a piece that speaks to you and then get to work decorating it with the many different glazes, paints, stamps, and stencils that are always on hand.

Once the customer finishes her piece, Candyce goes to work, dipping the pieces in a clear top coat of glaze, cleaning the pieces, prepping them for the kiln, and finally, firing them. Of course Candyce, a craftygal at heart, keeps busy painting pieces and trying new techniques as well. In between the fun and creative parts of the business, and the paperwork grind, Candyce took some time to talk to us about her work.

craftygal: Why did you open Bisque and Brush?

Candyce Custer: To show people that they can do things, people who didn’t think they could. This place is for people who have that little spark where they want to try this, and then they see their end result and they’re so proud of themselves. They’re like "I can do it! I did it!" It’s also very relaxing for people. I have people who come in and do this for therapy.

cg:What motivates you?

CC: I’m the type of person who dives into something and goes whole-heartedly. My mother was an artist, my brother graduated with a degree in stone sculpting, my father uses the computer to design, my older brother just wrote a book, and my grandmother is a very talented artist as well. So, in terms of my background, I’ve been surrounded by a lot of art. That’s how I grew up and I was lucky to be able to express myself in whatever form I wanted to. There’s something in my blood and how I grew up.

cg: Where do you get ideas? What inspires your designs for your own pieces?

CC: I go to the bookstores a lot, but I’m also really impressed with what my customers do. I take bits and pieces from all over when I do my own designs. I can’t stick to one design, I like looking at different things and figuring out how maybe I could incorporate this with this. But I am very impressed with customers who come in and they don’t want to look at the ideas, they just go for it. I find that with kids a lot. I always want to do case studies here, because I feel like the older we get, the stricter we get. Thinking, "Oh, we have to do it a certain way." There’s a paranoia of making a mistake. And I have to admit that I start over again [after making a mistake] all the time. I’m trying to get better at letting it go.

cg: What’s the best advice you’ve been given regarding creative endeavors?

CC: It sounds very cliché, but it’s just express yourself. Do whatever you want. You have to turn into a kid and just let yourself go. Relax and don’t be scared. Enjoy yourself! The key is to have fun — don’t be intimidated by a blank slate. You can always break down a piece. People look at a piece and think "Oh my gosh, I could never do that." But if you break down a piece and look at the components you can see how it was done, and learn how to do it yourself.

And don’t be afraid to make mistakes. I learn so much from my mistakes. At the time they really stink, but you learn so much. You learn to not only accept your mistakes, but to work with them and even enjoy them.

This pitcher began with a Southwestern motif and became funky and abstract along the way.

cg: Does music play any role in your creative process?

CC: Most definitely. In high school and college I worked at music stores. I loved talking with the customers about music. They could hum a bar and I could find what they were looking for. I have versatile taste in music, but I really like 70’s music like the Eagles. For me, music is vitally important. A lot of [paint your own pottery] places have TVs, but music can bring out such different things, especially for this kind of place.

cg: Which of the following crafty ladies would you rather be stuck in an elevator with: Rosie O’Donnell, Mary Engelbreit, or Martha Stewart?

CC: Rosie O’Donnell, most definitely. Laughing is important to me, and I could have a good three-hour conversation with Rosie.

cg: Martha Stewart — devil or angel?

CC: I think that Martha Stewart has kind of brought crafting more to the light, because now it’s viewed as more okay and acceptable. Not that it wasn’t [acceptable] before, but now there’s a name attached to it. I think she’s really opened the eyes of people who might have turned up their noses at crafts before she came along.

cg: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

CC: I have been very blessed in what I have been able to do. I am so lucky with my family and that I have great people to work with. And, in terms of my customers, I am lucky that I generally work with people who are happy. I work hard, but it’s easy to do because I like what I do.

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