According to Noelle Ingram, art is a form of therapy for some people, and at her shop in Northport a day of therapy won’t cost anywhere near what it might for a therapist.
“[I love] the creativity,” said Ingram, owner of All Fired Up. “It’s kind of like art class without the teacher.”
All Fired Up is a shop in Northport where customers can paint ceramics and create mosaics.
The store opened in 2004 in a small storefront near Winn Dixie. About three years ago they moved to their current location next to Northridge Fitness to accommodate their growth.
“I had always been crafty, kind of a jack-of-all-trades, but not really an artist,” Ingram said. “I had seen a store like this somewhere else and someone said to me ‘this is you in a store.’ I thought [owning the store] would be a blast, and I thought there was a need here so I tried it.”
No appointment or reservation is needed to work at All Fired Up. Customers are encouraged to come “when they have time or are feeling inspired.”
For painting ceramics, All Fired Up offers everything from holiday decorations to plates and cookie jars to picture frames. The price ranges anywhere from small magnets that cost $1 to large plates and mirrors that can cost $50.
The studio fee, which is half the cost of your item, takes care of the rest of the costs at the store such as paint and materials, and glazing and firing. According to Ingram, the average project costs about $20 to $25.
“I love seeing other people get creative,” Ingram said. “I love customers who are literally looking for permission to draw anything on a plate and by the end they are getting creative. It’s like a mean art teacher in school made them scared to do anything fun.”
For customers who don’t consider themselves artsy, All Fired Up has inspiration coming from all sides of the store. Directions are hand painted onto the walls, finished ceramics are mixed in with the unpainted ones, and customers choose paint colors such as “butter me up” and “rocket red.”
“I love the store so much because it’s just kind of whatever goes and nothing matches but it all goes together,” Ingram said. “It’s just creative. It’s haphazard and random.”
Besides just offering paint, All Fired Up has the materials and instructions for different patterns such as a bubble pattern and lace patterns. They also have stencils, circular brushes for polka dots and writing paints.
Ingram said collegiate designs, especially Alabama, are some of the most popular themes she sees on ceramics and mosaics done in the store.
“[For Alabama themes] you’ll see simple things like a frame with polka dots, and then we’ll have people who will do intricate houndstooth designs over a whole item,” she said. “It’s amazing what people will do.”
The process of creating mosaics is similar to painting ceramics. Customers pick a surface, which range from $10 to $60, and glue tiles on however they want.
It takes mosaics about a day to dry before you come to grout the tiles and pick it up. For ceramics, it takes about a week to be glazed and fired. The process can be rushed, however, for a $5 fee ceramics can be ready in 24 hours.
Besides the daily painting, All Fired Up offers birthday parties, group discounts and summer camps. In the past Ingram has worked with sororities, church groups and schools for private parties. They can come into the shop and use the party room or All Fired Up can bring materials to them.
All Fired Up also hosts a no studio fee night, which allows customers to paint for only the cost of the item. Typically no studio fee night is held once a month, but to accommodate the increased traffic toward the holidays the shop has three in December. The first is this Friday, Dec. 2, the second is Friday, Dec. 9 and the last is Friday, Dec. 16. The no studio fees last from 6 to 9 p.m. and guests are limited to one item per person.
All Fired Up is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
