Nightlife Gets Colorful As Paint Bars Become Hot Spots

Coffee bars are over. Cigar bars, lets face it, aren’t really female friendly. Paint bars, which are springing up all over the place, is where the real action is especially for women.

“A paint bar no longer is a bunch of old ladies sitting at cafeteria tables painting ducks,” says Temple Canfield, co-owner of the Pullcart paint bar in New York, explaining how today’s setup differs from the days when our grandmothers used “go out with the girls to paint ceramics.”

The basic idea may be the same - customers choose a piece of unfinished pottery (like a teapot, goblet or soup mug) and create their own one-of-a-kind housewares - but the atmosphere has changed. Paint bars are now quite a scene.

One of New York City’s finest, a joint called Our Name is Mud has single nights and hosts theme parties, the most recent of which was organized by a 27-year-old moving into her first apartment. She and a bunch of pals took over the bar one night last week and she left armed with a dinner set custom made by her friends. Mud and another bar called Earthworks have retail departments which allow the artisticallyuninclined to select custom-made goodies.

The new paint bars provide clean, white bisque houseware items for clients to paint.

When you’ve completed your masterpiece, the paint bar will fire and glaze the item and have it ready within the week.