When I saw that Sophie Mcilwaine Ceramics was hosting a Galentine’s Tit-Tea workshop I just had to get my hands on some tickets. I set my alarm and patiently waited & I am so glad I did, because they sold out in 8 minutes! After all the lockdowns & restriction I was so excited to go to a workshop IN PERSON.
Sophie is a local ceramicist based in Lisburn, who makes gorgeous handmade small batch mugs and planters featuring boobs of all shapes & sizes. She states, ‘I aspire to encourage and empower people to feel confident within their bodies and to celebrate flaws.’
I already had a boob planter from Sophie, so I was looking forward to paint a piece of my own. So, on Sunday 13th February, me and my friend Sarah made our way to The Pocket to paint some beautiful tit-tea mugs. On arrival Sophie greeting us all in with a glass of prosecco in hand, and directed us to our mugs.
Sophie, with the help of her brother (we love a brother sister team) were so attentive, filling up glasses of prosecco, topping up paint colours & encouraging us to be bold with our designs. Each table also had lovely Galentine’s buns from JustAWeeBaker, which were beautiful & absolutely delicious.
Me & Sarah where at a table with two lovely sisters who we clicked with right away, & after a few sips of prosecco we were having great craic, discussing nipple colours & stretch marks. The first paint stroke was the scariest but we all got stuck in, encouraging each other with all our ideas. We all couldn’t help but look at everyone’s tables to see what their mugs looked like.
I really enjoyed this whole experience and would 10/10 recommend. Even if you are not artist, this a lovely evening to get together with friends to try something new and meet new like-minded people. We had such a great time, Sophie and her brother were so friendly and everything ran so smoothly. This workshop encourages body positivity and opens conversations about everyone’s lumps and bumps and how we should love our bodies and all its changes.
I also loved supporting a local artist and her growing business. Sophie is such a talented artist and I also recommend you have a wee nosey at her own collection.
Northern Ireland is full of so much talent and I can’t wait to attend more evenings such as this.
Above is some of my favourites from the workshop, though it was such a hard choice as they all turned out stunning.
Sophie also runs Paint-Tit Parties for your own events such as birthday parties, hen parties, baby shower and work events. This is such a lovely way to celebrate the female form, while having a cheeky wee prosecco and all the craic.
If you want to support Sophie, you can find her on her Instagram & website.
I couldn’t recommend her workshop more & definitely will be back.
Dearbhail
