Silver Canyon Pottery

I took my two teen-​aged daughters to do pottery today and it was amazing. Mallory was new, she admitted a couple of times that she was nervous but she did an amazing job. She spent a lot of time with us and showed us all around to pottery facility, talked about the history of Catalina Pottery and even let us take home some pieces of pottery that she found on the beach. This was the perfect way to end our amazing weekend in Catalina. I can’t wait to get our tiles in a couple of weeks! Thanks Robin and Mallory!

Awesome experience with Robin as our tour guide. She really loves what she does and it shows. We made our own tile and customized them with our choice of colors. This is by far the best tour on Catalina and I highly recommend it to everyone who visits the island. Thanks again Robin for sharing your knowledge of tile work and island history.

A fun, enriching experience for the whole family! Even my five year old had a great time and Robin is just wonderful! She has such a neat little studio and produces the most beautiful tiles! By far my most favorite activity during our trip!

If you are looking for something unique to do on Catalina Island then check out Silver Canyon Pottery’s 2 hour tile workshop!
Reasons why it was fabulous:
1.The location is off the beaten path (a challenge for the small town of Avalon) and the owner Robin comes and picks you up in town and takes you the mile or so to the shop.
2.You are then treated to a quick history of tile on the island. Robin knows her stuff and the love she has for the history, craft and beauty of Catalina tile shines through!
3. Making the tile is super easy! Robin’s instructions are clear and simple to follow. So many mold choices to pick!
4. Your hands get dirty and you get to take out your aggressions on the clay with a mallet. How awesome is that? Plus snazzy aprons and covers provided. And hand-​wipes after the tile creation.
5. After the tile has been created the mold, you pick out the colors. It takes a few weeks to dry and glaze the tile. (Robin and her tile elves hard at work) Then the tile is shipped to you.
I’m looking forward to my tiles arriving! Catalina has a lot of typical tourist things to do, I really don’t think you can find a more original and interesting activity on the island.

Absolutely a MUST! Such a unique couple of hours. Robin knows so much about the island, off the map places to go and do, and getting our hands dirty was the best part. I plan to do this again and again. I can’t wait for my tiles to arrive!

We recently participated in Robin’s afternoon Catalina Tile Tour. It was awesome. Robin picked us up at a very convenient, easy-​to-​find location near the boat terminal in her SUV and transported us to her studio on Pebbly Beach. Robin’s studio is located upstairs with a great view of the ocean. The tour begins with a description of island history and how the island became known for pottery and tile. Robin then showed us her tile molds. She has pretty much every pattern that adorns the buildings, fountains, and public spaces of Avalon. She allowed us each to choose three tile molds then gave us a quick demonstration on how to fill the mold with clay. First the clay is smoothed by hand then placed over the mold and folded into it. Next, we got to pound it into the model with a mallet. Finally the excess clay is scrapped away with a small wooden board. While our tiles began to dry, Robin showed us our color options and let us pick the glaze that she will use to finish our tile. She also showed us some of her other projects like the Catalina Marathon finisher medals that she makes each year. What an awesome medal — it made me want to run 26.2 miles! Finally Robin showed us how to take the clay out of our molds and how she would finish them once they dried. The tour was fascinating and a lot of fun. We got to make 3 tiles each as part of the tour. Guests can make additional tiles for about $ 5 each. We enjoyed seeing the pottery pieces Robin found washed ashore on Pebbly Beach, so before she took us back to Avalon she let us wander around the beach where we found a few small pieces of our own. Robin was also a great resource in recommending restaurants and hikes around the island. It was a fun and educational afternoon. I highly recommend this tour to anyone for its uniqueness and fun.

This is the best thing my boyfriend and I did on the island! Robin is amazing and we had such a great afternoon learning about the island and making tiles. It was even better because our studio tour was just the two of us. All the positive remarks from other reviewers are true. You can also buy her pieces directly from her studio as well. I would do this again.

win win all the way. 6 family members (3 children 3 adults) were picked up near our cruise ship dock by Robin’s shuttle. at her studio we learned catalina history, clay history and how to create our own tiles (we made 3 each). a great bonding experience. Robin is a gem.

I highly recommend a visit, for a great creative experience that’s a ton of fun.
Robin was so kind, along with being knowledgable about Catalina history, tile and geology.
Our group of four women were picked up by Robin and taken to the studio. The views were beautiful. Robin gave us a lesson on the geology of the area and the clay for the tiles, then a demo on the tile making process.
We were able to choose our tile styles and get to work, it was a fun process.
After finishing our tile we designed the color scheme, with Robins advice and finished the process.
Robin drove us back to town, and we finished our vacation.
We are now anxiously awaiting our finished tiles.

Great way to begin our recent trip to Avalon! Robin was great, super friendly and knows her craft. Her communication was stellar during the booking of our visit and when picking us up. The brief history of pottery on the island served well to help us appreciate our days in Avalon SO MUCH MORE. Can’t wait for the tiles we made to arrive! We had a blast!
Note: as other reviewers have mentioned, there is a (very sweet) dog that came with Robin to pick us up and hung out in the studio. If you aren’t a dog person, I would mention that and I’m sure it won’t be a problem.

Absolutely what Jason S said!!! LOL
We took the tour with Robin in November. It was when we were in port in Catalina on a short cruise to Mexico. It was by far the highlight of our entire trip!
Robin picked us up, right by where we got off of the ship. She drove us to her studio and gave us some history of the island on the way. She is so nice and personable and fun, and just a wonderful person to get to know! Plus she does have the sweetest dog ever and it is super well behaved! However just in case you are not a dog person, just let her know! The dog is so well behaved that it will stay out of sight. Of course we played with it, as we love dogs.
We arrived at her studio, and she gave us some really interesting information on the history of pottery and the pottery and tiles in Catalina. And then she showed us how to make our own tiles. It was so much fun! And you do not have to be artistic! My husband was very worried about that. No worries, you use molds. We got to make three tiles each and you can make more for a very small materials fee if you choose. We did do several more. It was so much fun. I would have been happy making tiles all day!
After making your tiles, you choose your colors for glaze and Robin does the rest! She even mails your finished tiles, very securely packaged, to your home! I could not be more impressed.
I would give Robin and her Silver Canyon Pottery Tour my highest possible recommendation. Even my hubby, who was skeptical about the tour said it was the highlight of our trip!
We are planning on taking our Son and his Girlfriend on the tour when we can coordinate a date that we are all available. It is that wonderful!
¹⁰⁄₁₀!!!