He was a TV writer. Now he 'tattoos' mugs and teaches others how to make their own

Steve Stringer works his imagination occupation retired of a shed successful Melrose Hill.

The 500-square-foot outbuilding wasn’t wherever Stringer, an L.A.-based ceramicist, imagined mounting up shop. The time helium recovered it, helium was touring a neighboring Western Avenue property. When that abstraction turned retired to beryllium excessively large for an creation studio, the landlord told Stringer helium was escaped to instrumentality a look astatine the shed retired back.

In this series, we item autarkic makers and artists, from glassblowers to fibre artists, who are creating archetypal products successful and astir Los Angeles.

Upon archetypal glance, the spot looked a spot shoddy, Stringer said. But it had bully bones and a concealed treasure benignant of appeal. He told the landlord he’d instrumentality it.

“But I’m calling it a backhouse,” helium said.

After a monthlong DIY renovation, Steve’s Backhouse opened its doors successful May. Each period since, Stringer has hosted a slate of originative workshops — astir of them sold retired — astatine the studio, including his signature Tattoo a Mug class, during which participants decorate mugs hand-spun by Stringer successful a patchwork tattoo style.

Stringer formerly took his workshops to vintage stores and java shops crossed L.A. Back then, helium lugged his supplies astir the metropolis and did his champion to accommodate to immoderate seating statement his big venue had available.

At Backhouse, the ceramicist meticulously created a layout with thing for everyone: barroom seats for singles, a communal array for socializers and smaller tables for groups and dates. There’s besides a fewer outdoor spots, though those weren’t truthful deliberately planned.

“I accidentally sold 8 other tickets for a class,” helium said, chuckling astatine himself. So helium improvised.

It took Stringer the amended portion of a time to acceptable up his Tattoo a Mug store successful mid-September. When helium was finished, Backhouse looked arsenic aesthetically curated arsenic a Michelin-starred restaurant.

“I’m fortunate that the workshops are popular,” said ceramicist Steve Stringer. “That is however I was capable to unfastened this arsenic a business.”

Throughout the room, matching mushroom lamps formed a lukewarm glow implicit Stringer’s handcrafted wood tables. Atop them laic 32 identical array settings, each containing a No. 2 pencil, an underglaze pencil, an eraser, a insubstantial towel, a reddish clay mug and a flash expanse — a printout of prime Stringer-signature designs, modeled aft the ones created by tattoo artists.

It’s harder than radical deliberation to travel up with things to gully connected the spot, Stringer said earlier the September workshop, truthful helium provides the flash sheets arsenic inspiration for attendees. This peculiar expanse was summer-themed, featuring sketches of shrimp cocktail and a Spongebob Squarepants popsicle.

“I’m not precious astir my ain art,” helium said. “I don’t mean to undersell it, but I similar that radical are into it capable to privation to enactment it connected their portion too.”

The facade of Steve’s Backhouse features an oversized mentation of a canine that often appears successful Steve Stringer’s art, which was painted by Jenna Homen.

Stringer said he’s ever had a grip connected his illustration benignant — quaint, witty and a spot kitschy — but the distinctive look that his ceramics stock besides developed retired of necessity.

“It’s beauteous tricky to gully connected pottery and get it to, like, clasp up,” Stringer said. “So anyway, erstwhile I recovered the materials that worked, that benignant of dictated my style. It each looks a small unsmooth — benignant of similar a kid did it.”

Fiona Chen sketches her mug designs successful pencil, the archetypal measurement of the Tattoo a Mug process.

Recurring motifs, including a trio of nondescript dogs that respective store attendees adopted for their ain mugs, adorned assorted Stringer originals strewn astir Backhouse.

Stringer built astir of the studio’s interior himself, prevention for prime furnishings and an Ikea shelving portion helium painted cobalt bluish to lucifer the room’s colorful aesthetic. Equal parts whimsical and curated, the abstraction landed visually determination betwixt a kindergarten schoolroom and a depository gallery.

It was unmistakably the enactment of an artist.

“I decidedly was ever into the creation stuff, [but] I didn’t cognize what way it was gonna take,” Stringer said. “It turns retired it conscionable took each path.”

Until recently, Stringer’s biography was reasonably modular for a Hollywood transplant.

He got his master’s grade successful screenwriting successful Texas, moved to L.A. and grinded astatine 1 adjunct occupation aft different earlier helium yet got the imagination gig successful a writer’s room, penning connected shows “Roswell, New Mexico” and “Tell Me a Story.” Then, arsenic the communicative goes for galore successful Hollywood, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, triggering an manufacture slowdown and leaving Stringer retired of work.

But past came the crippled twist: Stringer struck golden again.

At first, ceramics was conscionable an flight from the monotonous copywriting enactment Stringer dreaded.

Steve Stringer, center, instructs an lawsuit subordinate during his Tattoo a Mug workshop.

“I decidedly didn’t envision it arsenic a watercourse of income. It was therapeutic,” helium said. On apical of that, Stringer was connected a tattoo footwear but excessively risk-averse to ink anyone but himself. Ceramics were a cleanable substitute.

But Stringer ne'er did thing halfway, said John Bellina, his longtime person and erstwhile roommate. The 2 moved unneurotic to L.A. aft completing the screenwriting master’s programme astatine the University of Texas astatine Austin successful 2013.

“Even though I’m not 100% large with the art, I emotion doing the creation worldly and being astir radical and conscionable doing thing creative,” said Mary Anne Rose, who attended the Tattoo a Mug store with her daughter, Jen Rose.

“He would constitute an full medium successful his room, and I wouldn’t adjacent perceive him grounds it. And it would beryllium fantastically composed,” Bellina said of his friend’s galore talents. When Stringer sketched, helium said, “it wasn’t conscionable doodles. It was meticulously drawn. And his lines were perfect.”

So erstwhile Stringer’s casual hobby became a full-fledged business, Bellina said helium wasn’t surprised. The ceramicist’s creation signifier integrated overmuch of the enactment helium did before.

Elaine Chen draws with a pencil connected her mug.

As a TV writer, Bellina said, Stringer had a beardown dependable and “always could find a mode to the gag truthful quickly.”

It’s the aforesaid mode with his ceramics, which often diagnostic puns oregon different quips, Bellina said. “You person specified constricted abstraction to marque 3 words truly popular and you get precisely what he’s going for,” helium said.

On apical of that, Bellina and Stringer, arsenic postgraduate students successful their aboriginal 20s, unneurotic taught undergraduate screenwriting classes, “and I conjecture successful a agelong and roundabout mode those terminal degrees came around,” Bellina said.

Steve Stringer, center, instructs during his Tattoo a Mug workshop.

At his September workshop, Stringer shrugged connected the creation teacher archetype similar an aged sweater. For the archetypal 5 minutes, helium gave a monologue, moving his mode done a step-by-step mentation of the “tattoo” process, which helium said jokingly, “is not a happening — I conscionable made it up for TikTok.”

“The stakes are low. You can’t truly messiness it up,” helium said, assuring his pupils. “And if you hide anything, I’m blessed to repetition myself. I bash it each the time.”

For the adjacent 2 hours, Stringer roved the room, pausing to sharpen pencils oregon praise participants’ designs. When Ellie Alfeld asked whether her underglaze pencil lines were excessively thick, helium assured her they were conscionable right.

“Do you person to accidental that — that it’s perfect?” Alfeld’s girlfriend, Sofia Leimer, asked. Stringer rapidly answered, “No,” truthful earnestly it was intolerable not to judge him.

Stringer’s favourite spot to linger was successful the beforehand doorway, wherever helium could ticker implicit the indoor and outdoor crowds. When idiosyncratic called for him mid-task, helium told them, “I’ll travel back.”

But helium ne'er hovered, store attendee Celine Cormier said. “He benignant of conscionable pops successful erstwhile you request that enactment oregon direction,” she said.

Lucero Garcia shows her “tattooed” mug that matches her limb tattoo.

Cormier has attended respective of Stringer’s workshops, including his archetypal Tattoo a Mug class. She said she keeps coming backmost because, to her, there’s thing rather similar the ambiance Stringer creates.

“L.A. and the creation scene, it tin beryllium a small exclusionary,” Cormier said.

At Backhouse, wherever the doorway is wide unfastened and caller flowers are connected the table, “you astir consciousness similar you’re going to someone’s house,” she said.

In different words, Stringer mightiness marque his wealth creating and teaching ceramics. But “Steve’s main concern is the creation of bringing radical together,” said Josie Francis, co-founder of originative arts signifier Fuzz & Fuzz and a past store co-host of Stringer’s.

Steve Stringer draws respective recurring characters connected his ceramics, including a trio of dogs that present beryllium astatine a meal table.

Stringer’s ceramics signifier besides orchestrated accidental meetings successful his ain life.

Bridget Derraugh, Stringer’s woman of astir 2 years, was casually scrolling connected Hinge successful outpouring 2024 erstwhile she stumbled crossed a ceramicist whose enactment looked familiar. Eventually, she came to recognize she’d utilized 1 of the guy’s mugs astatine a friend’s location a fewer days before.

The mug was from the archetypal marketplace Stringer ever sold astatine — Derraugh’s person had been his archetypal customer.

The 2 messaged backmost and distant astir the serendipity of it all, and needless to say, “the day went truly well,” Derraugh said, smiling shyly.

When Stringer told Derraugh astir his thought for Backhouse, she wasn’t definite whether it was feasible, financially oregon otherwise.

“But conscionable knowing his personality,” Derraugh said, “he has the originative side, but helium besides is simply a planner and precise diligent and attentive to item — and tin beryllium a perfectionist sometimes.

“I was conscionable benignant of like, ‘Yeah, if anyone’s gonna bash it, it’s you,’” she said.

Celine Cormier paints a cherry connected her mug, which she planned to springiness a person arsenic a day present.

“In immoderate ways,” Stringer said, “I consciousness overmuch much similar I was meant to beryllium doing this. I loved TV penning erstwhile I was doing it, but I similar looking back, possibly I ne'er afloat acceptable in.”

Right now, Stringer is ramping up connected wholesale deals and looking to trial retired a drop-in benignant exemplary astatine Backhouse. He’s not definite what’s adjacent for the place, but he’s gladsome that dissimilar erstwhile helium worked successful the amusement industry, he’ll get to marque that determination erstwhile the clip comes.

“For bully reason, TV has operation and rules,” helium said. “But I get to marque up the rules here.”