Pottery Table for Kids

Posted on 23 May 2015 by NixNivis

Category: Hobbies -> Misc.
EPs Required: Open for Business + Free Time
Cost: $750
Poly Count: Low poly (700)

You know the Yeti I told you about before? The one who wanted an outhouse for their blind date? Well, before they decided that an outhouse was the most romantic way to go, Yeti and I brainstormed a bit about what might be a good thing to bring to their date. One of the things that were on the table, was something that would let children gain pottery skills. At first, I tried to add pottery skilling to a custom object, but after failing spectacularly a number of times, I decided it would be easier just to clone the pottery wheel and make it so that kids could use it. (Yes, I thought it would be easier to do it that way. That’s how spectacularly I failed. 😛 ) So, I did. But then the nice Yeti thought it wouldn’t be fair to keep it just for their blind date, they thought I ought to post it on my site instead. So, I am.

With the Potter’s Apprentice Pottery Table, your Sim children can craft everything their parents and older siblings can with the pottery wheel. And just like their parents and older sibs, they’ll both gain pottery skill and earn badges in potter, that will of course stay with them as they age up. 😀 The table can only be used by children, though; it seemed only fair, since older Sims already has the pottery wheel to play with, that kids can’t.

The table is not animated. Safer for little fingers that way. (That, and it seemed a bit odd for the clay to be turning when there are no pedal or cogwheels to make it. Why there’s no pedal? Because the animation for the full-sized pottery wheel didn’t work for it, and also because the child wouldn’t have stepped on it anyway – he/she would have been stepping through it. And then people would have been making snarky comments about that instead. 🙄 ) Also, it’s repositoried to the pottery wheel, so any and all recolours you have for the wheel will also appear for the table – and of course, if you want to recolour the table, you’d recolour the wheel instead.

From the Top

From the Side

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I was a child and played with clay, I’d get clay all over. 🙄 I imagine Sim children would be the same. So, in order to keep the clay at bay I made your apprentice potters outfits with an apron to keep off the worst clay spatters, short sleeves (because you know what the wristlets would look like with long sleeves), and hard-wearing trousers with trainers, so your Sim parents can just put the whole kit and caboodle in the washer if they get messy. (If the clothes get messy, I mean. Not the parents.)

Even though little Beth here is our model (you’ve met her before, BTW, in her medieval incarnation), all the outfits are for both girls and boys:

But wait, there’s more! Just in case your little apprentice potters think those plates they have to keep on making before they can move on to more interesting things look all drab and boring, the awesome Shastakiss has made some absolutely adorable recolours for them! Swatch courtesy of Shasta:

Plate Recols

These ought to be a lot more fun for the kiddies to make, don’t you think? 😀

Known Issues

If you interrupt your Sim’s crafting and then have them resume it, you won’t get the menu options to “Resume” or “Scrap” the item, but the usual “Make One…” and “Make Many…”. However, if you tell your Sim to make the same kind of object they did before, even though they’ll start with fresh clay, they’ll pick up the crafting where they left off (so if the item was 75% finished, they’ll start with the progress bar already at 75%). If you tell them to make a different object, the clay for the old object will simply disappear and they’ll start from scratch making the new one. So the function to resume and scrap is there, you just don’t get the menu options for it.

(In theory, I know why this is happening: The marker (flag) that tells the table crafting is in progress isn’t set properly, and without this marker, the table won’t know your Sim is already crafting something, and so you won’t get the menu options to resume/scrap it. Problem is, I have no idea why the flag isn’t set properly, so I can’t fix it. 😦 But as I said, the function is still there, so I’m not considering it something object-breaking.)

Special Thanks…

…to Shastakiss the Yeti, who not only inspired this object, but also was the best beta tester and made awesome recolours for the plates. U rock!! ❤

Pottery Table

[Google Drive] [MEGA]

Potter’s Apprentice Outfits

[Google Drive] [MEGA]

42 thoughts on “Pottery Table for Kids”

Gina on 23 May 2015 at 21:35 said:

SQUUUUEEEEE!!!! This is so awesome!

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- NixNivis on 29 May 2015 at 11:30 said:
  
  Thank you! Glad you like it! D
  
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Peni Griffin on 23 May 2015 at 21:57 said:

Holey mother of cheese, this is great! But now I want child-sized OFB crafting tables and sewing machines and…

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- Gina on 23 May 2015 at 22:14 said:
  
  Sounds good to me 😉
  
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- Alet on 29 May 2015 at 11:13 said:
  
  Me too!
  
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- NixNivis on 29 May 2015 at 11:36 said:
  
  Thank you! I’m so glad you like it! 😀
  
  Are you all trying to tell me something here? *looks suspicious* 😛 The sewing machine might be tricky, but I’m reasonably sure I could make a flower crafting station for kids, at least. Quite possibly the other OFB stations, too – it all depends on whether I can find good animations for it, or at least animations I can get away with. (Objects, I can animate myself, but Sims are much more difficult, so I pretty much have to rely on the game for that. But I’ll poke and prod at things for a bit, and see what I can come up with. 🙂 No promises, though!
  
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Sandy S on 24 May 2015 at 07:38 said:

What a great fun object and fruitful collaboration!! Many thanks to you and the Yeti 🙂

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- NixNivis on 29 May 2015 at 11:37 said:
  
  The Yeti has the best ideas! 😀 And thank you! I’m glad you like it!
  
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shastakiss on 24 May 2015 at 11:05 said:

Nix! I’m so excited it’s all finished and I promise you it’s cuter than ever! Thank you so much for making such a wonderful and for letting me be a part of this 😀 (I’m going think of subtle ways to get you to collaborate again sneaky) ♥

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- NixNivis on 29 May 2015 at 11:51 said:
  
  Me, too! 😀 And I’m so glad you inspired me to do this; if you hadn’t started talking about kids gaining pottery skill, I’d never have though of something this crazy. Clever, I mean! Clever! 😉
  
  (And subtlety is overrated. 😉 I’m trying to come up with something, too, because this was fun! ❤ )
  
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Penelope T on 24 May 2015 at 14:53 said:

Oh my…this is so wonderful! I love…love…love having things for my Sim kiddies to do (especially since I use Phaenoh’s Summer Vacation mod).

Thanks so much, Nix and Shasta! The two of you really do make the game so much more. 🙂

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- NixNivis on 29 May 2015 at 11:47 said:
  
  Want to know something? I used to use that mod of Phaenoh’s, but I ended up taking it out because having the kids at home all day was driving me bonkers – I just didn’t know what to do with them! So I can absolutely see how this would be useful like that. 🙂 I’m so glad you like it, and that Shasta came up with the idea!
  
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Jason Duskey Padilla on 25 May 2015 at 04:48 said:

This is awesome! Your creativity never ceases to amaze me.

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- NixNivis on 29 May 2015 at 12:48 said:
  
  N’aww. Thank you! This was all Shasta’s ~~fault~~ idea, though, if they hadn’t started talking about kids and pottery skill I never would have thought of it. I’m crazy, but I’m not that crazy! 😉
  
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Charity322 on 26 May 2015 at 06:31 said:

Okay, I have to know now. How did the Yeti’s blind date go? XD

This is great, thanks! I foresee my sim children getting very messy in the near future. XD

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- NixNivis on 29 May 2015 at 12:51 said:
  
  AFAIK it went really well. 😀 I do know the date really liked the outhouse (and all the other stuff the Yeti brought them, too, they (Yeti) practically showered them (Date) with gifts), so skipping that outdated flower thing was apparently a good idea. 😉
  
  And thank you! I’m glad you and your Simlets like it! 😀 Messy and kids are always a hit. 😉
  
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- shastakiss on 6 Jun 2015 at 13:13 said:
  
  The date was fantastic haha! We had a great time BUT it was very hard to keep the pottery-tables-in-progress a secret
  
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nonni222 on 26 May 2015 at 20:41 said:

Many Huge Thanks, Nix, Darling!

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- NixNivis on 29 May 2015 at 12:52 said:
  
  And thank you, dearest Nonni! ❤
  
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ansku on 28 May 2015 at 10:47 said:

Thank you so much ♥ It looks awesome and I can’t even express how excited I’m about it. I think I might need to get some kids to my legacy family to test it out :3

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- NixNivis on 29 May 2015 at 16:00 said:
  
  Thank you! I’m absolutely thrilled that so many people seem to like it so much (and I hope their Sim kids will, too)! 😀 It wasn’t the easiest thing to make, but this kind of overwhelming reception makes it all worth it.
  
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Alet on 29 May 2015 at 11:14 said:

Thank you so much for making the game fun, fun fun!

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- NixNivis on 29 May 2015 at 16:02 said:
  
  Thank you! I’m so glad you like it! 😀 I think it’s amazing that after all these years, there are still things to be made that can make this game we all love just a little better. 🙂
  
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NixNivis on 29 May 2015 at 11:30 said:

Aww, thank you! ❤ I'm so glad you like it, it was fun to make. Even though I got a bunch of new grey hairs in the process. 😉

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Rachael on 31 May 2015 at 18:36 said:

This is absolutely AMAZING! Wow. This is perfect for my game and will get lots of use! Awesome creators like you are why TS2 will always be fun. Thanks for sharing 🙂

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- NixNivis on 11 Aug 2015 at 09:55 said:
  
  So very sorry for the late reply! I missed this comment somehow. 😦 But thank you for commenting, I’m so glad you like this and will have use for it! It was fun to make, even if I got a bunch of (new) grey hairs in the process. 😉
  
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vanyadolly on 14 Jun 2015 at 15:07 said:

Amazing! Finally the little kiddies can bring home presents for mum and dad to display on the mantle.

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- NixNivis on 11 Aug 2015 at 10:01 said:
  
  SO sorry for the late reply, I somehow missed this comment, too. 😦 But I’m very glad you like it! I don’t understand why EAxis didn’t make the pottery wheel for children in the first place, seems like a perfect one for kids to me. But more fun stuff for me to make since they didn’t. 😉
  
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The Storysimmer on 20 Sep 2015 at 17:47 said:

This is so awesome, thank you for sharing!

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- NixNivis on 23 Sep 2015 at 17:21 said:
  
  You’re very welcome. 😀 Glad you like it!
  
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Laura Mollett on 21 Oct 2015 at 13:23 said:

This is awesome. Thank you so much!

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- NixNivis on 23 Oct 2015 at 14:09 said:
  
  Very glad you like it! And thanks for commenting! 😀
  
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ankoyume on 6 Dec 2015 at 16:54 said:

hey ! What a good idea ! I love kids stuffs and I love crafting stations. Thanks to you, I get both in one row !

Once I have added some dirt on the sims that use the pottery station. It’s overlays that can be “washed” in the sink. If you want me to add it to your object, just tell me so…
If you want to see what it looks like : http://www.medievalsims.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=239&t=6768
If you want to contact me : http://modthesims.info/member.php?u=8337717

Ankoyume.

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- NixNivis on 6 Dec 2015 at 19:11 said:
  
  First and foremost, glad you like it! 😀
  
  Thank you for the kind offer, but I prefer to modify my things myself, and even though the dirt overlays are a great idea, I’d like to keep this object as it is. But as I said, thanks for the offer!
  
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  - ankoyume on 7 Dec 2015 at 19:43 said:
    
    It’s fine ! 😉
    
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croiduire on 6 Jun 2016 at 17:13 said:

I am loving this so very much! Thank you for making it and giving my sprogs a head start on earning badges. However, I have a suggestion that’s been niggling at me ever since I read your positive response to the comments about child-sized OFB crafting tables; I finally decided to mention it. Would it be possible–that is, would it be something you’d be interested in taking on–to make a child-sized, toy cash register that would let children earn their cashiering badge? Perhaps something like a smlish version of this one?

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- croiduire on 6 Jun 2016 at 17:17 said:
  
  Annnd I just totally borked the image. Sorry about that! I thought word press used html.
  
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  - NixNivis on 6 Jun 2016 at 20:19 said:
    
    Don’t worry, I’ve un-borked it for you. 🙂 And it does, but it’s utterly unforgiving if you miss anything anywhere. You’d missed the final > .
    
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- NixNivis on 6 Jun 2016 at 20:17 said:
  
  Thank you! I’m very glad you like it. 😀 And pottery seemed like a very logical thing for little Simlets to learn (not that I was the one who thought of it 😛 ); I mean, what kid doesn’t like to play with clay?!
  
  Does it have to be child-sized and child-friendly-looking? Because if it’s just the badge you’re after, and you don’t mind if it doesn’t look appealing to kids, Numenor has a cash register here that lets both adults and children practise cashiering. (Children don’t get the actual badge until they age up, though; they do get the skill, but the badge doesn’t become visible in their inventory until they become teens.) Would that work? Otherwise, sure, I’d be happy to give it a go. 🙂
  
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  - croiduire on 7 Jun 2016 at 10:42 said:
    
    Thank you for considering this! Numenor’s works beautifully, but the fun and “kid-ness” just isn’t there. I was thinking how happy your simlet looks learning pottery, and, real world, how much my kids and grandkids loved playing with their toy cash registers. An item that is to a real register what the toy oven is to a real stove would be awesome, but motives matter more to me than meshes; any of the in-game registers (perhaps scaled down?) would be just fine. Heck, if there is a way to shrink the Llamark Electronic Cash Register without breaking existing recolours, Michelle already has a set in the LACK palette; I don’t think you can get any more “kid friendly” than purple, orange, red, and pink! ^_^
    
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    - NixNivis on 7 Jun 2016 at 14:01 said:
      
      You’re absolutely right about that, Numenor’s cash register is functional, but no fun for kids at all. And IMO for the young ‘uns, skill/badge building should be fun, and not a chore – more like an added bonus to doing something they like. So kid-friendly cash register it is! 🙂 Might be a while before I get to it, though, I have some other projects I want to finish first. But it’s absolutely on my to-do list!
      
      And simply scaling something down doesn’t mess with the mapping (and even if I might have to move some things around, that shouldn’t, either, not if I’m careful and/or take care with how I remap things), so there shouldn’t be a problem making it repository it to the big Llamark Cash Register. I agree, you can’t get much more kid-friendly than those recols! 😀
      
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      - croiduire on 7 Jun 2016 at 20:28 said:
        
        Thank you so much! I know that whenever you get around to it, it will be awesome, and I’m in no hurry whatsoever
        
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