Guests sign the register plate

CORRESPONDENT

Amy Ruvulo creates guest registries as mementoes that brides can hang on their wall –– after they bake it at 350 degrees, that is. A graphic artist and ceramist, the Gloucester native makes commemorative plates that carry any message the bride and groom want, usually their names and wedding date.

But Ruvulo goes one step further by providing a special pen that writes on ceramic.

That allows the wedding guests to sign the plate, instead of a guest registry. All the couple have to do to make a very personal work of art, is bake the plate in an ordinary oven at 350 degrees. It’s even dishwasher safe! Ruvulo owns Brush Strokes, a ceramics shop at 352 Main St., Gloucester.

“It’s awesome,” said Leeanne Munson Ciaramitaro, whose 16- inch wedding plate bears the signatures of the 220 people who attended her wedding to Vito Ciaramitaro on May 22. “You can hang it on your wall. “Amy drew a picture of what was on our wedding invitation, a bride and groom. Then everybody signed it. It’s new and interesting and creative.”

Commemorative plates come in two sizes and shapes. A seven-inch salad plate costs $40; the 16 inch round or oval platter costs $100. Ruvulo, the mother of three children, has owned Brush Strokes Ceramics for six years. Open six days a week, the shop sells ceramic equipment and supplies. She offers instruction on Friday nights.

An art major in high school, Ruvulo never lost interest in art, especially ceramics.

“But I stumbled into the business when I went to Munson’s Craft Store to take courses in ceramics. I found that I knew more about it than the owner and ended up teaching courses for her three nights a week.”

She eventually bought the crafts store from Leeanne’s mother and about five years ago, she converted it into a ceramics studio. Weddings are not the only important event recorded on Ruvulo’s plates.

“People buy them for any occasion they would buy a card for — to commemorate the birth of a baby or a bridal shower,” she said.

A child’s hand or foot print is also very popular.

Brush Strokes is open Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from noon to 5 p.m.; Friday from 3 to 9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.