Weekend beginners throwing course (two-day)

Description

This course is divided into a throwing day on Saturday and a ‘turning’ and decorating day on Sunday.

Throughout the first day you will get an understanding of how to center clay as well as the basics of throwing pots on the wheel.
In the first session you will get a feel for how the wheel works and how the clay responds to your hands. You will start to center clay on the wheel and make a basic pot shape, whatever that might be! In the afternoon you will be guided through the process of making bowls before finally making an egg cup.
These courses work well because you can build on the skills that you learn in one session straight after another; the repetition of hand positions in the same day is great for muscle memory.

Day-two is spent learning the skill of ‘turning’ (or ‘trimming’: carving and shaping the bases of pots when they are ‘leather-hard’), an equally important skill and aspect of wheel-work. The decoration process in our studio is carried out using slips (liquid, coloured clay) and this is also applied at the leather-hard stage on the second day. The first thing to do is to chose your favorite pots to work on for the day. The morning session is spent learning the basics of turning and finishing. During the second session you’ll learn how to turn foot-rings into the bases of your bowls before decorating all of your work with slip in the afternoon.

The pots that are finished during the course of the two days will be dried, bisque-fired and then glazed by us in a clear glaze before they are glaze-fired, all of which is included in the price of the course. This process can take up to six weeks to complete after the course finishes. The pots are then ready to collect and to use!

These classes are fully focused on learning the potter’s wheel.

There are a maximum of 7 students per course ensuring that everyone gets a nice bit of attention while learning to throw!

Due to the level of concentration and hand-eye coordination that is required to master the wheel, these courses are for people aged 16 and over.

The course runs from 11am to 5pm on Saturday (with an hour lunchbreak and a short tea-break) and from 11am to 4pm on Sunday (1 hour for lunch).

The cost includes all materials, firings, etc. for work made during the class times. Please note that not everything that you make will get finished; the course is about learning the skills of wheelwork. You will get pots finished, but on the second day you will choose your favorite pots to work on. These are the pots that will be fired and glazed and returned to you.

Due to the small class number of 7 students per course, we are unable to change, swap or reschedule classes after you have booked. There is no refund for students who are unable to attend classes. If you have booked on to the course but are no longer able to attend, you can nominate someone else to attend the course in your place.

Due to the costs involved with putting on this course, if less than three people book on it may need to be postponed. In the unlikely event of this happening you will be offered another place on another course. If this does not suit you, you will be offered a full refund.

More information can be found on the FAQ’s page.