Classes
Monday 10-1pm
Monday 6-9pm
Tuesday 10-1pm
Tuesday 6-9pm
Thursday 1-4pm
Thursday 6-9pm
Alternate Saturdays 10am-4pm
NB: If you work shifts and cannot attend regularly, please see our FAQ’s below
First steps?
Contact admissionsalice@madewithclaystudio.com to see if there are spaces on the session you would like to attend.
Any questions?
Please read on for how we work and contact founder Debbie admin@madewithclaystudio.com with any additional questions.
Beginners programme:
Week one: pinch pots, discovering different clays, how to avoid air bubbles, joining clays, health and safety and workshop layout.
Week two: coiling, whirlers, extruders, keeping things damp to work on further.
Week three/four: Coiling continued with slip techniques, textural mark making, slab building.
Week five: glazes and decorative techniques including underglazes, firing temperatures. Triangles, wax resist, biscuits for standing work on.
Week six/seven: Collection of made work. Wedging. Setting a project. If you wish to learn throwing, this is where we start with one to one and one to two tuition. This could also be figurative work.
Week 8 and onwards: You set your projects, this can include throwing where you will be given some one to one/ one to two tuition. We work together to allow you to become gradually become more independent.
What to expect:
We normally allow people in for the class up to ten minutes early, but there is a garden with seating to wait in if you arrive earlier. You will be given a shelf where you can keep your own things and anything you are working on.
Our kitchen isn’t very big, so please fill up your own washing up bowl, which allows you to wash shared items at your table. The biggest risk to a potters health is silicosis caused by clay dust.
During the session, you are welcome to use all the beginners tools and all the equipment and materials in the workshop as you need them.
Refreshments will be made by your tutor or technician. They can be consumed at your table but please wash your hands.
Half an hour before the end of the session, you either put your work on your shelf to continue with at your next session or on the firing shelves. For the most part, your clay, materials, firings, tuition and refreshments are all part of your monthly charge. You have a 20 Litre firing capacity which we only check if you make very large pieces or if you become a proficient thrower and your output becomes prolific.
If you have a large amount of still fresh clay left over, please wedge it, wrap it and re use. For left over dry clay, please put it in the appropriate reclaim bin.
You then wash wash any shared tools or materials, the surfaces you have used and empty your bowl in the large kitchen sinks that have clay traps, mop the floor in the workshop (this water gets emptied down the toilet) and head off, all calm and de-stressed ( we hope ). When you empty your bowl down the sinks in the kitchen, please fish out any large clumps of clay and put it in the green compost container.
What’s next:
Collect your work from the shelves and either watch the demonstrations or continue with your work with guidance where necessary.
Please keep accurate records of what you have made, especially any decorative materials you have used. If there is a problem with a glaze, we like to find it early so we can stop any further problems, but also, if something really works well, you will find your fellow ceramicists will be asking you what you used.
If you have suggestions/ worries, please do contact Debbie either after the class or by email.
Throughout your time, new techniques, materials and ideas are introduced for you to explore and experiment with. We share, support and encourage each other so that you gain confidence with your building, your chemistry and your ideas. There is also a makers and sellers group that are hoping to have twice weekly sales at the studio.
“Ideas are like little furry animals; if you are nice to the first one, the rest will follow” Grayson Perry
FAQs
What happens if I have done clay before and I am not a beginner?
You can join at any time and we will just support your new learning.
Can I use the studio kilns to fire work i have made at home?
We have not got the capacity to fire people’s work that they make at home.
Can I use my own clay and glazes?
Providing accurate information is given to the staff and sufficient testing has taken place, we do allow this.
Can I use the studio whenever i want?
Some people attend several workshop sessions a week and pay accordingly but we have precious equipment, tools, materials and other people’s work/ belongings in the studio so we can only have access when someone is there to supervise and the community is not big enough for this to be all the time.
Do you do drop in sessions?
We are a not for profit organisation and do not have enough excess funds to allow us to do this. We need to know we have a certain amount of income each month to enable us to keep our prices as low as we possibly can.
Do you do refunds if I start and I do not like it?
We are sorry but this is not normally possible but if we can fill your place immediately, we might be able to refund the second half of the payment.
Can I come and see the space and meet you before i start?
Definitely!
What facilities do you have?
We have three kilns; one is smaller and we use it for backup, two are used several times a week. Four wheels. Two standard clays plus guest clays. Decorating slips. Underglazes. Earthenware Glazes. Stoneware Glazes. Beginners tools.
If I have additional concerns/need to take additional breaks/have concerns, needs or special requirements, are you flexible?
We certainly want everyone to feel respected and safe, so we will do our best to accommodate your needs where we can.
Do you have wheelchair access?
Not at the moment.
Do we have a break?
Staff make refreshments for everyone and the town is near by if you would like to take actual time out. In addition to that, we have a lovely garden where you are welcome to sit. Refreshments include: ground coffee, yorkshire tea, de caf tea, peppemint tea, Vimto, berry tea and earl grey. If you would like anything different, you are welcome to bring it.
On Saturdays the tutor takes a break for an hour at lunchtimes, but that hour is flexible and some people prefer not to stop while others go into town and have lunch or stop to eat their own lunch in the garden.
Do I have to do the beginners course again if I take a break?
No, once completed, you can come and go as we have places.
Do I still pay if I can’t attend?
Yes, we are a not for profit company (any profit is put back into MWCS) but we pay full market rent and bills which means that we need to know we have a regular income to make it affordable for as many people as we can. We try and fit you into another session if you miss one, or you can take some clay home and bring work back to be fired.
What if I cannot attend the same session every week because I work shifts?
As long as you can attend one of the sessions each week or even two sessions every other week, we will try to accommodate this. You would book onto a class with Kate who deals with our exchanges and then continue with your beginners programme with whoever was teaching you. It would be up to you to keep notes of your progress in your sketchbook to show the tutors where you are.
Do you do gift vouchers?
Not for membership at the moment because we only have a few spaces left to fill and we want to make sure there is something available for you to use it against.
