One off session - the foundation of throwing pots, this is the beginning of a great journey!

4 wheels.jpg — Throwing Part One

One off session - the foundation of throwing pots, this is the beginning of a great journey!

We are very accomplished in getting even the most nervous beginner up and running so you are in very safe hands with Gaye and myself - Leyla.

These sessions book up fast so if you go to our bookings page and you cannot see an option ‘Throwing Part One’ then it s best to be on our mailing list to be first to hear of new release. We won’t pester you by email, we don’t have time ; )

Currently, there are a few last minute cancellations so it s worth keeping an eye on either our Instagram or Facebook for spontaneous booking at the end of the week.

When you arrive we will meet you in the garden and bring you upstairs to our lovely sky-lit lift space. We will start with a demonstration, usually I do this because I have been throwing the longest and I love talking about pottery! This is a run through of 6 basic steps, you don’t need to remember it all because we will be with you to help you get up and running when you hop on the wheel.

We have everything prepped and ready for you, Melissa our Saturday helper weighs out the clay in to 400 gram balls, these are a perfect beginners size, not too fiddley and not too much to get under control! We also provide a handout so you can keep a step by step check of what you do.

There are a few things you can do to prepare yourself, trimming your nails helps, bringing old shoes and clothes. You will find directions and more information on our blog. Do bring a towel, an apron and a drink and its recommended to get an early night because you will need to concentrate! Seriously, not too much wine on Friday evening!

One of the best things about these sessions is the variety of shapes we get : ) Everyone has the same materials and instruction and everyone make something unique. I am a big fan of the organic ones also AKA ‘throwing a wobbly’.

I cannot lie, you are going to get messy, so if you are going out for a nice lunch after then do bring a change of clothes. But before you go we will be asking you to clean up your wheel, it is know as ‘good practice’ among craftspeople and how we were all trained. This involves scooping out all the sloppy clay and flopped pots and popping them in our recycling bucket and having a good wipe over to remove all the clay from your wheel head, bowl and tools. It will take you 5 minutes but save us an hour s work. We then wade in with our fairy liquid and do the sanitizing ready for the next class.

We leave your pots to dry off until we turn them on Monday, this is a second stage of the process that you can learn on one of our intermediate classes down the line. Then they have several days to dry thoroughly before they go in the kiln for their bisque firing which takes two days. Then we apply clear glaze and fire again, this process takes around 10 days or so and we will email you to let you know that they are ready for collection.

We will leave your wares in marked bags ready on our collection shelves in the garden, this way you can pick up anytime you like. Do tag us in when you use them and if you have a spare moment give us a review on Google and share the experience.

If you want more, we do offer all kinds of different workshops, from hand-building to how to set up a pottery at home. If throwing is your thing then do another beginners session to help you master the centering and then move on to Beginners Two where we concentrate on getting more control and different shapes.

See you soon! Leyla x

Beginners Throwing Classes