Gaye & I are deeply grateful to Sam who gave up precious time to help us out with a backlog of studio tasks, day to day jobs and even built us amazing spreadsheets!

Since we reopened the studio after lockdown with our sister space downstairs Gaye & I have been playing catch up.

Having an extra pair of hands on a weekly basis from a student who has been through our foundation sessions and really gelled with our teaching ethos was a godsend!

Her is her story:

Ceramics Studio Collective

Sam was instrumental it the set up of our members collective.
(Sam on the right)

I had a surprise 50th Birthday present of a throwing session (sadly not at the Ceramics Studio), pottery was something I’d never even considered but I was hooked. After much research I booked further sessions at the Ceramics Studio and knew this was my calling and wished I’d found it years earlier.

There is so much going on, the studio has a lot of members and new students

I worked my way through the beginners classes and soon progressed to a squad member, followed shortly by warrior membership, this allowed me to work alone downstairs and hone my skills with the much needed support of Leyla and Gaye.

Around this time we were looking to move house and the ‘absolute given’ in a new home was to have space for a pottery studio. Much as this excited me, it also scared me with how much I didn’t know! I’d been on the ‘setting up at home’ course, but I still knew that there was so much to learn.
In 2023 after a tough couple of years I decided to retire, and approached Leyla and Gaye to see if there was a ‘volunteer apprentice’ opening that might be beneficial to us all. After discussion I started in April 2023 and have honestly never looked back.

Initially I mainly glazed beginners pots, wedged clay (buff, terracotta and white – all are so different) and weighed 400g balls of clay for beginners classes, it all sounds basic but I now know what 400g of clay looks like – trust me a really useful skill when weighing out clay for your work, I can wedge for England and I have discovered all the pitfalls of glazing – nothing to be sniffed at!

Leyla and Gaye have taught me so many other things over the last 14 months, how to make up dipping and brush on glazes, trimming beginners pots (this really taxes your trimming skills), loading kilns – this is fascinating and really helped me to appreciate the best sizes and shapes to throw to get the most from a kiln. Rolling out slabs for test tiles, differences between slip and underglazes, kiln furniture, cones, getting glaze off a kiln shelf – the list just goes on. I’ve been wracking my brains for all the things I’ve learnt, but they are just too numerous to mention let alone the things I didn’t even know were a thing – batt washes on kiln shelves, stacking bisque ware for a firing (cautiously), the list goes on…..

We have recently bought a house with space for a pottery studio (hurrah), which is exciting and no longer scares me thanks to my volunteering over the last year. I have learnt so much at the Studio and can’t thank Leyla and Gaye enough (and Otis and Tex for the vocal encouragement!). I recently went on another ‘setting up at home’ course and found that unlike the first one I attended, I knew pretty much all the information provided during the course.

Thank you Sam, we look forward to seeing you settled in your lovely home studio soon…. another blog in the making?

Studio Volunteering - Sam's Story