Courses and Workshops
1 day Raku firing workshop
9.30am - 4pm Monday August 31st
Two pots included to take home.
An opportunity to try this dynamic firing technique, combining smoke and fire to create beautiful and totally unique pottery. Suitable for all levels, this firing day will consist of adding your own glaze combination to a pre made pot, then taking part in a naked Raku firing (the pot is naked, not us!) You will then add your own selection of combustibles to create your unique design. After lunch we will fire your glazed pots, creating a different finish to the naked Raku. You will then clean up your pots at the end of the day and take them with you.
Upcoming Dates
Clay Experience Course
Our popular three session course comprises of two sessions to make, one to return to glaze giving you a fantastic introduction to creating with clay.
First session is an afternoon learning a range of hand building techniques slab, pinch, coil. The following week experiencing an intensive introduction to throwing on the pottery wheel. When your pottery has been bisque fired, you return to your work, so you complete every stage of the process all the way from clay to finished ceramics!
Your pots will take approximately 3-5 weeks to dry and bisque fire.
You book your 3rd session once the first firing has taken place, to come back, to decorate and glaze! You can experiment with underglaze techniques and have access to our range of crystal glazes and artisan glazes.
We have a maximum of just 8 places per course, each session with a dedicated tutor. This means that you get unparalleled levels of support from our fun and friendly team.
This is an entry level course for adult learners looking for an introduction to clay.
Upcoming Dates
The course is great value, giving you a broad experience of ceramic techniques, at just £160 for the three sessions including all materials and firing!
Booking is essential for Clay Experience Course.
Book online using the links above or call on 0113 3450405
Terms and conditions apply
6-week Beginners Course
This course is designed to give new potters the chance to experience a range of pottery techniques.
Our skilled tutors will guide you through making your first pottery from beginning to end.
Throughout this course we will demonstrate classic ceramic forms, but we are also keen to facilitate your own creativity.
On completion of the course, students would be eligible to sign up for our flexible membership program.
- Week 1 - Coil and pinch handbuilding .
- Week 2 - Slab building.
- Week 3 - Pottery wheel.
- Week 4 - Pottery wheel (trimming and handles)
- Week 5 - Slip, stencil and sgrafitto decoration.
- Week 6 - Glazing.
Upcoming Dates
Introduction to the Potters Wheel
This four session course 7 - 9:30pm is perfect for beginners and returners getting back into clay.If you've ever fancied trying your hand at throwing, starting a new hobby and making creative friends, this is perfect for you!Our skilled potters will demonstrate techniques and support you as you learn.On completion of the course, students would be eligible to sign up for our flexible membersip monthly pass to continue a pottery journey.
- Week 1. Learning the routine of throwing with focus on centering
- Week 2. Throwing cylinders
- Week 3. Bowls
- Week 4. Turning and Trimming
Upcoming Dates
Introduction to the Potters Wheel
This four-session evening course is perfect for beginners and returners
getting back into clay.
Drew Caines Masterclass
Taking 3D surface design to the next level; Developing your own personal style and vocabulary
Drew Caines Masterclass
Sunday January 10th
Taking 3D surface design to the next level; Developing your own personal style and vocabulary.
Drew is a Leeds based ceramic artist, whose influences include folk-art traditions, ethnographic art, nature, Japanese character culture and pop surrealism.
Since establishing his ceramics practice in 2016 Drew has exhibited his work across the North of England and in the US, including the Sculpture Gallery in Leeds and his work is held in private collections Internationally.
Max 12 people 10-5 with lunch and tea breaks
In this full day workshop you will be working with black clay, Drew will show you a number of advanced hand-building techniques and give an understanding of how to create complexity from simplicity. We will Bisque fire your work. He will cover the following:-
1) The properties of various clays and which ones are most suitable for this style of hand-building.
2) How to make and use simple bisque sprig moulds.
3) How to use found objects and materials to create pattern and texture.
Also how to combine them with sprigs to build up a library of textures and patterns to use in your making.
4) How to break down complexity into a series of achievable steps and how to push it as far as you want to go.
5) Some exciting free form hand-building techniques which break away from the old faithfuls of slabbing, coiling and pinching … allowing you to create more dynamic forms and surfaces.
Finally he will put it all together to show you how to make a beautiful, intricately detailed vase. He will be making a vase to demonstrate the process but the techniques you will learn are easily transferable to many other projects. He will teach you his philosophy of hand-building but where you take it is up to you.
An Introduction to making Glazes
Suitable for potters wanting to begin mixing glazes for themselves, this entry level course will teach you everything you need to know to make small batches of dipping glazes.
10% Discount for members
Throwing Larger
Do you have experience in potting but have your sights set on throwing bigger and better?
In this workshop we will show you how to move on up the kgs with techniques to make clay weight easier to handle, keep clay distribution under control, avoid mid twists, top flare and collapse!
We will:
- Throw single piece pots bigger.
- Throw and join sectioned pots.
- Throw and add coils to grow.
This workshop is not designed to keep pots we will be cutting through to determine consistency and learning to let them go.
Sunday 11th and Monday 12th October 10 am to 4 pm.
Exploring surface design and layering
In this half day workshop you will decorate a slab tile and a bowl/platter using a range of mono-printing, colour layering, texture and sgraffito. Colin will discuss how his experience in other creative media has influenced his ceramic practice and how his use of surface and pattern has evolved over time.This workshop is suitable for all levels and is ideal for potters interested in taking their surface decoration to the next level with playful experimentation. Your pottery will be clear glazed and fired to be collected in a few weeks.
After training as a surface pattern designer and working as a graphic artist, Colin returned to college to study ceramics in 2012.
Colin works predominantly in stoneware or porcelain, creating each unique piece with fine graduations of colour and sgraffito. His bold stylised surfaces evoke the geology of an eroded landscape.
Colin has exhibited at York Ceramics Fair, Potfest, Sheffield Ceramics Fair and The Hepworth Ceramics Fair.
One Week Intensive throwing Course
Unavailable
One Week Intensive throwing Course
This is a fantastic opportunity to bring your pottery skills on in leaps and bounds. Ideal for potters with a foundation in throwing wanting to hone skills, improve technical range, create consistency and benefit from the opportunity to immerse in the process.
We will be covering the following forms concentrating on consistent centring, maximising clay distribution, achieving repeat forms, with a focus on technique.
- Cylinders.
- Bowls and working off bats.
- Bottles and chucks.
- Lidded vessels and handles.
- Trimming and augmentation.
Keep two pots to be bisque fired add coloured slip/engobe on your last session which we will clear glaze for you.
Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm.
