3-Week Throwing Taster

Service Description

This 3-week wheel throwing course is the perfect introduction to pottery before committing to one of our longer courses. Across three sessions, you’ll learn the core stages of the ceramic process - throwing, trimming, and glazing - giving you the chance to take a piece from raw clay through to a finished object. No previous experience is needed, and complete beginners are very welcome. SCHEDULE Week 1: THROWING After a demonstration from your tutor, you’ll get onto the wheel and begin learning the foundations of throwing. You’ll explore centring clay, pulling walls, and shaping forms, while developing techniques that feel natural to you. Week 2: TRIMMING Using the pieces you made in week one, you’ll learn how to trim away excess clay, refine shapes, and add finishing details to your work. Week 3: GLAZING In the final session, you’ll glaze your pieces and discover how colour, texture, and surface finish transform through the firing process. WHAT YOU'LL MAKE Depending on your interests and experience, you might create mugs, bowls, plates, vases, planters, candle holders, or smaller sculptural pieces. And sometimes, when you’re first learning, the wheel has ideas of its own. STUDIO & FORMAT Classes are kept small, with a maximum of 7 students, creating a calm and supportive studio environment with plenty of individual guidance from tutors. Each session lasts 3 hours, including clean-up time. EXPERIENCE LEVEL Suitable for complete beginners, as well as improvers looking for a shorter refresher course covering the full ceramic process. If you already have some experience, we’ll support you to work at your own pace and level. SOLIDARITY PRICING To help keep pottery accessible, we offer three pricing options. Please choose the rate that best reflects your circumstances: Low Income: £100 Standard: £110 Lend a Hand: £120 — helps subsidise lower-income places FINISHED WORK Student work will be bisque fired throughout the course and glaze fired after the final session. The course fee includes up to 1kg of finished fired work. Additional firing will be charged at £6 per kilo. Your pieces will be ready to collect approximately 1 week after the course ends, once they’ve completed their final firing. WHAT TO WEAR Pottery can get messy, so we recommend wearing comfortable clothes you don’t mind getting clay on. Clay washes out easily. Please bring an apron if you have one - we also have spares available at the studio. Participants must be aged 16 or over.