clay – Page 4 – Old School Clay and Ceramics

Learn to Throw – Winter

Learn to throw on a potter’s wheel. Group lessons limited to 4 students. This class is specifically for adults. Price is for 8 two hour classes and includes materials. The class will cover centering, throwing techniques, trimming and glazing . Techniques to decorate a pot, including adding clay, carving, sgraffito, and use of underglazes and washes will be covered.

This is primarily focusing on beginner techniques. Click here for a course outline . 8 week class outline. If you have taken this class before, I have suggested a modified version of this class for you. Sign up for this class, and we can work on the projects detailed in this post. This Adult class will take place Wednesday evenings, from 6 – 8 pm starting January 12. It will run 8 weeks: January 12, 19, 26, February 2,9,16, 23 and March 2.

Click here top reserve your seat: LTT Winter

Make a Soap Dispenser (or lotion)

This shows the bottle, and a potential way of decorating. This is a vase, but we will finish the bottle for a pump.

Why not replace that plastic soap dispenser on your counter with a beautiful one you design and make yourself? Functional beauty. In this workshop you will make a soap dispenser, the bottle of which will be about 7 inches tall (the pump and neck will add additional height). The bottle can be either a round cylinder or square. The surface of the bottle you will decorate – a few options are pictured here, but there really is no limit on where your imagination will take you.

The dispenser, once finished, will be dishwasher safe.

The class will be limited to 8 people. The price also includes a pump for your bottle.

This is a 2 day workshop that will take place February 18 and 25 from 6 – 8 pm.

To reserve your seat in this workshop, click here: Dispenser

Intro to Pottery – February

This is a 4 week class that will introduce you to the basics of throwing and pottery. The class will meet Thursday afternoons , 4 – 6 pm, February 3, 10, 17 and 24. The class is limited to 4 people. The outline of the class is as follows:

Week 1:
- - You will be throw 5 balls of clay, of which you will keep 3 that you like. Focus is on centering
  - Review of different ways to finish or decorate your pots.
Week 2:
- - You will trim the pots you made from the previous week.
  - You will make 1 slab plate using the wheel to finish.
  - You will throw 4 balls of clay, time permitting, of which you can keep 2 of your finished pots. Focus is on shaping.
  - Review pots that you have made. Discuss ways that they could be finished /decorated/glazed.
Week 3:
- - You will learn about different techniques to finish your pots. The plate you made in the previous week will be finished with a method called sgraffito.
  - You will make a slab bowl that you will finish on the wheel. The focus on the bowl will be using texture in the design.
  - You will trim the pots from the previous week.
  - You will throw 3 balls of clay, time permitting, of which you can keep 1.
Week 4:
- - You will glaze all your pots made previously. You should potentially have as many as 8 pots that will need glazing – pending no disasters along the way.
  - You will trim your pot from the previous week. Underglazes will be used to decorate your pot.

Your pots will be available for pick up within 3 weeks of your last class.

To reserve your seat, click here – Intro to Pottery February

Make a Fairy House – Parent and Child Workshop

This 2 day workshop will take place January 24 and 31 from 4 – 6 pm. It is specifically for a parent and child. During this workshop, each team will design and construct from clay, a fairy house or toad house, so there will be one house between the 2 people.

Day 1 – January 24- Construct the House – wall and roof, textures for both, windows, and doors
Adorn the house – chimney, trees, flowers, mushrooms…

Day 2 – January 31 – Paint/glaze using underglazes and regular glazes

Houses should be ready within 3 weeks of the last class for pick up.

When you sign up below, you are signing up for you and another person. The price is based on one fairy house and two people.

Toad and Fairy houses made by other students:

To reserve your seat, click here – House

Make a Spaghetti Plate – February

Join us on February 7 and 14 to make the plate shown, or one very similar, that reflects your very own creativity! This plate, which is about 9 inches wide, and is oven and dishwasher safe, microwavable and food safe. It is deep, bowl like, making it a good spaghetti bowl.

During this 2 day workshop you will be led through the steps to make your very own plate. The first day, which will take about 2 hours, we will make the plate, and cover different ways to decorate it. The plate is made from a slab of clay, molded, and then finished on the wheel. Once the plate is made, you can finish it any way you want. A number of different methods of decorating will be covered, including use of texture, use of underglazes and stencils, and sgraffito, a popular Italian method of decorating pottery (as shown on the plate pictured). The focus will be on using the sgraffito method, but you can finish it as you like, but the class focus will be on creating a concentric sgraffito design of black, white, and a minimal amount of red as accent. The second scheduled day, we will finish the plate. Depending on how much is done the first class, the second class could take an hour to 2 hours. Your plate will be ready for you to take home within 2 weeks of you finishing it.

Other spaghetti plates made by students:

The workshop will take place February 7 and 14 from 6 -8 pm. The first class will be very short – probably an hour at most. The second class will likely take the full 2 hours. Make a reservation now at one of the many nice restaurants in Groton and have a very special valentine’s day.

The class is limited to 6 people. Grab a friend and make an evening of it. No experience needed!

To reserve your spot – click here : Spaghetti Plate February

I have been teaching pottery and ceramics in a variety of situations, for all age groups, for more than 30 years. I absolutely love teaching and sharing my love of clay with others.

Open Studio – January 27

Feeling creative!? Join us Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 pm to make your own creations. I will be available to provide technical assistance for you to achieve your clay ideas. Pretty much no limit on what you can make.

This will be a test run for the month of January, where clay and materials are included in the price. If you make something at home, or take something home to work on, you will be charged an additional fee for glazes and/or firing.

Prerequisite: 2 previous classes or workshops with me, or a completed Prescott Class. Limit of 6 people per class.

To reserve your seat, click here: open studio

This workshop is best for students who can work independently, and are comfortable with the rules of the studio.

Open Studio – January 20

Prerequisite: 2 previous classes or workshops with me, or a completed Prescott Class. Limit of 6 people per class.

To reserve your seat, click here: open studio

This workshop is best for students who can work independently, and are comfortable with the rules of the studio.

Open Studio – January 13

Prerequisite: 2 previous classes or workshops with me, or a completed Prescott Class. Limit of 6 people per class.

To reserve your seat, click here: open studio

This workshop is best for students who can work independently, and are comfortable with the rules of the studio.

Zentangle and Clay – January – Make a Tray

Join us for this multimedia fusion workshop where clay and mindfulness combine for an uber creative experience. Certified zentangle teacher, Donna Spencer, will start the first of 3 classes to share her knowledge of zentangle. Zentangle is defined as ” a form of meditative doodling that has repeating patterns, or tangles, put together to form a Zen-tangle.” This fun and relaxing art has numerous applications beyond how it will be used in this workshop. (Tied up on zoom meetings – pull out your zentangle designs and make the meeting more productive!) . No experience or artistic ability is required…if you can write your name, you can create beautiful Zentangle designs!

What we will be doing in this workshop is adding texture to a platter that you will make using stamps, that you will make, in a manner consistent with zentangle design.

During the first class, January 3, Donna will lead you through some selected zentangle patterns. You will take that knowledge to create a zentangle design of your own on paper – about the size of the eventual platter you will make. You will then take that knowledge and create clay stamps which will be used on your own clay platter.

The next week, January 10, you will make a clay platter. Your stamps will have been “fired”, so that they will be hard enough to stamp the clay, and can be used on your platter. The platter is about 5 by 12 inches*. The final platter will be oven proof, dishwasher safe, and microwavable.

The last day (January 17) of the workshop, week 3, will be spent refining your platter and glazing.

The combination of clay, where you take a lump of clay and turn it into something beautiful and functional, and zentangle, is surely one of the most mindful activities ever created.

Here is a fun example of how one potter uses stamps in his pottery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=354&v=d2iQ3bGJ2uE&feature=emb_title

Please familiarize yourself with my studio rules before signing up for this class.

This is a platter Donna made using a glazed zentangle design on a clay platter.

The class will meet January 3, 10, and 17, from 7 – 9 pm. The class is limited to 8 students. No experience needed.

Here are examples of zentangle design used on pottery from the internet (It requires joining pinterest which is free); zen pottery

To reserve your seat, click here: Zentangle Tray

Make a Mug – Half Day – GDRS

This 2 day workshop will take place Friday afternoons, February 11 and 18. This class is specifically for 3rd and 4th graders and will be limited to 8 students. It will take place over 2 days. The first day, Monday February 11, from 1 – 3 pm, we will make a mug. Textures, from a variety of different sources, will be used to decorate the outside of the mug. The mug will be made from a slab of clay, but finished on the wheel. The second day, the following week, Friday, February 18, we will glaze the mug and make a small plate to match. The plate will also be made form a slab of clay and finished on the wheel. All pottery made will be microwavable and dishwasher safe. Attendance will be required for both classes. Finished products will be available for pick up with in two weeks from the class at Prescott.