Discover the craft of hand building and make three functional ceramic homewares

Welcome to Fiona's hand building pottery workshop, a three-hour immersive in-studio introduction to the unique properties and possibilities of this creative material, with construction & decorating of three items that will be fully functional for use at home. Designed for a maximum of two participants, the close attention guarantees bespoke skills teaching and creative guidance for your unique work. Suitable for complete beginners or more advanced, you’ll be using studio grade buff and black stoneware clays which will be high temperature fired and glazed to fully functional food & dish washer safe quality.

Fiona will lead you through the whole pottery process, with reference to the studio environment around you, to explain tools, technique and even kiln work, glazes and extension learning if requested. You will be working with rolling, templates, strong construction techniques and decorative stamping. But there will also be time to observe and appreciate the well-being benefits of this calm rhythmic activity and the uniqueness, beauty and legacy of leaving your own marks on clay as you progress.

You will begin by exploring basic techniques to experience and understand the fundamentals of clay preparation, construction and decoration. Your initial project will be making a small folded dish, [which can be finished as a soap drainer] learning essential handling processes, cutting and joining skills, and how to create effective decoration. You’ll progress to building a personalized mug, learning about consideration of functionality elements, and decoration with image and letter stamps, and of course you are most welcome to take your own along for really meaningful and personal impressions. 

To finish, you’ll work with a pre-prepared slightly drier or ‘leather hard’ hand built plate in black stoneware, with a painted white surface. Your decoration this time will be with the sgraffito technique, an incredibly satisfying and traditional method where lines are created by carving, cross-hatching or scraping away with detailing tools to reveal a contrasting background underneath. Fiona will show off the tools, and how best to achieve a dynamic and balanced design.

Your work will be carefully tended through the slow drying, first firing and glaze stages in studio by Fiona, using highest grade and food safe high temperature glazes. You'll be able to collect your beautifully transformed and fully functional home wares four to five weeks later, ready for your own robust domestic use or maybe you’d pass on as special and useful gifts to loved ones, this is an ideal opportunity to make cool, personalized items! Your workshop value includes all materials, firing and glazing. 

Fiona works hard to engage you in techniques with close tutoring that really explore the nature of this versatile material and ensure that you create tangible and functional results of your leaning to showcase newfound skills & understanding.