Learn to throw pots on mini potters wheels

About booking

There is room to comfortably seat 6 potters around the table. Party bookings are 6 for the price of 5 but please message me to let me know it is a party booking so I can reserve the whole table for you.

If you would like to book an event like this for a works' do or for a private party, please get in touch so we can arrange a pop up at a date, time and location that best suits you.

If you are planning on coming on your own, welcome! You’ll feel socially comfortable in no time. Throwing mini pots is the most delightful icebreaker.

About the experience

There will be a brief introduction and demonstration then help will be on hand throughout.

If you’ve never thrown before, just focus on getting a feel for it. The best approach is to get stuck in, get into the zone, chase your flow state, laugh at the funny bits and let the magic in. Whether we end up with Chrismas pots or Chrismas blobs, I guarantee that by the end of the session, we will all be brimming with pride.

About the wheels

We use Small Ceramics wheels because their stability and geared motors make for an authentic throwing experience. The torque is such that the wheel does not slow down when you most need it steady. In fact, the Small Ceramics wheels are so good that the skills and approaches I demonstrate on them can be directly transferred to throwing with larger amounts of clay on full sized wheels - which is great if you’re curious about learning to throw bigger forms.

About the clay

Both air drying and firing clays are available so you can choose whether to use the air drying and take your pieces away with you to harden at home; or to use the firing clay and collect your ceramic pieces once they’ve been through the kiln, which usually takes a couple of weeks. Fired clay will always be stronger than air dried.

Please note, throwing with air drying clay is not as easy nor as smooth as with the firing clay but you might like to compare the two.

About finishing your pot

Both the air drying and the firing clays end up being a light grey, which makes a great surface for painting. Decorating and sealing ceramics without glazing is called “cold finishing” and is a lot less harmful on the environment than glazing. However, unglazed pieces are not suitable for dinnerware.

The advantage of cold finishing is that you can decorate your pottery at home and experiment. I like to use up half empty pots of nail varnish, shoe polish, house paints; my children’s old crayons, felt tips. Experiment with any sort of oils, acrylics, emulsions, chalks, washes, inks, waxes, lacquers, varnishes…

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or just want to chat a bit about it all.

Please note:

• No food or drink at the clay table. Bitsey's cafe is open from 11 AM till 4 PM (8 PM on Thursdays) so there is plenty of time before or after the clay session to eat cake.
• There will be hard copies of our Health and Safety, Information and Disclaimer document for you to peruse and sign in your own time before the session begins. This is so that we can get stuck in as soon as the session starts and make the most of our time together at the clay table. Please get in touch if you would like us to email you a copy prior to your booking the event. Hopefully, you will find it an intresting and useful read.
• Because I demonstrate how to make strong pots and because our firings are slow and steady, so far as we can recall, 100% of the pieces we have fired have survived. However, breakages can happen and it can be because of something beyond our control. Just saying…