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Two Week Focused Throwing Courses
Two week Focused Throwing Skills Courses
If you have had a taste of throwing you hopefully want to get better!
These two week courses will build on what you have already covered in your introductory wheel classes, each focussing on a different throwing skill or decorating technique. There will be demos and explanations, with time for you to make, trim and decorate your pieces.
If you want to keep your pieces, you will come back in a third week (leaving enough time for your drying and bisc firing) to glaze. If you don’t want to keep it, that’s fine too!
(If you want to come to the sessions, but continue to work on a previous week's pieces, that is fine too!)
When
These two week courses run for two weeks on Friday Evenings, 6-8.30pm.
Book the first date, and it’s that Friday and the next one. You can schedule a series and keep coming!
We will work to a planned schedule. With most of the thrown piece shapes, we’ll also cover carving when leather hard.
- Throwing & Trimming Bigger Bowls 18 & 25 Sept / 8 &15 Jan
- Decorating with Slip: swirly, dots, scraffito & more 16 & 23 Oct / 5&12 Feb
- Throwing Lids & Closed Forms 6 &13 Nov / 19 & 26 Feb
- Throwing Taller: Bottles and Narrow Necks 20 & 27 Nov / 5 & 12 March
- Throwing Porcelain: inlayed colours & mishima 4 & 11 Dec / 19 & 26 March
Bigger Bowls
18 & 25 September 2026 / 8 &15 January 2027
The same fundamental techniques apply to bigger bowls as to smaller bowls - centre, throw a cylinder, then stretch to a bowl.
We’ll gradually work up from the size you are used to throwing to bigger pieces of clay, and pay attention to those tricksy problems of not getting the top too thin, smoothing the inside ‘shoulder’ and supporting the wall when stretching.
Bigger bowls usually benefit from a thicker base which is then trimmed into an elegant foot, so we’ll recap that as well.
With a bigger bowl you might like to carve texture or other interest.
Lids and Closed Forms
6 & 13th November 2026 / 22 & 29 January 2027
Pieces with lids are very useful, and a good skill to learn.
We’ll cover the three methods of making lids:
- Two nested bowls ( one upside down) - the easiest!
- Straight pot and lid with lip
- Pot with gallery
- Closed form
Decorating with Slip
16 & 23 October 2026 / 5 &12 February 2027
Using slip - both natural and coloured - is a great way to elevate your pieces. You can be subtle, or you can be bold! There are lots of techniques!
Using slip for texture you can create swirls dots and lines on your pieces - which can be organic with movement, or measured and precise.
Using coloured slip you can write or draw squiggles, or you can make block patterns.
And with scraffito you can carve through coloured slip to make patterns.
Throwing Taller : Bottles and narrow necks
20 & 27 November 2026 / 5 & 12 March 2027
When you can throw taller you can make a bigger range of jugs, vases & bottles.
The same techniques apply as with throwing any cylinder - well centred clay, stable hands, and hugging and compressing your piece as you pull it taller. So this is primarily a recap of the fundamental skills.
Or you can cheat and achieve height attaching different pieces together! This opens a whole new world of possibilities with interesting shapes and forms.
Porcelain
4 & 11 December 2026 / 19 & 26 March 2027
Porcelain is a beautiful material, but annoyingly difficult to throw! For this class you need to be confident in throwing normal clay.
The beauty of porcelain is its white colour and semi-translucent nature. Covering that with glaze seems a bit of a shame, so we’ll approach porcelain by throwing with inlay colours and mishima. The outside of the piece is left unglazed - although the inside can be glazed if you want it waterproof.
Glazing
The course includes one finished glazed piece ( more are charged at £1/100g)
You'll need to come back at least three weeks later to glaze your piece - choose whichever Friday evening works for you! (But please use the link given to book in so we know to expect you!)