Pottery Taster: Wheel & Handbuilding

An introduction to pottery through both wheel throwing and handbuilding, brought together in a single session.

It’s an opportunity to try both approaches, understand their differences, and begin to find your direction.

You’ll begin on the potter’s wheel, learning how to centre clay, control movement, and form a simple bowl. You’ll then move into handbuilding, using prepared slabs to construct a bowl by hand.

The focus is on understanding how clay behaves across both approaches, with steady guidance throughout.

For many people, this is a first step: a clear structure, two ways of working, and enough support to begin.

From here, you can return to build on what you’ve learned in Foundations in Pottery Making, where there’s more time to develop confidence and direction.

Content

→ Demonstrations

→ One-to-one guidance

→ Hands-on tasks

What to expect

You will:

→ make a simple bowl on the potter’s wheel

→ make a bowl using handbuilding techniques

At the end of the session, you’ll select one piece to be finished and fired.

The emphasis is on learning through process, rather than producing multiple finished pieces.

Requirements

No prior experience needed.

What’s included

→ all materials and tools

→ use of aprons

→ firing of one selected piece

Practical details

→ Duration: 3.5 hours

• Wheel throwing (1.5 hours)

• Changeover and clean down (30 minutes)

• Handbuilding (1.5 hours)

For more detailed information on our courses, motivations and our resources, please refer to our PROSPECTUS.

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