The Pottery Shed is a place to learn wheel thrown pottery. The basic course is comprised of three 2-hour classes designed for beginners 12 years old and up. Practice sessions are designed to follow up your first basic classes as soon as possible, we provide gentle guidance as you work independently. BOOK NOW classes are back 17 July.
At The Pottery Shed the throwing class is your first basic class. Over the two hours, we introduce you to the studio operations, then demonstrate and explain throwing. In the second half of the class you get hands-on with the clay and learn how to spin and form the material. Use as many clay balls as you need to make a basic vessel. You may try and fail a few times, but with some concentration and luck, you'll have made enough potential projects to choose your best two as keepers or store more on two project boards. The studio's limited storage space keeps us to 2 project boards per student per class/session. The clay from failed attempts or from the non-keepers is completely recycled at the studio and used again.
Regardless of the outcome, everyone may progress to the second class because we are prepared to provide pre-made forms for students to work on and keep. Some students may choose to add a practice session after this first class to "lock it all down".
The trimming class is your second to be followed up as soon as possible, or up to 4 weeks after the throwing. This second class teaches a new set of tools and techniques to trim excess leather-hard clay to form a foot, join, shape and decorate the project. Your project will then be cured, fired and made ready for glazing. This process will take up to 14 days, you'll be emailed as soon as your project is ready.
The Glazing class is where you get to paint-on glaze to decorate your project and prepare it for its final firing. Within 14 days it becomes a functional piece that you can use and enjoy. You'll be email alerted when it's ready for pick up. We have food-safe and brilliantly coloured glazes and underglazes from Blackwattle, Cesco, Walker and Northcote.
It's smart to book all three classes at the same time or 10 days early. Spread the classes out 14 days apart and use practice sessions between to improve. Last-minute booking attempts are often disappointing.
After your beginner 3-class course, or as practice between classes, students are welcome to continue developing their skills and confidence through sessions as a Returning Student at a discounted rate. These sessions are 2-hour bookings that offer students the opportunity to come in and use The Shed’s space and materials to practice their creative skills independently.
The Pottery Shed's booking system is fully automated and self-managed online. From the moment you book your session it’ll be confirmed, updated and connected via email and SMS. This way, you can manage your bookings and monitor your projects from home to gain the full experience.
The first 3 classes are $69 each. Returning Student sessions are $39, or even less with our pre-paid 10-pack vouchers. Everything is included in the cost of a class or session. We provide materials, training, earthenware clay, equipment and on site firing.
The Pottery Shed is located in a beautiful rustic warehouse at 7 Nickson Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010, along the Moore Park side of Surry Hills, near Bourke Street Bakery.
The Shed is open Monday through Sunday with AM and PM classes available on a rotating weekly calendar. To book your first pottery class, see above in the BOOK A CLASS section of this site.
Please remember that comfortable pants are needed to sit close up to the wheel. Long hair should be tied back, fingernails trimmed and don’t wear hand jewellery.
Further enquiries please write to admin@thepotteryshed.com.au
Give a beautiful gift of pottery skills with our single class or multi-pack gift certificates. These are valid for 12 months. The Recipient will be able to choose when their specific class event will be.
Redeemable at:
After checkout your personalised gift certificate will be immediately generated and emailed to you as a linked PDF.
Improving a person's crafting skill improves their attention to detail, confidence and performance. Hand-crafting clay is a pure and honest material to improve focus & attention. Throwing clay on a wheel wild fun. Team building events and private parties are available at The Pottery Shed. Either as a combination class of wheel throwing and hand building or learning a single skill, groups can be accomodated up to 26 students. The Pottery Shed is located at 7 Nickson Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010. Along the Moore Park side of Surry Hills, near Bourke Street Bakery. 12 week pre-booking recommended.
Contact: admin@thepotteryshed.com.au for queries and bookings.
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