The rains came early
Two weeks of drizzle means nothing dries. The shelves are full of leather-hard bowls waiting their turn, and we have taken to running a small fan through the night. The next firing moves back by a week.
Weekend wheel class
Six people, two wheels each hour, one long table. You leave with two pieces to trim the following week.
Tableware in small runs
Bowls, cups and serving plates made in runs of twenty to thirty. When a run is gone, it is gone.
Repairs and refits
We rejoin broken pots with lacquer and brass staples. Send a photo first and we will say if it is worth it.
Classes
Classes run on Saturdays and Sundays when the road is dry. Everything is provided: clay, aprons, tools and a pot of coffee that is usually too strong.
- First time at the wheelSaturday mornings, three hours
- Trimming and handlesSaturday afternoons, for returning students
- Glazing dayOnce a month, Sunday
- Private session for twoBy arrangement, weekdays
Studio journal
A new clay body
We have been testing a local red clay mixed with a little of the white stoneware we buy from the lowlands. It throws beautifully and fires to the colour of strong tea. Six test tiles out of eight survived the kiln, which is a good start.
Students' pots on the windowsill
Every term ends with a table of first pots: lopsided, heavy, completely usable. We keep one from each class on the windowsill. There are forty-one of them now.
The shelf
Pieces that come out of the kiln with a small flaw — a pinhole, a glaze run, a foot that sits a little proud — go on a shelf by the door. Visitors are welcome to take one home for whatever they think it is worth to them.
We do not post orders overseas and we do not sell through shops. Most of what we make is used within a morning's drive of the studio, and we like it that way.
Contact
Write ahead before visiting so someone can open the gate. We read the inbox together in the evenings and answer within two days.
hello@claywren.site