Been thinking about picking up the craft? Looking to get your hands stuck in some mud and let time fly from a hyperfocus on this fine motor-skill task? It’s fun, it’s a challenge, and it’ll give you an extra thing to enjoy your life with. This 12-week wheel throwing course is aimed at not just giving you a go at throwing, but providing you with the proper skills and time needed to do it independently. It’s aimed at both beginners and advanced throwers.
We’ve just released it and it will be held in our new pottery space in Piccadilly East/Ardwick at 85 Northwestern Street, M12 6DY in the new year. We’ve extended the classes to 2.5 hours and at £380 we’ve discounted it for the lucky first few to book onto.
You’ll be taught by our master potter Sam Andrew who has been teaching wheel throwing for over 10 years, and has learned pottery since a young age.
Here’s what we were able to get people to achieve in one of our tasters (red clay) and our 2-day throwing workshops this summer (grey clay).
Exciting! After 18 years in Moss Side/Whalley range we’re moving. We’ll slowly be growing into the space. Coinciding with our 25th year, and our annual winter open studio our opening event is on 6th December 5.30pm-8pm and 7th December 10am-4pm, where we’ll hold an exhibition, social and sale, with new works by Sam Andrew, the tutors and members of the studio. Come join us, it’s a perfect spot to grab a mulled wine and peruse some unique handmade gifts from functional ceramics for daily use to sculptural ceramic art pieces in this new industrial space.
Location
It’s located at 85 Northwestern Street, M12 6DY. It’s behind Mayfield just off the ring road in between Power League and Curry’s clearance. It’s only 10 minutes walk from Piccadilly station with plenty of free street parking space during the evenings and weekends.
There’s still much to do before the opening including lighting, furniture making, plumbing, and moving over items from the old studio.
All classes, workshops and pottery collections will be at the new space from 6th December onwards.
We’ve just released a new mug hand-building workshop for those of you looking to try pottery out for the first time or just to enjoy a morning or afternoon creative class with a friend. In the class you’ll learn to hand-build your own pottery mug and then finish it off painting it with coloured slips (a liquid clay). Think patterns from the tessellating pop illustrations of Keith Haring to the psychedelic optical dots of Yayoi Kusama, create your own unique design.
Forget pottery painting Manchester, you’ll create your brew vessel from scratch, from messy mud to neatly constructed mug. Manipulate the clay into a slab, create and attach a handle, then finish it off by painting it. You’ll be welcomed into our friendly class and shown the processes of making pottery by one of our expert tutors. We’ve been running classes for over 25 years, so you know you’re in good hands, with our skills having passed down generations from the top potters in the country.
Your mugs will be fired twice, clear glazed and after 3-6 weeks they’ll be ready to pick up. So if you’re looking for an activity to do with a date, or wanting to get into pottery after seeing it on the Great Pottery Throw down, this hand-build a mug workshop is a really good way to start.
Paint-a-pot or pottery painting is a business that operates as a café where you can paint ready made pots. What you say? You don’t make your own pots and then paint them? That’s right, you paint ready made manufactured pots.
We’re not a pottery painting studio, but we do get a lot of calls about pottery painting. We’re a pottery making studio, where you’ll make the entirety of your pot from a lump of clay, manipulating it by hand and tool to create your own masterpieces. You may at this point paint them with slips, a liquid clay, and/or you’ll then glaze (or paint) your pots when they’re fired too. You can try our hand-build a mug pottery class where you’ll paint them too.
Technically potter’s don’t put paint on their pots? Paint is made from plastics, which are far less durable than ceramics, and what pottery makers actually use to colour and finish their pots is glaze, slip, underglaze and oxides. These are made from natural materials, usually different types of rocks and metals. Sometimes potter’s will use a brush to apply these glazes, slips and oxides, and this may be where the term pottery painting comes from, but brushing is just one method of application. You can pour, dip, and spatter your way along with many other techniques.
The ready made pots in a paint-your-own-pot café have already been biscuit fired, so you can apply your glaze to them with a brush. Nothing to do with biscuits, but pottery goes through the process of 2 firings. The first firing is at a low temperature and is called the biscuit firing. It’s called this because the pottery is weak at this temperature and can break like a biscuit. Once a glaze is applied it goes through a second firing to melt the glaze and make the pottery harder.
Pottery painting is a good way to drop in and keep the kids occupied for a bit. However, it hardly compares to the satisfaction and enjoyment of making pottery from mud, with your bare hands. It’s fun manipulating clay into objects you can use and you can also ‘paint’ the pots that you make too. But what is the ‘paint’ that we use?
Pottery Paint
There isn’t such a think as pottery paint, what potteries use is glaze and slip. So what is glaze and slip?
What is Glaze?
In simple terms glaze is a glassy coating made to fit onto the outer layer of a ceramic pot. It makes it impervious to water, food safe and easy to clean. It is just as durable as ceramic and can enhance the strength of a pot helping them to last thousands of years. It can be applied with a brush, perhaps where the term pottery painting comes from, but it can also be poured, dipped or sprayed on.
What is Slip?
Slip is a liquid clay that can be applied to clay pots before they have been fired. It’s used in a decorative fashion to add colour and patterns. It can also be applied with a brush, but sponging, dipping, pouring and slip ‘trailing’ are also common methods. England has a tradition of slipware pottery, and you can see such beautiful examples made by modern potters such as Fitch & McAndrew.
What is Underglaze?
Underglazes are manufactured and pigmented colours within an independent medium that’s not quite slip nor glaze. Underglazes can come in vivid colours, but can also be quite expensive.
What are Oxides?
Metallic oxides are metals in their raw forms, such as iron oxide, copper carbonate, cobalt carbonate, chrome oxide, and manganese dioxide among others. These are the materials (or chemicals) that colour the world.
Pottery painting or Paint Your Own Pot (PYOP) studios usually use a combination of commercially manufactured glaze or underglazes applied to bisqueware (low fired pottery) to paint pottery.
Can you paint pots with paints?
Paints are various concoctions of plastics and chemicals, whereas pottery and ceramics are long-lasting and durable materials that can last thousands and thousands of years. The oldest things we have in the world are pots made by the hands of our ancestors. These can be carbon dated back 24,000-30,000 years old. You can indeed paint pots with paints, there’s nothing stopping you, but you’re devaluing the material, so make sure not to tell me or any other potters that’s what you’re doing, and be careful not to put them in the dishwasher as it’ll melt the paint.
Pottery Painting vs Pottery Making
Pottery painting is like to pottery making what a colouring-in book is to illustration, a trailer is to a movie, or what a ready meal is to a chef. If you’ve had a go at pottery painting in Manchester, then try a pottery course, to get your hands stuck into clay and create your own masterpieces from scratch. The classes are popular and as such you won’t be able to drop in, you’ll need to book a pottery class in advance. Try our make and paint your own pottery mug workshop or one of our other taster pottery classes in Manchester where you can also learn to throw on the wheel, all of which are perfect for someone looking to have a go for the first time.
There are numerous benefits of trying a pottery workshop in Manchester from meeting people, to learning a relaxing activity that helps relieve daily stress. There’s a good reason why celebrities, from Seth Rogan to Brad Pitt, are turning towards the craft and giving it a go. Here’s why we’d encourage everyone to try pottery out:
Making Pottery is Good for your Brain
As someone who has trained in Neuropsychology, and changed career to be a potter, I conducted research on how to train your brain. There were a number of things important in the research literature for longevity of healthy brain function in old age. These things can help build up your cognitive reserve, a kind of brain function strength that staves off the effects of dementias. What are they?: Exercise, socialising and novel activities.
These are the most stimulating things we can do for our brain. Well guess what? You’re engaging in all those things when taking a pottery workshop. It requires the development of fine motor skills and takes physical effort to roll, knead and centre clay, it’s very social when learning in a class, and it engages your brain heavily when you learn a new skill. It also helps to relax you and relieve stress which is great for your brain, and promoting good immune system function too. So taking a pottery course in Manchester is a great way to bolster your brain.
Taking a Pottery Workshop in Manchester can help you Relax
It’s well known that learning pottery requires a lot of concentration. It’s that concentration that takes your mind away from your thoughts, ruminations, and daily stresses to focus on a fun and creative activity, that soothes and calms the mind. This meditative like activity can help bring you into the moment and quieten negative thought and anxieties. It’s no wonder then that the NHS has pottery studios used for therapy in their mental health services.
Meet New People in Manchester in a Friendly Workshop
A pottery workshop is a great way to meet new people in Manchester. As activities go, it really is easy to join one by yourself and make buddies with the other people there. People attending workshops also come from all walks of life, with a really diverse range of people helping to expand your access to different networks and ways of thinking. As there’s pottery making to be done there’s also no obligation to socialise, which is what makes it so great. You can sit down and focus on your pots if that’s what you want to do. However it is really common for classes to become socially supportive groups, that promote a sense of belonging and camaraderie. Lastly you’ll have a hobby to talk about to your current friends and family, gifts to give them, and ceramic art around your home giving you even more social capital. So if you wouldn’t mind making new friends in Manchester, then a pottery workshop would be a great activity to try.
Learning Pottery Enhances your Creativity
Through slabbing your clay into a ceramic art sculpture or trying a new mug handle shape, making pottery really enhances your creativity, even for people who don’t feel ‘arty’. There are so many aspects to pottery making that can be creative: You can make utilitarian pieces, varying their style, shape and design, and learning along the way what works, what doesn’t and what sort of aesthetic you want to create. You can focus on form, but you can also focus more artistically developing patterns or painting styles you apply to your pots to make them your own. You can also learn by accident, with the unpredictable nature of firings sometimes you can discover happy accidents, that teach you a new technique or effect. In making pottery you’re spending time practicing and developing your creative thinking and skills.
Pottery is FUN
Yep, well it isn’t surprising that doing things that are good for your brain health, relieve stress, and providing a community for you to make new friends, would be fun. It’s like when children make a mud pie, but for adults. A place you can play, no judgement. You’re likely to have a good time, all while making food vessels for your home to hold everything from tea to noodles.
Sam Andrew
Sam Andrew is a ceramicist creating Nerikomi tableware and ceramic art pieces focusing on material reuse, pattern and perception. With a background in Clinical Neuropsychology Sam learned ceramics since a young age and changed career a decade ago to design and make ceramics.
Wedging is the process of making clay into a homogenous consistency through kneading, cutting, and slamming the clay down. It aligns the clay particles, evens out lumps and moisture levels, and removes air pockets.
The process of wedging is used to prepare clay before use. It’s a good idea to wedge the clay even if it’s straight out of a fresh clay bag from your supplier.
Wedging vs Kneading clay
Traditionally, wedging, referred to a process separate from kneading, with kneading being a process of folding a mass that can be done with clay and other mediums such as bread dough. Wedging is cutting a piece of clay in half (a wedge), picking the half up and slamming it back down on the other half. This process is unique to clay, necessitating it’s own word, and by itself it can homogenise the clay and remove air pockets. To process clay, wedging is combined with kneading, both of which homogenise and removes air pockets.
With the spread of social media, and the dilution of formal education in ceramics, the meaning of the word wedging has changed over time. It’s meaning more commonly encapsulates both kneading clay as well as the process that is more traditionally known as wedging. Wedging is now often used to refer to kneading alone as well. If you have any references for the origin of word wedging we’d love to hear from you.
Spiral Wedging/kneading
There are 3 Types of Wedging
Spiral Wedging
Spiral wedging is a technique to knead clay. It folds layers into the clay by rocking it forwards and backwards and rotating it in a spiral motion, at the same time. It’s the more advanced form of wedging and can take a little while to learn to proficiency. The clay ends up looking a little like a snail shell
Rams Head Wedging
Rams Head wedging is easier to learn the spiral kneading. In Rams head wedging the clay is kneaded by rocking it back and forth each time folding the clay back into itself by pressing with each hand on the left and right hand side of a log or roll of clay.
Cut Wedging
Cut wedging is where the clay is cut horizontally with a wire, the top wedge of clay is picked up, and then it’s slammed down on top of the other piece of clay. The wedge is usually turned before being slammed down, and once stacked the clay block is also usually picked up and turned, so that the wire then cuts through a different part of the clay. Different potters may use differing methods of cut wedging, for example the clay can be cut at an angle or it can be cut straight.
Cut Wedging
Sam Andrew
Sam Andrew is a ceramicist creating Nerikomi tableware and ceramic art pieces focusing on material reuse, pattern and perception. With a background in Clinical Neuropsychology Sam learned ceramics since a young age and changed career a decade ago to design and make ceramics.
Yes, clay is infinitely reusable and recyclable, if done well it is a process that will save on the costs of purchasing new clay, and keep you fit along the way. It’s only once the clay is fired that it is more difficult to recycle. So, how do you recycle clay?
How to recycle clay: Divide The Clay Into Different Levels Of Dryness
To recycle clay it is useful to divide the clay into different moisture levels, we do it in 4 levels:
Hard and Dry clay, that is no longer plastic or flexible.
Soft Clay, like you would get out of a bag or from off-cuts.
Wet Clay, which is soft clay with water on it.
Clay Slops, such as the thickened clay water that collects during wheel throwing.
We treat each moisture level of clay differently, by dividing them in this way can reduce the amount of work involved in the clay recycling process. We keep buckets in the studio for clay slops, wet clay and dry clay, and finally then soft clay can be put straight back in a bag or kneaded right away.
Hard/Dry Clay
Hard and dry clay, that is no longer plastic or flexible, should be collected and left to fully dry out to the bone dry stage. This includes trimmings from turning, failed pots that are leather hard or bone dry, off-cuts from hard slabs, and shavings/debris from other hand-building processes.
Soft Clay
Soft clay, even if it’s dried a little, as long as it’s still plastic and flexible, can be kneaded into a clay block and reused right away. It does not need to go through the whole recycling process. Soft clay can include off-cuts from soft slabs, trimmings from soft clay pots, and clay lumps used to pin down thrown pots for turning.
Wet Clay
We put flopped pots from throwing on the wheel, if there are many, in their own bucket. Wet clay such as from pots flopping over on the potter’s wheel or pulling handles, as with soft clay, can also sometimes be kneaded into a firmer block of clay and be reused right away. However, when the quantity is too much or the clay too wet, it may stick to the kneading surface, making the process difficult. In this case it should be collected and left to dry out. This clay does not need to go through the whole recycling process either, it just needs to dry a little until firm enough to knead into a block.
Clay Slops
The thickened clay water that builds up while wheel throwing we call slops. It should be collected separately in a bucket. As this settles over a day or two the water can be pared off of the top of the bucket.
The Clay Recycling Process: Step by step
After dividing the clay into different moisture levels, the steps to recycle clay are:
1. Slake down the clay
Add the clay slops to the fully dried (bone dry) waste clay. Depending on the size of the clay pieces, soaking the dry clay will slake it down to a thick slurry in 1 day to 1 week. If it’s fine trimmings from turning, they can slake down quicker.
2. Put the clay slurry out to dry
The clay is given a good mix and put out to dry on plaster batts. The air and plaster together will help dry the clay. It’s dry enough when it won’t stick to a wooden board when it touches one, so it can be wedged. If left for too long the clay may be too firm to knead. It can take a couple of days to a couple of weeks to dry depending on how thinly it is spread, the weather, whether the kilns have been on, and the absorbency of the plaster batts.
3. Knead the clay
Once dry enough, it’ll be soft enough to knead. The clay is simply kneaded and wedged until it becomes a homogenous consistency. Kneading mixes in any harder lumps, and also removes air pockets. It’s then ready to throw and hand-build with.
Wedging is the process of kneading clay to make it into a homogenous consistency. Wedging does this by mixing and aligning the clay particles, and removing air pockets during the process. Read more on wedging.
Recycling clay
Recycling clay is an effortful process initially. When done inefficiently it may even be cheaper to sling your waste clay down a hill and buy some new bags of clay. However, how you recycle clay, by dividing the clay into different moisture levels, understanding when to do each stage of the recycling process, and your skill in wedging has progressed: it is something that is economically beneficial, helps keep you physically active encouraging good health, and is better for the environment. It’s a necessary step for any pottery studio especially community studios like ours that offer pottery classes.
Sam Andrew
Sam Andrew is a ceramicist creating Nerikomi tableware and ceramic art pieces focusing on material reuse, pattern and perception. With a background in Clinical Neuropsychology Sam learned ceramics since a young age and changed career a decade ago to design and make ceramics.
Our top picks from 2024’s Manchester Open Art Exhibition at HOME. There are 490 works in this exhibition, picking the top ones isn’t easy. In fact, it’s much more of a ‘5 pieces I like in the exhibition’, than a ‘top 5’. If we had lots of awards and lavish pots of money to give our top 5, we’d be giving it to them. But unfortunately they’ll have to do with my wispy digital praise and a theoretical pat on the back. I’d put all of these on my own walls if they were mountable.
This one struck me quite early on in the exhibition, possibly because it was near the beginning, at number 11. But more so because of it’s kind of depressing, possibly macabre atmosphere of empty chairs in a desolate room, with a littered floor of paper, crumbs and mugs. Add stripes to the chairs and you’ve got me. I love the styling and the questions it induces for me keep me intrigued. As it’s sold I won’t be able to buy it, but I did envisage it on my wall.
There’s nothing more fun than a furry painting made of carpet that’s smiling at you upside down. Even it’s belly button smiles. Playing with perspective, this big hairy legged, bendy, orangey-brown bikinied person jumps into a swimming pool, which for some reason has large lipped fish in it. There are drips that aren’t part of it, and it’s carpet texture makes it naff, which just enhances it’s charm. This one makes me smile and reminds me to have fun and not take things too seriously.
As a potter, craft is important to me in any artwork. A teapot is an object that requires one of the highest levels of craftsmanship in ceramics. This meticulously crafted teapot, not made out of ceramic, but paper, is intricately layered and delicately dainty. Clearly some great skill has gone into making this, but very different from the skills needed to make a teapot from clay. It’s time for tea and if you put tea in this teapot, it would likely turn into mulch after a short period of time. Which wouldn’t make good tea at all. Maybe not it’s intention, but it’s uselessness points me back to the ceramic teapot, which functional by nature, ends up on a shelf unused since the invention of the bleached teabag. I haven’t appreciated paper so much before.
Ella Booth-Pryce, Fridge.
For some reason, I didn’t notice one of the biggest pieces in the exhibition the first time I went round. Maybe because my piece was in front of it, or maybe I thought that’s where the curator’s put their lunch. You can buy this handmade paper fridge for the price of a real fridge, except with it’s contents included for free. There’s something about the handmade nature of this piece that appeals to me as a potter, with the time, care and attention to detail in the making process. With it’s wobbly edges and wonky writing, it is scaled naivety and imperfection, and makes me want a paper version of all my things at home too.
This last one beamed out to me, you can tell its a painting, yet it seems so real, that the bun a crumb texture make me salivate. You know it’s a good painting when it appeals to your desires and evokes deep emotions. In all it’s deliciousness it makes me hungry and there’s just something funny about that.
So that’s my top 5 from the Manchester Open Art Exhibition. If you haven’t seen the exhibition, or, like me, you missed many pieces the first time you went, then it’s on until the end of April. There more details about Manchester Open here.
Sam Andrew
Sam Andrew is a ceramicist creating Nerikomi tableware and ceramic art pieces focusing on material reuse, pattern and perception. With a background in Clinical Neuropsychology Sam learned ceramics since a young age and changed career a decade ago to design and make ceramics.
In one of Manchester’s most visited exhibitions, and 4,377 visitors in 2024’s opening weekend, Manchester Open is HOME’s flagship exhibition that runs every 2 years. From prints and painting to ceramics and digital art, this year showcases a whopping 480 artworks. The artworks are created by an eclectic mix of locals with any experience level and background, including established professionals, students, graduates, new and emerging talent, enthusiastic amateurs and first-time artists. 4 of our own associated artist’s works are featured. Visit Tue – Sat 12:00 – 20:00 and Sun 12:00 – 18:00every week until 28th April 2024.
Hands deep in wet clay, with mud spattered mess, there’s no doubt that pottery is a mucky activity. Even though aprons are provided, you’ll be getting grubby, so you’ll want to dress for the mess for your first pottery class.
What should you wear to a pottery class?
Dress for the mess: Wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty (aprons provided).
No whites, they’re easier to stain with red clay, but easy to wash out of other colours.
Skirts can be a tricky on the wheel, so opt for trousers/shorts/leggings.
Remove jewellery and watches on your hands or wrists. Leave them in your bag or pockets so you don’t forget them.
Closed toe shoes that are easy to wipe are best.
Layer up in the winter, it’s a workshop not a restaurant, while the kilns often keep it warm, on the coldest days, it’s those layers that will keep you warm.
Short nails are recommended. Longer nails will dig into the clay while throwing on the wheel, which, while still possible to throw a good pot, it will give a less comfortable experience.
If you have long hair, you’ll want to tie it up for working on the wheel.
Last but not least, wear a smile, as you’ll enjoy yourself even more coming in with some positive energy.
