Week 1 — Getting to Know Clay & Basic Techniques

Focus: Feeling the clay, learning the basics, and starting to build.

• Meet your clay: how to handle, wedge, and care for it

• Understanding clay’s personality: avoiding cracks, air bubbles, and warping

• Learning pinch potting and coiling, the foundations of hand-building

• Practicing adding clay to pieces, joining seams, and creating decorative details

• Project: Make two mugs using pinch or coiling techniques, exploring form and texture

Week 2 — Exploring Coil Building

Focus: Growing your skills, height, and structure.

• Practicing coiling for smooth, even walls

• Learning how to build taller pieces with stability and balance

• Experimenting with shaping, textures, and subtle surface details

• Project: Make a larger coiled vase or sculptural piece that expresses your style

Week 3 — Slab Building & Surface Work

Focus: Working with flat forms and adding personality.

• Rolling even slabs and learning the ideal thickness

• Techniques to avoid warping and cracking

• Carving, texturing, and adding decorative marks to your surfaces

• Project: Make at least one large plate and a few smaller plates, exploring surface and form

Week 4 — Finishing, Glazing & Surface Decoration

Focus: Bringing your pieces to life with colour and finish.

• Sanding bisque-fired pieces for a smooth, polished surface

• Learning how to glaze: dipping techniques and where not to glaze

• Exploring underglaze pencils for detailed decoration and personal touches

• Project: Glaze and decorate your pieces, ready for their final firing

By the end of this course, you’ll:

• Feel confident using pinch, coil, and slab techniques

• Understand how clay behaves and how to care for it

• Have a small collection of functional and decorative ceramics

• Learn hands-on finishing, glazing, and surface decoration skills