For the past 6 years, Holly has worked on refining techniques that have gained her knowledge and experience as a working professional in clay. She has run a successful ceramic business 'morganmade' and has had her work represented in over 8 retailers country wide. 

​

Now she is known as an industry professional, she is opening her studio for the first time to start passing on some of her knowledge to burgeoning potters from around the country. 

​

This course is designed to develop the skills of those that want to push their boundaries within their clay making practise. 

- Body & hand positioning 

- Maximising the amount of clay on the wheel 

- Upping your clay amount with bowls & bellies 

- Trimming & tools

- The importance of balance

- Basic glaze making 

- Firing cycles

​

Holly draws her experience from working underneath Potter Andrew Killick of Silenzo Pottery whose family experience in clay extends over 33 years. Intensive weekend workshops with Eric Landon of Tortus, Paul Maysek, Janeen Page, Greg Daly, Rick Rudd, Kwak Kyungtae, Marco Minetti, Hamish Jackson & Jack Troy. And working in clay full time, making and selling a variety of work successfully. She has exhibited in national exhibitions, and in recent years travelled to Japan to expand her knowledge and understanding of ceramics internationally. 

​

Due to people being busy and the trickyness of schedules, i'll work with you to decide on x4 two hour sessions that will work for the both of us. 

 

The four sessions need to be taken consecutively, with the first two sessions able to be taken in the first week if time allows but isn't limited to. Otherwise we will work towards four weeks that work in a row. 

 

As my space is limited, I have two wheels - so you might be sharing the course with someone else at the same time or you can choose to book with a friend. 

 

The course will be broken down into the following:

 

Week 1 

Throwing with balance, working on improving your shapes and form that they are balanced and less weighty. We will work on technique and maximising you throws to utilise the amount of clay you have on the wheel.

 

This session will be hands on, you will need to do some of your clay prep before attending class so that we can maximise the amount of time we have throwing. It will also be required to bring some images of work that you like so that I can give you some tips and tricks on how to create certain styles and pieces while developing your own designs. 

 

Week 2

We will pick up from where we left off on the first week, refining your pieces, attaching, adding, or taking away! We will roll onto trimming, hand positions, different tools, chucks, grips and ways that you can handle finishing off your work. You will have the option to add slip if you choose. 

 

Glaze discussion session at the end of this week to prepare us for the week ahead. 

 

Week 3

An intro to mixing glazes, during this session we will talk about basic glaze chemistry and how to have a go at mixing and testing glaze recipies that you want to explore. 

 

Week 4

Firing, this is a theory based session. We will start with a session discussing firing cycles, what happens to clay during different temperatures, and trouble shooting different outcomes which can lead to you finding your perfect glaze/clay fit that works for you. We will end the session with a revision hour where you can go back over any key points and enjoy admiring your freshly fired pieces! 

 

Each participant will need to supply their own clay that they are familiar with. As it is an intermediate course, it is expected that you have some basic knowledge around clay and have an idea of what you like. If you aren't decided on a clay that you like, I reccomend macs mud buff as a great start. It has a wide firing range and is nice on the hands. 

 

At the end of the course, you will have maximum 6 pieces fired. You may make less, but if you want to work towards a set of six bowls, cups, small plates etc you are welcome to set a goal like this. Otherwise if you are focused on a larger (max 1.5KG) amount of clay, you may make less. We will tailor the course to fit your needs. 

 

Any questions around the course please get in touch! 

​

​