Ceramics Taster

Learn to make pottery from scratch using three hand-building techniques in this fun and relaxing session. You'll be amazed what you can do with some clay and your own hands!

Are you new to ceramics and wanna learn about it in a fun, relaxed environment? This pottery experience is designed to give you a taster of what's involved in making pottery from scratch, by hand and without the use of a wheel, known as hand-building.

You’ll learn three hand-building techniques; pinch pots, coiling and slab building.

A person rolling clay over a cardboard tube at ceramics studio Trylla Bristol

What will I make?

In our ceramics taster sessions, you'll usually make:

1 or 2 small plant pots using the pinch pot technique

A small pot using the coiling technique

A dish or tea light holder using the slab building technique

However you will have the freedom to make something different if you prefer to.

If there’s time (and there generally is) you’ll also have the opportunity to decorate your work with your choice of brightly coloured slips. Once made, your pieces will be left with Trylla to be dried out and fired all ready for you to collect after three to four weeks.

Taster Sessions

This session runs on alternate Sundays from 12:00 to 15:00

This will include a 30 minute break halfway through the session. You can use this to either nip and grab a coffee or snack nearby, or continue to work on your pieces - it's up to you!

FAQ

Find the most frequently asked questions below.

Not at all! Our teacher will guide you through all the different techniques and also answer any questions you might have along the way.

We also provide an intro to the world of clay where we explain the different types of clay, how we fire it, the specific materials we use in the lesson and much more.

The session is split into 3 sections. At the start of each section you will be given a short demo by our teacher of one of the building techniques. You will then be allowed to make whatever you like using the technique you just learnt. Most people make something similar to the example, or something with small modifications or additions.

It's entirely up to you what you want to make! Our teacher is there to guide you and answer any questions you might have about your projects. We want you to see this lesson as a way to learn the techniques, but also as a chance to experiment with them and play around with the materials.