New Modular Workshop Series Coming in June & July! Surface Decoration for Wheel-Thrown Vessels: Take One, Two or All Three
Get ready for an exciting series of three modular nine-hour workshops with local potter and Staunton Clayground instructor Nicole Eyerman Hill (@eyerman.art), focusing on different surface decoration techniques applied to wheel-thrown work. Pick just one, two or take all three in a row to develop and add a whole new portfolio of creative skills to your pottery creation (15% discount on a future class or workshop for people who sign up for all three classes!)
Get ready for an exciting series of three modular nine-hour workshops with local potter and Staunton Clayground instructor Nicole Eyerman Hill (@eyerman.art), focusing on different surface decoration techniques applied to wheel-thrown work. Pick just one, two or take all three in a row to develop and add a whole new portfolio of creative skills to your pottery creation (15% discount on a future class or workshop for people who sign up for all three classes!). Participants must already have experience with the wheel (be able to throw a 4-inch-tall cylinder unassisted). First workshop kicks off on June 11, so grab your spots now!
Students will first focus on making mugs with a design and shape that lend themselves to sgraffito decoration. They will then move on to learning how to use this technique to decorate their vessels, using a variety of carving tools on colored slips and underglazes applied to the surface of the clay body.
Students will focus on making bowls with an interior surface adorned with painted-on underglaze. This is a fun and practical way to add decoration to the inside of a bowl while still allowing it to be used as functional tableware, if desired, since the underglaze is then sealed with a layer of clear mid-fire glaze to make it water-tight and food-safe.
Students will focus on throwing small vases with slightly thicker than usual walls, making it possible to carve out faceting or other designs once the vessels are leather-hard. This is an interesting way to add interest to the surface of any piece, and can be done either on plain clay as a way to show off the effects of particular glazes or in combination with colored-slip or underglaze decoration applied before clear-glazing.
We hope you’ll come and clay!
Looking for something to do next week? Speaking of workshops, there’s still one spot left in our Sculptural Slab Creations workshop, starting this coming Tuesday. This is a handbuilding workshop that is suitable for people with no clay experience as well as returning potters.
Stay tuned for more upcoming classes & workshops, coming very soon!
Meanwhile, a lovely Memorial Day weekend to all of you from all of us at Staunton Clayground.
Open Door Days This Week! (and updated stake pick-up time) – Wednesday, May 15, 1:00–5:00 pm & Sunday, May 19, 3:30–5:30 pm
Come visit us this week at the Staunton Clayground to take a tour, see what we’ve been up to, ask questions and pick up your garden stake (if you painted one at our Open House on April 20!). We can’t wait to see you!
Hello Friends of the Staunton Clayground!
We hope to see you for one of our “Open Door” days this week! If you missed our Open House, now is a great time to come visit us, tour our studio, ask questions and see what we’ve been up to. Did you come and paint your own garden stake on April 20? Then this is a great time to come and pick it up! Do you have a friend or two who couldn’t make itto the Open House in April? Bring them along!
Our door will be open on Wednesday, May 15 (that’s tomorrow!), from 1:00 to 5:00 pm and on Sunday, May 19, from 3:30 to 5:30 pm*.
Curious about the process of making a garden stake (before and after you do your amazing paint job)?
They were all so great! It was hard to pick just a few to feature here. I’m not worried though, because soon all of your garden stakes will be spread across Staunton, making our town smile
Clockwise from the top left in the above photo:
First, we take stakes that we have cut from rolled slabs of clay and bisque fire them to a temperature of about 1950 degrees F. This makes them harder and less fragile, so you can work with them without worrying too much about breaking them.
Second, you come along and unleash your creativity using paints called “underglazes.”
Third, once those are dry, we apply “wax resist” to the bottoms and edges to keep those parts dry and clean, and then we brush the top with two layers of a clear glaze (notice how it looks white before it’s fired, but don’t worry, your beautiful designs are still underneath!) and load them into the kiln.
Then we fire them again, but this time to a temperature of about 2160 degrees F (this is a “Cone 5” firing), which causes the top coat of clear glaze to transform, turn glossy and reveal all of your art underneath! It also makes your stake weatherproof, so you can put it out in your garden and enjoy it all year long 😀
If you have a problem making either of these two days, don’t worry! Get in touch and we’ll work something out.
If you haven’t been down to visit us yet, the entrance to the Staunton Clayground is located at the back of the post office building at 123 W. Frederick St. The door is marked “The Cellar” and will have a sign on it reading “Staunton Clayground.” Come on in and down the stairs and you’ll find us!
There are 10 parking spaces reserved for “The Cellar” in the lot across the street from our entrance, at 116 N. Lewis Street, in which you are free to park. There is also plenty of nearby street parking if you prefer.
Looking forward to seeing you!
*The second time has been updated from the previously published time for Sunday.
A Wonderful Open House, Thanks To You – Plus, The Raffle Winner Is Announced!
The Staunton Clayground’s Open House was a great success! Thanks so much to everyone for coming out to support us on our opening day, get to know our space and play! One attendee won a door prize of a free class, too. Read on to learn more!
Hello to everyone and a very warm welcome to all of you who just signed up for the Staunton Clayground newsletter during our Open House event this past weekend. What a wonderful time we had. Thank you for coming down and supporting us on our very first day! It was a beautiful April afternoon and, with so many great activities going on around town, we’re very glad and grateful that you decided to spend some of it with us ❤️
Kids of all ages enjoyed painting ceramic garden stakes for Earth Day (photos by @octobergracemedia)
Our “paint-your-own” garden stakes project, in honor of Earth Day, was very popular, with visitors of all ages enjoying the fun. We are working on glazing those and should have them ready to fire soon! We’ll keep you posted on the progress. Check out a taste of the fun above, and the whole gallery of photos can be viewed at the bottom of this post!
From the Staunton Clayground to a garden near you, this spring! (Photo by @octobergracemedia)
Live wheel-throwing demos ran pretty much all afternoon. The first to sit down at the wheel and show everyone what it’s all about was local potter Justin Hershey, who was volunteering to help us out for the day. Check out more of his work on his Instagram page, @potpotfrit.
Local potter Justin Hershey, demonstrating some of the amazing things a potter’s wheel can do (photos by @octobergracemedia)
For the second half of the afternoon, our very own Nicole Hill took over. You may know her by her Instagram handle, Eyerman.art, under which she exhibited at last fall’s Art in the Park, right here in Staunton. She will be one of our regular instructors, and is so far scheduled to teach a Slab Geometric Vases workshop in May and June and an Intermediate Wheel Throwing class in June and July, and has lots more ideas and skills to share!
Staunton Clayground instructor Nicole Hill of @eyerman.art shows future potters just how fun the wheel can be (photos by @octobergracemedia)
Meanwhile, we had a blast telling everyone all about the plans we have for the Staunton Clayground, from classes to workshops, upcoming events and the soon-to-come membership program (look for more info about that in May! We expect to be able to open up to members around Memorial Day).
Founder and Director, Cary (right in the lower photo), and Studio Manager, Jennifer (left), enjoy finally sharing all of their planning and hard work with the Staunton community (photos by @octobergracemedia)
Last but not least, we have to thank our fantastic photographer, Cindy Fellows of October Grace Media, for taking such wonderful photos of this very special event (check out her website at the link above or her awesome Instagram page @octobergracemedia), as well as Magdalena Bake, who helped to provide the delicious refreshments.
Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… and the winning ticket number is…
The lucky winner!
We have a raffle winner! One lucky Open House attendee has won one free class or workshop of their choice, to be booked on our shop before ringing in the new year on December 31, 2024. Winning ticket #1506224, be on the lookout for an email with more details!
Open House attendees paint their bisque-fired ceramic garden stake with different colors of underglaze (Photo by @octobergracemedia)
Stay tuned for news about garden stake glazing, firing and pick-up!
If you want to check out more photos of the event, you can see the full gallery by @octobergracemedia below, and, if you didn’t have a chance to play this time around, don’t worry. You can check out our Classes, Courses & Workshops page, and we’ll be planning plenty more fun soon!
Keep watching this space!
Open House Tomorrow From 12–5 PM! Plus, we still have spots available in our Intro to Clay class, starting Monday evening!
Come celebrate the opening of the Staunton Clayground pottery studio at our Open House! There will be a chance to win a door prize of one pottery class or workshop, tour our studio, see live wheel throwing demos, enjoy refreshments by Pizzeria Luca and Magdalena Bake, and, in honor of Earth Day, paint your own ceramic garden stake. Plus, there are still spots available in our first class, starting Monday! Let’s clay!
That’s right! It is finally time for our Open House! We are officially opening our doors for business, and we can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on with you!
Come celebrate the opening of the Staunton Clayground pottery studio at our Open House tomorrow from 12–5 pm! There will be a chance to win a door prize of one pottery class or workshop, tour our studio, see live wheel throwing demos, enjoy refreshments by Pizzeria Luca and Magdalena Bake, and, in honor of Earth Day, paint your own ceramic garden stake (we’ll fire it for you for pick-up later).
Still wondering how to find us? We are located in “The Cellar” at 123 W. Frederick St., with our main entrance around the back of the post office building. Free parking spots for “The Cellar” are available in the lot at 116 N. Lewis St. There is also plenty of on-street parking nearby, and we are just a few blocks’ walk from the public parking lots (also free on weekends) at the Wharf and on South New St.
In other exciting news, our first class, “Introduction to Clay,” co-taught by Cary and Jennifer, is kicking off next week, on Monday evening, to be precise!
An Introduction to Clay: Basics of Wheel and Handbuilding will consist of nine 2-hour sessions (18 hours total): Monday and Thursday evenings, from 6:00 – 8:00, (April 22, 2024 – May 20, 2024)
“Come and learn the basics of working with clay! If you are an absolute beginner or haven’t been back to the pottery studio since that class you took in school, then this course is for you. The goal of this pottery class is to learn the basics of functional pottery and have several pieces to show for it by the time the course has concluded. Over nine 2-hour sessions, students will experiment with hand building using slabs and molds and with using the wheel to make basic pottery shapes such as small cups, bowls and mugs.
Everything we make will be functional and oven, microwave, dishwasher and food safe!”
We’ve got a whole bunch of other classes lined up, too, with more coming soon. Please don’t forget to visit our online shop or our Classes, Courses & Workshops page and check them out!
We hope you can come and see us! We are more than ready to finally invite you to “Come and clay!”
See you soon!
More New Wheels, Glaze Making, Our First Kiln Firing and... Just One Week To Go Until Our Open House!
We have unboxed our last wheels, bisque fired all 300 test tiles, mixed up all 8 of our colored glazes… and our Open House is just one week away! Now to glaze all those tiles…
It has been a very busy week here at the Staunton Clayground! We have been working like mad trying to get everything ready for our Open House next weekend and first classes after that, which we are so excited about! (Don’t forget, our very first “Intro to Clay” class starts on Monday, April 22, and there are still spots available! More on that below.)
Let’s clay!
First off, we unboxed and set up our new member wheels, a Shimpo Whisper and a Speedball Clay Boss. They have larger wheel heads (14”) and can handle more weight, and having them means that members will always have a guaranteed space to come and work in, separate from any ongoing class (if you recall, we have a bank of 9 wheels for classes already set up and ready to go)! Aren’t they enticing? I can’t wait to take them each out for a spin, pun fully intended ;-)
Studio Manager at work!
Then we started in on preparing our line-up of glazes! Jennifer got suited up and, over two days, got all eight of our colored glazes mixed (she actually used a drill with a mixer attachment, but the whisk was more photogenic).
Meanwhile, Cary has been hard at work finishing making kiln cookies, a task we’ve both been hard at work at for weeks, sometimes with the help of friends and family! For those of you who don’t know much about pottery firing, kiln cookies are not nummy treats, although we certainly could have used some of those more than once over the last couple of weeks!
They work kind of like coasters with a mug of tea: you put your glazed pieces on them while they’re in the kiln, because if the glaze runs down and drips, this way you end up with molten glass-like gloop on the disposable cookie instead of on the big, much-harder-to-replace kiln shelf.
Then we got to unload the kiln!
Cary got to lift the lid. It was an exciting moment, since this was the first firing we’d ever gotten a chance to do in our new studio!
Can’t wait to start dipping these in our brand new glazes!
Needless to say, we were as close to jumping up and down as we could be in a confined space filled with fragile equipment :-) In the end, all but one tile made it and now we are ready for glazing!
It’s going to be a very fun and busy weekend! With lots more to do before the Open House, just one week away!! We can’t wait to see you there! Not sure how to get there?
Just drop us a line if you still have any questions about how to find us!
And remember, our very first class, an “Intro to Clay,” starts on April 22, the Monday after our Open House. It will cover the basics of wheel throwing and handbuilding, and will be co-taught by Cary and Jennifer. There are still some spots left if you’re interested, and don’t forget to check out the rest of our class line-up for spring and summer. There are quite a few already, but we’re still adding to it! New and exciting workshops are still coming!
So keep watching this space!
Our Class Line-Up Is Here And Our Online Shop Is Open For Business!
Here at the Staunton Clayground we are unveiling our initial line-up of classes for Spring–Summer 2024 and our online store is open for business, so you can claim your spot. We can’t wait for you to come and clay!
Today is a very big day for us, because we are finally unveiling our initial class line-up and opening our online store for business! Read on to learn more!
More in-depth info about all of these classes and workshops described below is available on the Classes, Courses & Workshops page of our website, and our shop is now open, so head on over if you are ready to claim your spot! You can also see how all of these things fit together on our brand new Upcoming Classes & Events Calendar page.
We’ll be kicking things off in April with An Introduction to Clay, where participants will learn the basics of both handbuilding and wheel throwing, the two main forms of pottery creation. This evening class, starting the Monday after our Open House (taking place on April 20!), will consist of nine two-hour sessions and it will be co-taught by Cary and Jennifer.
Next up, in May, we will have a six-hour handbuilding workshop, Slab Geometric Vases, taking place over the course of three days. For this one we are very pleased to introduce a new addition to our team, fantastic local potter Nicole Eyerman Hill (you might know her from her booth at Staunton’s Art in the Park, 2023 edition). You can learn more about her on our Staff & Instructors page!
This will be joined on our calendar by a twelve-hour handbuilding workshopstarting the week after Memorial Day, this one entitled Sculptural Slab Creations. Our very own Cary Dahl will be leading this exploration of the basics and possibilities of slab building to help you develop and complete projects that can be either functional or ornamental. Your imagination is the limit!
Nicole returns in early June to teach an eighteen-hour Intermediate Wheel Throwing class on Wednesday evenings over the course of six weeks.
Not feeling quite ready for intermediate wheel? Our Studio Manager, Jennifer, will be leading eighteen-hour Pottery Wheel for All-Level Beginners courses twice over the course of the summer.
Remember, you can read more about all of these on the Classes, Courses & Workshops page of our website!
(All of these classes and workshops are designed for adults (age 14+). We are definitely planning to include workshops for younger people and children going forward, but including those in our initial line-up has proven to be a bit more than we could organize to start. Bear with us! Over the coming months we plan to expand our offerings to include plenty of things for kids as well.)
Meanwhile, we are hoping to add more workshops and classes before the summer is out, so keep watching this space!
Let’s clay!! 😀
The Staunton Clayground Is Coming!
Whether you are just hearing about the Staunton Clayground, or you have been patiently anticipating our opening, I'm excited to tell you that we are moving into our space! We are a membership-focused pottery studio in Downtown Staunton that offers tools, workspace, equipment (12 wheels, 3 kilns and 2 slab rollers!) glazes and kiln-firing for members, as well as an array of classes and workshops for beginners through seasoned potters. Subscribe to our newsletter and stay tuned for announcements about an open house and first introductory class!
Building Community Through Clay
Whether you are just hearing about the Staunton Clayground, or you have been patiently anticipating our opening, I'm excited to tell you that we are moving into our space and working hard to create an environment that allows you to be creative and productive, whether on your own or in classes. Stay tuned for announcements about an open house and first introductory class!
So, what are we? We are a membership-focused pottery studio in Downtown Staunton that offers tools, workspace, equipment, glazes and kiln-firing for members, as well as an array of classes and workshops for beginners through seasoned potters. We have 12 pottery wheels, 3 kilns, and 2 slab rollers, so there is plenty of room to spread out and get creative.
So, where are we? We are located under the Frederick Street Post Office in a space called the Cellar. Among other businesses, we will be sharing the floor with a sewing school, so members will be surrounded by creative energy!
So, why are we? Officially, we founded Staunton Clayground in order to “Celebrate Clay, Creativity, and Community”. But honestly, if you are like me, you are tired of creating art in solitude; we all had enough solitude during the pandemic. So I see the Clayground as being a place to work and play side by side with other people having fun, sharing ideas, and growing together. As we say on our homepage, “building bonds one joyful creation at a time”.
We believe in…
the power of art to improve the world, one life at a time, the joy of creating to foster personal expression, self-exploration, personal growth and self-confidence.
We believe in…
forging relationships and collaborations with local non-profit organizations to help them fulfill their missions.
If you are interested in taking classes, becoming a Studio Member, or simply want to stay informed, please sign up for our newsletter (if you haven’t already) and come and clay with us!
Clay covered hands, “Building community through clay!”
#stauntonclayground #comeandclay #letsclay #pottery #staunton #stauntonvirginia #potterystudio #claystudio