March & April Wheel Classes Are Here! Plus... A Wheel Class Starting Tomorrow & A Kids' Event At The Book Dragon Today!

Hello, dear Friends of the Staunton Clayground!

Here we were thinking we’d seen the last of the snow, and here it is, back again, giving us more reasons to find fun indoor activities for this weekend… and the Staunton Clayground is here to oblige!

Are the kids getting antsy staying inside today? Well, bring them to the Book Dragon Bookshop in downtown Staunton between 1:00–2:30 this afternoon! Our super art and pottery teacher Brooke Fawley will be there helping kids ages 5+ to paint a handmade pottery heart while listening to Book Dragon owner, Sandi, read a story! Activity lasts half an hour, with three seatings (one starting every 30 minutes from 1:00 on). Sign up in advance here! Browse the shop’s marvelously curated selection of literature of all sorts while the kiddos have fun!

Don’t have time to sign-up in advance? No worries! Staunton Clayground Manager, Jennifer Delare (yours truly) will be there to take on-the-spot payments.

Kids aren’t the only ones getting tired of being stuck inside, though. We grown-ups need something fun and different, too! As soon as tomorrow? What? Well, we’ve got you covered for that, too! Join instructor Valya Boutenko for an eight-week course to learn all of the basics of throwing on the pottery wheel or improve your skills. Pottery Wheel For All-Level Beginners will run on Sunday afternoons, 3:00–5:15 pm, February 9–March 30, and there is still time to sign up for our remaining spots! Come join in the fun!

Meanwhile, if you prefer to plan a little further out, we’ve just posted our wheel classes that will be starting in March and April. We have three coming up!

The first is Foundational Pottery Wheel For All Levels – Beginner and Up: Mastering And Building On Basic Skills. This class will run on Tuesday evenings, from 5:00–7:15, March 11–April 29, 2025.

Over the course of 8 weeks, Valya Boutenko will help you to learn the foundational skills you need to throw functional pottery on the wheel. Students will gain confidence while  centering clay and throwing basic forms such as cylinders, cups and bowls. The class will focus on mastering the simple throwing and trimming techniques you need to begin creating your own work on your own, and will cover pulling handles for mugs as well as glazing techniques.

First-time beginners are welcome!

The same is true of our next two wheel classes, All-Level Pottery Wheel – Beginner and Up: Saturday afternoons, March 29–May 3, 3:00–5:00 pm, and All-Level Pottery Wheel – Beginner and Up: Wednesday evenings, April 2–May 7, 6:00–8:00 pm both taught by Mary Tuttle.

Have you always wanted to try your hand at throwing pottery on the wheel and never had a chance? Have you spent some time on the wheel but want an opportunity to gain confidence and hone your skills? Over the course of six 2-hour sessions, students will focus on setting achievable goals and making them into a reality!

The newest potters will learn the basics of making classic vessels like cups and bowls. Those with some experience will focus on gaining confidence with the important skills of centering, pulling up the walls, creating consistent cylinders and more. Students who are already able to create simple wares on their own will instead concentrate on design and consistency, deciding with the teacher what challenges they wish to take on. We’ll also look at trimming and decoration, as well as how to add handles to our creations.

Looking for handbuilding classes and workshops starting in March and April? Ideas for Mother’s Day? Never fear, we have those planned, too, some for kids and some for adults! Keep an eye on your inbox, because news about those will be coming soon!

Meanwhile, stay safe and warm! We hope to see you soon for some cozy claytime!

Kids' Workshops Are Here! Monsters and Mugs (and something for Valentine's Day, of course!)

Hello, dear Friends of the Staunton Clayground!

We hope that your New Year has gotten off to a fantastic start! Our 2025 pottery classes for grown-ups are up and running, despite a couple of snow delays, and we are so happy to be back with our hands in clay. What we’re realllllyyyyyy excited about right now, though, are our kids’ workshops! The first round of 2025 classes for young creators of various ages is ready to go, so read on to find out more!

Let’s start with monsters (and really, if there are monsters involved, where else would you start?). We have two different workshops, one for kids ages 6–11, and the other for young creators ages 12–16, both taught by that incomparable creator of monsters, our very own Brooke Fawley!

Don’t worry, they’re the friendly sort ;-)

Marvelous Monsters! is a two-hour workshop in two parts, for kids ages 6–11, to be held on Saturday mornings, February 15 & March 1, from 10:30–11:30 am.

Make your very own marvelous monster to take home! In the first session, kids will learn how to hand-build and sculpttheir monstrosities out of clay. In the second session, they will paint them with all kinds of fun underglazes to make them stand out from the crowd! Finished and fired monsters will be ready for pick-up at 1:00 pm on Saturday, March 8. Uaaarrrggh!

Don’t worry, they won’t steal your cocoa! They’ll keep it safe for you :-)

Make A Monster Mug! is a four-hour workshop in two parts, for kids ages 12–16, that will run on Saturday afternoons, February 15 & March 1, from 1:00–3:00 pm.

Make every day a terror-ifically monstrous delight by putting your favorite hot beverage in your very own handmade monster mug! In the first session, participants will learn the basics of a foundational hand-building technique, slab-building, so that they can craft their mugs, and will be shown how to transform them into monstrosities of the very best kind! In the second session, they will apply underglaze colors to make their monsters even more wild, wonderful and unique! Fired mugs will be ready for pick up on Saturday, March 8, at 1:00 pm.

From monsters, let’s move on to dragons… well, a very specific dragon: our local Book Dragon!

This dragon wants to be your Valentine!

Join us for Story Time & Paint-Your-Own Ceramic Valentine’s Heart! A Half-Hour Workshop for Kids Ages 5+: Saturday, February 8, at the Book Dragon, from 1:00–2:30 pm, with seatings every half-hour.

Calling all kids ages 5 and up! Come and paint your own handmade Valentine’s Heart at the Book Dragon bookshop, located at 102 W. Beverley Street. Join us for a themed story time and a chance to decorate a clay ornament in the shape of a heart, handmade for you by the Staunton Clayground pottery studio! Parents can browse the shelves while they wait. Valentine’s Hearts will be ready to take home at the end of the session, and kids can collect a treat on their way out the door!

Ticket price: $10 (each additional child, $8.00). We will be seating 8 children at a time, every half hour.

And that’s just what we’ve got starting in February! Stay tuned for additional kids’ workshop news coming soon, with more workshops for young folks of various ages, coming in March and April, both at the Staunton Claygroundstudio and in conjunction with Staunton Parks & Rec, which will be hosted in their facility at Gypsy Hill Park.

Keep watching this space! We can’t wait for you to clay with us 😊

Wishing you a warm and joyful weekend!