More New Wheels, Glaze Making, Our First Kiln Firing and... Just One Week To Go Until Our Open House!

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!

Staunton Clayground Open House!

Saturday, April 20, 12–5 pm

All are welcome!

Are you ready to come and clay?

It’s less than a month away and we are so excited to have you come and check out our space, find out in person about our classes and membership options, enjoy refreshments and creative activities, and grab a ticket for a chance to win a door prize of one free pottery workshop!

How to find us, you may ask…

We’re located in “The Cellar” at 123 W. Frederick Street, under the post office building. Main entrance around back!

Free parking for “The Cellar” is available in the lot at 116 N. Lewis St. There is plenty of on-street parking nearby, and we are just a few blocks’ walk from the public parking lots at the Wharf and on South New St.

The Countdown has officially begun!

Stay tuned for info about our first classes. Dates coming next week!

Slab Roller Assembly Day!

Oh, what fun it was to unbox and assemble our brand new North Star slab roller! We’re going to have two (the other is a smaller table-top-mounted one) but this one is freestanding, with a wheel to make you feel like a ship’s captain on the high seas and 24” of slab-rolling width!

Our 24” slab roller is ready to go into service to make our handbuilding imaginings a reality!

Just imagine all the marvelous things we can build with slabs that big. I know my giant rosemary plant needs to be transplanted into a new planter this spring. Can’t wait to try it out!

The gears are so lovely and they spin so smoothly!

It seems almost a shame to cover them up with the gear guard, but safety first! I do wish they had transparent gear guards though, so we could watch them at work

As soon as we get a table for our second slab roller, that one will go up, too! At the moment, we’re hard at work picking out work tables of various sorts and shelving for all of the amazing projects that are going to be made here at the Staunton Clayground.

Watch this space!

Wheel Unboxing Day!

It was a long time coming, but the electric for our main bank of nine wheels was finally ready, so at long last we got to have our first unboxing day! Oh, what fun it was to set them all up and see them spin!

Our nine new pottery wheels are plugged in and ready to go!

The bank includes four student wheels on each side, capped on the far end by the teacher’s wheel. We will have three additional wheels for members, too, in a dedicated area, although members will be free to use these ones as well when no classes are going on.

We can’t wait to play! We finally got our running water… which is great news! Still waiting on some other furniture and equipment. Should be coming soon.

Watch this space!

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