Firing Up The Kiln For The First Time!
300 test tiles are in the kiln for their initial low-temp firing. With our new ventilation system finally fully installed, we could finally fire it up! So exciting. Tomorrow, glaze making!
Well, last week we finally got the finishing touches on our kiln room’s ventilation system, which means that today we could load up and fire for the first time!!
The first things on the agenda were, of course, our test tiles, which had to undergo their initial bisque firing––a lower temperature firing (a mere 1945 degrees F)––in order to become hard and sturdy enough to stand up to glazing.
“Why 300?” you might ask. Well, it isn’t madness, and it isn’t Sparta ;-) We have our reasons! Read on for more details…
You can’t see all 300 in the photo above, but trust me, by the time we were done, they were all in there and we’d filled the kiln!
So, why?
Well, we have two different kinds of clay and are going to have between 8–10 glazes at any given time (we hope!), and we want our students and members to be able to see not only how they each look on their own on each clay, but also how they look in combination with each other! That means a pretty big grid for each clay type, with over 120 tiles in each. We hope it works as well on the wall as it does on paper! We’ll know soon enough.
Tomorrow, after all, we’re mixing up our first batches of glaze!
For now, we’ll leave our kiln to it…
Our Amaco electric kiln is almost ready to fire in this picture, with the last shelves and test tiles ready to get loaded in
Now, some of you may remember us mentioning that we have three kilns in our kiln room. Our Amaco Excel is the first one we’re firing up, as we’re doing some repairs on the others, one of which has a very special legacy. More on that in a future post!
For now, keep watching this space for more glazing updates and Open House news (don’t forget to mark your calendars for Saturday, April 20, from 12–5 pm!). Dates and extra details on our Upcoming Events and Calendar page!
See you soooo soon!
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!! 😀
Did Someone Say, “One-Thousand Pounds of Clay?”
Yes, we did it, we ordered 1000 pounds of clay. I think we’re ready for pretty much anything, including our first students!
Yup, that was us! 1,000 pounds of clay, delivered today, stacked against our wall and ready for our first students!
Did someone say, “first students?” Yup, that was us, too! Classes will be posted later this week, so keep watching this space!
Member wheels await unboxing :-)
Oh and, by the way, our last two wheels have arrived! These two join our line-up as dedicated member-area wheels alongside our nine student wheels and our kick wheel. Pics on the way as soon as we unpack!
Woohoo!
Our Final Glaze Sneak Peek… Cream and Red!
The last two glazes in our palette’s line-up boast glossy surfaces rich in variation. The warm cream color of “Dappled Light” and the earthy “Iron Red” should break beautifully over texture. We can’t wait to try them out!
To round out our palette of colored glazes, we knew we definitely needed a white or cream, but we settled on one that is far from boring. “Dappled Light” by Standard is glossy and looks like it is going to offer some interesting and attractive surface variation. That was easy enough, but how to choose a red? There are so many different hues and shades, some with a little more blue in them, verging towards the burgundy or even purple, while others lean more towards crimson or orange. We opted for Standard’s “Iron Red,” an earthier brownish red, as you might guess from the name, though still glossy, with some intriguing breaks in color across the surface of the clay. We can’t wait to see how both of these behave on smooth and textured surfaces!
Mid-fire (Cone 6) glazes 1220 “Iron Red” and 1268 “Dappled Light,” both by the Standard company out of Pennsylvania
We are still deep in test-tile making mode and beginning to get to where we need to be, so we should be able to start testing all of our glazes on our studio clays soon!
Things are moving fast now, so keep watching this space!
Staunton Clayground Open House!
Our Open House date is finally here and it’s less than a month away! We can’t wait to show you the Staunton Clayground! Check out the full post for all the info.
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!
The Colors of Giotto and Springtime: Our Third Glaze Sneak Peek
The two glazes featured in our third sneak peek are inspired by the Tuscan countryside and the colors favored by Proto-Renaissance artist Giotto, architect of the Florence Cathedral’s famous bell tower. Come read more about it in our latest blog post!
When I was studying art history in Italy, it was clear to see how the colors of the Tuscan landscape were reflected in the art produced by the land’s native artists.
Before the Renaissance had quite begun, there was Giotto, famous for his frescoes that adorn the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi and many others, but also for his architecture. Most know him, if for nothing else, for his graceful bell tower, or Campanile, that stands next to Florence’s famous Cathedral, il Duomo di Firenze (seen here to the right of the cathedral’s façade).
The colored marble used to decorate the outside of the Campanile (and of so many other famous buildings of the time) is a green that reminds me very much of the hues of Tuscan olive groves and cypress trees, along with a warm pink, reminiscent of some seashells’ coloration.
(My little sister used to love combing the beach at Pisa for choice shells. I still have some of the ones that she collected for me).
So often do these particular shades of pink and green appear in this Proto-Renaissance artist’s frescoes and architecture that my first art history teacher used to call them “Giotto colors.”
It is a combination I have had a special fondness for ever since. When I see those two colors together, I can’t help but think of gentle Tuscan springtimes. How, then, could I resist pairing these two glazes for our Studio’s palette, when I saw that they were available?
So, here they are! Bellissimi! The glossy Mottled Green Transparent and matte Mottled Pink glazes, both mid-fire glazes from the Standard company out of Pennsylvania, like all the rest of our palette.
Standard 1225 Mottled Green Transparent and 1234 Mottled Pink mid-fire glazes against a backdrop of Tuscan countryside and the outline of Florence’s Cathedral, or Duomo, with its famous dome by Brunelleschi and its bell tower, or Campanile, by Giotto
Evviva! We can’t wait to try them out and, dare I say, breathe a little of that Renaissance spirit into our Studio.
Stay tuned for more news and for the last installment of our glaze sneak peek series, coming soon!
Glaze test tile making has begun!
We have finally started making test tiles! This post explains a bit about the magic that happens in the kiln and why glaze test tiles are so important for helping you choose the perfect glaze combinations for your creations!
With the slab roller assembled and our first of three worktables ready (other two still under construction and awaiting their canvas covers), we are finally ready to start making our glaze test tiles!
For those of you who don’t know your way around a pottery studio just yet, test tiles are an important tool for helping to decide the final look of your finished pieces. You can't do this just by looking at the glazes in their containers, because the color a glaze is before firing is generally completely different from the color it will be after exposure to temperatures over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit in the kiln.
Kiln magic at work!
Well, it’s actually science, not magic, and it’s really cool!
Same mugs!
Notice how what looks like an orangish-brown glaze is actually a cream color after firing, and the one that looked beige when first applied later turned a deep blue.
This is where test tiles come in. Using the same clays we’ll be using with our glazes, we’re creating tiles to test not only each glaze, but how the all of the glazes will look when paired. When all of the tiles are finished, we’ll hang them in grids over our glazing station, so that all of you can see which combinations are just right for your very own creations.
Our first batch of 20
These tiles are freshly cut from a leather-hard slab of clay and imprinted with texture, so that you’ll be able to see how each glaze and glaze combination looks on either a smooth or a textured surface.
If left unglazed, this particular clay will look pure white once fired.
Once we finish with this white clay, we’ll move on to making tiles to test glazes on our speckled brown clay.
To create tests for each glaze and combination of glazes we want to make available for use, we need to make about 125 tiles for each of our two colors of clay.
At this point, we’ve got over 200 left to make, but, as you can see, we are having a grand old time playing at the Clayground with all of our new toys!
Clayground’s owner and founder, Cary, and studio manager, Jennifer, hard at play!
Now that we’re really ramping up to launch, we’ll have more news for you very soon, about first classes, our Open House date and more!
Keep watching this space!
Glaze Selection Sneak Peek! We’ve got the blues (in the very best way)
We’re adding to our glaze line up! Check out these lovely blues. We can’t wait to take them for a swim on our new clays!
As we mentioned in our first glaze-sneak-peek post, where we previewed our warm browns, we are thrilled to have picked out our initial list of glazes to test with our clays. There are so many beautiful ones out there, it wasn’t easy!
This time around we wanted to show off the blues we’ve picked out. There are so many ones out there, I’ll tell you, it was hard to pick just two, but these are the ones we thought were the most inspiring additions to our collection, which we’re trying to assemble as a harmonious palette that works together rather than viewing each color as a standalone.
Standard Glazes “Tornado Sky” and “Mediterranean” are the blues we’ve selected for our palette! We can’t wait to take them for a swim on our white and brown clays.
These are part of the selection of eight colors we’ve chosen by the Standard company, out of Pennsylvania, along with a clear glaze and a really neat layering glaze specifically for creating interesting effects in conjunction with the others.
(For all of you folks who know your way around a glaze room already, we will be using all mid-fire glazes and firing to cone 6 in electric kilns.)
Stay tuned to see what other colors we’ve picked out for you. We are making sure that all of our glazes are food safe for functional ware!
Keep watching this space!
#stauntonclayground #comeandclay #letsclay #pottery #staunton #stauntonvirginia #potterystudio #claystudio #potteryglaze #midfireglazes #mediterraneanmist #tornadosky #standardglazes #standardblue #clayclasses #claymemberships
A Great Weekend To Be (A Woman) In The Valley
Thank you to so many wonderful Staunton, Augusta and Waynesboro area businesses for bringing the sunshine to a rainy Valley Women’s Weekend! We can’t wait to participate in 2025
In Italy, it’s tradition for men to give the women in their lives bouquets of mimosa blossoms to celebrate Women’s Day. Women of the Staunton, Augusta and Waynesboro area, these are for you. Let’s do our best to celebrate each other every day!
The vibe downtown for the Valley Women’s Weekend celebrations on Saturday was enough to make a rainy day feel bright. It made us so happy (all over again) to be a part of such a vibrant community, and so very excited, as a soon-to-be-open woman-owned and women-run business, to participate in 2025.
We want to give a huge shout out to all of the people and businesses who brought the sunshine to the day!
Thank you!! <3
Slab Roller Assembly Day!
Our big, beautiful 24-inch-wide freestanding slab roller is fully assembled and eager to get cranking!
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!
Glaze Selection Sneak Peek! Our Beautiful Browns…
We’ve picked out our first glaze line up! Check out these beautiful warm browns. We can’t wait to try them out on our new clays!
We are very excited to have picked out our initial list of glazes to test with our clays. We’re too eager to get up and running to start mixing up our own recipes just yet, so we’ve opted to start with a selection of eight colors by the Standard company, out of Pennsylvania, along with a clear glaze and a really neat layering glaze specifically for creating interesting effects in conjunction with the others. We thought we’d start by sharing with you the two lovely warm browns we’ve settled on, one dark and one light, because where else would we begin in a pottery studio but with the earth tones?
Standard Glazes “Brown” and “Walnut Brown” are the first two to join our collection! We can’t wait to test them on our white and brown clays.
Rather than choosing each color as a standalone, we have tried not only to select beautiful shades and hues but also to choose ones that work well with each other as a harmonious palette for your unique creations. Stay tuned to see what other colors we’ve picked out for you. We are making sure that all of our glazes are food safe for functional ware!
(For all of you folks who know your way around a glaze room already, we will be using all mid-fire glazes and firing to cone 6 in electric kilns.)
Keep watching this space!
#stauntonclayground #comeandclay #letsclay #pottery #staunton #stauntonvirginia #potterystudio #claystudio #potteryglaze #conesix #standardbrown #standardwalnutbrown #standardglazes #clayclasses #claymemberships #clay
Wheel Unboxing Day!
We unboxed our first nine wheels today and plugged them in. It was a beautiful thing to see them spin! Can’t wait to play…
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!
#stauntonclayground #comeandclay #letsclay #pottery #staunton #stauntonvirginia #potterystudio #claystudio #potterywheels
Staunton Clayground postcards are popping up around town!
Excited to share the first promotional postcard from the Staunton Clayground, featuring a background of flowers from one of our founder’s own handbuilt vases and our official logo!
Our wonderful founder, Cary Dahl, had these lovely postcards made to share the news about our soon-to-open Studio! You may have already seen them around Downtown Staunton, but just in case you haven’t… I couldn’t let you miss them! Thank you so much to all of the businesses who have offered their counter-top, shop-window and bulletin-board space to help us spread the word.
Our first promotional postcard, featuring flowers from our of our founder Cary’s own handbuilt vases.
The flower decoration in the background is actually a detail from one of Cary’s own handbuilt vases. See if you can pick it out from the crowd in the gallery you’ll find if you scroll towards the bottom of our homepage!
One of the first classes we plan to feature will be a handbuilding class taught by Cary, so check out our Classes & Courses page for more info if you’re interested! Dates coming soon :-) You can also read more about Cary on our Staff & Instructors page.
By the time our next batch of cards is ready for circulation, we will be able to grace them with an Open House date.
Keep watching this space!
#stauntonclayground #comeandclay #letsclay #pottery #staunton #stauntonvirginia #potterystudio #claystudio
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