Ceramic Art Exhibition Opening Downtown This Friday at the Beverley Street Studio School
This week we are very excited to announce the opening of a ceramics art exhibition, Volume and Solitude, of which we are a proud sponsor. The exhibition will open this coming Friday, May 31, at the Beverley Street Studio School Gallery at 22 West Beverley Street, and run for seven weeks, until July 27. It is curated by our very own Janly Jaggard. Don’t miss the Opening Reception on Friday, June 7, from 5:30–7:00 pm!
This week we are very excited to announce the opening of a ceramics art exhibition, Volume and Solitude, of which we are a proud sponsor.
The exhibition will open this coming Friday, May 31, at the Beverley Street Studio School Gallery at 22 West Beverley Street, and run for seven weeks, until July 27.
Curated by our very own Janly Jaggard (who will be teaching two workshops at the Staunton Clayground later this summer) it features the work of four different ceramic artists, Noah Hughey-Commers, Katherine Maloney, Tom Clarkson, and Kevin Crowe, and is well worth a visit!
The Opening Reception will be held on June 7, from 5:30–7:00. We plan to be there with bells on and we hope you can make it, too!
If you can’t make it to the opening or if you just want to visit the show, the Gallery is open Wed. & Sun. 1–5, Thurs. & Sat. 10–6, and Friday 10–8.
Stay tuned for more news about Janly Jaggard’s upcoming workshops and more, coming soon!
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.
A Great Weekend at the Staunton Clayground… With Our First Handbuilding Workshop and Garden Stake Pick-Up!
The studio was a hive of activity as we kicked off our first weekend workshop, Slab Geometric Vases, taught by Nicole Hill of @eyerman.art, and welcomed visitors for our second Open Door day on Sunday afternoon. It was also a chance for attendees of our original April Open House to pick up their completed garden stakes, an activity we definitely intend to repeat, since everyone had such a good time painting them.
Visit the post for shots from the Saturday and Sunday sessions of the workshop!
What a great weekend we had at Staunton Clayground.
The studio was a hive of activity as we kicked off our first weekend workshop, Slab Geometric Vases, taught by Nicole Hill of @eyerman.art, and welcomed visitors for our second Open Door day on Sunday afternoon. It was also a chance for attendees of our original April Open House to pick up their completed garden stakes, an activity we definitely intend to repeat, since everyone had such a good time painting them.
Here are some shots from the Saturday and Sunday sessions of the workshop!
Day 1: Students pick out the vase they want to make, choosing from 4 sets of stencils. They then roll out slabs of clay, add textural designs to their surfaces and use the stencils to cut out the shapes they’ll need to assemble their pieces. These sit overnight, pressed so they won’t warp, to firm up enough to work with.
Day 2: Students assemble their slabs into the final shapes of their vases using clay coils, slip (that’s very watery clay, that works kind of like glue here), tools and…. very muddy fingers (we weren’t kidding about the whole playground-clayground thing)!
Wrapping up our second day, the final slab pieces go into place, the edges get cleaned up, then the vases get wrapped to dry slowly for a few days before they go into the kiln for their first firing. After that, they’ll be ready to glaze!
Stay tuned for photos of glazing day and of the finished products in June!
Meanwhile, if this looks like good fun to you, there are still spots in our next slab building workshop, coming up next week: Sculptural Slab Creations, taught by our very own Cary, where you can try your hand at making purely decorative or highly functional pieces over the course of three mornings (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) + one morning in early June for glazing!
An example of some of the types of things you can make in our upcoming Sculptural Slab Creations workshop!
Come and clay!
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.
Garden Stakes Are Ready For Pickup!
The garden stakes our guests painted at Open House came out of the kiln today and are ready for pick up! We’ll have our door open to welcome you from 1–5 pm on Wed., May 15, and from 4–6 pm on Sun., May 19. We’ll also be giving tours and answering questions during these “Open Door” hours, so if you have a friend who couldn’t make it the first time, feel free to bring them along. See you soon!
(And Just One Week To Go Until Our Slab Geometric Vase Building Workshop Starts!)
Hello Friends of the Staunton Clayground! We have good news for you today 😀 We’ve just unloaded the garden stakes painted at Open House from the kiln and they are ready for pick-up!
Garden stakes by our endlessly creative Open House guests. Come and get ‘em!
For now, we are scheduling two pick-up days, and hopefully one of them will work for you! They are this coming Wednesday, May 15, 1:00–5:00 pm, and Sunday, May 19, 4:00–6:00 pm. These will also be “Open Door” events, meaning that we will have our door open and we will be welcoming anyone who wants to take a look at the studio, take a tour, and get answers to questions about classes or memberships (our membership program is coming in June!).
If you have a friend who wasn’t able to make it to our open house, please feel free to invite them along to check out our space!
The basil and oregano feel very well-adorned. Let’s hope the sage and rosemary don’t get jealous!
Looking forward to seeing you soon! And please remember, once you’ve picked up your stake, we’d love to see a photo of it in its forever home! Above are the garden stakes that live in the kitchen garden of yours truly.
Also, we still have spaces available in our six-hour Slab Geometric Vases Workshop
running 1:00–3:00 pm next Saturday, May 18, Sunday, May 19 and Sunday, June 2, 2024, and taught by Nicole Eyerman Hill.
We will look forward to seeing you soon! And don’t worry, if you can’t make it to one of these pick-up dates, we’ll figure something out!
A Bountiful Bisque Firing
Check it out! All of the lovely pots that our guest potters, Justin (@potpotfrit) and Nicole (@eyerman.art) made while demonstrating wheel throwing during our open house are out of their first firing and ready to be glazed. Now their makers get a chance to play with our glaze collection!
Next firing in the schedule: all the gorgeous garden stakes you all painted during the open house! There have been some technical setbacks (to be expected during the first few weeks, they tell me!) but they're finally going in for their glaze firing! As soon as they come out, we'll set a pick-up date.
Stay tuned!
Last Evening Handbuilding In “Intro To Clay”
Students and teachers had fun working on slab-built boxes and putting some final touches on previous coil and hand-sculpting projects, wrapping up the first half of this spring's "Intro to Clay" class. This concludes are whistle-stop tour of some basic handbuilding techniques. Starting next week, it’s on to the pottery wheel!
Yesterday evening we all (teachers included!) had a great time putting some finishing touches on all of the handbuilding projects we’ve been working on since our “Intro to Clay” class started two weeks ago. Here are some highlights from last night’s class! Rest up, kids, because next week we move on and take a spin on the pottery wheel. Can’t wait!
Just a few highlights from our class, where we worked on wrapping up some handbuilding projects, including plates made using hand-rolled slabs, textured boxes cut from slabs we learned to make on the slab rolling machine, some coil-built bowls and hand-sculpted animals. Thank you to @octobergracemedia for the amazing photos!
Stay tuned next week for pics from our first wheel-throwing class on Monday! And if you missed the earlier post about this “Intro to Clay” class, you can check it out here.
Plenty Of Fun In Our First "Introduction To Clay" Class… And More Workshops Starting Soon!
The Staunton Clayground “Introduction to Clay” class delves into using the pinch-pot technique to make animal figurines in their third session. Everybody’s been having fun learning basic handbuilding skills, and they’ll be starting on wheel-throwing next week. More workshops and classes are starting in May, with spots still available. It’s claytime!
Hello everybody! It’s been a busy last several days at the Staunton Clayground since our Open House.
Feathered friend in the works (photo by @octobergracemedia)
On Monday, just two days our Open House, we kicked off our very first “Introduction to Clay” class. This is a 5-week course covering basic pottery techniques, and the first half of it, taught by Cary, covers basic handbuilding techniques.
A bird begins to take form (photo by @octobergracemedia)
So far, we’ve had an intro to hand-rolled slab building and coil building, as well as learning the fundamentals of using a slab rolling machine, but yesterday evening, during the third class, everyone had a lot of fun getting into kid mode and using simple pinch-pot skills to make animal figurines.
Fancy about to take flight! (photo by @octobergracemedia)
The odd whale out!
We’ll be continuing work on these later this week, as well as moving along with our other projects. We’ll have more fun photos for you soon!
(photo by @octobergracemedia)
Meanwhile, if the idea of handbuilding tickles your fancy, we’ve got a couple of fun workshops starting in May, and still have a few spots available in each! Check them out on our Classes, Course & Workshops page.
Spots still available!
In addition to prepping to teach the second, wheel-throwing portion of the Introduction to Clay course, Jennifer has also been busily waxing and glazing everyone’s garden stakes, which will be fired very soon! As soon as we know when they’ll be out of the kiln, we’ll plan an “Open Door” day for you to come and pick them up (or just to come and visit and tour the studio, if you didn’t have a chance to make it to the Open House).
Stay tuned for news!
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!
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!
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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