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Craft workshops · six benches, six people
You will not make the thing in the photograph.
In three hours a complete beginner makes a wobbly, lopsided, entirely recognisable first attempt at it — and that is the correct outcome rather than a disappointing one. The photograph shows what the craft can do eventually. It is not the target for a Tuesday evening.
What's on the bench
- Sat, Aug 22 · 5:26 AMBeginners' evening — one session📍 The bench room, upstairs. Lift at the back of the yard
Half six to half nine. Nothing assumed, nothing to bring, and you leave with the thing you made unless it needs firing.
- Sun, Aug 30 · 5:26 AMSaturday day class — the long one📍 The bench room, upstairs. Same door as the evening
Ten until four with an hour off in the middle. The extra hours are where a second, better attempt happens.
- Sat, Sep 12 · 5:26 AMTwo evenings, a fortnight apart📍 The bench room — both evenings, the same bench
Make in the first, finish in the second, with the drying and the firing in between. The only way to take home something properly finished.
Replace these with your own dates and timezone. Say where the door actually is — an address on its own sends people to a locked shopfront while the class is upstairs.
What three hours actually gets you
One finished thing, roughly — Small, honest and visibly a first. People are far happier with it than they expect to be, and it is usually the one they still have years later
What can't come home — Anything that has to be fired, set or properly dried. It stays here and comes back to you about three weeks later — the single most common surprise on the night
It will be wonky — Every one of them is. A perfectly even first piece would mean somebody else made most of it, and that helps nobody
You keep the failures too — Including the one that collapsed. They get bagged up with the good one, because the pair together is the useful thing to look back at
Nobody photographs your bench — Not for social media, not for the website, not without asking you on the night. Assume no unless somebody asks and you say yes
You can stop early — Three hours is longer than it sounds when you are concentrating. Leaving at the two-hour mark is completely normal and nobody comments on it
What can't come home — Anything that has to be fired, set or properly dried. It stays here and comes back to you about three weeks later — the single most common surprise on the night
It will be wonky — Every one of them is. A perfectly even first piece would mean somebody else made most of it, and that helps nobody
You keep the failures too — Including the one that collapsed. They get bagged up with the good one, because the pair together is the useful thing to look back at
Nobody photographs your bench — Not for social media, not for the website, not without asking you on the night. Assume no unless somebody asks and you say yes
You can stop early — Three hours is longer than it sounds when you are concentrating. Leaving at the two-hour mark is completely normal and nobody comments on it
What to wear
Not good clothes — Whatever is on the bench ends up on you. Some of it washes out and some of it genuinely does not
Closed shoes — Not a rule for the sake of one. Things get dropped on a bench floor, and sandals are the usual reason somebody goes home early
Hair tied back, sleeves up — And rings off if you'll be working wet. There is a dish by the sink and it gets emptied into your hand at the end
Short nails for clay — Only for clay, and only if you want an easier evening. Long nails make the one thing that is already hard considerably harder
Bring your glasses — The close work is closer than people expect. Reading glasses are the most forgotten item here by a long way
Closed shoes — Not a rule for the sake of one. Things get dropped on a bench floor, and sandals are the usual reason somebody goes home early
Hair tied back, sleeves up — And rings off if you'll be working wet. There is a dish by the sink and it gets emptied into your hand at the end
Short nails for clay — Only for clay, and only if you want an easier evening. Long nails make the one thing that is already hard considerably harder
Bring your glasses — The close work is closer than people expect. Reading glasses are the most forgotten item here by a long way
What's already here
Every tool and all the material — Included in the price. Nothing has to be bought first and nothing is sold to you on the night
An apron that fits — Several sizes, all of them clean. You do not need to own one to do this
Tea, and a real break — Twenty minutes in the evening class and a proper hour on the Saturday. The kettle is in the room, not down a corridor
Somewhere for your coat — And your bag, locked, if that matters to you. Ask on the way in rather than hunting for it
The insurance, and its limits — Public liability is held and the certificate is on the wall. It covers this workshop's liability — it is not personal accident cover for you, and it does not cover your clothes or your phone
An apron that fits — Several sizes, all of them clean. You do not need to own one to do this
Tea, and a real break — Twenty minutes in the evening class and a proper hour on the Saturday. The kettle is in the room, not down a corridor
Somewhere for your coat — And your bag, locked, if that matters to you. Ask on the way in rather than hunting for it
The insurance, and its limits — Public liability is held and the certificate is on the wall. It covers this workshop's liability — it is not personal accident cover for you, and it does not cover your clothes or your phone
A seat, a pair, or the whole bench
One seat
$45 · an evening
- Three hours, six people
- Every tool and all material
- Take home whatever doesn't need firing
- No experience assumed at all
Saturday
$85 · the long class
- Ten until four, an hour off
- Time for a second, better attempt
- The same six benches
- Lunch is yours — the café is two doors down
The whole bench
$260 · six seats, one group
- Birthdays, work days, a family
- Any date the room is free
- Two hours or four, your call
- One person pays and nobody chases anybody
Booking — A date is only held once you have an email confirming it. A message from this page is an enquiry rather than a booking, and nothing here ever takes a payment
Paying — Half up front for the whole bench and nothing up front for a single seat. Most people pay on the night
A seat as a present — Without picking a date — whoever receives it chooses. Open-ended, because a fixed date is the fastest way to waste a present
Concessions — Two seats a month go at half price and no proof of anything is asked for. Say you'd like one of those and the answer is simply yes or the next date
Paying — Half up front for the whole bench and nothing up front for a single seat. Most people pay on the night
A seat as a present — Without picking a date — whoever receives it chooses. Open-ended, because a fixed date is the fastest way to waste a present
Concessions — Two seats a month go at half price and no proof of anything is asked for. Say you'd like one of those and the answer is simply yes or the next date
Cancelling, both ways round
The half of this that workshops usually leave off the page is the second half.
If you cancel — More than a week out, moved or refunded, your choice. Inside a week, moved to another date. On the day it depends, and it depends kindly
If you simply don't come — Message afterwards anyway. It is nearly always sorted out and nobody goes on a list
If the class doesn't run — It needs four of the six seats. Under that it moves, and you hear at least three days ahead rather than on the morning
Why there's a minimum at all — A bench of two costs the same to run as a bench of six. Saying that plainly is better than pretending a class was cancelled for some other reason
What you get back — All of it, by the route it came in, within a week. Not a credit note unless a credit note is what you asked for
If the tutor is ill — The same as above. There is no stand-in who half knows the class — it moves instead
If you simply don't come — Message afterwards anyway. It is nearly always sorted out and nobody goes on a list
If the class doesn't run — It needs four of the six seats. Under that it moves, and you hear at least three days ahead rather than on the morning
Why there's a minimum at all — A bench of two costs the same to run as a bench of six. Saying that plainly is better than pretending a class was cancelled for some other reason
What you get back — All of it, by the route it came in, within a week. Not a credit note unless a credit note is what you asked for
If the tutor is ill — The same as above. There is no stand-in who half knows the class — it moves instead
6benches, so six people
3 hrsan evening class
0experience assumed
3 wksbefore fired work comes back
Ask before you book
Nothing here holds a seat or takes any money. It is a question, and it gets a straight answer — including "that one isn't the right class for you, come to the other one".
Ask before you book
"On my own" is the answer most people pick. If that was the thing holding you back, it is the thing holding nearly everybody back.
Live preview — every color, word and block is editable after you pick it.