Friday 8th January 2027 10am to 4pm and Friday 16th April 2027 10am - 2pm (optional raku day to fire your piece)
£135 per person plus £145 for optional raku day. All materials provided
This course will take place at The Pavilion, Penn Street, Amersham
NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED
No pottery experience is needed to take part in this wonderful hare sculpting workshop, run by experienced potters Carol Read and Richard Ballantyne of R&B Ceramics.
Carol and Richard are both highly respected ceramicists and tutors, who's work is sold internationally. They began a working partnership around 2010. The resulting ceramic art is a fusion of both their skills, contributing to each other’s work and creating new work together.
During this workshop, you will create one of Richard's signature lying down hare sculptures. The main shape for the hare is created using a thrown closed form. This will be provided for each attendee, but also demonstrated on the day. The clay used during the day is Ashraf Hanna clay. Throughout the day, Richard and Carol bring you through the hare making process step-by-step, showing you how to change the shape of your leather hard form, manipulate and add to it to complete the finished piece. All you need to bring on the day is an apron, a board to construct your hare on, any modelling tools if you have them, and a packed lunch.
Your hare can be left with us to be bisque fired - this would make your piece durable and white like the last picture above. If you would like to return to raku fire your hare, this is taking place on the 16th of April.
Raku firing is an ancient Japanese craft using a technique which enables you to glaze your work, fire your pieces and take them home all in one day. You will glaze your pieces under Carol & Richard’s expert guidance, after which they will be placed in the hot kiln and observed carefully until the kiln reaches the correct temperature. Your pieces will then be removed and placed into a bin of combustible materials for ‘reduction’, before being cleaned up, ready to be taken home. Raku firing will give your piece the smoked effect shown in the first 3 photos above. Without raku firing (or other glazing), your hare will remain completely white once bisque fired, like the final photo above.
This course is good for both absolute beginners wishing to explore ceramics but also anyone one who has done a bit of ceramic work before and wants to take it further. There will be plenty of 1-to-1 tuition.
For more information or if you have any questions at all please do email us on julesandcaroline@whereinspirationblooms.co.uk
This class will only be able to go ahead if we have a minimum number of 5 guests. All of our teachers are highly skilled in their fields, but being an artist isn't always a well paid profession so we hope you understand why it's important that we ensure that our teachers can afford to run each of their classes. Should the class not be able to go ahead we will contact you no less than a week before the class is due to take place and full refunds will be issued.
