Meridian showcase 02 / 09

Demonstration page. The business is invented, the words are sample copy, and this is not work done for a client.

Foundry Lane Ceramics - Pottery studio

Six weeks at the wheel, one evening a week.

A beginners course in wheel-thrown stoneware, taught in a working studio with eight wheels and no more than eight people.

8 wheels

One per person, for the whole six weeks

Clay, glazes, both firings and a locker for work in progress are all in the course fee.

The six weeks

One frame, held, while the course goes past it.

The wheel stays where it is for the whole of this section. Only the words move, which is the same relationship you have with a wheel for six weeks.

Wheel three, studio floor

Held frame. Sticky positioning, not animation, which is why it holds in every browser.

01
The clay arrives wet and stays wet
Studio stoneware is wedged and bagged for you. Nobody spends their first evening learning to reclaim, because reclaiming is a thing you learn once you already care about it.
02
Centring is the only skill for a week
One evening, one skill. It is the least glamorous session and the one every later session rests on, so it gets the whole of week one rather than twenty minutes of it.
03
Cylinders, until your hands stop asking
Opening the base, pulling the wall, keeping the rim level. You throw the same form again and again on purpose, because the point is not the pot.
04
Trimming, and the first thing worth keeping
Leather-hard work goes back on the wheel upside down for a foot ring. This is the week people start taking pieces home rather than putting them back in the reclaim bin.
05
Glaze, load, fire, open
You mix, dip and wax your own work, load the kiln with the tutor and see it unloaded. Firing schedules are explained rather than performed behind a closed door.

Week one
Centring, and nothing else
The first evening is spent on one skill, because every skill after it depends on that one. Most people centre reliably by the end of it.
01
Weeks two to four
Cylinders, then bowls
Pulling walls, opening the base, trimming a foot ring. You throw the same form repeatedly until your hands stop asking your eyes for help.
02
Weeks five and six
Glazing and the kiln
You glaze your own work, load the kiln, and see it come out. Firing schedules are explained rather than performed behind a closed door.
03

Included

Clay, glazes, both firings, a locker

Not included

Tools to take home, and a wheel of your own

Group size

Eight, which is the number of wheels

The next course starts on the first Tuesday of the month.

Foundry Lane Ceramics

Courses run continuously and fill from the waiting list first. There is no experience requirement and no equipment to buy.

That is where the demonstration ends. Foundry Lane Ceramics is invented, so the buttons above lead here rather than anywhere. These two do work.

What you are looking at

Technique: Sticky held frame
Why here: A making process is a sequence, and a sequence reads best when the thing being made holds still and the words move past it. One frame is pinned for the length of the section while five beats of copy travel through - so the reader is scrubbing a shot rather than scrolling a page.
With animation off: Sticky positioning is layout, not animation, so the frame still holds in every browser. Without the scroll-driven layer the wheel simply does not turn.

Foundry Lane Ceramics - One per person, for the whole six weeks