Clay Play Open Studio Making

This is an open session clay making workshop. Each person will receive 1-2 pounds of clay per session and access to our basic tools and supplies. Pieces can be glazed with color and will be once fired and ready for pickup in 3-4 weeks. We will have limited colors available and suggest that you purchase your own Stroke and Coat glaze if you’d like consistent color and control. You’re welcome to bring any of your own tools.

The instructor leading your session will have a basic project that you can build if you aren’t working independantly. Some sessions will be more guided than others.

Any unfinished clay pieces should go home with you. We will do our best to provide you with plastic and wrap enough to walk out with your piece so you can keep it moist enough to complete it and dry it ahead of firing. Please plan ahead if you know you were looking to make something complex that you’ll want to take home and continue working on.

This is an ongoing workshop offering. You can come to this session, take your piece home to finish and dry it fully, then bring it back in the future to have it fired. Or you can complete your piece in the 2 hour session and leave it at the studio to dry and be fired for you. We will have a clay artist on site that can answer technical questions and get you started with a project idea. Suggested age is adults but ages 7+up can attend along with a paying adult.

Febraury 7th Session: Making Clay Stamps Run by Sea: You will have the opportunity to make a custom stamp alongside a small glazed item. Your instructor will walk you through the steps of creating a stamp using found materials and simple shapes.

February 28th Session: TBD

About your instructors:
Clay artist Sea Star (pronouns: they/them and she/her) has been making sculptures with clay since they were 2 years old. The material has been a great exercise in play, design, and patience. Over the years, they have harvested and processed unique clays from Maine to Tennessee to Puerto Rico. In 2022 Sea earned a BFA in Interdisciplinary Sculpture from MICA and currently works as a Glaze and Decoration Technician for a Philadelphia pottery manufacturer.

Cassie Jones (pronouse: She/They) is the craft coven founder and lead organizer. She has her hands in most crafts but has a great passion for anything scultping. When running open studio you can expect a concentration on non-funtional applications and decorative projects. Currently working on staff at Black Hound Clay studio Cassie has also worked many years at Painting with a Twist in Philadelphia, run a leather brand CUSP by Cassie, is building a line of chain stitch embroidered patches, as well as many other ventures since graduating from The Savannah College of Art and Design in 2010.

About the space:
This event is located in the Starr Garden Playground rec center. When you enter the gates for the playground you will walk to the right of the building to the entrance that is facing Lombard Street. The rec center is mostly used for after school programs and kids camps but is empty in the evenings so they allow us to have adult programming. You’re welcome to bring your own water bottle or snacks, and there will be light music and a social studio atmosphere rather than a classroom.

Organized by The Craft Coven, this event is part of a community oriented series of creative enrichment projects focused on affordability for all. For more information on the group’s missions and to get involved more widely check out https://www.TheCraftCoven.org and become a Member for all the inside opportunities and classes.