Self Guided Wheel Session

Our self guided wheel sessions at Olive Branch studio offers 2.5 hour time throwing or trimming at a Shimpo Whisper wheel. Your ticket includes pottery tools and unlimited clay. You will have two hours and 15 minutes of uninterrupted throwing with the last 15 minutes left for cleaning up your tools and the wheel. A separate hand building/ glazing class needs to be booked to glaze your pieces. 

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Please note that our wheel sessions do not have technique demonstration. You need to be comfortable working at the wheel independently. Our instructor will be happy to show you around the studio and walk you through the clean up process. 

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Olive Branch Pottery's main focus is hand building with clay. Studio has only one wheel, so one booking is available for each time slot. You are welcome to book a hand building class that happens at the same time for those who would like to come in with a partner. 

 

Trimming

Our studio offers shelf space to keep your pieces for up to 2 weeks before the trimming session. Trimming requires a separate wheel session booking.

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Our Clay 

At our studio we use stoneware clay which is dense pottery fired at high temperatures to make it resistant to liquids. It is made from clay, but is more durable than other kinds of pottery and earthenware. Stoneware gets its name from its stone-like qualities. It is considered one of the most food safe types of clay due to its non porous nature, but your piece still needs to be glazed after the first firing to become food safe. Stoneware pieces are easy to clean and are soft and pleasing to the touch.

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Firing & Glazing

Firing Process:

Please note that firing and glazing is not included in the class price. You can pay for firing by card or cash at the end of the session. Firing fee is 5$ for one regular sized piece and 10$ for one piece over 10 inches. Firings take from up to 4 weeks to complete and once it is done, the pictures of pieces will be posted on our website in the section called Firing Updates. You can then pick them up or book a glazing class. We keep fired pieces in the studio for 4 weeks after the firing. Please make sure to pick up or glaze your pieces before the due date.

 

Overdue pieces will be kept in the overdue boxes for additional two week after that they will be used for pottery painting events or disposed of. Olive Branch Pottery is not responsible for pieces getting damaged in the overdue boxes. 

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Please note, that our studio is not responsible for pieces getting broken during the firing process. We do our best to upload pictures of all pieces on the website after each firing, but cannot guarantee that we will not miss any small damages. Please feel free to come by the studio during class hours to check your piece before booking a class for glazing. 

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Glazing Process:

You may choose to have your piece glazed after the first firing. You can book any of our hand building/ glazing classes to glaze your piece. 

Your piece will need to be fired again after glazing following the same timeline as the first firing. 

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Please note that your piece is not food safe unless it is glazed.

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Want to find out more? Send us a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.