Pottery course · Thornbury
Six weeks at the wheel.
Next course starts demo date
Six Tuesday evenings, twelve hours at your own wheel. All clay, all glaze and two firings included. Taught by Ruth Aldis, six people at a time.
Next dates
One price, six places.
£285 for the whole six weeks. Half to hold the place, half in week one, no fee for splitting it. Dates shown are demo dates.
Six weeks at the wheelFull course
Twelve hours at a wheel. All clay, all glaze, two firings.
Tuesdays, 6.30 to 8.30pm · 6 weeks
Six places · never touched clay is fine
Two hours at a wheel, one firing included. Comes off the course fee if you book the six weeks after.
One two-hour evening
Same studio, wheel and tutor
Dates go to the list first, about three weeks before they open.
Four courses a year
Two emails per course
The actual pace
Slower than the internet suggests.
No music, no time-lapse. This is the actual pace of an evening session, which is slower than the internet suggests and is the reason people come back.
How the six weeks run
Centre it, pull it, finish it.
Weeks one to six, two weeks at a time.
Weeks one and two: centring
The whole of it. Nobody throws anything worth keeping until the clay sits still, and pretending otherwise wastes a term.
Weeks three and four: pulling walls
Cylinders, then bowls. You will make far more than you keep, which is the point and not a failure.
Weeks five and six: trimming and glaze
Everything you kept gets finished, fired and handed back. You leave with work, not photographs of work.
Six evenings, two hours each, one wheel per person. Never shared, never rotated.
In the six weeks
What you take home
Fired, finished and yours. Most people leave with four or five pieces.
hours at your own wheel
firings, bisque and glaze, both done here
people, because that is how many wheels
pieces kept, for most people
What is in the six weeks
Everything except the apron
Aprons are here too.
Twelve hours at a wheel
Six evenings, two hours each, one wheel per person. Never shared, never rotated.
All clay and all glaze
Use as much as you ruin. Nobody has ever been asked to be careful with the clay.
Two firings
Bisque and glaze, both included, both done here.
Six people maximum
Because that is how many wheels there are, not as a scarcity tactic.
Tools to borrow
A full kit at every station. Buy your own later if you carry on, and not before.
Whatever you keep
Fired, finished and yours. Most people leave with four or five pieces.
Ruth Aldis in the Thornbury studio. Demo image.
Who teaches
Taught by Ruth Aldis.
Twenty-two years at the wheel and eleven teaching it. Ruth ran the ceramics evening class at Thornbury Adult Education until it closed in 2024; these sessions are what happened next.
Six people at a time, because that is how many wheels there are and how many people one person can actually watch.
Before you book
The things people ask on the phone
If yours is not here, ask. It is a small studio and Ruth answers her own email.
I have never touched clay. Is that a problem?
It is the expected starting point. The six weeks are built for people who have never centred anything.
What if I miss a week?
You can sit in on the same week of the next course at no charge, space permitting. It usually is.
What should I wear?
Something you have stopped caring about, and short sleeves. Aprons are here. Clay does come out of most things, eventually.
Six places, four times a year.
Half to hold the place, half in week one. Move your dates once, free, up to a week before the first session.
Next course starts Tue 10 Nov · £285 · six places demo date
Next: Tue 10 Nov · £285