Well the OP was easten but here it is again
I’d use google but I don’t know what to search under to find the following.
I want to suprise my friend by taking her to a place where she can make pottery from scratch, You know mold it by hand on a pottery wheeel, then fire and paint it yourself, not a place that sells the pre-made pottery that you just have to paint. I’d like to make this a birthday gift for her as her birthday is comming up.
This was under “make your own pottery” on Google, Hit #1. They’re located in Ithaca, NY, which I know doesn’t help you, but it shows that they’re out there.
http://www.dynamicpatterns.com/potterystudio/clay/
Does your GF already know how to throw pots on a wheel? This place specifies that you ought to already know that, before you sign up for Open Clay Time.
http://www.dynamicpatterns.com/potterystudio/clay/claytime.html
You might try just looking up “potters” in the Yellow Pages where you live, and asking them if they know any places.
DDG Thank you for the link. Ithaca is a tad far from me, but I’ll call them and see if they know any place closer to me
I believe my friend does not know how to throw pots on a wheel. I have no idea what that term means myself. And alas she is not my GF (did I type she was my GF? I’ll have to check the OP [nope never said she was my GF] ) She and I have been good friends for many years though. She has been by my side in times of trouble and happiness. She is good friends ever since they met (after my ex became my ex). She is playing a part in my best friend’s wedding and will be my date there. Do I think her and I would make a great couple for life? Yes I do and so do our friends. Do I think I can create something between us that she doesn’t feel is there by giving her this gift, nope. I’m just a friend who wants to make another friend happy.
Um, okay, okayyyy, Manny, chill, I don’t really care whether she’s your “GF” or your “SO” or your “POSSLQ” or your “whatever”, 'kay? But, um, thanks for the update… I think…
Anyway…
Throwing pots on a wheel is like this:
The potter sits there in front of the potter’s wheel, which is whirling madly. She grabs a big wad of clay and throws it down as hard as she can on the center of the turning wheel. This is to make sure it sticks. Then she gets her hands wet and sticks them right into the wad of turning clay and–magically–a pot starts forming.
Pix. Ever seen people doing this at craft fairs and suchlike? It’s the kind of thing where you can’t just walk in off the street and “make a pot”. You have to learn the technique first, and then it takes a certain amount of practice to get it right.
Aother way of making pottery, without a wheel, is where you just stick your hands into a wad of clay and start shaping a pot, like in Kindergarten. Or you can make coils of clay, like snakes, and coil them up into a pot shape. This is known, of course, as a “coil pot”.
So I’m sorry but I have no suggestions as to how you can get your friend a gift certificate to make a pot on a wheel, without also having a magic wand to give her a Fairy Godmother wish and make her know how to throw pots, “poof!”
Why not give her a gift certificate to a course of lessons to learn how to throw pots? I’m positive that wherever you live, there are potters who give lessons. Check out the YMCA or the local Parks & Recreation Department, if nothing else.
As one recently into pottery, learning the wheel is tricky, but not extremely difficult. I have been motivated by my activity with the renaissance festival. On the first class we did not even use the wheel. We worked with pressed clay. My first mug is still the one that gets the most responses, and requests to reproduce.
I have done a few wheel mugs, and I still get help from the instructors. Learning the feel for the clay is a little tricky, as well as getting just the right spinning speed. Also important is pressing out any trapped air in the clay, which the instructor will show you how to do. My last big mug exploded in the kiln. Likely either not getting all the air out, or not allowing it to dry enough before putting it inside.
I gave my grandmother one of my mugs (a small one). She was so impressed that she gave me one of her kilns. Three weeks later, she passed away (100 years old). Now I have two of her old kilns (she was quite an artist). I am still quite a novice, but I like my creations.
As for your question, many community colleges offer pottery-ceramic classes. I am looking into a class at Houston CC. Being for college, it may be more rigorous, being for a grade. But you would have access to a giant kiln that can hold as much as you can make.
Thank you for explaing what throwing pots on a wheel means. I appreciate it. I felt I had to clarify my “relationsip” with her because mutual friends of ours come here at times and I didn’t want them to think that I had thoughts about her and I being romanticly linked when we aren’t. I will look into classes at the local community college to see if they offer any workshops on the coil method.
This pressed clay you speak of that sounds promising if she can make something without having to learn the wheel she may enjoy herself more and thats what life is about isn’t it. Enjoying what you are doing. I’ll have to look into that to see if there are any places here that offer pressed clay sessions.
MannyL, I know you said you didn’t want to take your friend to a pre-made pottery place, but if all else fails, and you aren’t able to find a place that let’s you use a wheel (I’d be surprised if you can’t), there’s a place in Hoboken called “A Time to Kiln.” It’s a premade place so I guess you could use that as a last resort?
Dignan, thanks. I know about a few pre-made places in NJ. When we were visiting my best friend in MD she passed a place that she thought was more than just paint it and go, and when we stopped in she was let down because it was one of those paint-it and go places.