Let me paint a picture for you. You’ve done a few terms at your local pottery studio and you know your way around the wheel fairly well. OR, you’re a keen hand builder and you’re starting to get serious. You love your weekly class but you’re itching to get more time to practice what you’ve learnt or to just be creative so you decide that you’re going to set up a space at home. Where do you begin? Firstly, congrats! That’s so exciting that you’re ready and keen to take your practice to the next level. I bet you’re thinking “Help?!” It can be a lot to wrap your head around but I’ve got you covered. I’ll take you through studio safety, storage, clay recycling, tools, glazing and much more! But today I’ll give you an overview of the essentials to get you started.

So I bet you’re thinking, “What the heck is throwing off the hump?” Well, it’s a Japanese method of making pots on the pottery wheel from a large mound of clay. This method of throwing differs from the western style of throwing where we measure out our balls of clay and throw directly onto the wheel. Throwing off the hump offers a chance to be a little more experimental with our forms and allows us to make multiple pieces from the same mound of clay.

After a very unpredictable 2020 and a slightly rocky start to 2021, I am happy to be back and active in the Melbourne ceramics community (and broader Australian ceramics community) again. After quite a long break I’m so excited to share that in addition to expanding and developing my personal practice, I am now hosting hand building workshops around Melbourne and I can’t wait to share my knowledge and skills with you all.