I really loved this class and would recommend to anyone wanting to learn new creative skills. I was pretty nervous going to class for the first time and doubted my ability to socialise with new people and create something in a group setting. But Sarah is a great teacher - warm and encouraging and puts you at ease immediately. I had so much fun experimenting with shapes and colour and using my hands. And to my surprise, I ended up with a bunch of lovely pottery that I actually made!
Conveniently scheduled on a Sunday, but not much supervision. Lovely studio.
The approach is a short introduction to throwing clay (the first 2 classes) and then you are left on your own without much assistance. Sarah is happy to help, but I feel the ratio of her to the 10 person class left me feeling a bit ignored; particularly when I was struggling. I would recommend having an assistant on hand to help. Sarah is an accomplished ceramicist and I felt she was busy managing her company affairs while trying to teach.
In speaking with others in the class, the high cost seems to be a better value than less expensive classes where clay and firing are additional costs, but as I was limited to Sundays, I did not explore other options.
The third class is about cleaning up your dried pieces, decorating with decals, adding handles to cups (if you were lucky enough to form one), etc.
The final class is dipping your work in glazes. I was hoping to have more options than just dipping pieces into glazes, but that is the only choice. There are a selection of colours to choose from, but none that really appealed to me.
My goal was to tick using a pottery wheel off my "to do" list and that's pretty much what I got out of it; that and a few wonky pieces that I am not sure what to do with. The people in the class who were on their second go around, had much more success and walked away with more professional/useful pieces.
I am hoping to try a freeform class at another studio next.