My Very Own Yarn Shop!

Am I the only one who believes I'm a pottery expert based simply on the number of episodes of The Great Pottery Throw Down I've watched? Terms like sprigging, coiling and raku firing just trip off my tongue!

Putting my armchair know-how into practice, I joined a ceramic clay hand-building workshop at Elevate: The Space in Stonehaven in February. What a light, bright spacious studio to work in with a very warm welcome from Creative Director, Kate, who kept us well supplied with refreshments.

Workshop tutor, Helen, who's appropriately named business is Far From Dull Ceramics, knew arming beginners with wet clay could be challenging. We started the day making toadstools to give us some hands-on experience of the raw material most potters use. Mine stood up at least but were trickier to fashion than you'd imagine for their diminutive size!

Helen then handed us each a piece of leather-hard clay. Though partially dried, it's much easier to manipulate. You can see what we're going to be making just in front of my coffee mug.

There were lots of tools on offer to make a range of marks, textures and shapes on the clay and we were encouraged to experiment and try everything out. As well as classic modelling tools, some impressions were made with old computer parts!

With this confidence building practice under our belts, we set about the business of the day - to make a wee hoose. Helen is well known for her whimsical pottery and I'd seen her wee hooses at local fairs. What fun to be able to make one of my own!

Helen cut us each a piece of extruded clay, according to our desired house height, and demonstrated how to shape the gable ends.

Then it was time to add all that lovely decoration we'd practised.

This was so absorbing that I hardly took any photos. By the time I did, I'd added a doorstep, fashioned a 'cat' to sit on it, textured the walls, cut out the windows and stamped some flowers to grow up the back wall. I got carried away when I found a set of alphabet stamps and made a sign to go above the door. Before I knew it, I'd created the happy place of my dreams - my very own yarn shop!

Helen offered us a selection of pre-prepared patterned sheets so we could make our rooves. I chose to curl mine like an oriental pagoda once I'd secured it in place, created the roof ridge and added a chimney. We also discussed what colour glaze we might like as Helen would add that to our wee hooses during the firing process. I chose turquoise.