Welcome. Let’s make sure your first day doesn’t feel like a first day.
Three things to do before you come. Then the whole first day laid out minute by minute, right down to which door to use, where you sit while you wait, and what that bell means. The only surprises left will be the fun kind.
Your before-class checklist
Tap each one as you finish it. This page will remember where you got to, even if you close it and come back tomorrow.
One video everybody watches. Two that depend on what you want to make.
We would rather hand you clay on day one than talk at you for the entire class. These do the talking so we don’t have to.
Tell us below when you’re coming and we’ll be watching for you.
You choose when you come and how often. We just need a heads up on the first one, because your first day has a tour attached to it and we want to start it with your shelf ready and you in the room.
Friday evenings and weekend mornings are open studio, which means no instructors on the floor. You need two instructed classes under your belt before you can use them. More on that further down.
Picking a day up there does not tell us anything. We need you to send us the text below. Fill in your name, open it, hit send, and we will reply.Our number is 385-241-5528. Text us anything, any time. There are no dumb questions this early.
What your first day actually looks like.
Nobody likes walking into a room without knowing what happens next. So here is the whole thing, start to finish. Drag it around.
Mentally prepare now. The pottery wheel is harder than it looks!
Most people need a few weeks before it starts to feel like anything at all, and a lot longer before they are any good. Dan took weeks. That is the normal experience, not the sad one.
So come planning to have fun with the clay, win or lose. Find a way to laugh when it collapses, because it will collapse, and it is genuinely funny when it does. Then dig in and find the grit to keep practicing until it clicks. It does click.
And if you try it and it just doesn’t call to you, or it is more frustrating than fun, no problem at all. The hand-building and slab mold side of the studio is right there waiting, and plenty of our members live on that side and never look back.
Short version: clothes you can get dirty.
That is genuinely most of it. Nobody here is dressed up. Everybody is a little muddy by the end.
Fingernails, while we’re at it
Not a rule. But if you plan to throw on the wheel, short nails make it dramatically easier. Long nails dig into the wall of whatever you are trying to pull up. We keep clippers at the studio if you change your mind mid-class.
You bring your own tools
Green Level is our lowest tier, and tools are the tradeoff. You will need your own basic tool set and sponges. Every other level includes tools, so this section is not your problem if you joined higher than Green Level.
Two easy ways to solve it:
Don’t want to think about tools at all? You can move up a level right now, or any time later. Upgrade your membership.
An apron, if you like aprons
Aprons are not included in any membership and plenty of members never use one. We tested more than ten of them and this is the one we kept reaching for.
You need clay, and it’s the only thing you have to buy on day one.
Bags are 25 pounds and start at $28 for a Green Level Member. Fancier clay bodies cost a bit more, and every level above Green Level pays less on every single bag. We walk you through buying your first one during the tour, right from your phone, so you don’t need cash or a card in your hand.
A mug takes about a pound of clay. Drag this to the size of thing you want to make and see what a bag turns into.
Rough math, clay only, and it assumes nothing goes wrong. Things go wrong. That is part of it, and the clay you wreck early is the cheapest tuition in the building. See all eight clay bodies and your level’s pricing.
Never bring clay from anywhere else.
Not from another studio. Not from a craft store. Not the bag your cousin swears is fine.
Outside clay can destroy our kilns, and one bad bag can take out an entire load of other members’ work along with it. Somebody’s first mug and somebody’s wedding gift, gone together. Every student buys their clay here. No exceptions, ever, for anybody, including the people who ask nicely.
Everybody walks in with one of these in their head.
Tap whichever one is yours. We have heard all of them, usually from people who are now here twice a week.
Things you will need to know later. Not now.
Bookmark these and forget them. Nothing here matters on day one, and nobody expects you to have read a word of it.
Want to walk in already knowing a few things?
None of this is required. Some people like showing up with a head start, and if that is you, here is where to spend an evening.
House rules, in plain language.
None of these are gotchas. They are the things that keep a 10,000 square foot studio working for everybody in it.
How many classes do I get each month?
Green Level, any four classes. Yellow Level, any five. Purple Level, any six. Black Level, any eight.
You pick which ones. Come every Tuesday, come four Mondays in a row, mix it up month to month. It is up to you.
Everyone cleans up. Including you.
Every member cleans their own work area plus one other area of the studio that needs attention.
We all get the place dirty together, so we all keep it clean together. On day one somebody will show you exactly what that means, so you are not guessing.
How do I spot an instructor?
Main instructors wear pink Clay Hole shirts. Trade instructors wear purple. Either one can help you.
There is a main instructor on the wheel side and another on the hand-building side, usually with a second instructor backing each of them up when things get busy. Use them freely. Just remember they are shared across the whole class, so if one is mid-sentence with somebody else, grab the other.
Can I bring someone with me?
Not on your first day. Not to watch, not to keep you company, not for a minute. Day one is a lot of moving parts for us and we need the room for new members only.
After that, absolutely. Guests come in on a Bring a Friend pass, and members do it all the time.
How old do you have to be?
Eighteen and up on your own.
Fourteen and up is welcome with a parent or guardian who is also a member and who attends alongside them. Not dropped off, not waiting in the car. In the room, making pottery too.
When can I start using open studio?
After you have been to two instructed classes. That is Friday evenings, Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings, all 6:30 to 10:00 PM on Friday and 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM on the weekend.
There are no instructors during open studio. The two class minimum exists so that when you walk in, you already know the layout, the rules and the cleanup routine. Open studio counts as one of your classes for the month, and it is a genuinely great way to meet people and get lost in a project.
How early can I show up, and when do I have to leave?
No more than fifteen minutes early. Before that we are still setting up.
You need to be cleaned up and out the door by the time class ends, not starting your cleanup then. We usually give a thirty minute heads up so you can wrap up what you are doing without rushing.
How does the monthly part actually work?
Memberships run on calendar months, not from your start date. Start on the 20th and that month still ends when the month ends.
That sounds like a raw deal until you hear the other half: your classes never expire while you are a member. Nothing you paid for disappears. You just use it later.
Want more classes than your level gives you? You can upgrade any time, including before your first class.
Are you ever closed?
Yes, on holidays. Check the class schedule and holiday closures before you plan a first day around one.
Since you choose which classes you attend each month, there are no refunds for holiday closures.
I have a question that isn’t here.
Text us at 385-241-5528. That is the fastest way to get an answer from a human.
Or read the full FAQ, which answers sixty-six of them, or take the virtual studio tour so the building is familiar before you park.
That’s everything. Go sign the waiver and tell us when you’re coming.
The first day is the only awkward one, and it is less awkward than you are picturing. After that you are just somebody who does pottery on Tuesdays.
Curious what people actually make here? Have a look at class photos and member show and tell. Some of it is from people who had never touched clay before their first day either.