Every month you stay, something comes back.
That card we handed you on day one is a real program, and it adds up to a lot more than it looks like it does. Here is the whole thing written out, with the numbers attached, plus a way to work out exactly where you are on it and what lands next.
Your day-one card. Where it disagrees with this page, this page is the current one.
Where are you on it?
Tell us when you joined and which level you are on. Nothing gets saved or sent anywhere; this runs entirely in your browser.
Pick your start month and year above.
We will light up everything you have already earned and tell you what the next rung is. The ladder below shows Green Level values until you change the level.
Just the punch
No reward on this rung. It only marks that the clock started.
A free firing
8″ max on the longest side of the piece.
Worth up to $25.60Two free firings
8″ max each.
Worth up to $51.20A free bag of 52 Buff
52 Buff at every level. No swapping it for a different clay, and no paying up to a nicer bag.
Worth $28.00A free firing
10″ max.
Worth up to $50.00A free Bring a Friend pass
One guest, one class, on us.
Worth $36.25A free firing
10″ max.
Worth up to $50.00Two free firings
12″ max each. This is the one that starts getting silly.
Worth up to $172.80A free Clay Hole t-shirt
Any size or style we currently carry. Or put the value of a shirt toward a sweatshirt or hoodie and cover the rest.
Worth $28.00A free firing
12″ max.
Worth up to $86.40A free firing
12″ max.
Worth up to $86.40A free month
Your 13th month is free, at whatever level you are on when you take it. Tell us before the 24th so the charge never runs.
Worth $145.00Free firings for life
Two every month, 12″ max each, for as long as you stay.
Up to $172.80 a month LifetimeBigger free firings for life
Three every month, 16″ max each. This replaces the two above rather than stacking on top of them.
Up to $614.40 a month LifetimeFree clay for life
A bag of 52 Buff every month. This is the one rung where you may put that value toward a nicer clay and pay the difference.
$28.00 a month LifetimeNobody has finished this thing yet
The Clay Hole opened in March 2025, so the longest anyone can possibly have been a member is still short of the top of the ladder. The two-year and three-year rungs are real and they are coming. They are just still ahead of everybody here, including the people who walked in on day one.
What a free firing actually covers
Glaze firings run five cents a cubic inch with a $4.80 minimum, and every piece is measured on its longest point in each direction. The inch limit on a reward applies to the longest side of the piece, not to the volume. So a wide flat platter can eat a big reward while a tall skinny vase barely touches it.
Where the big numbers come from, and why they are optimistic
Every “worth up to” figure on this page assumes you completely fill the cube the reward allows. A 12″ reward technically covers 1,728 cubic inches, which is $86.40 of firing. Almost nothing anyone makes is a solid 12″ cube. A mug is about 80 cubic inches and hits the $4.80 minimum no matter what.
So read the ceilings as ceilings. If you make big platters, wide bowls and tall vases, the firing rewards are worth serious money. If you make mugs, they are worth $4.80 apiece and the clay, the shirt and the free month are the parts you will actually feel.
What it adds up to
Change your level up in the picker and these move with it, because clay, passes and membership all cost different amounts at different levels. Ceilings, not averages.
The honest version
We are not going to pretend most members squeeze the roof out of this. Most people will not. What is true is that the program costs you nothing, requires nothing of you, and quietly gets more generous the longer you are around. The month-18 rung is where it stops being a nice extra and starts being a real reason to not go anywhere.
Cancel, and the clock goes back to zero.
There is no gentler way to write that one. Cancel at any time, for any reason, and the card starts over. Every punch, every reward you were saving, gone with it. You are always welcome back and we will hand you a fresh card on the way in, but it begins at one month again like everybody else.
This is the single biggest reason we push pausing as hard as we do, and it is not a sales line. A pause costs a fraction of a membership, and the months you are paused simply do not count against you. The clock stops instead of resetting. You keep the shelf, the unused classes, the spot, and every punch on the card.
If you are thinking about stepping away and there is any real chance you come back, pause. If there is not, cancel with a clear conscience and we will see you when we see you.
The rest of it, all in one place
Wait for the punch
Do not cash a reward in until your card has actually been punched. The punch is the receipt.
Any order, any time
Rewards do not have to be used in the order you earned them, and none of them expire while you are a member. Bank them for a year if you feel like it.
A reward opens with the month
You can use it the moment the month you have paid for begins, which is really the 25th before, when the charge runs. No waiting for a month to finish and no minimum number of classes first.
Longest side decides it
On free firings the inch limit applies to the longest side of the piece, measured at its widest point in that direction.
Glaze firings
Bisque firings are already free for every member, so a free firing means a glaze firing.
Write it on the kiln ticket
When you use a free firing, write Reward Freebie on the payment line.
Lifetime rewards do not roll over
From eighteen months on, your monthly free firings and free clay reset at the start of each month. Unused ones do not stack up for later.
One bag at a time
Take a new free bag of clay only once the old one is actually used up.
Yours, and only yours
Rewards cannot be shared, gifted or transferred to another member. They are tied to you and to your card.
Levels do not touch the clock
Upgrade or downgrade whenever you want. Neither one resets anything, and neither one speeds anything up.
Discounted months still count
Heroes Discount months and a discounted first month both count as paid months, same as any other.
Free month, before the 24th
Tell us before the 24th so the charge never runs. If you forget and it does run, the free month simply slides to the following month. Nothing is lost.
Losing the card costs you real money
We do not track punches on our end. The card we handed you is the only record that exists. If you lose it we will absolutely issue you a new one, but we then have to punch every single month up to where you are, which means anything you had been saving is gone with the old card.
So: find the old one. It is roughly the size of a sheet of paper, which you would think makes it hard to misplace, and people misplace it constantly. Check the car, check the shelf, check the pile of mail. It is worth more than it looks.
Things members ask
Does the free 13th month still count as a month?
It does. It counts toward eighteen months exactly like a paid one, so the free month never slows down the rest of the ladder.
We are on a Shared Membership. How many cards?
One card between the two of you. A Shared Membership is a single membership at a single price, so it earns a single card and a single set of rewards.
We have a Shared Shelf Pass. How does that work?
Two separate memberships, so two separate cards. You each earn your own rewards on your own clock, and nothing about sharing a shelf changes any of it.
I changed levels. Did that reset anything?
No. Upgrades and downgrades have no effect on the rewards clock at all. It keeps counting the months you have been a member, whatever level those months were.
Which level does my free month cover?
Whatever level you are on when you actually take it, not the level you were on when you earned it. If you moved up in month eleven, the free month covers the higher one.
What happens to my rewards if I pause?
Nothing bad. Paused months do not count against you and they do not count toward you either. The clock freezes where it is and picks back up when your billing does. Full details on pausing here.
I canceled once and came back. Where do I stand?
At one month, with a fresh card. We know that stings, and it is exactly the outcome the pause option exists to prevent. Nothing carries over from before.
How do I actually cash one in?
Bring the card and ask any of us in the studio. We punch it, you take the thing. For a free firing, write Reward Freebie on the payment line of your kiln ticket. For the free clay, ask before you grab a bag so we can punch it properly.
We can change this, and we would rather not.
The back of your card says we reserve the right to tweak or cancel any part of this program if it ever becomes financially unfeasible or unmaintainable, and that is exactly what we mean by it. This is deliberately generous. We built it to reward the people who make this studio a long-term part of their life, and we would rather keep it running honestly than promise something we cannot hold up. If anything ever does change, this page changes with it.
Landed here without a card of your own? Membership starts here, and so does the clock.