New classes at Portobello Community Centre

[Bob Jefferson]

Maggie Le May has asked me to help to promote the following classes at the Community Centre:

POTTERY MONDAYS – SELF HELP GROUP

at Portobello Community Centre,
Adelphi Grove, Edinburgh EH15 1AP

A new pottery/art studio has been set up.

The studio is available on Mondays 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m at £5 per hour
(e.g. if 5 potters used it the individuals’ costs would be £1 per hour , as long as it is left clean and tidy).

Supplies are charged at cost price. We have paper clay and raw materials for making it, terracotta clay, T material, grogged earthenware. Glazes, and materials for making glazes.

Facilities: an electric wheel, a pug mill, a 4.5 cu.ft. kiln.

Contacts: Maggie Le May at Community Centre 0131 669 8275
Alison Robinson, potter 0131 468 0623 or 01947676145

Alison will be there at 10.00 to 10.30 a.m. to show you around, where things are kept, and if you need it, help you to get started.

Summer Pottery Classes

Facilitator Maggie Lemay maggielemay@portobello.cc
0131 669 8275

Tutor Alison Robinson ali.robinson@blueyonder.co.uk
0131 468 0623

June/July 2007
Each Thursday for 5 weeks from 10am -12 and 2-4 pm, giving 2hrs break between the sessions. Potters can bring a packed lunch or there are several nearby cafes.

Thursday, June 28th
Pottery Basics. Hand building and throwing techniques, tuition for beginners and improvers, trying out different types of clay, how to prepare clay for a project –animal or bird shapes. Demonstrations of throwing a tall cylinder and a shallow bowl. Lunch time Video of wheel techniques.

Thursday, July 5th
Paper clay: its properties and making use of them in designing the piece, eg using unconventional formers or taking a paper clay dish/shape and cutting or breaking it into pieces then putting it together in an altered form eg Picasso -faces, Cubism; Sculptural forms:- a candelabra, a wall light.

Thursday July 12th
Making a press moulded Plate or Bowl; decorating it with coloured clay slips & underglaze colours, using wood & metal tools, wood & lino stamps and rollers. Video of decorating methods

Thursday July 19th
Ceramics & print : using stencils or screens for composing repeat patterns on bisque fired tiles, also Mono-printing on paper clay: This is where the design is composed on a cloth or plaster block and a paper-clay sheet is pressed over it. (Paper clay is a mix of paper pulp (cellulose) and clay, that can be used as a large thin sheet without breaking).Intaglio prints: Incised drawing into a plaster block which can be “inked up” or a relief drawing made by pressing a clay sheet over it.

Thursday July 26th
Grand Finale -a Raku firing day. The class members will have made some pots during sessions 2-3 for this event, using a suitable clay & biscuit firing the dry pots.The morning will be spent glazing & decorating them & setting up the raku kiln, packing & starting the firing either in the Youth group Garden or in the nearby yard of Bridge street studios.

Class size – maximum 12, minimum 8
Fees @ £10 for each day (+ £5 for materials & firing costs) or £40 for the complete program of 5 days (+£10 materials & firing costs) This is giving a £10 discount on the class fee.

If pottery isn't your thing there is a new line dancing class on Friday evenings. Check with Maggie for details.