After our successful salsa night we decided to get a bit more crafty with a ceramic workshop. The Clay Studio in Hulme is a ceramic/pottery studio who, as well as providing a shared workspace for their members, also offer weekly courses, one-off workshops, and throwing classes. We contacted them to see if they would be willing to host a class especially for Manchester WI, and together decided that a "coiled jug" would be just the thing!
Coiled pots are constructed by gradually stacking and joining coils of clay (think long thin sausages!) one on top of the other on top of a clay base. The coils can be left visible or can be smoothed away depending on your desired aesthetic end result. Sarah, our instructor for the workshop, first showed us a selection of images and a few "here's some we made earlier" jugs to give us a few ideas. Then after a demonstration of the various techniques we needed to know, and a bit of sketching/planning, it was time to cut out a clay base and start rolling!
We got messy, and some of us took to it quicker than others, but it was great fun! There were even frantic coils being made and shared near the end to help those who hadn't quite finished. Without this a few of us would have ended up with bowls instead of jugs- a lovely bit of teamwork between our ladies!
At the end of the workshop we got to choose the colour of the glaze we wanted. We could even pick two colours if we wanted for a two tone effect! The jugs were fired and glazed by the Studio and we ended up with a fully functional jug in time for Christmas. A few examples of the final pieces are shown below which members have sent to us....and I'll think you'll agree that they are pretty impressive for 3 hours work! Well done ladies xx