0 · The Fool

Sample site. First Form Studio is a fictional business, designed by Alcor Industries to show the Fool archetype. Nothing here can be booked, bought or sent.

Get this site: $250
First Form clay studio Book a seat

Every pot starts as a lump. So does every potter.

First Form is a small, bright studio on Loam Street for grown-ups who have never touched clay. Come once. Make one thing with your hands. We fire it, glaze it and keep it on the shelf until you collect it.

Pick your first form
  • One drop-in session
  • From $36, clay included
  • Tuesday through Sunday

2 lb of stoneware. No plans yet.

Pick your first form.

Three drop-in sessions. No course, no series, no homework. Pick whichever sounds least intimidating; you can always come back for the other two.

  1. Pick a form
  2. See the room
  3. Book a seat

Nothing to decide yet. Tap a form and watch the clay.

The clay on the wheel will show you what it becomes. Then you'll see what happens in the room, and one button to book it.

Pinch pot Handbuilding sampler

Two hours at the long table. No wheel, no machinery, nothing spinning. Just your thumbs and a ball of clay the size of an orange.

Time
2 hours
Price
$44
Runs
Tue 6:30 pm · Sat 10 am · Sun 2 pm
You take home
A pinch pot and a little coil dish, fired and glazed

What happens in the room

  1. A ball and a thumb. You take a stool at the long table. We show you how to press one thumb into the middle of the clay, and that is the hardest part over.
  2. Pinch, turn, pinch. The walls thin out and a bowl opens up in your hands. Then we roll snakes of clay, like you did as a kid, and coil a small dish.
  3. Choose a color. Pick a glaze from the test tiles on the wall. We fire everything twice and email you when it is on the pickup shelf.
Book a handbuilding seat · $44

Cylinder Wheel introduction

Two and a half hours on your own wheel by the window. Everyone wobbles at first. The wobble is the lesson.

Time
2½ hours
Price
$58
Runs
Wed 6:30 pm · Sat 1:30 pm · Sun 10 am
You take home
Your two best cylinders, trimmed by us, fired and glazed

What happens in the room

  1. Slap it down. We knead the clay together, then you throw it onto the center of the wheel. It is louder than you expect, and very satisfying.
  2. Hold still. Centering: elbows braced on your knees, wet hands, steady pressure while the wheel spins. The clay argues for a while. Then it stops.
  3. Open, pull, pull again. You make three or four cylinders. We keep your two favorites, trim their feet the next week and glaze them in the color you pick.
Book a wheel seat · $58

Glazed tile Glaze sampler

Ninety minutes with brushes, dipping tongs and the glaze buckets. The gentlest way in, and the one where color does the talking.

Time
1½ hours
Price
$36
Runs
Thu 11 am · Sun 4:30 pm
You take home
Two glazed tiles, ready to use as trivets, and a card of your glaze notes

What happens in the room

  1. Two pale tiles. Already fired once and waiting at your place, chalky and thirsty. We explain why the gray glaze comes out of the kiln blue.
  2. Dip, brush, pour. Try all three. Paint a pattern in wax and dip over it. Wipe the backs clean so nothing sticks to the kiln shelf.
  3. Leave it to the fire. We fire on Monday. Your tiles and your notes are on the pickup shelf by the following weekend.
Book a glaze seat · $36
A lump of clay sitting on a banding wheel, waiting to become something.

This is where everyone starts.

Thumb in. Pinch. Turn. Repeat.

The wheel spins. You hold still.

Gray glaze, blue tile. Kilns are strange.

What you don’t need

We lend aprons. We mean the rest.

In the price

Clay, tools, an apron, a teacher at your elbow, glaze, two firings and a paper bag to carry it all home.

Bring

Clothes that can get muddy. Clay washes out of cotton. Short nails help on the wheel but nobody checks.

Leave behind

The idea that you should already be good at this. Every pot on our shelves started out lopsided.

The week at the studio

Most weeks look like this. Six seats per session and a teacher in the room every time. Choose a slot and it drops into the booking form.

  • Pinch pot
  • Cylinder
  • Glazed tile
  • Open studio

  1. Monday

    Kiln day. We fire, we sweep, the door stays shut.

  2. Tuesday

  3. Wednesday

  4. Thursday

  5. Friday

  6. Saturday

  7. Sunday

How your piece gets home

About three weeks from lump to shelf. Clay is slow. That is half of what makes it good.

  1. Day one

    You make it

    It goes on a board by the window with your name on a strip of masking tape.

  2. Week one

    It dries

    Slowly, on the rack by the back wall. It shrinks a little and turns pale and chalky.

  3. Week two

    First firing

    The bisque firing. Out it comes, hard and pinkish and ready to take glaze.

  4. Week two

    Glaze goes on

    We dip it in the color you chose from the test wall. Or come back and do it yourself.

  5. Week three

    Second firing, then the shelf

    The glaze turns to glass. We email you, and your piece waits on the pickup shelf for a month.

Open studio evenings

After your first form, the room is yours on Thursday and Friday nights. A teacher walks the floor. Ask, or don’t.

When
Thursday and Friday, 6 pm to 9:30 pm
Cost
$22 an evening, or five evenings for $95
Clay
$24 a 25 lb bag, bought here so the kiln knows what it is firing
Firing
Included, for anything that fits on your shelf space
Who
Anyone who has done one first form session. That is the only rule.

There’s a radio, a kettle and a very popular sink.

Find the blue door

27 Loam Street, Slipwater. Ground floor, no steps, between the bakery with the green awning and the bike repair shop.

Hand-drawn floor plan of the studio The front door opens from Loam Street. The wheels sit along the front window, the long table fills the middle of the room, the wedging bench and sink are on the left wall, the pickup shelf runs along the back wall, the kiln room is in the back right corner and the glaze test wall is on the right. An accessible restroom is by the door. wedging bench the sink (popular) pickup shelf kiln room the long table wheels by the window glaze test wall restroom aprons Loam Street come in here

Address

First Form Studio
27 Loam Street
Slipwater

Studio hours

Mon
Closed, kiln day
Tue–Wed
5:30–9 pm
Thu
10:30 am–9:30 pm
Fri
5:30–9:30 pm
Sat
9:30 am–4:30 pm
Sun
9:30 am–6:30 pm

Getting here

The number 4 bus to the Loam Street stop, then a two-minute walk downhill. The bike rack is inside the gate.

Access

No steps from the sidewalk, a wide accessible restroom, and two wheels set up for seated, lower-height throwing. Mention it when you book.

Honest answers

Ask us anything. Nobody here thinks it’s a silly question.

Everyone’s first cylinder does this. The second one stands up.
I have genuinely never touched clay. Is that okay?

That is exactly who a first form session is for. The teacher assumes nothing, shows everything twice and does the fiddly parts with you.

What if my pot collapses?

It probably will, once. You squash it back into a ball and start again with the same clay. Collapsing is part of the session, not a failure of it.

Can I come on my own?

Most people do. The long table is a friendly place and the wheels sit side by side, so there is always someone to wobble with.

What should I wear?

Anything that can get muddy. Clay washes out of cotton in a normal wash. We have aprons and towels, and a sink big enough for your whole forearm.

When do I get my piece?

About three weeks after your session. We email you when it is on the pickup shelf, and it waits there for a month.

Is it food-safe?

Yes. Every glaze on the test wall is food-safe once fired, apart from the few marked with a red dot, which are for tiles and decoration.

Can a group book together?

Up to six people can take one session between them. For a private evening, write to us and we will find a night.

What if I can’t make it?

Move or cancel up to 24 hours before, no fee. After that we try to fill your seat, and if we do, you are not charged.

Hold a seat

No payment now. You pay at the studio on the day, and you can move or cancel up to 24 hours before.

Come ten minutes early. The kettle will be on.

We reply by email within a day. Nothing is charged online.