Foundational Handbuilding

Learn to build bowls, mugs, vases, and sculptural forms by hand. This five-week course covers pinching, coiling, slab building, and surface decoration, with time to develop your own projects and prepare them for firing.

Dates: Nov 19 – Dec 17
Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Instructor: Anne Zhao
Experience: No previous clay experience required. This class does not cover wheel throwing.
What's Included: Hands-on class instruction Open studio starting after week two Fill a ware board with work and walk away with fully fired and glazes ceramics

$210

01 / Outcome

About the Class

Build functional and sculptural pieces using pinch, coil, and slab techniques. Learn to make secure attachments, manage clay as it dries, decorate surfaces with underglaze, and prepare work for bisque and glaze firing. Develop your own projects with guidance from the instructor.

02 / Scheduled Classes

01 - Nov 19, 2026

Clay Basics & Pinch Pots

Meet your classmates and tour the studio. Learn about clay properties, stages of dryness, and firing, then make pinch pots and practice shaping bowls and cups. Learn to attach handles and combine hollow forms to create pieces such as vases and rattles. Finish with studio cleanup and work-storage practices.

02 - Nov 25, 2026

Coil & Slab Building

Use coils to build on pinch-pot forms and create larger shapes. Practice soft-slab construction for mugs and cylinders, hard-slab construction for angular forms, and press molds for functional ware. Open studio starts after the second week of class.

03 - Dec 3, 2026

Surface Design & Personal Projects

Learn sgraffito and inlay using underglaze, including how clay dryness affects each technique. Plan more complex projects by breaking forms into pinch, coil, and slab components, then continue building with instructor guidance.

04 - Dec 10, 2026

Finishing Work for Bisque

Use this final making session to complete your projects, refine shapes, finish attachments, and add surface details. Prepare your work to dry and be bisque fired before the final glazing class. Everything needs to ready to submitted to firing at the end of the 4th class.

05 - Dec 17, 2026

Glazing

Learn how to apply glaze and prepare bisque-fired pieces for their final firing. Glaze your work with guidance from the instructor.

Your Instructor

Anne Zhao

Anne is a handbuilding instructor at Shared Floor and has a background in graphic design.