Live demonstrations
Every technique is shown up close, at the wheel, before you try it yourself — no guessing from a diagram.
One-day hands-on intensive · Saturday, November 14, 2026 · Portland
The Wheel & Kiln Intensive
Spend a full day at the potter's wheel with a master ceramicist. Center your first lump of clay, pull your first walls, then trim and glaze pieces that are truly your own. No experience needed — only a willingness to get your hands dirty.
Why this workshop
A full day of clay, start to finish
Everything is hands-on. You will not watch from the back of a room — you will sit at a wheel from the first hour, and walk out having made something real.
Small groups, a wheel each
Capped at ten seats so everyone gets their own wheel and real one-on-one attention when the clay fights back.
Take home what you make
Everything you throw is trimmed, glazed, fired, and carefully shipped to your door about three weeks later.
All materials included
Clay, tools, aprons, glazes, and kiln firing are all provided. Bring nothing but clothes you don't mind getting muddy.
A real working studio
Held inside a genuine production pottery — kilns, glaze room, and all — not a rented hall with folding tables.
Fair, all-in pricing
One price covers instruction, materials, firing, and shipping. Group and returning-student rates available on request.
Curriculum
Your day at the wheel
Nine focused modules take you from a raw block of clay to glazed pots ready for the kiln. Doors open at 8:45 and we finish over tea at 17:30.
| Time | Module | Instructor | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08:45 | Doors open, aprons on & studio tour | — | Warm-up |
| 09:00 | Wedging clay: getting the air out and the feel right | Nora Bishop | Fundamentals |
| 10:00 | Centering: taming a spinning lump on the wheel | Nora Bishop | Wheel |
| 11:00 | Opening the clay & pulling your first walls | Nora Bishop | Wheel |
| 12:00 | Lunch in the courtyard | — | Break |
| 13:00 | Throwing cylinders, bowls & a matching pair | Nora Bishop | Wheel |
| 14:00 | Trimming & footing your leather-hard pots | Theo Marsh | Finishing |
| 15:00 | Glaze theory & a live dipping demonstration | Theo Marsh | Glaze |
| 16:00 | Glaze your work & load the kiln together | Nora Bishop | Glaze |
| 17:00 | Wrap-up, care-for-your-pots & tea | All instructors | All |
Ten wheels. One Saturday.
The curriculum above is everything you'll do with your own hands in a single day. If that sounds like your kind of Saturday, claim a wheel before they're gone.
Instructors
Who you'll learn from
A small teaching team so no one is left waiting. Between them they cover the wheel, the trimming table, and the glaze room.
Nora Bishop
Lead Instructor & Studio Founder
Has thrown pots for over twenty years and founded Kilnhouse in 2011. Her patient, hands-over-hands method gets absolute beginners centering clay within the first hour.
Theo Marsh
Glaze & Firing Specialist
Mixes every glaze in the Kilnhouse catalog and runs both the gas and electric kilns. Teaches the chemistry of color and surface in plain, practical language.
Iris Vance
Studio Assistant
A ceramics graduate who keeps every wheel spinning and every student unstuck. Always first to lend a hand the moment your walls start to wobble.
Studio
Where you'll throw
Kilnhouse is a working ceramics studio a short ride from downtown. Here are the details you'll need to plan your day.
Location
Kilnhouse Ceramics Studio, 48 Foundry Lane, Portland. Street parking out front and a ten-minute walk from the MAX light rail.
Date
Saturday, November 14, 2026. Doors open at 8:45, hands on clay by 9:00, and we finish over tea by 17:30.
Seats
Only ten wheels, so seats go fast. Reserve yours with the registration form and we'll hold your place.
Ready to make something by hand?
Seats are capped at ten. Registration is stored for organizer review; preparation notes and directions stay on this site.