Class: Introduction to Hand Building

Introduction to Hand Building

Class: $375 Per Person / Ages 18 and up
Instructor: Michelle Blumenthal

Welcome to handbuilding at Mac Clay Pottery. This six-week course is designed for beginners and experienced hand builders alike. We will cover a range of skills, from slab rolling to coiling, from surface decoration to glazes, with the eye towards empowering your creativity in our space. Come as you are; come ready to expand what you thought possible for clay. Expect friendly instruction, lots of practice, and the satisfaction of making functional pottery with your own two hands.

We’ll guide you through studio etiquette and shared space management, including how to properly clean, recycle clay, and care for tools and equipment. Our goal is to empower you not only to make pots, but to feel at home in a working studio environment.

Weekly Breakdown:
Week 1 – Intro to the studio, clay tools and equipment. Make a simple, textured slab form with a foot.

Week 2 – Learn closed forms, pinch pots, sculpting, and coiling. Make a coiled pot or a ceramic box with a lid.

Week 3 – Learn how to create functional pieces, plates, cups, vases. Make a functional piece of your choice from your own template.

Week 4 – Intro to the amazing world of textures, moulds, stamps, carving and other surface designs. Decorate one of your pieces from week 2 or 3. Submit pieces for first firing.

Week 5 – Intro to glazing, underglazes, washes, waxes and transfers.

Week 6 – Glazing final pieces + group wrap-up

Includes:
Class includes one bag of clay (additional available for purchase), as well as access to open studio hours outside of class. Glazes and firings included. No experience necessary.

Coming This Summer To McMinnville

Mac Clay is the first ceramic studio solely focused on classes, workshops and events in McMinnville. We believe in strengthening community by stoking conversations and deepening understanding of ceramic practice — whether wheel throwing technique, pinch pots, Instagram trends or pre-historic forms. Wherever you are on your ceramic journey, we will meet you at the place where curiosity, passion and technique find form.

Think of Mac Clay as a town square for all things ceramic. Whether you’re taking a multiweek class at our Downtown location, attending a weekend masterclass, or reserving space in the studio for the day, we exist to help you access the magic of clay creation. Our mission is to serve both the beginner and advanced studio potter in a safe, vibrant environment.

But there’s more: we don’t only make beautiful things; we explore new dimensions of ourselves and how we relate to each other. Mac Clay is honored to enter a conversation with the Yamhill County area. So follow along as we kick off a series of events that introduce ourselves while recentering a craft that developed lock-step with humanity itself.

804 SE 1st Street
McMinnville, OR 97128