December Studio Stuff to Know

• The door code for December is 532837 We'll switch it up in January
• Save the code to your Notes App or take a photo of the blackboard in the wheel room so you don't have to remember. If you look at the handy letter keypad taped to the door, this spells LEAVES. You know how intensely we think about these things, lol. We looked on the ground. Leaves. Boom, new door code.
• Don’t give anyone the door code - anyone who is signed up for a class or membership has access to this info. Handing it out kind of defeats the whole security element and we have folks who work alone in the middle of the night.

December is the only month we don't hold 4-week classes, BUT:

• The studio will remain open 24/7 throughout the month. Just be sure to check the workshops/parties as those tend to stack up.
• If you still wanted to learn a thing this month, we'll be offering private lessons through the 15th. Just email us.

Another way to get a delightful little boost of learning is with our Free Coffee Talk for December:

• Saturday, December 12th from 11am to noon-thirty (ish)
• Rob will be demoing a Hybrid Wheel/Handbuilding approach to a teapot that gives it a look that's pretty dang unique.
• Free coffee & snacks & community & some new pottery knowledge. Just come. Why not.

Our workshop this month is How to Sculpt a Wren (again lol) with Jess on Saturday, December 5th at 1pm.

• I'm doing a third (!) and final one to make sure that anyone who wanted to learn how to sculpt these sweet wee birds got a chance to. And, if you want to sculpt with me but will be out on this date, I have a whole line up of sculpts planned out over the next year, so I've got you covered.
• If you’re sculpt-curious, love birds, or just want to share some creative space and learn something new, I hope to see you at my workshop this month.
• We’ll be covering some basic sculpting approaches for working without an armature (that will apply to any small forms), talking about “believability” & visual anchor points, and learning some fundamental songbird anatomy that will help you sculpt other Pesserines (aka perching birds or songbirds, which is basically half of all bird species worldwide).
• No experience necessary. AT ALL.
• Word of warning: I always run long because I want to make sure you understand everything and feel comfortable with the material and finishing on your own. Just…a very real head’s up.
• Only $35 because, I don't know, I love birds. I love you. I love sculpting. It's art math. HERE is a link if the workshop sounds interesting to you.

A reminder about festivals, production & holiday gift timing

• We have about 250 folks at the studio making and firing their work, which is A LOT of work to fire.
• If you are planning on participating in a holiday market or festival, please remember that we can't support that kind of firing volume. We'll do our best, but we can't have things ready by a certain date and we can't put your work ahead of everyone else's because you have a sale.
• Pretty much everyone will be making more than usual for holiday gifts and we work extra hard to make sure we get those fired in time. To be super duper sure your gifts are ready for the holidays, make them as early as possible (the first half of November is ideal), remember that large flat things (like platters and wall pockets etc) and large tall things (like vases) and odd-shaped things (like sculptures) take the longest to get through our kilns because we can only fire a few at a time. We try to fill the kilns to the brim, so things like mugs get through the fastest because we can get a ton of work in for a ton of people.

We're introducing some more topics for our wheel classes and I think they're going to be amazing (if she does say so herself lol)

• We've come up with 4 classes that we think teaches you pretty much every skill you should have under your belt for pottery before taking the more open-ended advanced special projects classes. They really are the foundation for almost any form you can imagine.
• They are for anyone who has completed both beginning wheel classes & up, but are great for anyone interested in the topic or who hasn't learned/wants to brush up on the skills covered in each class.
• We'll teach a new topic each month for 4 months and then start the cycle again

The 4 topics are:

• Throwing Bigger (learning serving bowls & vases; how to wrangle more clay for larger pieces as well as how to stack to get taller work).
• Plates & Pasta Bowls - will teach you how to pull forms outward without them collapsing and how to dry & trim wide extended pieces without them cracking.
• Pitchers & Bottles - will teach you pouring lips, sharply drawing a form inward, making larger handles and fitting them to balance the greater volume of liquid inside the forms.
• Covered Jars - will teach you how to make a gallery, a snug-fitting lid and how to approach all kinds of covered vessels.

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New to the studio? Things to be aware of

First of all, welcome to the studio! We're really happy to have you in the space creating and giving yourself some time to de-stress, get your hands in clay, make some art and hopefully connect with some folks. It's going to sound suuuuper cheesy, but pottery is a form of therapy for me, and my happy little bubble where everything else falls away. It's the only kind of meditation I can do, haha. I hope it can be just as healing for you as it has been for me.

• If you're brand new and doing studio membership, you'll need a shelf and some clay. EMAIL us to set up a time for a quick studio orientation and to show you where the clay is and get you a shelf. If you're in a class, your teacher will do that in the first class, so you don't need to reach out.
• Take the time to read through the "Studio Rules to Know" section below. It will bring you up to speed on the things you likely won't cover in class/an orientation, but that you'll need to be aware of.
• Studio Membership & Classes come with unlimited studio access. Just check the "Classes & Workshop" section below so you know when you can come in and practice.
• Check out our glazing guide in the heading below. This doc is meant to help anyone who feels a bit unsure about glazing on their own. While not a substitute for learning in class, it is a great resource to jog your memory and give you some support. Just click on the heading "Glazing Guide" and you'll be directed to the doc.
• We offer a special workshop each month to give everyone (and especially our newbies) some extra help (this month's workshop will be in the studio news section above, with a link). We also do private lessons, if you're feeling overwhelmed. Let us help you get over that initial steep climb of learning a thing and maybe getting frustrated in the early stages.
• Do you need some extra support? ~ I think we could all use a little more of that right about now. If you're able, coming to the free coffee talks, coming in outside of class to hang out and practice, and any other way that you can form connections in our little community will, I think, be a good way to lean on one another, hopefully feel safe and fully wanted, find like-minded folks, and have a little bubble to restore and reset when the world outside the studio doors feels like it's burning. Also, I'm always here for you, happy to listen, or just, ya know, do my job and answer questions and help with actual pottery things. But, I think with all the stress and uncertainty I think we're juggling, it's good to know I'm here for ALL of it. Text me anytime 770 375 6909
• On that subject, most folks who quit pottery never come back after the first class. So, if you're feeling overwhelmed or disappointed, embarrassed or your brain tries to tell you're just "not good" at pottery (LIES!!!!!), please know that ALL of us started where you are. ALL of us flopped pots. ALL of us compared ourselves or felt frustrated. The ONLY secret to this whole thing is showing up, even when you feel like you're "failing". That failing is actually just what learning looks like and if you can stick with the discomfort, it will come, I promise it will come. And you can always reach out to me and I'll help you.
• I hate that we're here, but with everything going on in our country, I want to be crystal clear on something: In this space, we honor and protect humans. Trans and LGBTQIA+ people are wanted and welcome here. Black and Brown people are welcome and wanted here. Immigrants -regardless of status- are welcome and wanted here. Anyone who wishes to be kind and respectful and learn from those different from themselves are welcome and wanted here. I know that's a lot and that this is just a pottery studio. But, it is also a refuge and an oasis for many who simply ask for human dignity and kindness. It's going to stay that way. *Check out the studio news heading above to stay on top of everything going on this month.

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January Early Registration (active link on December 14th at 1pm)

• Make sure that you can find your "Booking Confirmed" email after you register - it will have your member page link for January in it.
• Registration will go live for everyone else on December 15th at 7am.

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When to come & practice, and when to avoid

You can just find the day you're thinking of practicing below and see if there are any class or workshop conflicts. We update this section as we get bookings for parties, etc, so please check before you come into the studio to practice!

Regularly Scheduled Classes (parties & workshops at the bottom - check those, too!)

No 4-Week classes for December - play, create, escape holiday drama.

Sunday Classes:

• Try Clay Handbuilding from 2-4pm (Every Sunday)- No space in the handbuilding room for practice from about 1:30pm to 4:30pm to allow for set up & clean up for class. No Try Clay on December 20th or 27th

Monday Classes:

• No classes for December

Tuesday Classes:

• No classes for December

Wednesday Classes:

• No classes for December

Thursday Classes:

• No classes for December

Friday Classes:

• Try Clay on the Wheel from 7-9pm (Every Friday)- No free wheels for practice from about 6:00pm to 9:30pm to allow for set up & clean up for class. No Try Clay on December 18th & 25th

Workshops & Parties booked (so far...this is updated frequently, so please check often)**

Even though workshops don't generally use all the equipment, it's SUPER distracting to the folks in the workshop for others to be using wheels/table space at the same time. Also, allow a bit of extra time on either side of the time slot for set up & clean up

• Saturday, December 5th Sculpt a Wren Workshop with Jess from noon to 6ish in the Handbuilding Room - NO FREE TABLE SPACE. If you'd like to sign up, HERE is a link. $35 and no experience needed.
• Saturday, December 12th from 11am to noon thirty (ish) FREE Coffee Talk - Free coffee & snacks & a demo/teaching from Rob on a Hybrid Teapot, made both with Handbuilding and the Wheel.

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Studio Rules to know (a must-read for newbies and not wrong for everyone to review!)

• The studio is open 24/7 for practice, BUT, please don't come to practice on the wheel during a wheel class, or come to use the handbuilding room during a handbuilding class. (There is a whole dropdown/teal heading above with the class schedule so you know when to come in). Even if space is available during that time, it's so distracting to the folks in the class trying to learn, hear their instructor and concentrate. There's plenty of time to practice aside from our scheduled classes.

• Please be sure to clean up thoroughly when you leave - Leave it better than you found it. We've been having some issues in this department, so remember that anything you use (wedging tables, sink, tools, sponges) needs to be cleaned up- please don't pig up a communal space. Wet clay is perfectly safe, but dry clay dust can harm our lungs, so please be sure to contribute to a clean and healthy environment for all of us.

• Check the bisque and glaze shelves every single time you come in so your work doesn't get thrown away We'll be doing monthly culls and if you don't want your stuff recycled, please keep an eye out for it. We don't have the room for stuff to just sit there and gather dust.

• We're a teaching studio, not a place for folks to run a business out of. We're perfect for anyone who wants to learn, be in a shared creative space, and make work for themselves/friends/family, but we don't have the kiln capacity to support a store/loads of markets etc. If that's what you need, we can help you either set up a home studio (we get 30% discount off of kiln retail) or point you in the direction of a studio that can fire a high volume of work. We don't price per shelf fired or put exact limits on what you can make and we're not interested in micromanaging or nickel and diming you. The last time we changed our prices was a 11 years ago, and we want to keep that price low and accessible to everyone. That works as long as everyone is considerate and doesn't take advantage.

• We do not allow outside clay. Often the clays that folks want to bring in are dark/black clays which often bloat or even liquify, or speckled clays, which use manganese, which is a pretty dang unsafe material. Clays fire to specific temperature ranges, and clays with certain materials mixed in can be harmful to general studio health, can ruin an entire container of reclaim, can destroy the kiln and other work in it. If you would like to bring in outside clay, 1) we have to vet it first to make sure it will work and 2) it costs $22/bag to fire that clay at the studio, in order to cover the glazing materials and labor costs that everyone else is already paying when they buy clay from us.

• We DO allow commercial glazes, but you have to run them by us first! Send us a link to what you want to buy so we can make sure it works with our firing schedule. If you don't and you ruin a shelf in the kiln, the replacement cost per half shelf is now $400 plus shipping & tax. So, just check with us first.

• The greenware shelf is only for bone dry or mostly bone dry pieces, and not wet work. If you have to move a piece to fit yours on the shelf, be EXTREMELY gentle. Greenware is super fragile and bumping, stacking, picking up by a handle (gasp -NO!) are all no-nos.

• The white "overflow" shelving in the wheel room is a place you can put larger work temporarily (ie a week or less) as you work through the steps - trimming, handles, etc. It's not meant to be additional storage.

• All glazed pieces need the bottom wiped off (even if you used wax! Wax doesn't make glaze disappear in the kiln) and wiped back (this means don't glaze all the way to the bottom, "cut" it back.

• Wet clay is safe...dry clay dust is not. Remember to clean up the sink area, around the glazing buckets, at the wedging table and around your wheel, all the handbuilding tools...everything you use. And, please don't just let trimmings/clay sit on top of the relcaim screen. You have to push it through when it's wet.

• Registration opens on the 15th at 7am. Beginning Wheel Classes & Workshops tend to fill up by 8 or 9am the same day. There will be both a link on this member page when early registration opens just for our students & members on the 14th each month, around midday/early afternoon

• We're a community. This means we need to be kind to one another, help one another and take care of each other - including our shared space. Be respectful of each other and the equipment and studio that we all use. Anyone being punky first gets a good old fashioned Come-To-Jesus, and then...well, I don't know. We've never gotten that far. Let's keep it all lovey-dovey.

Glazing Guide (if you're feeling lost about how to do it)

• HERE is a link to our to-the-point glazing guide, which should be good support for you and help jog your memory. It is NOT meant to be a stand-in for learning how to glaze. If you are unsure, please reach out and/or book a private lesson. Incorrent glazing can literally destroy shleves full of other's work and damage the kiln.

Buy Additional Clay

• Online:

You can just use the button below and a bag of clay will be added to your cart for checkout.

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• At the studio:

You can purchase more clay at the studio 2 ways: by scanning one of the QR codes above the clay boxes or leaving us a check/cash in the office. If you are paying in cash/check, since we aren’t charged any processing fees, we’re happy to just eat the sales tax cost ourselves and a bag of clay purchased this way is only $40.

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Social Links (IG, FB, YT, Private Facebook Group & Dates We'll be going live on IG)

I've been silent on social for a good while - depression meant that I had to ditch it to start to heal and become sane again. Hopefully, I'll feel up to start posting again soon.

• Instagram @gooddirt_athens

• Facebook gooddirtathens

• A Private Facebook Group for Members: HERE. This is a place to connect with each other, share your work, ask each other questions and cheer one another on.

• YouTube Good Dirt Classes Check out our past tutorials

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Private Lesson Scheduling & Payment Link

• If you'd like to schedule a one-on-one private lesson with Rob to sort out issues, learn a new form, or just troubleshoot your technique, email us and we can set up a time to work with you.

• If you need to pay for a private lesson, just click on the button below to add a 1-hr lesson to your cart and checkout.

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