In the pottery studio, you’ll be making things from wet clay, washing clay from your hands and sometimes using liquid glazes. The chances of getting your clothes soiled are pretty high.

However, our studio provides the aprons, towels, gloves, masks and all the tools you will need for your classes.

So unless you have favourites of your own, please feel free to use ours.

Think gardening clothes
The best clothes for a session in a pottery studio are the kind you might wear when gardening. Something comfortable, maybe well worn-in and easy to wash is ideal. Pants are recommended for your convenience and safety.

Many potters wear two or three layers, so as they warm up, they can remove the outer layers to stay comfortable.

Be aware that you will be using machinery
Your safety in the studio is essential. While your clothes should be comfortable, make sure that the sleeves and hems don’t hang so loose that they may catch while working.

Long hair can be very annoying if it flops in front of your eyes while looking down as you work the clay on the pottery wheel. Tie your hair back, wear a headband or even a hat, and that way you can avoid brushing back your hair while your hands are coated with clay.

Closed-toed shoes are essential. Most potters have a pair of comfortable old shoes that they wear in the studio to keep their feet warm and protect themselves against dropped pottery tools or stubbing their toes.

Potters have found that jewellery like bracelets, bangles, large rings and loose hanging necklaces may interfere with their work and could get caught up, so we recommend you remove jewellery while working in the studio.

Pottery hands and fingernails
While it is possible to work clay and have long fingernails, it is a challenge. Potters use their hands, their fingers and particularly their finger-tips when shaping pots on the pottery wheel. Long nails can make that difficult.

When working with glazes, disposable gloves can be a good idea to keep your hands free from the glaze chemicals. Gloves when throwing clay are problematic though.

So you will get clay on your hands and have to wash it off several times in each studio session.

If your skin is sensitive, you may like to have some hand-cream at the ready for the end of a session.

Washing and wastewater
Washing clay from your hands and tools is an essential but repetitive part of studio life.

We cannot put clean-up water into the local sewage system as the clay particles will settle and eventually block the drain pipes. We use a three-tank settling sink to collect the clay particles and then discharge the remaining water onto our garden.

Please use the two pre-wash buckets to clean your hands and tools before using this settling sink.

Covid Safety
We are a Covid safe studio. We ask that you check into the studio using the government-approved mobile applications like the “Service NSW” app.

The studio is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before each session as required for Covid safety.

We ask that you do not come into the studio if you have flu-like symptoms – even the slightest ones. We also provide masks, approved hand-wash and disposable towels for your safety.

We ask everyone to follow the current government regulations regarding social distancing, numbers of people in spaces and mask-wearing.

Remember. We provide aprons, towels, masks, gloves and tools for your use.
Fran serves home-made morning tea – so please enjoy!