Let’s put our hands in clay!
I once read the phrase: dirty hands – clear mind. I can certainly relate to that. Working with clay is a beautiful way to forget your worries and quiet your thoughts. It helps you slow down and become completely absorbed in the moment. It feels refreshing and grounding at the same time.
There is also something deeply fulfilling about creating something with your own hands. So if any of these workshops speak to you, don’t hesitate — go ahead and sign up! As always, places are limited.
The new series starts in March. We will build plant and other pots, sculpt figurines and animals, and you will have the opportunity to create your own unique ceramic trivet with a wooden frame. The simplicity of a blank square tile invites us to let our imagination and creativity come alive.
Below you will find the full program for the five spring ceramic workshops, including dates and times. Detailed descriptions of each workshop theme can be found further below.
Please note that the first two workshops consist of three parts. In order to complete your trivet, you need to attend all three sessions.
Program
1 – Ceramic Trivet in a Wooden Frame
14/3/26 Saturday, 10:00–12:00 Designing, rolling out, cutting
21/3/26 Saturday, 10:00–12:00 Painting the pieces
4/4/26 Saturday, 10:00–11:00 Gluing the pieces into the wooden frame
2 – Ceramic Trivet in a Wooden Frame
15/3/26 Sunday, 10:00–12:00 Designing, rolling out, cutting
22/3/26 Sunday, 10:00–12:00 Painting the pieces
4/4/26 Saturday, 12:00–13:00 Gluing the pieces into the wooden frame
3 – Sculpting Figurines
19/4/26 Sunday, 10:00–17:00 (with lunch)
4 – Sculpting Animals
26/4/26 Sunday, 10:00–17:00 (with lunch)
5 – Pots with Imprints
9/5/26 Saturday, 10:00–17:00 (with lunch)
Workshop Descriptions
Ceramic Trivet in a Wooden Frame
In this workshop, we will create a trivet consisting of a wooden frame and a composition of ceramic tiles. The process takes place over three sessions:
1. Designing and Cutting
The fixed size of the finished trivet (20 × 20 cm) will be our starting point for developing a design. It can be abstract, a mandala, a pattern, or a simplified motif that works like a puzzle or mosaic. Once we have our design plan, we knead and roll out white clay with chamotte, which is ideal for making tiles. We then cut an even square of 20 × 20 cm and divide it into the pieces needed for our design.
2. Painting and Firing
After about a week, when the clay has dried to a leather-hard stage, we apply coloured engobes and let them dry. After the first (bisque) firing, the pieces will be glazed and fired a second time. You can choose between a matte or glossy transparent glaze.
3. Assembling the Trivet
Once the ceramic tiles are ready, we meet for the third session to assemble the trivet. We carefully glue the pieces into a ready-made wooden frame and let everything dry. Your unique, handmade trivet will then be ready to take home.
Sculpting Figurines
This workshop is devoted to sculpting the human figure. After a short introduction to proportions of the human body and examples of different sculptural styles, we will begin shaping and modelling our own figure.
This is a very open field — your work can range from realistic to completely abstract. My intention is to help each participant find an idea, a pose, and an approach that suits their abilities and personal taste, and to support them in bringing it to life.
The finished sculptures will be dried and fired, giving them the typical terracotta colour of fired clay.
Sculpting Animals
The world of animals offers a vast range of shapes, forms, and dynamic expressions. Perhaps you have a favourite animal, one you feel connected to, or one whose appearance you simply admire.
In this workshop, we will explore the structure of an animal of your choice and build it step by step. There are different approaches to sculpting in clay, and I will help each participant find a pose and technique that match their abilities and intentions.
The finished pieces will be dried and fired, resulting in the warm terracotta colour of fired clay.
You can find pictures of animals created in previous workshops.
Pots with Imprints
In this workshop, we use slab construction to create plant pots and other containers. Before assembling the individual parts (base, sides, feet, etc.), we decorate the surfaces with imprints.
We use stamps or everyday objects such as flowers, leaves, textiles, buttons, pen lids — almost anything can become a tool for creating texture and pattern.
The pots will remain in the natural terracotta colour of the fired clay. For stronger contrast, I will treat them after the first firing with either a white or dark wash (according to your preference) before the second firing. If you wish, the inside can be finished with a transparent glaze.
You can find examples of pots created in previous workshops.
For All Workshops
- All necessary materials, as well as firing, glazing, and lunch, are included.
- No previous experience in pottery is required.
- As soon as your pieces are ready, I will contact you so you can pick them up from my atelier.
- For questions or registration, please call 697 422 11 51 or email schnyder.barbara@gmail.com.
In this workshop we transform an idea or an image that we like into a three-dimensional picture. It could be a portrait, a landscape, a plant or animal, a mandala or just anything that you can imagine. There are no limits! After the pieces are fired we will meet again and paint them with acrylics.
This workshop is devoted to sculpting animals – any kind of animals existing on earth, in dreamland or in our fantasy. This is quite an open field from very realistic to completely abstract.
Before we put the parts (bottom, sides, feet etc.) together we make decorative imprints with stamps or whatever can be used as stamps such as flowers, leaves, textiles, buttons, pen lids, just anything you can think of.
The subject of this workshop will be the human face. All levels are welcome. It is amazing how a lump of clay turns step by step into something almost alive….and it doesn’t matter how realistic nose, mouth, eyes are formed. They get their own life and expression anyway and turn into something very personal and unique.
Before we put the parts (bottom, sides, feet etc.) together we make decorative imprints with stamps or whatever can be used as stamps such as flowers, leaves, textiles, buttons, pen lids, just anything you can think of.
13/4/2025 Sunday, 10:00-17:00 with a break for lunch which I will provide.
In this workshop we transform an idea or an image that we like into a three-dimensional picture. It could be a portrait, a landscape, a plant or animal, a mandala or just anything that you can imagine. There are no limits! After the pieces are fired we will meet again and paint them with acrylics.
