A small studio, two kilns, and a dog who supervises.

About the studio

Marnie Vale Ceramics is a teaching studio in the rear building at 14 Alder Street. Eight wheels, two kilns, one long glaze table, and classes for people who have never touched clay.

clay in the hair,
most days

Marnie

I took my first class at 29 and made a bowl shaped like a hat.

It was a birthday present to myself, and I was sure I'd be bad at it. I was. The bowl is still on my shelf. I kept going anyway, first on Tuesday nights, then on a wheel in my kitchen that my housemates hated, and after two years things started coming out round.

I taught at the community center for three years, then took over this space in 2023 when the framer downstairs moved out. The part I like best is someone's first four hours. Everyone walks in certain the wheel will beat them, and I know exactly where you'll get stuck, because I got stuck there too.

When I'm not here I'm in a canoe. Eleven lakes so far, fallen in twice.

2023

The year the studio opened, in what used to be a picture framer's back room.

1,400

Mugs made in beginner classes since then. About thirty of them were shaped like hats.

Kilns. They're called Pat and Bev, and they fire on Tuesdays and Fridays.

How a class goes

Four hours, two pieces, one very proud walk home.

Every class is small, eight people at most, so nobody waits for help. You don't need to bring anything, and you don't need to have done this before.

Sit down at a wheel

I show centering on my wheel first, then you try it on yours. This is the hard part and everyone gets it within the hour.

Make two pieces

Usually a mug and a bowl. You pick a glaze from the twelve on the wall and I photograph everything before it goes in the kiln.

Two weeks pass

Your pieces dry, get a first firing, get glazed, get a second firing, and come out with your name on the box.

Come and get them

Pick up from the studio any open day, or have them shipped. Most people come back for the six-week course.

The room

What's in here.

Eight wheels

Electric wheels, all the same model, so what you learn on one works on the next. Two are left-handed friendly.

Two kilns

Both electric, fired twice a week. Bisque on Tuesday, glaze on Friday. If a piece cracks, and one or two a month do, you get a photo and a new class slot.

Twelve glazes

Mixed here, all food safe. Oat, plum, cornflower and a speckled cream are the ones people fight over.

Biscuit the studio dog with her head out of a car window

Head of quality control

This is Biscuit.

She's here most days, asleep under the glaze table. She doesn't go near the kilns or your clay, though she'll accept a bit of your lunch.

If you're allergic or would rather not have a dog around, say so when you book and she stays upstairs that day.

Book a class