Studio Spoltore

Kids Clay Club is our year-round after-school clay program. The 8–12 group is where it gets serious — real technique, real tools, and projects that take actual skill to pull off.

It runs in four-week sessions, and each one builds on the last. A maker who stays with us through the year doesn't just make things; they learn how clay actually works, and why pieces succeed or fail.

Session 1 is where everyone starts: Learning the Craft.

• Week 1 — Pinch and join. Pinch pots, and the single most important skill in ceramics: score and slip, done properly, so nothing falls apart.
• Week 2 — Coil building. Building tall. Vessels that stand up, walls that stay even, and how to fix it when they don't.
• Week 3 — Slab construction. Rolling, measuring, cutting, and assembling a box with a lid that actually fits.
• Week 4 — Glaze and surface. Carving, stamping, layering, and choosing glazes with intention. This is where the pieces come alive.

These four weeks are the foundation. Once your maker can pinch, coil, slab, and glaze with control, everything after gets more ambitious:

• Session 2 — Gifts from the Studio (November) · Making real things for real people, finished in time for the holidays
• Session 3 — Faces & Figures (January) · Sculpture, proportion, and building forms that hold their own weight
• Session 4 — Functional Ware (February) · Mugs, bowls, and plates you'd actually use — the hardest thing to do well

This age is ready to be taught, not entertained. We treat them like makers, they use real tools, and they leave knowing something they didn't know before. That's the whole idea.

Returning makers get first pick of seats in the next session, and we hold them for a week before the class opens to the public. There are only eight.

Drop-off is welcome. Grown-ups can stay or take ninety minutes to themselves. Either is completely fine with us.

Mondays, Oct 5 · 12 · 19 · 26 · 5:00–6:30 PM · Ages 8–12 · 8 spots

What to know before you register:

• $160 for all four Mondays — that's $40 a class, versus $50 for a single session.
• Please send your maker having already eaten — we don't break for snacks, and food and clay don't mix.
• Clothes that can get clay on them. It washes out, mostly.
• No experience needed. Most of our makers have never touched clay.
• We'll have a short waiver for you to sign at drop-off on week one.
• Pieces are glazed and fired after week 4 and ready by late November. Pickup is at our Saturday farmers market booth.
• Minimum of 4 registered makers to run.
• Dropping off? We'll ask for an emergency contact and the names of anyone else authorized for pickup.

Make something with us. 🤎