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Term 2 Classes start next week

All the wonderful Open Day creations are making their way through the kilns lickity split, with huge thanks to Margaret, Sade and Tim who’ve all helped to glaze and get these fired. We can’t wait to see the attendees smiles when they come and collect their pieces 😊Classes start next week! Check out what’s on offer, and all the other news below…...

AGM. Term 2 Classes. Chucks, Chums & Lids. Maker's Marks.

First up, we’d like to say a huuuuge thank you to everyone who helped with Open Day! For those who were here you’ll know it was a glorious day and that we had a really great turnout with lots of family groups coming along. It was such a big team effort to show them all the WSP love. We are now firing and glazing all the awesome creations that were made on the day, so they can be ready for our new friends to collect in the coming weeks. Thanks everyone for making this such a great day. We had...

Open Day, workshops and more

It’s been a hectic week at the studio this week with lots happening on all fronts. The new kitchen install is underway and it’s all systems go for the Open Day. There’s some wonderful evening and weekend workshops coming up. Let’s get into it....

It’s been a while…

Sorry for the radio silence the last couple of weeks, it’s been a busy, busy time!Ethel and Doris are looking very grand and are bedding in. After 4 test firings, we’ve gotten Doris to the correct bisque firing temp now and she’s currently cooking her second load of pots. Next we’ll be doing the same for Ethel, and then working on getting the correct Cone 6 firing programme set for them both. And then all the other firing programmes we do!In other news, our teaching term is coming to an ...

Have you met Ethel and Doris?

It’s been a beautiful and busy week here. We’ve got the two new beasties in place and installed, and we have named them Ethel and Doris! So we’ll be having no more of this impersonal Kiln 1 and 2 nonsense, thank you very much! 🤣😉It was a huge effort to shift these chunky 500kg gals into place, but it was made easy (lol) with the help of John MacIntosh, Andrew Carnell, David Kenny, Craig Stephen, Mark Tamura and Stephen Leyburn-Williams – thanks so much for your person-power and goo...

Open Day, Pottery Market, Classes and Workshops

It’s been a bit of week here getting the kiln installs organised and prepping for Open Day, so I have zero newsletter pre-amble for you this week (Yay for you!🤣 ). Get into the latest news below......

The new kilns are here!

You may have seen on the socials that our two new kilns got delivered this week – whoop whoop! We’re so excited to be able to offer increased capacity for our firing service and to lower everyone’s stress levels over our busy times 😊 Read about the install dates for them, plus all the other news below…...

Raku firings, Term 1B taster classes, Any volunteers for Saturday arvos?

Classes are well underway this week and the kilns aren’t taking long to fill up now – we’ll be running them furiously again soon! We’ve also got the first Diploma class of the year on tomorrow, so we’re back in full swing!Check out the latest news below…...

The HEAT! Plus a trial of new Members’ Open Studio sessions

How’s this weather?! It’s certainly affecting us here in the studio, and we want to take a moment to suggest that if you’re coming in to pot, it’s a great idea to keep hydrated and take some breaks to get some air and cool down. The temperatures and humidity in here are getting pretty high and we’re keen to keep you all safe! Do what you need to do to stay cool! But unfortunately, no fans sorry, as we need to be aware of the clay dust situation that creates. For my heat-challenged frie...

Term 1 Classes, Glaze Tech Workshop, Sculpture Park Job Opportunity

It's been so fab catching up with you all as you come back into the studio this year, all your bright and happy faces and your creative energy has us smiling and ready to deliver another year of potty-goodness.Check out how empty all the firing shelves are at the moment though! Come in and fill them up before the class firing rush starts 😃...

Giant newsletter incoming...

We hope each and every one of you had a fabulous and relaxing holiday break!We’re getting back into things this year with a beeeauuuutiful new kitchen floor and goooorgeous paint job. Much thanks to everyone who helped at the working bee last year to clear out all the kitchen paraphernalia, furniture and display cabinets. It made it possible to get this work done with no disruption to our normal studio hours, classes and Play With Clay sessions. To those who came in last week to help get every...

Meri Kirihimete!

It was so fantastic to catch up with so many of you at the Christmas Party on Tuesday night. Thanks for coming to celebrate, you stunning clay people. The Stealing-Secret-Santa game was a riot again, with one particular bowl made by Tim Edwards, and an adorable chook made by Marg Ritchie being thieved multiple times each! 😊We're winding everything up in the studio this week and preparing for the working bee on Friday. As we do that, we're looking back on what a cool year we've had here with y...

Xmas party, Clear out, Working bee

We’re just about at the end! And we’re looking forward to wrapping up an awesome year at the Christmas Party on Tuesday the 17th! Hope to see you there 😊There’s no new news this week, but get into the reminders below and make the most of our last studio days for 2024....

Kurinuki workshop, Term 1 Classes, Christmas party, Working bee

We hope you’re all coping with this sudden heat! It’s surely hot here in the studio, but the sunshine is a blessing.We have just over 2 weeks until the end of the WSP year – how did that happen?! Most classes finished up this week, with a handful of Monday and Sunday classes finishing next week. And there is only one more Tuesday night PWC, and two more Wednesday and Saturday morning PWCs left!The new kilns have not arrived yet sadly, (apparently, we’re “at the mercy of international s...

All the End of Year stuff you need to know

It’s now just three weeks until we close for the holidays – eeeeeekkk – so we’ve got a bunch of end of year stuff to tell you about this week. Get into it below!...

Wood firing, Diploma exhibition

How’s this folks, two newsletters in one week – how lucky are you?! 🤣 Aaand it’s mostly just a visual feast of woodfired and diploma exhibition goodness, double lucky!...

Website updates, Kids Play with Clay, Last Raku firing for 2024

Sorry the newsletter didn’t come out last week, it was one of those weeks! Here’s all the stuff you need to know 😊...

Meet the Crew, Studio Schedule, Kiln for Sale

It’s been a chill week here and we don’t have too many notices for you this week. We’re looking forward to the Phoenix Firing on the weekend though – Suzy and the team will be loading on Saturday and firing on Sunday. If you’re interested in wood firing in the future, this is a good chance to mosey by the kiln and see what’s involved in this type of event 😊...

Term 4B classes, Farewell-ish to an Artist in Residence, Meet the Crew

Well, we’ve had a few more hiccups with one of the kiln controllers again this week (sigh), but we’re hoping we have that fixed now – fingers crossed! Once again Margaret is doing a marvellous job in keeping your work flowing through the firing process, despite the reduced firing capacity. Thanks to all those who have been so patient when we’ve had to re-schedule or juggle your kiln bookings, we really do appreciate your understanding during these stressful times....

Burns Macaskill, Meet the Crew, Xmas Market

We have the usual news this week, plus some sad news......

Kiln 5 update, Kids Play with Clay, Waikato Clay Festival

We’re right into the term four classes this week, and all the school holiday programme work has gone through the kilns, even with Kiln 5 being down for a week! It’s fixed now – yahoo!!!! – and you can read more about that and all the other news below....

Kiln Down, Christmas Market, 2 x Crew to Meet

It’s been a busy, busy week here at WSP, with the school holiday programmes finishing up on Tuesday and Thursday, and preparing for our term 4 classes starting next week. Additionally, we’ve had to do a bit of problem solving in the kiln room – read about that and our other news below…...

Term 4 classes, Phoenix wood firing, Reminders

The first week of our school holiday programmes has gone swimmingly, and once again we have been blown away by the creativity and imaginations of the kids who attended. There’s two more days to come next week and lots of masterworks to get through the kilns!The week after that, our Term 4 adults classes start and we have a few spaces left in some of those – check them out below....

New kilns, End of year deadlines, Collection of exhibition pieces, Additional wheel throwing class

Yet more exciting announcements for you this week – get into the latest news below 😊...

Another fabulous crew member to meet, Another phoenix firing, Another workshop to announce

This week we’ve got another incredible crew member to introduce to you, plus another new workshop to announce, as well as the dates for another Phoenix wood firing! Get amongst all that goodness below, plus read about a couple of other fun creative things happening in the region....