Workshop 02
Pottery Wheel
The most elemental form of making. Feel the clay centre beneath your hands as it rises and takes shape.
Book on WhatsApp
The most elemental form of making. Feel the clay centre beneath your hands as it rises and takes shape.
Book on WhatsAppThere is a specific moment on the pottery wheel that people remember long afterwards: the clay stops fighting you, settles into the centre, and the wobble disappears. Everything before that moment is effort. Everything after it feels like the clay is doing the work. Learning to reach that point is what a wheel throwing class is really about.
You will sit at your own wheel with a fresh ball of stoneware clay. The session moves through the sequence every potter learns, and you repeat each stage until your hands understand it.
Expect to throw several attempts. Collapsing a pot is a normal and useful part of learning, and the clay simply goes back into the bucket. Toward the end of the session you choose your best one or two pieces to keep and take through to firing.
Beginners are welcome and form most of our wheel sessions. The workshop rewards patience more than strength, so it suits anyone willing to sit with a task that resists them for the first twenty minutes. It is popular for date afternoons, small groups of friends, and people who have wanted to try the wheel since seeing it online. If you have thrown before, tell us when you book and we will pitch the session further ahead — larger forms, thinner walls, or a matched set.
A note on practicality: the wheel is a wet, muddy process. Wear clothes you do not mind splashing, keep nails short if you can, and bring your hair back. We provide aprons.
Thrown pieces dry to leather-hard, are trimmed, then bisque fired. You choose your glaze colour and we fire a second time to stoneware temperature, which makes the vessel food safe and watertight. Collection is normally two to three weeks after your session and we message you on WhatsApp the moment your work is out of the kiln.
Yes. Most people at ROA Art sit at a wheel for the first time in this class. We teach the sequence from centring onwards and stay beside you through it. The wheel is harder than hand building in the first half hour, and almost everyone collapses a pot or two — that is a normal part of learning, not a sign you are doing badly. By the end of the session nearly everyone has one or two pieces worth keeping.
A wheel throwing workshop at ROA Art is AED 230 per person for a 1.5 to 2 hour session. That covers your own wheel, all clay and tools, an apron, guidance throughout, trimming, glazing in the colour you choose, and both kiln firings. There is nothing further to pay when you collect your finished piece. Booking is by appointment through WhatsApp.
Clothes you do not mind getting clay on — the wheel splashes, and clay dust brushes off dry fabric but can mark delicate materials. Short nails help considerably when pulling walls, and long hair is best tied back. We provide aprons and there is a sink for washing up afterwards. Avoid rings and bracelets, as clay works its way into settings.
You will throw several attempts and keep the best one or two. Finished work is trimmed, bisque fired, glazed in your chosen colour and fired again, which takes two to three weeks in total. We message you on WhatsApp as soon as your pieces are ready to collect from the studio in Sheikh Khalifa City.
By appointment. Send us a date and how many are coming.
Book on WhatsApp