• We are going to build on the foundations of our practice with three different classes

• Exercise 4: Expanding our pinching technique (Part 2)

• Exercise 5: Building on Press-moulding (Part 2)

• Exercise 6: Slab-building (Part 1)

• This is really the foundation for all your clay work

• Here we're really elaborating on and learning the most important elements:

• The thickness of your piece

• How to work on scaling up

• And towards the shape you want

• This will really help you to befriend clay and build your confidence and knowledge to then explore from here on your own

• This is how you can work towards a shape like our By Hand cups or Ice-cream Bowls

• Beautiful for organic, tactile pieces with traces of your touch and fingerprints

• Drop into this meditative process

• In this extended version of KANA mould-pressing we'll be making the KANA breakfast bowl, and touch on all the most important aspect and Ana's tips including: 

• What type of clay works best and when

• What moulds will be best, what won’t work

• How to press properly into the mould, blending, managing the thickness, level the walls and repair holes

• Applying texture to the inside and outside

• Separating your piece from the mould

• Shaping the rim, finishing the edges

• Troubleshooting issues and how to save pieces if they go wrong

• And to refresh you, a work-along with the dip bowl so you can practice with me as if we're together

• In this Part 1 of slab-building, we'll be looking at:

• First, how to prepare your clay (which clay to use)

• How to roll your slabs and prepare them for for slab-building

• How to fix common problems like air bubbles in your slabs

• Then, I'll show you how to do slab mould-pressing to make the perfect plate

• How to finish and shape the edges of your plate

• Then, we’ll look at slab mould-pressing into a bowl too!

• We are going to learn how to start combining different techniques from workshops 1 and 2 to produce amazing results 

• Exercise 7: Slab-building (Part 2): Cylinders

• Exercise 8: Functional Kurinuki: Sculptural Approach to Clay Carving, Kurinuki (Part 2)

• Exercise 9: Ana’s way of organic hand-building

• This is the perfect path into building mugs, jugs, planters or vases through slab-constructed cylinders

• We start again from rolling a slab base and slab walls

• Then plan how to construct your cylinder (what size pieces you need)

• And learn how to join your slabs together correctly

• (We’re going to learn how to make a slip, what tools you need and what you can DIY)

• Perfect introduction to creating more complex pieces, as you build confidence and knowledge

• In combination with Exercise 9 (adding handles), you can really push yourself to create your own unique pieces

• This is an extended version of Exercise 3, where we'll now go in-depth into clay carving techniques and Kurinuki and look at how to make functional pieces

• Here, I talk to you about the essence of this expressive technique, what it represents and how you can interpret it. We'll look at:

• How to prep the clay (so important here)

• Which tools you can use for carving

• How we can use different tools for different textures, and treat the surface in different ways

• And how to make teacups and bowls such as for miso, udon, ramen or matcha using this beautiful technique

• Ana will show you how to make the bowl, step-by-step, then the cup – perfect for working alongside

• Now you have an amazing foundation of techniques, I’m going to share with you my personal approach to hand-building which I’ve developed over years of practice 

• This is the perfect build-up from the pinching technique learned in Exercise 4

• I’m guide you through how to build a water pitcher 

• And we’ll learn how to make and attach a handle

• This technique helps you move into larger, hand-built pieces

• In combination with handles you can create either decorative or functional pieces with so much character

I am so excited about this one, because these are a combination of my own artistic approach to clay as a sculptural material, and it’s very deeply connected to my attitude to this particular medium – one that is free-form and celebrates the uniqueness of every individual piece. I hope it’s going to inspire and encourage your own explorations. And help you enjoy the process as much as the end piece x

• Exercise 10: Pushing pinching, going really big!

• Exercise 11: Bold and large-scale, organic hand-building 

• Exercise 12: Sculpting the female form

• This is pinching Part 3, and is elaborating on hand-building and pinching. I’m guiding you into confidently working with larger, heavier weights (3kg) of clay

• Many people can move too quickly past the magic of this tactile technique 

• Pinching is in fact the first forms of clay being formed by human hands 

• Here, we are going to celebrate it’s hidden complexity 

• Build our trust and relationship with the clay

• And push our pinching into large-scale, statement pieces like fruit bowls 

• Understanding all the time, how to keep a good consistency throughout to create a stable yet dramatic piece

• This is the perfect way to push yourself a little further. Here you will start understanding how all these techniques work together, and how you can combine them.

• I'll guide you through creating a large, sculptural vase piece

• We'll start pressing clay into a mould, continue into pinching and then create and attach slabs.

• Combining these three very strong techniques together gives you the freedom to start really playing from here

• It's also really amazing to respond to your piece at different stages, and see what your piece needs now, and now, and now

• This definitely is a very sculptural way of thinking as you combine tools and skills to build more complex pieces and is the real test of you understanding everything we’ve learned so far

• And finally, my most requested workshop 

• I’m going to slowly guide you through my approach to working on small torsos / female form

• I'll show you how I relate this work to the anatomy of your own body

• How you can learn so much by being in your own body, and understanding where to find the active part of your posture

• We will play with two different techniques: additive (think Giacometti) and subtractive (carving, think Michelangelo) to create beautiful sculptural torsos, that celebrate the fe/male form

• This way is super playful, easy to follow and so much freedom to experiment

• Perfect for your date night with yourself, your friend or your partner