So you've had your first proper go at clay — whether that was an hour on the wheel, feeling the wobble-then-settle of a centred lump, or your first attempt at building something by hand from a slab or a coil. Either way, if you're anything like most people who try it, you're already missing the feel of the clay on your hands.
That "one more go" feeling is exactly what a taster is designed to spark. The good news is there's no single "correct" next step, whichever kind of taster you came from. At The Old Bank Pottery Studio we offer a few different routes forward, and which one suits you depends on how you like to learn and how much time you want to commit. Here are three of the most popular options: Wheel Throwing 101: Foundations, our Pottery Club, and our hand-building workshops. They're complementary, not sequential — there's no requirement to do more than one, and no fixed order to do them in.
Option 1: Wheel Throwing 101 — Foundations
If your taster left you thinking "I want to actually learn how to do this properly," Wheel Throwing 101 is where that happens.
It's a two-day weekend intensive — six hours of instruction across two consecutive days — built around the handful of techniques that everything else in throwing depends on: wedging, centring, opening, and pulling up. Expect to spend a good chunk of it throwing cylinders. Not because cylinders are exciting, but because a consistent cylinder is the foundation for pretty much every other form you'll ever throw. Muscle memory doesn't come from watching someone else do it once — it comes from repetition, and that's exactly what this course gives you.
On day two, you get to the part most taster sessions never touch: turning and trimming. This is where a rough thrown form actually becomes a pot — refining the shape, taking off excess clay, and adding a foot ring, then carving decorative detail into the leather-hard clay before it's fired. It's one of the most satisfying parts of the whole process, and it's easy to miss entirely if all you've had is an hour on the wheel. A few weeks after the course, you're invited back for a glazing session to finish the pieces you made.
It's suitable for complete beginners as well as anyone who's had a go before (a taster, say) and wants a proper, structured foundation rather than picking things up piecemeal. There are also two follow-on courses — 102: Beyond the Cylinder and 103: Scaling Up — if you want to keep building from there, and discounts if you book them together.
Best for: people who want focused, structured instruction and to leave with real technique under their belt, not just a taster's worth of fun.
Option 2: Pottery Club
If a full weekend course isn't what you're after right now — or you've already got some grounding and just want somewhere to keep practising — Pottery Club is the other route in.
It's a relaxed, weekly 2-hour session, open to potters at any stage. There's no curriculum to follow: you bring your own ideas and projects, work at your own pace, and get light tutor guidance whenever you need it. It's as much about the community as the clay — a regular, low-pressure space to unwind and keep your hands busy with people who get why you're a bit obsessed with clay all of a sudden.
It's also not just a wheel club. Membership gives you access to our hand-building equipment too, so you can work with slab, coils, and moulds alongside — or instead of — throwing. We've got a lot of kit in the studio to help you work efficiently whether you're on the wheel or off it, so there's plenty of room to explore beyond the wheel if that's where your interest takes you.
Our longest-running club meets on Wednesday evenings, but that one's currently full. Right now, Tuesday evenings, 18:30–20:30 is open for bookings. We're also opening two more evening clubs soon: Monday evenings from August, and Thursday evenings from September. New clubs open based on interest, so if you've got a group of five or more keen on a morning or afternoon session, get in touch — we may well be able to set one up for you.
It suits people continuing on from a class, returning to pottery after time away, or simply wanting a standing creative outlet in their week.
Best for: people who want ongoing, flexible practice — on the wheel or hand-building — without signing up to a fixed course structure.
Option 3: A Hand-Building Workshop
If your taster was hand-building, or if your wheel taster left you curious about clay more generally, a one-off hand-building workshop is well worth a look — whether you want to keep going with what you started, or try something different to throwing altogether.
These are led by our hand-building instructors, each built around making a specific piece using a specific technique. Ros Ingram runs workshops like a recent jug-making session using slab construction — rolling out flat sheets of clay and building them up into a fully-formed, functional jug, rather than throwing one on the wheel. You can see a bit of that session in action here. Robyn Holmyard also runs project-specific hand-building workshops, each centred around a particular piece and technique. We occasionally bring in guest instructors too, for other techniques outside our regular offering — so it's always worth keeping an eye on what's coming up.
No wheel experience is needed for any of these, which makes them a great option if you want to keep exploring clay without committing to the learning curve of centring and throwing just yet. They're also a good complement even if you're already deep into wheel work — hand-building teaches you a different relationship with form and construction that often feeds back into throwing too.
Best for: people who want a focused, guided introduction to a specific hand-building technique in a single session, wheel experience optional.
Do You Need to Do All of Them?
Not at all, and it doesn't matter which order you do them in either. Some people do 101 first and then keep the momentum going in Pottery Club. Others start in Pottery Club, get a feel for the wheel (and hand-building) in a relaxed setting, and then book onto 101 when they're ready for focused, structured instruction. Others dip into a hand-building workshop just to try something different, with no intention of ever touching the wheel. Plenty of people do just one of the three and are perfectly happy leaving it there. There's no wrong order, and no obligation to do the others once you've done one.
If you want the fastest way to build real wheel skill in a short space of time, start with 101. If you want a regular, sociable space to keep making — whether that's throwing or hand-building — with a bit of guidance, Pottery Club is your best bet. If you want a focused, one-off introduction to a specific hand-building technique with Ros, Robyn, or one of our guest instructors, look out for the next workshop. Fancy combining them? Even better — but none of them is a prerequisite for the others.
Whichever way you go, the main thing your taster probably taught you is that one session was never going to be enough. Come back and see for yourself.