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Open wheel

Feeling and watching the clay quickly change shape under your hands on a potter’s wheel is a wonderful experience. Clay can even dance while you’re shaping a unique cup. It’s great fun – whether you’re on your own or in company.

This experience is for anyone who wants to try their hand at throwing pottery on a wheel and is suitable even for absolute beginners. At the studio of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum (SEM), you’ll be gently introduced to the craft by the academy-trained sculptor and ceramics designer Eva Peterson Lenassi and her associates. In a short time, you’ll master the basic skills of throwing pottery on the wheel, and be able to fashion your own unique cup from Slovenian clay. Clay is the only material used in the studio. Any clay which falls off an emerging product during the creative process is not thrown away but used to create new products.

The best (and longest) part of the experience is feeling the clay under your hands as it spins on the wheel. It feels like a living being moving under your fingers. You can watch the ball of clay change shape and respond to the pressure of your fingers and palms, gradually taking on the appearance of a unique cup.

The entire workshop is based on working with clay and a potter's wheel, so the items are recycled back into clay after the workshop ends. Those interested can, upon agreement, have their item fired for an additional fee of 10 EUR per piece and pick it up at the studio after two weeks, as the items cannot be shipped.

The price of the workshop includes

  • presentation of the pottery tradition, one of the oldest trades in the world and Slovenia,
  • introduction to and working with Slovenian clay,
  • a demonstration of the work,
  • making a unique cup on the potter’s wheel.

Price

€ 45.00 per person

When

  • Tuesday at 7 PM
  • Thursday and Saturday at 2 PM

How long

1.5 hours

Meeting point

Pottery studio, Metelkova 2 (enter through the coffee shop of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum), ground floor to the left

Number of participants

The minimum number of participants is 1 and the maximum is 5.

Languages

Slovenian, English, Croatian, Italian, German, French and Spanish

Additional information

  • Comfortable clothing that you don’t mind getting dirty
  • Long hair should be tied up, and short nails are recommended
  • We advise you to remove hand jewellery