We all have areas of pottery we'd like to improve on. In this one-on-one course you choose a specific aspect of throwing you'd like to be better at and to know more about. It can be as simple as centering clay easily and quickly, or throwing a larger amount of clay than you currently can, or making perfectly evenly sided cylinders. We can tackle any aspect of throwing which is stopping you making progress.

Prerequisite: Some previous throwing experience

Many of us start by learning 'ram's head' kneading. It's efficient for small quantities of clay but spiral kneading, sometimes called spiral wedging, is a faster, less energetic technique for removing air from larger amounts of clay. In this one-on-one course, we'll go into all the details of how to get the perfect spiral and we'll see just how well it works.

Prerequisites: none

We all know the largest amount of clay we can comfortably throw, whether it is 500g (1lb) or 10kg (20lb). It's always useful to be able to throw more, either to make larger pieces or to be able to make the most of each lump of clay and not just trim most of it away! In this one-on-one course, we'll learn how to dramatically increase the amount of clay you can comfortably throw.

Prerequisites: some previous throwing experience

Throwing a single lump of clay to make a large vase can be very unrewarding: the more clay, the more it's pulled down by gravity so the thicker the walls become and the vase becomes proportionally smaller. An alternative is to make two or more separate sections which are joined securely together. In this one-on-one course, you'll learn to make two sections, and see how to join them and how to ensure the final form is harmonious. You will need a heat gun.

Prerequisites: some previous throwing experience

Throwing 'off the hump' allows us to make many small forms relatively quickly. It's an alternative to making a lot of small balls of clay of equal weight. In this one-on-one course you'll learn how your hands can be a measuring device and how efficient this method can be. You will learn a variety of useful shapes, including cylinders and bowls.

Prerequisites: some previous throwing experience

Stoneware is very forgiving but porcelain has magickal properties of translucence and strength. In this course, we'll see and feel the difference between the two when throwing them on the wheel. There will be lots of tips about how to get porcelain to go taller and thinner and how to avoid cracking during drying and firing.

Prerequisites: some previous throwing experience

In this course, you'll learn how a small range of tools can give you a huge range of mark-making possibilities using the simple combination of underglaze and water or medium. We'll practise some exercises for developing your mark-making fludity and then apply these to your bisqued pots to overcome the natural 'terror' of the blank surface! NOTE You will need enough time before the course to make at least six bisqueware pots, gather brushes, underglazes and other tools.

Prerequisites: none