Wild Pottery Courses
Wild Pottery courses connect you to the origins of this ancient human craft
On Wild Pottery you’ll dig clay in the woods and learn how to make pots using hand-building techniques. You’ll learn how to make your pots strong so that they can be fired successfully in an open fire. We’ll do all this in the woods, leaving no trace.
An exciting, elemental and alchemical process of earth, water, wood, fire.
Courses take place in a beautiful 70 acre private woodland near Lewes in East Sussex, UK
A unique blend of in-depth practical learning and reflective connection, these courses offer a restorative time out from daily life.
Native Hands courses are a mobile phone-free environment*
I offer four Wild Pottery courses:
- Wild Pottery: Smoke Cloud foundation course. Making wild clay pots and firing them in an open fire. In-depth technicals about wild clay & temper Two-day course
- Wild Pottery: Black Reduction make wild clay pots and turn them black through a soot-soaked reduction firing. Two-day course
- Wild Pottery: Earth Pigments make wild clay pots, decorate them with earth pigments, fire them in a clamp-kiln. Three-day course
- Women’s Wild Pottery a reflective workshop of making (and firing) clay pieces in response to ancient female figurines. Two days.
Who are Wild Pottery courses for?
- Anyone intrigued to learn the origins of pottery
- Your garden is on clay and you’ve always wondered if you could make pots with it
- You need time away from screens to remember another way of being human
- You’re interested in experiencing a low impact and sustainable pottery process
- You long for some time out in nature, working with your hands, alongside others
- You love making things and trying new techniques and materials
- You want to have unique pots in your home, made from wild clay
- You’re an artist-maker wanting to incorporate wild clay elements into your practice
- You’re a potter who’s wild clay curious
- You’ve not made pottery since school and are seeking a supportive space to re-engage with clay
- You want to make ceramics without a kiln
Courses are also for you if:
- You’re interested in learning ancestral skills, and more sane ways of relating to the living world
- You’re looking for a nature-based creative activity to share with a friend or loved-one
- You just love the idea of digging wild clay and putting pots in a fire
Wild Pottery may NOT be a good fit for you if:
- You’re a studio potter hoping to learn from the course how to make your studio practice more sustainable. Although some elements of what you’ll learn will be transferable to the studio, Ruby doesn’t teach about studio techniques. The focus of these courses is on wild clay and open firings.
Courses are designed for adults, although 16-18 year olds are very welcome if accompanied by a participating, responsible adult.
It’s recommended that you bring a notebook and pen with you to the course.
Featured in the Guardian lifestyle section. National Geographic & Toyota put Native Hands in their top 125 UK adventures.
