Studio Handbook Guidelines

Welcome to Lore Ceramics! The following handbook and policies are meant to create a welcoming, positive, productive environment conducive to creative expression and high-quality learning. Those not adhering to these policies may be asked to leave for the day or permanently without a refund. Those in semester classes or pursuing memberships will need to sign off that they have read/ understood these policies before they begin working in the studio. 

Lore Ceramics is a place where everyone should feel welcome and safe. We have a zero-tolerance policy for any comments or behavior that could make someone feel uncomfortable, including any form of discrimination. Please treat everyone with respect. Do not use offensive, hostile, intimidating, insensitive, or vulgar language. Any disrespect, harm, or harassment will not be tolerated.

General Studio Behavior

Lore Ceramics is primarily a teaching studio. We enjoy not just the product, but the process and its journey. Our students revel in trying new things and bring a sense of resiliency and fearless creative exploration into our classrooms. 

Because this is a shared workspace, every person in it must take ownership and keep it at its best. 

Be respectful of other people's work, tools, and space. Do not touch anything of anyone else’s. Do not use things from other people’s shelves. 

Do not spread your work out over several areas of the studio. 

Please turn your phone to silent when you’re here, and take phone calls outside. 

If anyone in the studio accidentally breaks an object (accidents happen), they will leave a note for the owner on the owner’s shelf explaining what happened. This includes staff members when they are loading/ unloading the kiln. 

Only registered students and active studio members may use the studio and its equipment. There are no guests allowed. 

Lore Ceramics is not responsible for any lost or broken items. Please check your space to make sure you leave with all your belongings. 

Class Procedures

The entire clay process is as follows:

Fresh soft clay - Make your piece. Store on your shelf under plastic. 

Leather hard - No longer sticky or able to change its shape - Trim/ Carve. Add attachments. Add your unique maker’s mark to the bottom. Store on your shelf partly covered in plastic. 

Bone Dry - Fully dry. Has no moisture left in it. Transfer to the Greenware Shelf to be bisque fired. This is clay’s most FRAGILE stage. Be Careful!

Bisqueware - Clay that has been bisque fired. Pick up work from the Fired shelf. It is ready to glaze. Keep on your shelf until you glaze. 

Glazeware - Bisqueware that has an unfired glaze on it. Place on Glazeware Shelf to be fired again. 

Finished! Pick up your finished ceramics from the Fired shelf and take them home. 

Turnaround time for work going through the kiln can vary from 1-3 weeks depending on how busy we are, the size of your work, if it is flat, and if we are having any kiln issues (hopefully rare), please do not ask about the status of your work unless it has been beyond 3 weeks since it has been placed on the shelf for firing. If your piece is not dry enough to be bisque-fired, it will remain on the Greenware shelf until it is. We will fire it as soon as its ready. 

If your piece has a problem that needs to be addressed before it is fired, it will be returned to your shelf with a note explaining what you need to fix. The most common would be glaze on the bottom of the piece. 

We do not have the capacity to support production pottery, our goal as a space is to allow potters to work on growing and improving their skills so they can make beautiful pots but not with the intention of selling at such a high volume.

Make sure your Maker’s Mark is on the bottom of every piece you make. 

There is no sanding inside the studio. If you need to sand out a rough spot, please do so outside. 

End of Semester Procedures:

If you are signing up for a class the following semester, you will have early access to registration before open enrollment begins. You can keep your work on your shelf, and have access to the open studio week in between semesters.

If you’re not continuing with classes, please refrain from making anything new on the last day of class. You should focus on glazing all your pieces instead. You will be able to pick them up the following week. 

There is one week of “grace time” between semesters of classes. Students who are continuing with classes can use the open studio time to make whatever they want. Students who are not continuing can come in and glaze only whatever they need to finish up. There are no classes or instruction during this time period. It is open studio hours only for students to come in independently and finish what they need to. 

Work that has not been claimed within 2 weeks of your class ending and your piece being fired will be discarded or donated. 

All current students have access to the studio during Open Studio hours. There is no open studio during our Try Nights. Any student staying for open studio while another class is going on must understand that the paying students of that class have priority to use all equipment and space. It may not be possible for you to stay and work if the class is full. 

If you have to miss an individual class during your 8-week semester you can make up the time during open studio hours, and the instructor can show you what you missed. 

Clay & Reclaim

We are a mid-fire studio; we bisque fire to Cone 04/05, and glaze fire to Cone 5-6. There are no outside clays allowed in the studio. Students can purchase additional clay directly from the studio. We provide a selection of homemade dipping glazes, and a few commercial brushing glazes as well as underglazes and slips. If any student wants to bring in any special glazes (with approval) or tools they can keep them on their shelves. 

Students are welcome to manage their own reclaim. Plaster surfaces are available in the studio to dry out clay slop, and you can wedge it back into usable clay. Any clay you intend to recycle must be kept on your shelf in a bag or your own bucket. If your reclaim gets gross, we reserve the right to dispose of it. 

You can also toss reclaim into our communal slop buckets. The slop buckets are for your wheel slop, trimmings, or other clay either too dry or too wet to use that you do not wish to recycle yourself. All clay left in these buckets will be recycled and are for studio use. Please use these buckets to rinse tools and equipment before washing them in the sink to prevent excessive clay from going down the drain. 

There is also a glaze rinse bucket which should be used to rinse glaze tools (stir sticks, tongs, etc.). The glaze that accumulates in this bucket will be turned into a limited-edition mystery glaze for studio use. 

Purchasing Clay:

Bags of clay we sell in the studio are slightly more expensive than what you would find in a store because all firing and glazing costs have been added. This prevents us from needing to track the square footage of each piece you fire in the kiln and makes our pricing more transparent and easy to keep track of. Make sure to put your name on your bag of clay. 

25 lb of New Clay: $35/ bag

25 lb of Reclaimed Clay (when available): $30/ bag

Glazes

We supply you with a selection of homemade dip glazes and a selection of commercial glazes/ underglazes. If you want to bring in your own commercial glazes, please make sure they are rated to fire at Cone 6. We highly recommend Amaco Potter’s Choice, Amaco Celadon Glazes, and Mayco Stoneware Glazes. 

Clean-up

All artists and students (except for Try Nights) are expected to fully clean up after themselves. Please wipe down your wheel and/or hand-building space, the wedging table, and the floor around your space if there are splatters or trimmings. Any messes or spills made must be cleaned up promptly. Note: Dry Clay Dust can be hazardous to your lungs. There is no sweeping allowed in the studio. We are a Wet Clean Studio Only!

Disposing of Throwing Water: Leave your throwing water to settle while you clean up. Pour out the top level that is mostly water in the sink. Dump the clay sludge at the bottom into the communal slop bucket. Rinse out the bucket and return. 

Sink Area

Please refrain from dumping clay and glaze down the sink as it can harden and block our pipes. 

Dump clay slop and wash tools first in the communal slop buckets, then you can rinse in the sink. 

Cancellation Policy

Semester Classes

14 days or more before your start date: Full Refund

7 - 14 days: 50% Refund

Less than 7 days: No Refund Possible. 

You may not transfer your purchase to another semester. There are no exceptions to this policy as you have purchased a specific spot on a certain date/time. Classes that do not reach a certain enrollment level may not run. 

Try Nights & Workshops

Cancellation at least 48 hours before the start date of your activity will be issued a full refund. 

There are no refunds within 48 hours of the class or for no-shows. 

Memberships

Memberships are required to be purchased in 3-month increments in advance. If you no longer wish to continue with your membership, you must provide us at least 2 weeks prior notice to your end date. 

Misc

Clay, glazes, and firing can be unpredictable. There is a learning curve to making what you intend. Lore Ceramics is not responsible for any pieces that are not successful. We are happy to explain why a piece was not successful and help guide you to ways you can prevent it from happening. Some things are outside of our control such as losing power in the middle of a firing. We will do the best we can with any situation we encounter to protect your work. 

Once your work is finished, you are welcome to take it home. You are free to sell and market your work as you please once it leaves our studio. We reserve the right to take photos/videos in the studio and of work to be used for our social media.

If you have any comments and or complaints about the studio please address them directly with the Staff. We welcome suggestions that may improve our service.