Clay is a very interesting and fundamental material—it’s earth, its water, and with fire, it takes on form and life. —Rithy Panh
I can’t quite remember when the
infatuation with creating pottery began. It could have stemmed from the film Ghost.
But really, I think it was the Stoke-on-Trent air, the world’s capital of
ceramics, which I breathed as a university student in Staffordshire. Although
the IT campus was approximately twenty-seven kilometres away, the beautiful,
vibrant strokes and shades on the handcrafted vases and plates I saw there left
a lasting imprint on my heart.
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| Thea's work |
Many years passed, and still I didn’t
know how wet clay felt. There were many reasons I could name. To the outsider,
I’d blame my procrastination on having to meet project deadlines. Deep inside,
though, I knew it was about the cost and not having buddies who didn’t mind
getting mud under their fingernails. However, this changed recently. I learned
my friend Joyce was also interested and agreed to the idea. We shortlisted a
few centres offering one-day workshops, and almost instantly settled on a
suitable centre. Yippee, we’re on our way to being Picassos!
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| By students |
We decided to learn this new skill at A Touch of Clay Pottery Studio under Mr Cheah, a skilled craftsman with over forty years of experience. He also owns and runs the studio. That day, we were lucky enough to have his daughter, Thea, also join us in the studio.
We were not the only beginners in
the class; there were other eager students like us. Mr Cheah first introduced
us to clay and how to prepare it before moving on to the magical wheels. His demonstration
made the process of creating a mug look effortless. I was anxious to transform
my piece of clay into creative drinking cups. And that, my friends, is what reignited
my passion for pottery. I’d run out of coffee mugs!
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| Thea with us |
First, we had to prepare the clay
by kneading it. The kneading or wedging process removes any trapped air bubbles
and gets the clay ready for shaping. After kneading, we flattened it slightly
and threw it in the centre of the wheel. Remember not to throw it hard—you don’t
want to break the wheel. Gentle pressure allowed it to sit firmly in the centre.
With the raw material in place, we flipped the switch to bring the wheel to
life. So far, it’s an A+ for Joyce and me. Oh boy, oh boy! I can do this!
Next, we were to relax the clay
on the spinning wheel using our own magical touch, gliding it up and down. The
class began spinning to relax and form the clay. But no, our clay was not cooperating
with us. It wasn’t relaxed, nor were we.
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| Clay that is art |
Throughout the session, our
instructor reminded us, “Don’t fight with the clay; just be gentle and let the
clay do its work.”
Dear loving clay, please start shaping up, I pleaded silently with the grey clump as I spun the wheel. But no, it didn’t. I wasn’t doing it right. I was holding it too tightly, so it cracked or caved in.
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| Joy's first mug |
“Throw that old clay away;
otherwise, you’ll get more air bubbles in them,” Thea said.
Oh no, I’ve been throwing away so much already. By now, I had too little remaining clay, and that mug would shrink another 20 percent after firing. Wowser, with a small cup like that, I’ll have to get used to espresso shots instead of flat whites.
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| Transported away |
“Don’t look at the clay. Close
your eyes and feel the clay,” Mr Cheah said, guiding the four of us. I closed
my eyes and thought of coffee.
Soon, the pressure intensifies. The other two students, each with two completed mugs, are now working on their third creation. Joyce’s is also beginning to take the form of a classy mug. Mine is still a raw block! The race is on. Go, clay, go!
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| Looks like mine |
Then, the magic happened. My
hands and mind gradually relaxed; I didn’t tense as much and could at least
reach a point where I could widen the centre. That was a significant
achievement after a lot of fist fighting!
See our work—the two on the right are mine. All four are impressive, right? Well, I hope you can keep another secret: I kind of cheated.
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| Pretty cool, right? |
When you get the width you want,
you must raise it to the desired height next, keeping in mind that the piece
will shrink after firing. I couldn’t get mine higher than an inch tall, so I
got Thea to heighten my already tiny mug.
I chose wheel spinning as my
starting point in pottery. But did you know that mugs can also be made by using
hand-building techniques? What do you know, we signed up for a hand-building
workshop for the week after. By the way, if you are pressed for time but still
want to experience pottery making, do check out their website for options.
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| First firing's done |
I found the pottery experience very
rewarding; it transported me to a world of crazy, colourful coffee mugs. More
importantly, during these sessions, we learned much from our master, Mr Cheah.
Pottery was all about patience, techniques, and creativity. Clay cannot be
rushed.
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| Sifu is speeding up our work |
Clay is basically earth, a
fine-grained soil. Many types of clay are used for pottery. We mainly used
white clay at the workshop and experimented with red clay. When mixed with
water, clay’s texture turns plasticky. When wet, the clay is soft and firm like
pastry dough. This softness allows us to shape it into a desired form. Clay hardens
gradually as it dries. As clay dries, it also shrinks in size.
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| More coffee mugs |
On our second visit, before the
hand-building class began, Joyce, who had arrived earlier than I did, painted the
labels on the two cups she had made two weeks ago. We later chose the colours we
wanted for our ceramics to be glazed with and had them glazed. At this point,
we noticed our ceramics had already shrunk by about 5 to 10 percent. Next would
be the first firing process. After
firing, they would shrink even more.
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| Don't disturb Joyce. Mr Cheah looks on. |
We made our creations slightly
larger in our hand-building workshop. Joyce made a big bear, and I made a giant
cup and figurines wearing hats in a dessert. Frankly speaking, hand-building is
much easier than wheel spinning. Nevertheless, it is good to learn both of
these techniques to understand the differences.
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| A giant mug for the big bear |
When I returned two weeks later
to paint my already-dried figurines, I found one of their hats had fallen off.
Nevertheless, I got my work painted and glazed with a transparent coat. Boy oh
boy, I couldn’t wait to see the results after the second firing.
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| Time to read, mates. |
While our mugs were handmade and
had signs of imperfection, most of the mugs you see on supermarket shelves are
consistent, perfectly shaped, and mass-produced using machines. This technique
is called moulding.
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| Fresh displays |
To summarise, the ceramics
journey involves:
- Preparing the clay by wedging it
- Forming or shaping (using various techniques like wheel throwing, hand-making, or moulding)
- Slow drying it into a leathery, firm feel to prevent cracking in the following process
- First (bisque) firing to harden the pottery
- Painting and glazing
- Final firing at high temperature to make it nonporous and durable
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| Joyce with her bear |
The dirty hands didn’t put me off
because I loved what would come of it. I am sure Joyce would also agree with me
that the imperfect mugs, the interestingly shaped bowls, the resting bear, the figurines,
our other wonderful creations, and the chance to meet two wonderful, gifted
people—Mr Cheah and his daughter—were a few simple joys of this quarter.
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| Someone else's work |
We were lucky to have another
wonderful meetup after our first workshop with Yogan, our very close and
amiably inspiring amigo. It was our first get-together of 2025.
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| Our coffee and hard earned mugs |
Some dreams, no matter the size,
may take longer to materialise, so never lose hope. If one is physically fit
and has no financial obstacles, then, as Nike says, just do it!
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| Well read books |
Charles F. Binns once said about pottery, “Out of the fire comes firmness, through stress we pass to strength.” In the same way, here’s hoping you, too, fire up your dreams, no matter what they are, into firmness and a memorable experience. Counting Stars, Reaching Delphi —keep your dreams alive and live to your fullest potential.
I hope you will be intrigued to explore local workshops near you after reading this. What do you know? You may end up with many new fascinating creations in your living room or holding your next coffee mug. See you after
our third session.
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| Those are some fine-looking coffee mugs |