Inside the Tea Set Workshop: A Slow Three Hours of Clay, Coffee, Pastries and Teapots
There's a moment, at the end of the class, Someone steps back from their bench, looks at what they've just built with their own hands, and quietly says, "Oh. I actually made a teapot."
That's my favourite part. It's the whole reason I run this class.
The Tea Set Workshop is one I only run once a month in the cooler months, when the studio feels warm and slow and the kind of place you don't want to leave.
Three hours, one teapot, no experience needed
Most people who book in have never touched clay before. They sit down with their coffee and a pastry, look at the lump of clay in front of them, and tell me they're not sure they can do this. Three hours later they've created a teapot. A real (functional) one. With a spout that pours and a lid that fits and a handle that's theirs. We work through every part of it together. Pinch pot to start. Then coiling. A little slab building. We shape the spout, form the lid, attach the handle. I walk you through each step, like we're just making something side by side.
Pastries from a favourite local bakery, herbal tea brewing on the side, freshly pressed coffee in the pot. You're meant to be comfortable. You're meant to take your time. There's something about working with clay that asks you to slow down, and the food and drink just help that along.
Once your teapot's finished, the final half hour of class is yours to spend however you like. You can make a teacup or two, build a little jug to go alongside it, or do what about ninety percent of people end up doing, which is keep tinkering with their teapot. Adding a thumb rest to the lid. Pressing a bit of texture into the body. Quietly naming it.
That's the bit where everyone realises they want to keep making things.
Coming to a Tea Set Workshop
The Tea Set Workshop runs at Ochre's light-filled studio in Mullumbimby, fifteen minutes from Byron Bay, in the heart of the Northern Rivers. It's a three-hour hand-building pottery workshop that suits all experience levels, beginners very much included.
It's a lovely thing for a slow Sunday morning, a friend catch-up, a birthday gift to yourself, or a quiet bit of time out of your week.
