$419 ($100 studio members)…Workshops & Classes · Thursday, October 29, 2026
Thursday Morning Hand-building
About
Nic Payne's hand-building class draws on geology: students make layered, textured agate-like slabs with colored slips and powdered clays, then build a round slab "rocker" vase of the kind used for ikebana and one or two freer sculptures, with stain and glaze finishing. Six three-hour lessons over seven weeks (no class Thanksgiving week), Thursdays 10 am–1 pm from Oct 29 to Dec 10, at JTown Clay, 520 N 7th St in San Jose's Japantown. Tuition is $419 ($100 for studio members), including a $20 materials fee, with clay extra; it is sold out with a waitlist.
Good to know
Pick a date and tell us how many. We arrange it with JTown Clay for you. Free to ask; nothing is charged today.
Read off JTown Clay’s own page. Times and prices can change; the venue’s page wins.
How it compares
At $419, this sits toward the top of the 65 single-session pottery classes we list in the Bay Area. They run from $10 to $499, and the typical price is $120.
That works out to about $140 an hour for a 3-hour session.
If one session leaves you wanting more, 7 studios we list run multi-week pottery courses, from $65.
Other pottery classes in the Bay Area
- Take a Spin: Sunday Pottery Wheel LessonHigher Fire Clayspace & Gallery · South BaySUNDAYS · 3 PM · $110
- Hand Build and Raku FireThe Crucible · Oakland & East BayTHRU SUN, OCT 25 · $325 ($302.50 members)
- Clay Play: WheelWheelhouse Clay · SF West SideSUNDAYS · 11 AM · $98
- Planter Pots or Vases Hand-building WorkshopArtillery Ceramics · SF Mission & SouthSUN, OCT 25 · $75
New to pottery?
Most first classes are either a wheel taster, where you learn to centre clay and pull up a cylinder, or hand-building, where you shape a mug, dish or planter with pinch, coil and slab techniques.
- Wear clothes that can get muddy and keep nails short; rings and bracelets come off before the wheel.
- Expect two to three hours for a single session. Clay, tools and firing are almost always in the price; glazing sometimes costs extra.
- A one-time class is the cheap way to find out whether you want a five- or six-week course, which is where the wheel actually starts to click.
Taking it home: Not on the day. Pieces dry, are fired, glazed and fired again, so studios usually hold them for two to four weeks.
Questions people ask
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