Ceramics at Home for Beginners

Working with mud can be a new form of meditation, especially if you do it with the care and passion of Paula Casella, a graduate in Fine Arts and founder of Organic Ceramic Bamboo, who will teach you, with her 15 years of experience in this art manual, everything you need to know to get started in ceramics.

In this course you will learn from scratch how to model and glaze ceramics through different techniques of modeling and decorating the clay from your home. You will know the difference between the clay with oven and the one of air drying, and you will learn to make plaster molds that will serve as a base of infinity of pieces that you can create on your own.

You will start by knowing Paula, her career in Fine Arts, education and ceramics. He will show you some pieces of his collection with varied styles and then present some of his main influences.

You will know the materials you are going to work with, the types of mud, what you need to make plaster molds and the different enamels to decorate your pieces.

You will see the importance of recycling the leftover mud properly and you will learn how to make your basic plaster mold at home, which you can reuse as many times as you want to create different ceramic pieces.

Now, get to work! Together with Paula and using the previously made plaster cast, you will create the base and bowl of your first set using the plate modeling technique. You will continue with the second set, which will be purely decorative, applying the churros modeling technique.

You will continue with the third set for which you will not need a mold, since you will apply the pinch technique. And to finish the modeling phase, you will make the fourth set repeating the same design as the previous ones, with the difference that it will be larger and that you will learn to add different textures to the pieces.

You will learn different decorative techniques of clay, how they are used and when it is convenient to apply them. First, you will know two methods of decoration for the air-dried mud. Then, you will discover the enamels in suspension, the decorative technique of gold luster, the technique of oxides or "marble effect", and the method of enamel with gouaches.

Finally you will let the imagination fly and you will see the infinite possibilities of use that each of the sets made during the course have. And to preserve your pieces, Paula will give you valuable tips to take care of each of them on a day-to-day basis and how to transport them.

You will make four mushroom-shaped sets. The first three applying the three basic techniques of clay modeling and three enamelling techniques, resulting in dishes for different uses (breakfast, jewelry, etc.). The fourth set will be of fabric and you will apply the technique of the plates, but adding textures, and a different technique of enamelling.

To anyone interested in getting started in ceramics and who is curious about the creative process of this manual art.

To take this course you will not need previous knowledge, just eager to discover the creative process of ceramics.

On the materials, you will need a basic ceramic starter kit (stakes, sponge, cutter) that you can get in any bazaar, and also clay, roller, old fabrics, plaster, enamels, and acrylic paints. You should take into account that, to complete some of the course's practical exercises, you'll need to have access to an artisan's oven or a ceramics workshop where you can rent one.