Studio Rules and Etiquette

1. Studio Housekeeping
Please clean up after yourself! As a community studio, we operate on good karma and mutual respect for others. You should always leave your workspace cleaner than you found it. Before you leave the studio, please ensure you have completed the following: 

• Turn off your wheel and clean your wheel head and basin so it is free of all clay, slip, and trimmings. 
• Clean the foot pedal and table legs of your wheel. 
• Wipe down the chair/stool you used and the surrounding floor area of your wheel.
• Perform one final wipe of your workspace with a clean sponge to ensure all debris has been removed. A student who uses white clay should be able to use the wheel after red clay has been used with no issue!  
• Clean and rinse all tools and buckets used during class and put them away in their designated areas. 
• If you were glazing, please ensure the rim of the glaze bucket or pint has been wiped clean, the lid has been secured tightly, and it’s been put away in its dedicated area. Please dispose of any newspaper that was used while glazing as this can create glaze dust.
  

2. Health and Safety

• In the event of an emergency, doors and passageways must be accessible and clear of any hazards at all times. Please be mindful when working or storing work and never block doors and/or passageways.
• All spills should be sponged/mopped up immediately. A wet floor is a safety hazard.
• Do not wear loose clothing that might be caught on equipment. Shoes must be worn in and around the studio.
• Long hair should be tied back.
• Sanding of your dry or bisqued piece is permissible, though under strict guidelines.  Dust is harmful, and can float in the air for up to three days. Protect yourself and fellow studio members by spraying the air frequently as you sand. Sanding is to be done in the washroom or outside, never in shared building or studio spaces. Always clean up dust from your work area and the floor quickly. We do not want to track dust through the building.
• If you have been injured, please notify a staff member immediately.

3. Glazing Rules and Best Practices

• Thoroughly stir all glazes using the drill with the mixing attachment. Improperly mixed glazes result in altered glaze composition over time
• Do not cross-contaminate the glazes. Each glaze is formulated slightly differently (even if it’s the same brand!) Make sure any tools used with one glaze have been completely cleaned before using another glaze.
• Please leave a 1/4″ glaze margin at the bottom of each piece to protect our kiln shelves from any running glaze. Check pieces to make sure the glaze is wiped off the bottom before putting your piece on the shelf to be fired. Wipe glaze from any waxed areas.
• Make sure all equipment and tools used to glaze have been thoroughly cleaned of glaze before returning them to their proper storage area. Dispose of any newspaper used during the glazing process.
• All test tiles conducted in our studio belong to Warwick Pottery. This policy ensures that our community benefits collectively from the valuable insights and data gathered through these tests. By centralizing our glaze tests, we aim to ensure uniform quality and standards across all projects, provide access to comprehensive results, and facilitate the development of new techniques and creative ideas. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in adhering to this policy. Together, we can continue to foster a collaborative and thriving artistic environment.

4. Make-up classes
Due to our strict class scheduling, unfortunately, we do not offer make-up classes at this time. If you are unable to make a scheduled class, please contact Marilyn and let her know you will not be attending.

5. Personal Property
Do not use the tools of another student or touch their belongings without permission. Never touch the work of any other student.

6. Equipment Training
If you have not been trained on how to use a piece of equipment, do not use it. Please ask a staff member for training on how to use the equipment. The use of equipment without the proper training could result in injury or damage to the equipment.

7. Consideration of others

• Please be considerate of those around you by taking up only as much space as you need to work.
• Respect the atmosphere of the studio and those around you by not talking too loudly or talking to people wearing headphones.
• Please be aware of offering unsolicited advice. If someone needs help, they will ask. If you’d like to offer help, please ask first and listen if they say, “No, thank you.” Remember, people don’t always want help even if you think it might be useful!

8. Be respectful of others

Respect and kindness are the foundations of our studio. Treat fellow potters and our staff with courtesy and consideration. We’re all here to support and inspire each other. Do not discriminate, sexually harass, threaten, or intimidate other students or staff. Please be mindful of conversational topics and keep things light, avoid topics that others may find offensive or uncomfortable (politics, religion, etc.) 

9. Outside clay and glazes

Outside clay and glazes must be approved by Marilyn. The firing instructions and ingredient list of each clay or glaze must be provided beforehand. Outside clay must be free of any combustibles and fire to Cone 6. Glazes must be non-toxic, food safe, and fire to Cone 6. In the event you choose to use an outside clay, it will be subject to additional firing fees. Our firing fees are $4.00/per lb of clay per firing.

10. Pick-up policy

We try to fire as soon as our shelves are full, to keep our firing schedule efficient and our shelf space available, we ask that you check the kiln room weekly to pick up any bisque or glazed pieces you may have in the kiln room. To promote health and safety, minimize clutter, and maintain an efficient firing schedule, all bisque and glazed pieces must be collected within one month of firing.

11. Jewelry and other valuables

We encourage you to attend class free of any jewelry or valuables. Be careful to not leave any jewelry or personal items at the studio. We are not responsible for lost or stolen items, so please keep track of your personal property. We don’t want you to lose them either!

12. Damaged Pieces

Warwick Pottery is not liable for damage to any pottery pieces; we encourage all artists to handle their work with care and take necessary precautions during the creation and firing process. Every student is educated that dry and fired clay is fragile and must be handled gently. There is never a malicious attempt to destroy any clay work… However, accidents do happen, especially when work is left in the kiln room for more than a few days. To avoid breakage and loss of clay pieces, please pick up your pieces as quickly as possible! Responsibility for the safety of any fired ware truly rests in the hands of its maker. Our kiln room is open during all classes for easy pick-up. Click here to see what time our classes are running.