Our Experiences

Explore and book your pottery experience. Friendly tuition in our fully equipped studio.

All group child experiences can be mixed up to enable the students to try their hands at a number of different experiences at no additional cost. (Up to 5 children, excludes RAKU days)

Please note: All of the Shazpot staff are DBS checked and certified.

Please contact us if you have any questions regarding your pottery or retreat experience. We can be flexible with times and the dates.

New: Pottery Courses

A 4 week course, 8hrs tuition. Pick a convenient time over a day or evening (Sundays not included), 4 two hour slots to allow you to choose your experiences. Learn how to throw natural clay, centre it & create you own pot on a pottery wheel. Learn to trim, shape and carve your items.

Throughout the course you may choose learn the technique of hand building along with coiling, slab and pinching. Then onto glazing and the different uses and correct ways to apply the glaze. Create your very own truly bespoke pot.

Course cost is £100 pp. There is a small additional charge of £2.50per lb of clay for the firing cost if you decide to keep your item.
Book your first 2 hour session now and we can agree the additional dates together.

Glaze Day Experience

A great start to our pottery experiences. Expert tuition and all the materials you need to create something unique. We will fully explain all the processes involved and then once completed they will be fired. You can then collect or we’ll post your creations*.

Adults £15 per hour / Children £12.50 per hour
Small firing cost of £2.50 per Ib of clay for items made in previous experience days or £5 for ready made pots

Potters Wheel Experience

No experience necessary, we’ll guide you through how to wedge and centre the clay and throw your first creations. Keep as many creations as you wish which we’ll dry and then fire at a small cost of £2.50 per Ib, these can then be collected or you can come back for a glazing day to complete your beautiful creations. Minimum 2 hours although for Adults I would recommend 3 hours.

£15 per adult per hour

£12.50 per child (up to 16) per hour

Handbuilding Experience

Aimed at beginners, let us help bring out the inner sculptor in you. We will take you through hand building and sculpting skills. Your creations will be dried, fired ready for you to collect or you can book a glazing day to complete your work of art.

Adults £15 per hour / Children £12.50 per hour
£2.50 firing costs per Ib

RAKU Firing Day Experience

This year through popular demand we have planned our raku experiences around Saturdays and Sundays.
The price has remained at 2024 prices! Only £70 per person.

A hands on experience of raku pottery firing, where you can have as much involvement as you choose. You can create and design the finish for the two pots provided, be it a glaze finish or horse hair finish. Or get involved in loading and unloading the kiln whilst the temperature is still at around 1000 degrees, submerging into the combustion process where the magic happens, finally taking home your two finished designed pots to remember the experience forever. 10am-3pm

Book early to secure your spots. ❤️🔥🏺

Sunday March 29th
Sunday April 19th
Sunday May 17th
Saturday June 20th
Saturday August 1st
Sunday August 23rd
Saturday September 12th
Saturday October 3rd

£70 per person incl. drinks.
5 hour session 10:00-3:00pm

Extra Pots £7.50 each

Custom Experience

Design you own pottery experience with us

FAQ

Click on the question for the answer

Do i need pottery experience to enjoy a shazpots day?

NO, even if you’re a complete beginner, you’ll recieve patient guidance and everything you need to enjoy your experience

What should I wear to a Shazpots experience day?

Please wear old clothing, you may get dirty and firing days are hot , ladies shorter nails and hair tied back definately help. 🙂

Can my children accompany me to the experience

Children are of course welcome, but remember they may get mucky and firing and raku days are very hot and care must be taken. It is recommended that children are 12 and above to participate. Note RAKU days involve working with intense heat and an open flame and fire, so suitable for over 16’s only.

Do I get to take my creations home on the experience days

The answer is yes of course, but with glazing, potters wheel, hand building days we will need to fire your creations in the kiln, so you can collect or we will post your creations (max 4-5 weeks after your experience day), With Raku days you will take home your creations on the same day. note: there is a small cost for us to fire your creations AND sometimes, how ever careful we are: firing may crack or damage your creations.

Can I stay in the Shazpots retreats if I don't include a pottery experience

Yes, we’d love you to enjoy our wonderful, peaceful part of Kent, whether or not it includes a Shazpots experience

Can I purchase a gift voucher to treat a loved one to an experience

Absolutely, we offer vouchers for any value, visit our shop and order a voucher.

Can I customise my experience with Shazpots

You certainly can, visit out shop and order a ‘custom experience’ we’ll contact you and we’ll work together to create your perfect experience.

How many people are there at a shazpots experience

A good question: We want everyone who attends our experience to get the time, attention and the tuition they deserve. Therefore we run small workshops with a max class size of 2 for the potters wheel experience, 4 for glazing and hand building and up to 10 for RAKU days. However if you would like a group event with friends we can be flexible on numbers within reason.