Instructor: Marthine Spinnangr
Welcome to Building Big, a transformative 3-week journey designed to ground you in your body and unleash your ambition to create larger, soulful ceramic forms. We will move beyond the basics using zoom as our digital plattform.
Look, I get it. You want to make those big, impressive ceramic pieces, but the size alone can stop you dead in your tracks. I spent ages wondering, 'How do I even start building something this tall?' and 'How do I make sure it doesn't just collapse?' That feeling—that frustration between a great idea and the practical steps to make it—is why I created the Building Big course. This isn't just theory; it's a practical, guided path to skip the guesswork and build those ambitious, stable forms you've always wanted.
Working period: 5 th of May - 26 May Tuesdays at 3-6 pm Eastern European Timezone
This crucial one-on-one session takes place before the hands-on building begins. It is an act of intention setting, ensuring a solid, heartfelt starting point for your ambitious project.
Sketch Review: Present your ideas and initial sketches—the whispers of your final form.
Concrete Feedback: Marthine will provide immediate and technical feedback on form, dimensions, and strategies for ensuring stability in your chosen design, ensuring your vision is structurally sound.
Technical Guidance: Discussion on suitable clay types and necessary tools to support your specific creation.
Goal Setting: Define clear, expressive objectives for the three intensive workshop weeks.
Focus: Moving from concept to creation. We explore the sacred challenge of gravity, learning how to listen to the clay to construct a deep, strong foundation that can sustain the weight and dreams of your final form throughout the entire process.
Theory: Calculating wall thickness and managing drying speed for large pieces.
Techniques: Utilizing coil building, slab construction, and internal support systems.
Practice: Initiating your project; ensuring the base is robust and allowed adequate resting time.
Focus: Developing Presence and Scale. This module focuses on the mindful, consistent art of building height. We learn to read the "memory" in the clay, using precision and intuition to develop flowing, controlled forms that hold intention and breath.
Theory: The "memory" of clay – emphasizing consistent thickness and moisture.
Practice: Working in slowly but consistently, allowing the clay to set, and progressively building the form.
Focus: The Art of Letting Go. We bring the sculptural form to its completion, focusing on detailed surface work. We then transition into the meticulous but mindful process of preparing your large piece for its long, slow rest (drying) before the ultimate transformation of firing ( or not firing , it is also possible to just learn the technique)
Techniques: Detailing the surface, optional use of engobes/terra sigillata, and burnishing, or glaze ideas and my full glaze recipe list
Instructor: Marthine Spinnangr
Welcome to Building Big, a transformative 3-week journey designed to ground you in your body and unleash your ambition to create larger, soulful ceramic forms. We will move beyond the basics using zoom as our digital plattform.
Look, I get it. You want to make those big, impressive ceramic pieces, but the size alone can stop you dead in your tracks. I spent ages wondering, 'How do I even start building something this tall?' and 'How do I make sure it doesn't just collapse?' That feeling—that frustration between a great idea and the practical steps to make it—is why I created the Building Big course. This isn't just theory; it's a practical, guided path to skip the guesswork and build those ambitious, stable forms you've always wanted.
Working period: 5 th of May - 26 May Tuesdays at 3-6 pm Eastern European Timezone
This crucial one-on-one session takes place before the hands-on building begins. It is an act of intention setting, ensuring a solid, heartfelt starting point for your ambitious project.
Sketch Review: Present your ideas and initial sketches—the whispers of your final form.
Concrete Feedback: Marthine will provide immediate and technical feedback on form, dimensions, and strategies for ensuring stability in your chosen design, ensuring your vision is structurally sound.
Technical Guidance: Discussion on suitable clay types and necessary tools to support your specific creation.
Goal Setting: Define clear, expressive objectives for the three intensive workshop weeks.
Focus: Moving from concept to creation. We explore the sacred challenge of gravity, learning how to listen to the clay to construct a deep, strong foundation that can sustain the weight and dreams of your final form throughout the entire process.
Theory: Calculating wall thickness and managing drying speed for large pieces.
Techniques: Utilizing coil building, slab construction, and internal support systems.
Practice: Initiating your project; ensuring the base is robust and allowed adequate resting time.
Focus: Developing Presence and Scale. This module focuses on the mindful, consistent art of building height. We learn to read the "memory" in the clay, using precision and intuition to develop flowing, controlled forms that hold intention and breath.
Theory: The "memory" of clay – emphasizing consistent thickness and moisture.
Practice: Working in slowly but consistently, allowing the clay to set, and progressively building the form.
Focus: The Art of Letting Go. We bring the sculptural form to its completion, focusing on detailed surface work. We then transition into the meticulous but mindful process of preparing your large piece for its long, slow rest (drying) before the ultimate transformation of firing ( or not firing , it is also possible to just learn the technique)
Techniques: Detailing the surface, optional use of engobes/terra sigillata, and burnishing, or glaze ideas and my full glaze recipe list
