Clay
We sell the following bags of clay, subject to availability:
Air Dry Clay
Paper Clay
Red Terracotta
Earthenware
Earthstone ES5
Speckled Stoneware
Pottery Wheel Hire
Fancy having a go on one of our studio pottery wheels? These are available at an hourly rate as follows:
Wheel hire – non members £12 per hour, per wheel (including set up and cleaning up time)
Wheel hire – members £8 per hour, per wheel (including set up and cleaning up time)
Tuition from one of our in house tutors £22 per hour, subject to availability.
Hire our kiln
If you are working with clay but don’t have the space (or the budget) for your own kiln then you can hire our kiln for a full load or a single shelf.
Firing costs
Bisque: Single Shelf £25 or Whole Kiln £60.00 including technicians loading fee.
Earthenware: Single Shelf £35 or Whole Kiln £70.00 including technicians loading fee.
Stoneware: Single Shelf £45 or whole kiln £80.00 including technicians loading fee.
Individual pieces (including technicians fee)
Individual pieces can be added to another kiln firing if you are not in a rush to have your work back and are charged between £6-£10 per piece depending on the size of the piece.
Please note: All customers will be required to read our firing terms before leaving your work. Whilst every care is taken in firing your work, please remember that handmade ceramics can be subject to cracking during firing. Iris & Dora cannot accept any responsibility for any damage to your work resulting from firing.
If your work causes damage to the kiln (shelf, elements, ceramic bricks, thermocouple etc.) you will be liable for repair costs.
Kiln Firing Service Terms:
Please bear in mind that kiln firings are subject to kiln-availability.
Please note that Iris & Dora cannot accept responsibility for ceramic faults where the kiln has fired correctly and no malfunction has occurred. All firing blow-outs, cracks or other faults are not the responsibility of Iris & Dora. This is because these faults are very often caused by issues in the making and drying of the items and we are reliant on what customers tell us to make decisions on the kiln firing that is required. Ceramics has an inherent risk within the kiln-firing process and you must be aware of this when embarking upon a project using clay.
Payment will be requested for any damage caused to the kiln equipment by glaze run-off, blowouts or other preventable ceramic faults. Please make sure that your work is kiln-ready prior to bringing it to the studio.
How to make sure your work is kiln-ready:
Is it dry? Your item should be dry to the touch and, if at room temperature, should not feel cold to touch. If cold, then this indicates that the item is still wet. Thick items can take weeks to dry even if they appear to be superficially dry. Very thin items of just a few millimetres will dry in a few days.
If using glaze, has it all been wiped from the base of your items? The base should be completely clean of glaze and 2mm up the side of the item to prevent glaze run-off. Please don’t ask us to do this for you. Any run-off may result in the loss of a kiln shelf, if this is the case you will be asked to pay for this damage. Glaze should also be of reasonable thickness – excessive thickness can also result in glaze run-off – please refer to the glaze manufacturer for guidance.