This workshop is still being developed. Registering your interest is an expression of interest only — it is not a confirmed booking and does not require payment.
An experimental, hands-on workshop exploring how existing moulds can be used to create decorative clay elements, and how those forms can be incorporated into sculptural work.
The workshop explores ideas of ornament, repetition, texture, surface and three-dimensional form, with a particular interest in creating new relationships between decorative elements and the sculptural human head.
Each participant begins with a provided head sculpture, and explores how mould-made elements, hand-built additions, surface treatments and other ceramic techniques can transform the character and visual language of the work.
The workshop takes exactly four participants — not up to four, but four — and runs only when all four places are filled. That number is deliberate. It is small enough that everyone has a dedicated workstation, their own equipment and individual guidance throughout, with real time to develop your own sculpture rather than watching a demonstration from the back of a room.
Like the first workshop, this one focuses specifically on female head and portrait sculpture, so the two sit together as one continuing line of study rather than two unrelated classes.
Each day you are required to arrive at 9:00 am, an hour before teaching begins, to settle in, sign the safety form, set up your workspace and talk through the day’s program over a coffee. Teaching itself runs from 10:00 am to 3:45 pm, with demonstrations, individual feedback and a lunch break of about 45 minutes — roughly 20 hours of guided studio time across four consecutive weekends. There is more on the 9:00 am hour under Arrival & Preparation below.
If you would like to know where these workshops come from, I have written about how I learned to sculpt, and why I want to teach.
This is not a mould-making workshop. Participants are not taught how to make moulds. The moulds already exist, and are provided as a creative resource.
The workshop investigates what happens when decorative elements are introduced into sculptural form — not applied to a finished surface afterwards, but developed as part of the sculpture itself.
Ornament changes the way we understand a sculptural form. A repeated element creates rhythm. A raised form creates shadow. A textured surface changes the way light moves across the work. A decorative element can alter scale, proportion, character and visual weight.
The intention is not to produce an identical outcome. Each participant is encouraged to develop an individual response.
Each participant has their own height-adjustable rotating turntable with a pre-mounted armature, ready for sculpting from the beginning of the workshop. You need to be able to turn the sculpture continually and read it from every viewpoint while you work — particularly in this workshop, where ornament is placed and judged from every angle.
You do not need to buy or build an armature. Everything is prepared before you arrive.
Firing is carried out by the artist and studio operator only. Participants do not operate or handle the kiln.
$245 per weekend · $980 in total for the complete four-weekend workshop
The fee covers the complete four-weekend workshop. The four weekends are one continuous course and each week builds on the one before it, so a place is taken for the whole workshop rather than for single days.
There is no deposit and no payment in advance. The fee is paid in four equal payments of $245, in cash, on the day of each weekend session.
Your place is confirmed by email once dates are set. Nothing is payable until the first weekend, and each payment covers the session you are attending that day.
This arrangement will apply once workshop dates are confirmed and places are offered. There is no online payment or booking at this stage — registering your interest costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Please allow one hour to complete registration, safety procedures and workspace preparation before the workshop begins.
Participants are required to arrive at 9:00 am, so there is enough time to settle in and get set up before teaching begins at 10:00 am. It is a relaxed hour — there is coffee on — but it is a full one, and it works best when everyone is here for it.
During this first hour you will:
This hour is part of the workshop experience rather than additional teaching time. It is there so that everyone is settled, safely set up and ready to start together — and so that the first hour of teaching is spent teaching.
With only four participants, one late arrival holds up the whole group. Please plan to be here at 9:00 am.
A prepared ceramic head with a simple upper torso is provided as the starting point for each participant’s creative development. Rather than beginning with a blank block of clay, an existing sculptural form gives you something to experiment with, alter, extend and transform from the first hour.
The head can become a starting point for exploring proportion, surface, ornament, texture, repetition, relief, layering, decorative form, sculptural additions and individual expression.
The developed sculpture belongs to the participant and may be kept, subject to appropriate drying, construction and firing requirements.
I have a collection of more than one hundred existing moulds available for participants to explore. These moulds are not the subject of the workshop, and participants are not taught mould-making. Instead, the collection works as a creative library — a resource to draw shapes, motifs and decorative elements from, in the same way a painter draws on a palette already mixed.
Having the moulds ready means the time in the studio goes into the sculpture rather than into making tools to make it with. You are free to cast the same element a dozen times, to try a motif at one scale and then another, or to discard something that is not working and pour it again.
Working with the mould-made forms, you can consider scale, repetition, arrangement, rhythm, contrast, texture, layering, relief, placement, and the relationship of a decorative element to the human form.
The important question is not simply what a mould produces, but what can happen when that element becomes part of a larger sculptural idea.
This is an exploration rather than a step-by-step project where everyone produces the same artwork. The process may move through:
Alongside the mould-made elements, participants can combine hand-building, sculpting, attaching clay elements, layering, carving, texturing, relief and surface manipulation — whatever the individual work asks for.
Clay slip is supplied for the workshop and is included in the fee. It is difficult to bring along and not something participants would sensibly buy in, so it is prepared here and ready to use.
Slip has two distinct roles in this workshop. It is the casting material — poured into the moulds to form the decorative elements. It is also the medium used to join clay pieces together as the sculpture is built up. Participants are shown how to adjust the consistency for each purpose, since what pours cleanly into a mould is not the same as what holds two pieces of clay together.
It is also the same clay body the head sculptures are made from. That matters: the mould-made elements and the head then shrink, dry and fire at the same rate, and the finished sculpture reads as one piece of work rather than parts that behave differently in the kiln.
Attaching a decorative element so that it survives drying and firing is a skill in itself, and one of the practical things taught during the workshop. Participants learn to score the areas to be joined, apply slip and press the pieces together securely — and how to judge when clay is at the right stage of dryness to be worked on.
Most cracks and losses in ceramic sculpture come from joins made carelessly or at the wrong moment. Getting this right is what allows an ambitious piece to survive the kiln.
Any underglaze is provided by the participant. Recommended colours and suppliers are set out under Recommended Tools & Materials below.
Participants supply their own basic sculpting tools. Everything else is prepared for you — your turntable, pre-mounted armature, workspace, starting sculpture and clay slip are all ready before you arrive.
The essential tools below are the minimum each participant needs to bring. The additional items are suggestions for anyone who would like to build a fuller toolkit — you are not required to buy everything listed.
If you have trouble finding any of them, don’t let it stop you registering. I keep spare tools at the studio and you are welcome to borrow them in the meantime.
The first four can be bought as one set. The drawing tool, sculpture eye tool, loop tool and ball tool listed below are all covered by a single six-piece carving and modelling set — a good set to have for the fine detail work in the face. It is listed as 6Pcs Carving Clay Sculpting Hand Chisel Modeling Making Woodworking Process Tool and is available from Amazon Australia. Buying the four separately is equally fine.
Buy tools from a ceramics supplier rather than a cheap pottery set from a general art shop. The cheap sets are unpleasant to use and will hold your sculpting back; good basic tools are not expensive and will serve your own practice long after the workshop.
If you would like to build a fuller kit over time, this is my own working set. It is for reference only — you do not need any of it for the workshop, and none of it is expected. It simply gives you an idea of the sort of thing that turns out to be useful once you keep going.
Participants who would like a more comprehensive selection may also consider the Clay Shed All Purpose Tool Kit or the 11-piece clean-up tool kit.
Underglaze is how the individual elements are given their colour and decoration — each moulded form, each hand-built addition, each area of surface can be treated differently. Bring a variety of colours so you have real choice as the sculpture develops. As a minimum range, bring the primary and secondary colours, plus black and white.
I recommend the Walker Ceramics Cesco Underglaze Set — seven colours plus colour extender, 20 ml each, firing range 1000–1280 °C.
A fuller recommended list will be provided closer to the workshop.
Ceramic sculpture must be thoroughly and appropriately dried before it can be fired. Depending on the construction, thickness, size and conditions at the time, drying may take several weeks. The completed work is assessed before firing, to make sure it has been appropriately constructed and prepared.
The first/bisque firing of a suitable completed sculpture is included in the workshop fee. Before firing, I will assess the sculpture to make sure it has been appropriately constructed and prepared. As the kiln owner and operator, Lee Anchor reserves the right to decline to fire any sculpture that is considered unsuitable or unsafe for kiln firing. Examples may include excessive clay thickness, insufficient hollowing, no or inadequate ventilation holes, trapped air, excessive weight, poor or unsafe construction, significant weaknesses or cracks, insufficient drying, or other technical issues that may present a risk during firing.
The purpose of this assessment is to protect the participant’s work, other work in the kiln, the kiln and the studio. Participants do not operate, load, unload or handle the kiln.
If a second firing is required and the sculpture is considered suitable for further firing, an additional firing service may be available in accordance with the studio’s current Firing Service rates and requirements. The second firing is separate from the workshop fee.
The workshop is held at Sentient Form Studio, my private artist studio, using a covered outdoor working area designed for hands-on ceramic sculpture. It is an intimate, small-scale environment where participants work closely with the artist, watch demonstrations and receive individual guidance — a working artist’s studio rather than a commercial ceramics school.
The working area has a level concrete floor and individual workstations. Participants also have access to bathroom facilities within the house, which requires negotiating a step between the outdoor studio area and the house. Please wear comfortable clothing and enclosed, sensible footwear. Clay, modelling tools, repetitive hand activity, water, workstations and ceramic materials all require participants to follow the studio’s safety instructions.
As the workshop is held in a covered outdoor studio area, workshops are scheduled during the warmer months, when conditions are most comfortable for working with clay. The exact timing may vary from one workshop to the next, depending on the weather and on availability.
The exact location is provided after registration and confirmation.
Before you register
Before attending, participants are asked to read and sign a Participant Acknowledgement, Safety & Workshop Agreement. The agreement covers the workshop environment, general studio safety expectations, the use of clay and hand-held sculpting tools, participant responsibilities, following reasonable studio instructions, appropriate footwear and clothing, the process for drying and firing ceramic work, and payment, cancellation and participation conditions.
You receive the workshop information and the agreement before your place is confirmed, with an opportunity to ask questions.
Workshop dates are yet to be confirmed. Completing the registration form is an expression of interest only. It does not create a confirmed booking, and no payment is required at this stage.
The workshop will proceed once exactly four participants have confirmed their places.
If you decide to join the workshop, please read the following information before confirming your place.
All workshop places must be confirmed in advance. There is no booking fee, deposit or payment required upfront.
The workshop fee is $245 per weekend, or $980 for the complete four-weekend workshop. Payment is made in cash on the day of each weekend session.
As the workshop is limited to exactly four participants, confirming your place represents a commitment to the complete four-weekend program.
Each weekend builds on the previous session, so regular attendance is important to your progress and to the continuity of the group.
I understand that unexpected circumstances can sometimes arise. If you are unable to attend a session, please let me know as early as possible.
Where possible, a missed class may be made up in conjunction with another workshop, subject to availability.
A private make-up or additional tuition session can also be arranged with me at $40 per hour. Private tuition is separate from the workshop fee.
Please note that a private session is intended to help you continue or catch up with your sculpture; it is not a free replacement for a missed workshop day.
Every effort will be made to run the workshop as scheduled. If I need to postpone or cancel a workshop due to unforeseen circumstances, I will let you know as soon as possible.
Where appropriate, an alternative date or make-up arrangement will be offered.
I aim to provide an informative, affordable and enjoyable hands-on experience in a friendly and supportive environment.
Because I offer this flexible payment arrangement, please only book the workshop if you are genuinely committed to attending the complete four-weekend program. Each workshop requires considerable preparation, including setting up specialist equipment, preparing materials and arranging lunch, refreshments, tea, coffee and fruit in advance. Your commitment helps ensure that the workshop can be provided as planned and that everyone has a positive experience.
If you need to cancel before the workshop commences, I ask that you provide at least two weeks’ notice wherever possible. This gives me a reasonable opportunity to offer your place to another participant.
If unexpected financial difficulties arise after you have commenced the workshop and you are unable to continue, please contact me as soon as possible so we can discuss the situation.
Your sculpture is handled and fired by me with the utmost care. Ceramics can be unpredictable, however, and cracking, breakage, kiln-related damage and other firing mishaps can occasionally occur.
If a sculpture is damaged during firing, I will do my best to assess whether it can be repaired. Where a repair is not reasonably possible, I may offer an opportunity to remake the work with additional tuition or studio time at a reduced rate, subject to availability. Any such arrangement is separate from the workshop fee and will be agreed with you beforehand.
Before firing, I assess each completed sculpture to make sure it has been appropriately constructed and prepared, including adequate hollowing, venting and drying, and that it is sound enough to be safely fired.
As the kiln owner and operator, I reserve the right to decline to fire any sculpture that I consider unsuitable or unsafe for firing. This is to protect your work, other work in the kiln, the kiln itself and the studio.
If your sculpture needs to be rebuilt or remade because it is not suitable for firing, additional private tuition can be arranged at $40 per hour. This is separate from the workshop fee and is not provided free of charge. Where appropriate, and subject to availability, you may instead be offered a place in a future workshop at a reduced rate.
The first/bisque firing of one suitable completed sculpture is included in the workshop fee. Any additional or second firing, where appropriate, is separate and may be available in accordance with the studio’s current Firing Service rates and requirements.
Participants do not operate, load, unload or handle the kiln.
My aim is for you to enjoy the process of working with clay while learning how to construct, dry and prepare your sculpture as safely and successfully as possible.
Clay is a wonderful but sometimes unpredictable material. I will share my knowledge and experience with you throughout the workshop and take every reasonable care with your work, while recognising that some aspects of ceramic making and firing cannot be completely guaranteed.
Coming Soon
Interested in joining this workshop? Register your interest and I will contact you when the workshop dates, format and registration details are confirmed.
Each workshop is limited to four participants and will proceed once all four places have been confirmed.
Please note that submitting this form is an expression of interest only. It does not constitute a confirmed booking or guarantee a place. Workshop dates and final registration details will be confirmed separately.