- Intensive Custom Pottery / Ceramics Course for Visitors
I am in Japan for a few weeks and I want to take pottery classes intensively. Are there any options that are more advanced than a trial class for a relatively short period of time?
We can tailor our classes to the duration of your stay and skill level. If you are in Japan for a limited time and you want to take more than three classes (if you are taking three classes or less in total, we recommend you to take our Trial Course) the Custom Visitors’ Course is ideal for you.
Fees are determined on a case by case basis – please speak with our staff to find out more.
- Time required to complete works
Typically, the time required to complete works at our studio is 3 weeks to a month as there are a number of stages which are separated by drying and cooling periods in-between.
If you are under tight time constraints, please let us know as it is possible to shorten the amount of time taken to complete works since we have express firing services.
The first stage is forming. You will focus on forming in the first lesson, which lasts two hours.
After works have been formed, a drying period of at least a day or two is needed before works can be trimmed. If you are busy and cannot return to our studio to trim your works within two days, we can help you store your works for up to three weeks.
After trimming, works need to be further dried to a bone dry consistency before they can be bisque fired. We typically bisque-fire works within one week from trimming.
Once bisque-fired, students have one to three weeks to do ‘etsuke’ paint works and apply ‘yuyaku’ (glaze). We typically glaze-fire works within one week after ‘etsuke’ painting and ‘yuyaku’ glazing.
Typical ceramic production process:
- Number of works that can be made in a class
Students can make an unlimited number of works, though firing fees are chargeable per work.
- Express Firing Service
We offer express firing services to our customers who are under tight time constraints.
We recommend customers to consider express firing services if shipping destinations are very far as it may work out to be more economical.
Fees are on a case by case basis and reservations are required – please consult our staff at the earliest opportunity if you intend to use our express firing services.
- International Shipping Services
International shipping is possible but please take note of the following caveats:
- Delivery time takes between 1 to 10 days, depending on location
- Uzumako charges \1,000 for packaging services as a lot of time and care needs to be taken to ensure that works are wrapped properly. The packaging also adds roughly 1kg to the weight of the package.
- g. Postage cost for works weighing 2kg:
2kg + 1kg (for packaging materials) = 3kg + \1,000
- If the postal destination is far, Uzumako’s express firing services should be recommended as it may be more economical
- Glaze and Underglaze Types
Our glazes:
We stock a wide range of glazes including []
Our underglazes:
We stock a wide range of underglazes including []
Trial Course:
We offer a choice between ‘toumei’ (transparent), ‘kuro’ (black), and ‘mattcha’ (tea green) glazes for our Trial Course students who only take one class. For students who sign up for the three lesson Trial Course, we offer [] glazes.
Members Course:
Members have access to all our glazes.
Intensive Course:
Intensive Course students have access to all our glazes.
Custom Glazes:
It is possible to mix your own custom glazes if we have the raw materials at our studio.
If materials we do not stock are needed, please consult our staff as we can arrange for materials to be ordered for an additional fee on a case by case basis (what about storage)?
- Insurance
Students can get annual insurance for their works for \300 (but students must bring the broken pieces to Uzumako). Students can make the works again without paying the basic fee, though the firing fee is required.
- Discounts
We offer family and group discounts – please contact our staff for further details.