Always one of our favourite weeks on The Great Pottery Throw Down, this is your chance to experience the magic of Raku firing and glazing under expert tuition from two of our 2025 art competition finalists/ceramicists, Richard Ballantyne and Carol Read.

In this 1 day Raku workshop you will learn all about and practice 3 different Raku techniques:

• Normal glazed Raku
• Naked Raku
• Obvara

Small blank vases and bottles will be supplied ready for the Raku process, made from clay that will withstand the high temperatures required.

Glazed Raku

Choose from a selection of Raku glazes to decorate your pots, take them out of the kiln whilst still very hot and left to crackle before being put into a bucket of sawdust and sealed. You’ll then have the option to submerge your pots in water to cool quickly.

Naked Raku

We will be heating the pots up in the kiln, and then removing them at around 700 degrees before burning items such as horse hair, feathers and sugar onto the pots to create some beautiful silhouette patterns on the white clay.

Obvara Raku

The pots are taken from the kiln and plunged into a yeast/flour/water mixture and then immediately into cold water producing an organic-like decorative finish with spotty or volcanic markings.

At the end of the day, you will take home at least 3 of your very own finished Raku pots!

This workshop is suitable for complete beginners as well as those with some experience of ceramics.

The set up for firing will be outside, so please come prepared and dressed for all weathers! Wear old clothes (natural fibres). There will be a gazebo in case of rain. We will be working on preparing and finishing the pots inside in the hall.

The workshop will be taking place at Willersey Village Hall, 5 minutes drive from the village of Broadway. There is ample free parking onsite.

Tickets  £150  (12 places) Tickets will go on sale in January