the studio

Established in 2021, Hands in Clay L.A. is an intimate pottery studio located in Mar Vista, built with a focus on education and sustainability.

Enjoy natural light as you work in any of our three unique spaces: a dedicated hand building room, wheel room and glazing room.

We welcome and provide all levels of instruction, from absolute beginners to more experienced potters.

We offer 14 different Laguna Clay bodies and over 40 food safe glazes, and our electric kilns fires up to cone 5.

 
 
  • Throwing

    • 9 x Brent CXC 1hp Potter's Wheels

    • Quality tools. Available to all students for both making and trimming work.

    • Specialty tools like suede chamois, mediterranean sea sponges, burnishing gemstones and 3 different size trimming chucks.

    • 5 x Model 10 Giffin Grip with trimming tool kits and trimming guards

    • 14", 12", and 7" bats

    Handbuilding

    • Shimpo 30" Slab roller

    • Smooth Slab Mats for the slab roller

    • 3 x Maple block “Wood Weld” hand-building tables

    • Cut, sculpt, carve, stamp, roll, slip, shape, brush and cookie cut with any of our hundreds of available tools.

    • 2 x Scott Creek Super Duper Clay Gun (Extruder)

    • 12", 9” & 7" Shimpo banding wheels

    What sets us apart

    • Studio Shelf with concierge service - having your pottery returned to your shelf after bisque and glaze firing & covering/ uncovering wet pieces in preparation to trim/ finish.

    • 2 instructors for our ongoing class packages. They are there to teach and not make their own work, which is common practice in many other studios.

    • Clean towels & aprons at every class

    • 3 Foot pedal sinks with beautiful redwood decking

    • Personal protective equipment - Single use face mask, safety glasses, nitrile gloves (small, medium & large)

    • Dremel, sandpaper, aloxite grindstones (for smoothing fired clay)

    • Clean & thin plastic-sheeting (for covering pieces), clay bags for keeping clay fresh.

    • Restroom

    • Tea Station

    • Fridge, Microwave, & toaster oven

    • Mini Library

    Clay & Glazes

    • 14 different clay bodies for you to enjoy

    • Over 40 food-safe dipping glazes

    • Wonderglazes

    • Amaco mid-fire glazes

    • Amaco underglazes and underglaze pencils

    • Oxides

    • Colored wax resist

  • Breath easy and share nicely! Our studio is for everyone and everyone cleans. We teach each student how to clean thoroughly and why it is so important not only for our health, but for the enjoyment of this shared space.

 
 

Donna & Richard

The owners, Donna and Richard met in 2004 in ceramics class at Pasadena City College. Since then, they have both continued working with clay. Passionate about teaching, their goal is to cultivate a space where the community can come together to learn and create.

Come enjoy our studio and get your hands in clay!

 
 

A dog-friendly space

Hands in Clay L.A. is a dog-friendly space. If you have a well behaved pup, you are welcome to bring them along!