Play with Clay

Great teacher and introduction to playing with clay!
Let it spin +‘s:
+ Began with a tour and then a demo by the teacher. This was all helpful before we started especially those who had zip experience.
+ Playing with clay was not my forte but after the first piece, that limited experience made the second piece satisfying.
+ Teacher was very helpful in correcting and explaining the process for a successful piece.
+ Used a Groupon. Glad I had a chance to get my hands on something and create a piece.
Stop the spin -‘s:
— We got to make two pieces. We could have made three. Unfortunately class size and a student’s lack of talent may contribute to time available for all of class.
— Hope there is a new policy for future classes to have students leave their damn phone in their bag. It’s disrespectful because you need to hear what the teacher is saying. Lack of listening skills from some students ate into some of our time because they failed to listen to instructions.
Some huge peeves that are not related to Play With Clay:
For those who complain about the $ 10 firing/​glazing fee – kick back! The fee is nominal but yes perhaps the disclosure could be more clear if it’s causing so many issues.
Tie back your hair for safety reasons. One student actually did not respond timely which is irritating. You don’t look that good with your hair down.
Don’t be late. You hold everyone up and this eats into everyone’s time to make pieces.
Put your phone away. Geez. Update your freaking Facebook status, Instagram or Twitter account after class. We and your followers just aren’t that interested.

Used our LivingSocial deal for 2 adults.
Class size for the Sunday, 1p session: 6 people with 1 teacher. Another teacher helped when they can. We had 2 kids that were around 7, so they can work with kids and adults.
Staff: super nice! Very good instructions and practice.
Reminder: bring up your LivingSocial or Groupon on your phone. For our LivingSocial deal at the time of our class, they charged a $ 10 per person «show up» fee, this then gets applied to the piece you’ll be purchasing. Really nice of them.
Class flow: the order to the class is you watch the instructor do the throwing and techniques, then we all do it together as a class, then we’re to do our own pieces. You spend a few mins cleaning up, then last 30 minutes to decorate.
Most of our classmates completed 2 pieces. You come back again to glaze, and last time you go back is to pick up your piece.
Looking forward to glazing!

New Review:
Came back to their new location! Spacious, clean and in a safe neighborhood. We got Lauren as our instructor again. She was patient and helpful and dealt with our lack of livelihood since we were so tired. A note on the move, deposit, and cost: their new location is legit like 12 minutes away from the old one in Emeryville. People should check the website first to avoid miscommunications. The deposit is so people don’t cancel on them and leave them with open wheels that could’ve been filled. It goes towards firing a piece or returned to you. And the cost in genera is around ~30−40 if you bring a few friends and decide to keep two pieces. Well worth it for the experience and the art you take home. Prepare to get dirty and learn something!
Old Review from previous location, still true:
Came here on a Thursday night with my girlfriend and two other friends. It was quite an experience! Lauren, our instructor, greeted us and told us to sign in and that we would start in a bit, so we grabbed a drink at the dive bar next door. When we came back is where the rough start happened. The class was overbooked due to a scheduling issue. It may have been user error on my part, but luckily two gals wanted to hand build so it all worked out and Lauren was able to accommodate us all on the wheels. The LS deal covers instruction and materials in class. Each piece to bisque, glaze, and fire is $ 10 which is pretty affordable. The downside is you do have to go back three times and appointments are difficult to get with their online scheduler. Make sure to email and confirm! They don’t answer their phone because clay and phones don’t mix well. Be prepared to use the whole 3 hours, with throwing, clean up, and decoration (required). One crazy thing I do have to mention is the instructors ability to teach you to center in less than an hour, when most schools take over a year to teach it perfectly! We’ll be back in May to glaze!

Great class! I took my 11 year old daughter with me for our 1^st pottery class ever and she is always asking when can we go back! It was a great deal and a lot of fun! Pottery is a lot harder than it looks though I will say that! Our instructor, Lauren (I think), was really fun and helpful! We will definitely go back!

My sisters and I bought a groupon for 3 classes, and we’ve had a blast. We did our second class today. We easily found street parking, and the space is great. Our teacher, Wyatt, is awesome! He was so helpful, patient, and informative; a great teacher overall (and throwing pottery is not easy, at least for me). I would definitely recommend. The drop in sessions are super reasonable also, looking forward to taking advantage of that once I finish the classes.

I had a fabulous time with one of the best instructors I’ve ever had at an art class — and I taught art for 20+ years to college students. Lauren was amazing. In addition to making class fun and informative, she provided individual attention to each person throughout each phase of creating our pots. She was patient, had a sense of humor, was very encouraging. The place is organize, very delightfully decorated with colorful rooms and decals, and amazing Beatles paintings. I live far away and will go back. I was extremely impressed with Lauren and the entire business. Brava to Play with Clay!

I was gifted a Groupon for Play with Clay. I scheduled my class online and was surprised I had to make a deposit to reserve the space, but okay. The class was small. The instructor was very good.
Where the experience started to fall apart for me was that we had to leave our thrown pots on bats. They didn’t allow us to remove them ourselves. Nor did they allow us time to come back and trim the pot bottoms at a later date before they were fired. This resulted in having pots with ugly, and heavy bottoms.
The return trip for the glazing was not as well taught as the throwing class. In fact, the «teacher» seemed more interested in talking to another employee and working on her own stuff in another room.
Like some other reviewers, I was also surprised at the $ 10 a piece firing fee on top of what was already paid for the class.
All in all, the experience was okay. I’d had throwing experience prior, so this was far too entry level for my tastes. They have it constructed so that you have a high probability of making something that you can take home. They even pre-​wedge the clay for you.
I wouldn’t go back, but it’s a great place to get your feet wet in the medium without a huge time/​money investment. I think this place would be great for a children’s party.

My first pottery class! My friend and I took the Monday night class and are so excited, the class was amazing and we’re super happy with how our pieces turned out! Will definitely be coming back for more classes and studio time! So happy we found a new hobby, just in time for the winter! Thanks!

I had a wonderful first experience at Play with Clay! I came for a Thursday 6pm class that I had purchased through Groupon, only to find out that I was the only student there, which meant a bonus one-​on-​one tutor session for me. I knew ahead of time from reading the website and Play with Clay’s Unilocal page that firing each piece would cost $ 10, but I understand that’s how this small studio stays in business, so I didn’t mind. The instructor, Lauren, first gave me a tour around the studio and explained the process, then we got to throwing.
The entire tutorial was extremely clear and just the right amount of complicated to make it fun. First, we went over all the steps with Lauren showing me what to do. Then I started out making my first piece with careful guidance from her. I wound up making four pieces with less and less guidance each time but still under her careful eye when I began to make a mistake or needed direction. I had a total blast and loved that I was able to really make the pieces I wanted to make with ideas from Lauren — a mug, then two matching bowls, then one much larger salad bowl out of two chunks of clay. Finally, I spent the last twenty minutes decorating my pieces with various designs.
I can’t wait until my pieces are done drying in four weeks to go back and begin glazing. I’ll be returning for more throwing soon!

Terrible customer service. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this establishment.
I bought a groupon to try this out, and I was very excited about it — I hadn’t «played with clay» since a class in my freshman year of college (1994). When I signed up the location was two blocks from where I lived. Because I didn’t have a car, this was an important factor in my decision to try this business.
I looked up the address the day of the class and noticed that the location had moved to an entirely different city! Yikes! There was no way I could attend — I both called and emailed to ask if there was any way to reschedule. I pointed out that the online address STILL was incorrect on Groupon (they hadn’t updated their records with Groupon). The answer was NO.
I lost not only the value of the groupon but also a 20 $ deposit required to hold a spot in the class. This last charge makes no sense. My Groupon was a full payment for the class so it shouldn’t make a difference if I was paying for a seat in the class or to leave my seat empty.

My first pottery class. I enjoyed it. Was what I expected. The 3-​hour class allows for instruction and time to throw three pieces and decorate them. Teacher was very good — had obviously walked groups through the process. It sounds easy. The clear six phases on the wall seem easy. The instructor makes it look easy, but getting your hands dirty the first time is a challenge. It is amazing to watch someone else do it — feels magical. When I did it, was too focused on process to appreciate how cool it is to see the clay form in front of you.
I did a night class, so parking was easy and right in front of the studio. Also very walkable from BART; easy from the red or orange line.
The pricing takes a read or two on the website to understand. If you can ready patiently, it will be clear. Was clear to me, but some of our classmates were confused/​frustrated because they didn’t read ahead of time.

I scheduled the class online and Paid my deposit online. They told me Thats the money for the pottery I made. I pay the deposit and the class then I get to take my piece home. I find out later in the class that I need to pay 10 dollars for every piece I make. At first I thought it was included in the class but it’s not. Then I thought the $ 10 deposit would cover the material money but it only covers for one piece! You have to pay extra money for anything you make on the top of the deposit money you pay when scheduling. This place rip people off. Not recommended! !

I went to this place three weeks ago. This is a expensive place after you start the lesson. You start to pay money for everything you make and everything you want to take home. I will never go their since it is costy and I almost felt like I got tricked into spending money there

My sissy and I had great time. It’s been 20 plus years since I’ve worked with clay. It was fun and not too difficult to learn or I should say relearn. Zena was our instructor and she made it easy to follow her. She helped make corrections and was always positive. It was a fun experience. Can’t wait to go back and glaze our pieces.

This place is a SCAM. After I bought the class on groupon, they asked me to pay the extra $ 10 dollars per person when scheduling and they provide wrong address on groupon!!! I went to the wrong address, not only wasted my gas money, the staff also told me I have to go back reschedule and pay the $ 10 again in order to go to the class! Horrible customer service. They rip people off.

The BF and I have weekly date nights (collective awwww) and we have been trying to get out of the typical dinner date ideas. So this week, when it was my turn to plan a date, I decided to get our creative juices flowing (that’s what he said. Haha jk). The $ 30 living social deal helped too. It covered a 3 hour class and included clay and supplies. There’s a $ 10 firing and glazing fee for each piece that you decide to keep. Reservations are subject to a $ 10 per person deposit so make sure you show up!
The class itself was very well run. The instructor explained every step clearly while demonstrating the different techniques. He also provided tons of hands on help when requested but gave us enough space to explore creatively. After throwing the pieces on the wheels, we spent 30 mins decorating.
Can’t wait to come back to glaze my piece :)

This place is great! I took my girlfriend here for her birthday and took advantage of their duo class deal which involved about 3 hours of instruction/​throwing. The instructor (I forgot his name, Wyatt maybe?) was GREAT. He knew how to pace the class to make sure people 1. learned 2. had enough free time to make as many pieces as they felt comfortable with. He was also extremely patient and would very kindly assist people who had questions that had already been asked several times over. Overall it was a great experience and I would definitely recommend it to other people.

Went here today with my bestie! This was my first time making pottery ever. Wyatt was our teacher, and he is awesome. He led us through each step, was very thorough in his explanations, and helped each of us individually to make our own masterpieces. I didn’t expect pottery making to be so technical and tricky! But, with Wyatt’s guidance, I felt confident enough to make two pieces. I definitely recommend the class!

New studio is up graded a lot. Bigger space, nice facility and easy to park. Good service too!

My first pottery class ever! It was a blast!
Lauren helped me on all my three visits. The class was very hands-​on, and because we had a small class of just three of us, I got a lot of one-​on-​one time. The glazing was super fun (it took me forever to pick my colors, and you still don’t know how they are going to turn out once fired!). I was so excited to pick up my pieces I could hardly wait for two weeks after the glazing, but they turned out beautiful! I love them!
I thought the prices were very reasonable. I had a Groupon for $ 15 to take a class, then I paid $ 10 each for the pieces I wanted to keep. Not bad at all for coming home with hand-​made pieces you will treasure forever. The class packages they offer are actually even better priced than the Groupons, and I definitely want to go back and take more classes to get comfortable. Great place for beginners!
The new location is on a really cute street with plenty of parking. I like this space better than the Emeryville location (they were just starting the move when I took my class at Emeryville). The new location feels cozier and brighter. Lauren puts the newest firings in the front window, so if you are curious, go take a look.
I know the other Unilocalers complained about Groupon mishaps and scheduling mishaps, but if you book your appointment before the expiration date (as you should, anyway), you should not have a problem. Make sure you have a copy of any changes to the schedule you made, any email correspondences you had, and there should be no mishap. Make sure to hold onto the pictures you take of your pieces because they will need to verify that the pieces are indeed yours, and that you are not taking someone else’s.
And do try to show up to your appointment on time! Grouponers tend to just cancel or show up late, but it really sucks for those of us who showed up on time and have to wait for the latecomers or sit around while watching the teacher reexplain everything to the latecomers.
If you follow all guidelines, this will be a great experience!