Guidelines

Clay is available for purchase through ASLD at the registration office. Students must show a receipt to an instructor or studio staff to receive clay.

To avoid melt-downs in the kilns, no low fire clay or Cone 6 white clays may be used or fired in the League’s ceramics studios.

Studio staff must approve the use of any clay not purchased at the League.

Studio glazes are available for student use in house. Studio tools, equipment, molds, etc. are also available for use and must be returned in good condition for use by other students.

No materials, ASLD equipment, glazes, underglazes or stains may be borrowed or taken out of the studio for personal use.

Any glazes purchased by a student that they wish to use in the studio must first be tested and approved by the studio staff.

As storage facilities and kiln capacity are limited, firing of large scale work must be discussed with and approved by the studio manager. Large work will likely take longer to move through the firing processes, and may incur additional firing fees based on the size of the work, firing cycle and temperature.

• Please follow safety instructions provided by instructors and studio managers when around hot kilns, while handling glaze materials and using studio equipment.
• Studio staff is available to answer questions about materials and equipment used in the ceramics studio and any potential hazards.
• Children are not allowed in the kiln room and must be accompanied by an adult in the outdoor kiln building.

Friends and family are welcome to visit/tour the ceramics studio but may not attend classes, open studio or use the facility without being enrolled in a ceramics class. This includes assisting enrolled students with glazing, wheel-throwing, hand-building or firing work.

Using the ASLD Ceramics Studio for Business Purposes

ASLD is a learning facility and educational environment, which means that its ceramics studio may not be utilized as a replacement for commercial rented studio space.

ASLD does not currently have the resources to support individual business endeavors, for artists selling work either online or in retail shops/galleries. Thus, the studios, kilns, equipment and glazes are reserved for student work and may not to be used for the production of large quantities of work.

Students using the ceramics studios for these purposes will be restricted from this practice on a case by case basis, including limiting firing work and restricting clay purchases.

Students preparing for the ASLD Summer Art Market may make work to be sold at that venue with the understanding that the regular studio policies regarding production work are observed. Work fired for this purpose will be given the same firing priority as all other student work.

No work made outside of ASLD will be fired. Please do not bring in work made elsewhere or at home. Our facilities have limited capacity to accommodate class work and students using open studios during their registered course schedule, only.

• Do NOT add or remove water from stains, glaze buckets or pint jars. Studio staff or faculty are responsible for thinning or thickening of glazes/underglazes. Please see a staff member if adjustments in glaze consistency need to be made.
• Please be aware of the firing temperature of the glazes you are using, taking care that glazes aren’t applied too thickly and that the bottoms are wiped clean to keep them from sticking to kiln shelves. If you need help with glazing or have questions, please ask your instructor or the studio staff for assistance.
• When ready for firing, place your work on the appropriate shelf in the kiln room, setting it as far back on the shelves as possible to make room for other students’ work and minimize handling, and put tall pieces only on the top shelves.
• In the Kiln Room: Work must be bone dry before it is placed on the “to be bisqued” shelf in the kiln room. Place pieces that are leather hard, or cold to the touch, on the “Not Bone Dry” shelves in the wheel room to dry. Studio staff will move dry pieces to the kiln room for firing.

Students are encouraged to learn about and understand the kiln loading and firing procedures and processes. Instructors and studio staff are available to explain these processes on request.

• Work-in-progress must be stored on the designated shelves for your class. WORK IS DELICATE! Please respect other student’s work, taking care to avoid moving or bumping pieces on the shelves.
• Extra clay can be stored ONLY on the bottom shelves with your name and date noted on the bag for the duration of your registered course. Clay left more than two weeks after the last date registered may be discarded or given to other students.
• Work should be removed from the studios when complete. Please move bisqued work to class shelves and glaze within a reasonable period to save space on shelves.
• Bisque or glaze-fired work left on the common studio shelves for extended periods will be moved to shelves marked with a 30-day removal notice. Work remaining on this shelf after 30 days will be discarded.
• Work-in-progress left on class shelves more than two weeks after the last date registered may be discarded at the instructor’s discretion.

• Please clean up after yourself in the glaze room and studios after your class or open studio session by —
  • wiping work areas
  • cleaning potter’s wheels and equipment
  • washing brushes
  • cleaning the lids
  • fully closing all containers
  • washing all tools and containers
  • returning everything to their proper storage areas

Studio staff is not responsible for cleaning up after students.

• All studio tools, molds and all common equipment must be returned to their storage areas all students can share.
• Please be gentle with the plumbing by throwing clay scraps and slip in the buckets provided before rinsing tools or containers in the sinks.
  • No stains, glazes, clay or oxides should go into the studio sink drains.
  • Wipe or rinse pieces with stains or oxides in the glaze room sink only.
• Take any heavy pieces or clay to be discarded outside to the alley dumpster.