WHEEL THROWING AT HICKORY CLAY
San Francisco's most fully equipped wheel studio.
Hickory Clay's wheel room is built for serious throwing. 22 Shimpo VL Whisper wheels sit beneath double-height clerestory windows, with natural light from sunrise to sunset and ample floor space between every wheel. Whether you're throwing your first cylinder or a 24" platter, you'll find the equipment — and the room — to do it well.
NOT A "PACK IN, PACK OUT" STUDIO
At most pottery studios, throwing is a logistics problem before it's a craft. You're expected to bring your own buckets, your own tools, your own wareboards. You haul your work in and out every session. You clean up from a small sink with a single tap. You leave dust in your wake because there's nowhere to wash properly.
Hickory Clay isn't built that way. We provide what you need. The studio overflows with tools and wareboards. The damp room means your work stays here between sessions — fresh enough to keep throwing, slow enough to trim cleanly. Our cleanup area is large enough to wash splash pans in deep basins without leaving a trail. The studio stays dust-free because cleaning up is easy, not punishing.
The result: you arrive ready to throw, not ready to set up. You leave ready to come back, not ready to recover.
WHY THROWERS WORK HERE
22 Shimpo VL Whisper wheels. Considered the quietest, smoothest professional-grade wheel made, the Shimpo VL Whisper is what most working studios choose. We chose them because we wanted our members to work on equipment they could trust — wheel after wheel, year after year — without ever fighting the machine.
An architect-designed wheel room. The tables between our wheels conceal all electrical. There are no loose extension cords, no fire hazards, no clutter underfoot. The entire wiring system runs below the floor, so the room reads as calm and considered the moment you walk in.
An 8-foot plaster-poured wedging table. Sized so multiple potters can prep clay at the same time without waiting. Pour your slip, wedge your clay, get to your wheel.
50+ bats in plywood, drywall, and foam. Our bats are 10" to 16" in diameter, all of them thick enough that they don't warp. Plywood for throwing, drywall for absorbing moisture from larger forms, and foam bats designed specifically for trimming plates without distortion. Wareboards are designed to hold three small pieces or mugs.
A wall-mounted extruder with 40+ die shapes. Our extruder is permanently mounted and ready to use, with dozens of die forms — including a full set perfect for extruding handles. No more rolling and trimming coils for every mug. We have shapes ranging from squares and circles to diamonds and hollow tubes.
A Giffin grip. For trimming pieces quickly and consistently, available to any member who wants to use it.
A student tool area with hundreds of tools. Loop trimming tools, custom non-slip wires, hole punches, pot lifters, paint brushes, ribs, sponges, calipers — anything you might reach for while throwing. Use ours or bring your own.
No firing fees on standard work. Pieces under 10" fire free, including both bisque and glaze. Pieces 10" or larger incur a single $10 fee that covers the full firing.
THE DAMP ROOM
A wheel room is only as good as what supports it. Our 200 square foot environmentally controlled damp room is one of the reasons throwing at Hickory Clay feels different.
Greenware dries at a predictable rate, slow enough to keep working on a piece across multiple sessions and fast enough to keep your workflow moving. Throw on Tuesday, trim on Thursday, attach handles on Sunday — your work won’t dry out.
For throwers, this means:
You can keep working on the same piece. No more racing to finish before clay over-dries between sessions.
You can throw larger forms with confidence. An 18" platter, a tall vase, a coffee set — pieces that need slow, even drying to avoid cracking are possible here.
You can throw and trim after you’ve finished your set. There’s no need to clear your personal shelf in order to make more work. Finish all your pieces and decide which are the best.
You don't have to take your work home. Greenware stays in the studio between sessions, freeing you from the logistics of transporting fragile pieces.
The damp room is unique among SF pottery studios. Throwers who've worked elsewhere usually realize what they were missing within their first month here.
THE CLEANUP AREA
Cleaning up is half of throwing. Our dedicated cleanup area is built for it.
A three-compartment sink with deep basins runs the length of the room — large enough to wash splash pans, rinse 16" bats, and soak tools without queueing. Each basin has its own purpose: rinsing, washing, and final clean. No more cleaning out of a bucket. No more carrying water across the room.
A clay trap captures slurry so we can reclaim it. In eight years, the cleanup sink has never clogged. We process leftover clay back into usable bodies, then make it available to members at half price — $12 per 25-lb bag of reclaim. Good clay isn't wasted, members save money, and the studio runs more sustainably.
The studio stays dust-free because cleanup is easy. Silica dust from dry clay is the single biggest health risk in any pottery studio, and ours is engineered so cleaning up actually happens. No corners cut. No piles of dry trim under your wheel at the end of the night.
Towels and aprons: We provide towels, rags, and aprons to everyone. We even have laundry machines and wash our towels and aprons daily.
LEARN TO THROW AT HICKORY CLAY
8-week Introduction to Wheel Throwing & Glazing. Our standard beginner wheel class. Centering, throwing, trimming, glazing. Beginner-friendly, all skill levels welcome.
Next Step Wheel: Pulling Vertical. A continuation class for students who've taken a beginner wheel class and want to build new techniques — collaring, closing forms, throwing larger pieces.
One-Night Wheel Classes. Try the wheel on a Friday night. 2.5 hours, no experience needed, great for date nights and first-time potters.
STUDIO MEMBERSHIP
Already a thrower? $185/month for full studio access — no firing fees on standard pieces, all glazes and slips included, and no current waitlist.
Tour the studio
The best way to see whether Hickory Clay's wheel room is right for you is to come in. We host tours for prospective members on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month at 1pm, or email kaitlyn@hickoryclay.com to coordinate another time.
SPECIALIZED TOOLS
Beyond the molds and surfaces, our handbuilding setup includes:
Ten 8" rubber texture rollers
A full set of rubber stamps for surface decoration
High-quality decoration brushes for slip application
Sgraffito and trimming tools for surface carving
Banding wheels for symmetrical work
Rubberized canvas mats for clean slabs without the thick texture imprints.
If you have your own preferred tools, bring them. If you don't, we have everything you need.
LEARN ABOUT OUR HANDBUILDING PROGRAMS
Not ready for the wheel? Learn about our dedicated handbuilding spaces and tools here.
8-week Introduction to Handbuilding: Every session we offer an 8-week handbuilding class that rotates topics. This year we’ve offered Tableware, Colored Clay, and Marble/Color/Carve. Beginner-friendly, all skill levels welcome.
Friday-night one-time handbuilding classes. Mug Making Night, Planters & Plant Pots, Colored Clay: Plates & Trays, Design a Bud Vase, and Origami & Templates. Each class is 2.5 hours, beginner-friendly, ages 13+.
Studio membership. Already a handbuilder? $185/month for full access to the studio, all tools, all glazes, and the damp room. No current waitlist.
TOUR THE STUDIO
The best way to see whether Hickory Clay's handbuilding setup is right for you is to come in. We host tours for prospective members on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month at 1pm, or email kaitlyn@hickoryclay.com to coordinate another time.
