Ceramic Tile Making & Glazing Experience at the Haddenham Arts Centre - February 2026
- siloutaggart
- Feb 22
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 26
Today's ceramic tile making & glazing workshop I taught at the Haddenham Arts Centre was attended by a fabulously creative and friendly bunch of students. They all immersed themselves into the world of clay; designing beautiful unique coasters & tiles - learning how to apply "sprigs" (low-relief clay shapes that are made separately from the main work and then attached using slipping and scoring) and ultimately creating something unique and lovely.
I provided everyone with plenty of reference materials, sample tiles, mark-making equipment, sprig moulds and stamps. Simon and I are really impressed with everyone's work! It was a joy to watch the themes and designs develop throughout the morning. Designs ranged from funky cacti and botanicals through to seascapes.
After lunch, everyone learnt how to apply underglazes to their work.
They discovered how to build up layers of colour on the clay in its "green" state, and use techniques such as "sgraffito" (a decorative techniques that is used in pottery where a design is created by scratching through a layer of glaze to reveal the underlying contrasting layer or the clay itself - it comes from the Italian word "graffiare," meaning "to scratch"). The group used the heat gun in between coats to help dry areas that were too wet to work on.
The lovely pieces are now drying slowly in my studio (yep, they all made it back unscathed despite the bumpy Fen roads!). Once they are fully dry they will be bisque fired. I'll then provide a coat of transparent glaze to each tile to allow a fabulous glossy sheen to develop when they are fired again in the kiln - this time at 1250°C.
I'll put up some photos of the finished pieces once they've emerged from the kiln but do enjoy the shots here that were taken during the workshop, along with a couple of videos showing everyone at various stages.
A really enjoyable day!
If you missed out on this tile making & glazing experience, our next one is being held at the Haddenham Arts Centre on 1 August. Here's the link:
We're holding LOTS of workshops and experiences at our Blended Monkey Studios in Upwell, and a number of workshops at the Haddenham Arts Centre and the Farmland Museum & Denny Abbey.
Check out our website for all the wonderful experiences from fused glass through to stone carving!
All our experiences make lovely crafty GIFTS & you can also purchase open certificates so the lucky recipient can choose their own experience.
Here's the link for our gift certificates:
We can also provide private ceramics experiences for parties or friend groups. We can come to you, host in the Blended Monkey studios, or at a venue of your choice!
REVIEWS
“What a lovely gentle day of designing and painting tiles. Nicely planned and inspiring. Loved having music playing in the background - made it a very mindful kind of day.”
- Louise -
Comments