Basketmaker Clyde Hoare will be running regular introductory courses in basket weaving throughtout the year. These are day-long courses that introduce a basic understanding of basket making from its history to its place in the modern world. You will get to craft your own basket using green and dried willow, red and yellow dog wood and other seasonal materials. Clyde will guide you through the different stages of the basket and you will have a lovely handmade basket at the end of the day

The course costs £50 per person. This includes all materials, tea, coffee and homemade cake. To find out about a full range of courses, forthcoming dates and to make a booking, please contact Clyde on 07866138436 or Clyde@wildwicker.com

www.wildwicker.com

We are delighted to welcome basketmaker Clyde Jefferson to the Wobage studios. Working in the upstairs of the Farm granary, Clyde works alone creating a range of traditional baskets, handmade from a wide variety of natural hedgerow materials.  All materials are sourced from renewable and sustainably managed hedgerows.  They include willows of many types, dogwood, privet, holly, spindle tree and many others.

Clyde is inspired by the colours of nature, and by the geometric patterns he creates as he weaves and crafts a myriad of shapes and sizes from big log baskets, laundry baskets and plant containers to fruit bowls, gift hampers, shopping baskets, sewing baskets and wastepaper bins.

By reviving this ancient craft, he has realised the relevant application of natural, renewable materials and its place in a modern lifestyle, from replacing plastic shopping baskets to providing a living fence to surround your garden.

Baskets can be made to your specifications – if you can think it, Clyde can make it!

Jeremy and Patia are taking sabbatical from summer teaching this year, 2015, so there will be no intensive courses forthcoming this season. Many of you have contacted us, and we are very sorry to disappoint. If you would like to keep in touch and hear about future courses when they are made live on the website, please subscribe to our online newsletter. In the meantime, we hope that everyone has a fantastic year, and keep on mudslinging!

Monday’s class is a wheel- throwing course, catering for all skill levels from complete beginners to well experienced makers. We have a power-wheel for each student,  a maximum of nine for each 10 week term. There is a Saviac treddle wheel for anyone preferring foot power rather than electric! Alongside developing skills in throwing and handling,  there will be opportunity to evolve personal ideas through a variety of different making projects. The pots are once-fired, so students carry out every process from making through to slip-decorating and raw-glazing. Monday’s class will be using earthenware clay and exploring many exciting methods of slip application with a variety of vibrant colours.   This class keeps the same hours as the other Wobage evening classes, beginning at 6.45pm – 9.15pm. There’s a well earned break with a cuppa and piece of cake at the end. Patia Davis will be the tutor for this class, and can be contacted directly via her tutor page for bookings. We have a high demand for our evening classes, and anticipate that places will book out fast. So don’t delay, book now! Your place is reserved upon receipt of your booking form and a deposit cheque or transfer.

We’ve had a last minute cancellation for our most popular course of the season, the 5-day Earthenware Throwing & Slip Decoration course with Patia and guest Jane Bowen, 9th – 13th July 2014.  It’s a great looking schedule,  a last chance for someone to book up!

Further course updates: There are still places available on our 4-day ‘Clay Brainstorming’ course with Jeremy and Sandy Lockwood 7th-10th August, ‘Jug-making’ is now fully booked, and finally there’s just one place left on ‘Improvers’ 11th – 15th June, with Jeremy and Hermann Peterson.

This week we heard from long-standing summer school student Jane and the sad loss of her canine companion, Dilly. The gentle and beautiful old Dilly, will perhaps be best remembered for her wonderfully distinctive and wispy ears! Over the years she has become something of a mascot for the Wobage summer season and she’ll be much missed by all. We’re thinkin’ of you Jane!xx

We’ve an exciting new course just published, a one-day exploration into the seductive joys of faceting wheel-thrown clay, with tutor Anastasia Simmons. A one-off, Saturday 3rd May, don’t miss it!

We are delighted to publish that Sandy Lockwood will be visiting Wobage for demonstration and tutorial during her visit to Europe this August ’14. The Improvers course is entitled ‘Clay Brainstorming’, please view the individual course page for further details.

‘To be successful you  must respect failure and understand the power that not knowing can give you. Very few ever truly aim high enough or realize their potential. The really successful never stop trying, never stop making mistakes and never feel they have got all the answers. The joy is in the journey.’

Richard Gerver

Lunchtime chat with Niek and Pim Hoogland, 'Earthenware Throwing' 2013

You can read reviews from students attending courses in previous years, on the page ‘Testimonials’ via the courses pages.

The Wobage flat is booked for the first three courses of the season, but still free for the last, Patia’s 4 day ‘Slip-decorating Earthenware’. You’ll find recommendations for alternative local places to stay on our ‘Accommodation’ page

We’re very excited by our line-up of guest demonstration for 2014. We welcome Hermann Peterson all the way from the North Friesian Island of Pellworm, North Germany, for an all new ‘Improvers’ course. A master of our contemporary studio pottery generation, Professor Walter Keeler returns for 2 days of demonstration and tutorial during the ‘Jug-Making’ course. Finally, Jane Bowen makes her first appearance on the Wobage teaching programme, alongside Patia on the ‘Earthenware Throwing and Slip-Decoration’ course. The courses are already booking out fast with only one or two places left on some. So be quick and catch our ‘Early-Bird’  booking offer before the end of January.