April 2026 Newsletter
Club Notes and Updates
Julie Harrington, Hautere Kiln Master, in her happy place.
Members workshops for April & May
We are excited to share that Julie Harrington, who is a Hautere Kiln Master (among many other things!), will be leading a hands-on workshop series preparing for and firing the salt & soda kiln for WPA members.
This will be a 5-part series and participants are expected to attend every session. Please take careful note of all the dates to be sure you can be there:
30 April: Information session (at WPA)
28 May: Glazing & wadding session (at WPA)
30 May: Loading the kiln (at Te Horo*)
31 May: Firing the kiln (at Te Horo*)
7 June: Opening the kiln (at Te Horo*)
(*NOTE: transport to/from Te Horo not provided, carpooling will be necessary)
Our acknowledgements to Frederick Church who ran this series for Ōtaki Potters and has generously shared his materials with us so that WPA may also experience some salt & soda magic!
Salt and Soda already full?
If Salt and Soda is already full, or you’re curious about the process but don’t have time to create enough work to take part, consider joining the WPA field trip to Te Horo.
Join WPA President Martin Henty at 10:30 AM on Sunday 19 April for an informal tour and discussion at the Mirek Smíšek Beehive Kilns. The group will then head to Lavender Creek Farm to see the Hautere kiln in action, with Julie Harrington firing that day. Depending on your carpool group, there may also be an optional side trip to Ōtaki for lunch and to visit Shigemitsu Ohashi’s exhibition.
This is a free event, but please sign up so numbers can be confirmed and carpooling organised. The drive takes around an hour, so plan to meet at the studio at 9:15 AM for a 9:30 AM departure. Petrol costs can be shared within each carpool group.
Other new workshops for May:
Glaze Mixing 101 Evening Workshop w/ James D | Thursday 14 May
Hand-built Gremlins 1-day Workingshop w/ Peter R | Saturday 23 May
And there are limited spaces available in ‘The Perfect Cup’ Weekend Workshop w Vivian R (25 & 26 April).
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It’s almost cubby renewal time!
The current cubby rental period will end on 31 May*. Here’s everything you need to know:
(*for most of you, any cubbies rented from November 2025 onwards will roll over to 31 August)
Cubbies are a coveted asset at WPA.
Reminder: the cubby hire period is changing
As notified in the October 2025 newsletter, we are shifting the cubby hire period (currently 1 June to 31 May), to align with the membership year (1 September to 31 August). This means all cubby renewals will be invoiced for an extra 3 months to align with the new cycle:
For an XS cubby, this will be a one-off additional $7.50
For a medium cubby, this will be a one-off additional $15
For a large cubby, this will be a one-off additional $20
For a glaze room cubby, this will be a one-off additional $25
Do you have a cubby and want to keep it?
Easy! Invoices for next year’s rental will be issued through Hello Club from 4 - 10 May. Be sure to look out for your invoice, and pay it before 31 May for a smooth rollover.
If your invoice is unpaid and we haven’t heard from you by Saturday 6 June, your cubby will be emptied and made available to someone on the waitlist.
Don’t want to renew your cubby?
No probs! PLEASE email wellingtonpotters.cubbies@gmail.com advising you don’t wish to renew (this will save the cubby coordinator from having to issue and cancel your invoice). Be sure to empty and clean your cubby before 31 May so it’s ready for the next person.
On the waitlist?
Keep an eye on your inbox and spam folders from late-May. You will receive an email when you reach the top of the list something becomes available.
To check whether you’re on the waitlist, or to join follow this link. The cubby coordinator will be in touch when you reach the top of the waitlist.
Please note: many people on the waitlist require low-height cubbies for accessibility. Please leave these for those who need them. If you simply prefer not to climb a ladder, consider a high cubby instead—this may also increase your chances of being allocated one sooner.
Mezzanine hire
If you are interested in a space on the mezzanine, please email wellingtonpotters.cubbies@gmail.com. Desks are $60 per month, rented for a 12 month period ($720 per year).
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Thank you very much for your kind donations!
Photo courtesy of the Friends of the Wellington Botanic Garden.
Thank you to all our members who contributed to the Begonia House restoration. Together, you donated $410, which the WPA has matched, bringing the total to $820. At the most recent meeting, the Committee agreed to increase this amount to $1,000 in support of the Friends of the Wellington Botanic Gardens enhancement programme.
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Save the date: Botanic Gardens Pop-up Pottery Market
The entrance to the of the Botanic Garden heading to the Sound Shell.
We’re pleased to confirm we will be running a pop-up pottery market on 14-15 November 2026. Because of the Begonia House construction, this year the market will be along the pathways adjacent to the Sound Shell Lawn.
Further info will be available when registrations open in September.
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Makers and Shakers EOI
The 2025 selection of “Makers and Shakers” vessels, all created by WPA members.
Makers and Shakers is back for WOAP 2026 and they are looking for three potters to collaborate with bartenders and create bespoke vessels for this year’s cocktail experience.
If you’re keen to take part—designing a custom vessel, sharing your creative process with guests, and seeing your work enjoyed in real time—please send the following to jdw.dickman@gmail.com:
• 5 photos showing the style of work you make
• Links to any socials or websites
• (Optional) Early ideas for the vessel you’d like to create
Makers must be able to produce 45 matching vessels by the end of July. Each vessel is included in the event ticket price, and you’ll also have the chance to sell and showcase additional work on the night.
Please send your expression of interest by 5th of April.
Interested in being a featured maker for the event? Click for more details here.
Welcome New Members!
Alexandra F | Arina G | Disha M | Ellie T | Emily H | Erin P | Frances B | Kate W | Lange G |
Alexandra F | Arina G | Disha M | Ellie T | Emily H | Erin P | Frances B | Kate W | Lange G |
DID YOU KNOW…?
Personal clay recycling bat use
We’ve noticed a lot of very wet clay soaking into the recycling bats in front of Stack B lately, so here’s a quick refresher on how to use them properly:
If your clay can pour onto the bat, it’s too wet. It should be sloppy and you need to scoop it with your hands for it to be good to go. If it’s pourable, be patient and let it sit for a while longer — then be sure to pour any excess water off your clay before scooping it onto the bat. Overly wet clay sogs the bats and not only lengthens your firming time on the bat, but also makes them ineffective for several days after your use!
(Optional) Place a personal piece of cloth on the bat before adding clay.
(NOT OPTIONAL!) Use a Drying Shelf/Damp Cabinet slip to label it with your name, date, and time. Clay that seems abandoned (has become too dry with no name/slip) may be recycled without warning.
Check your clay daily until it’s firm enough to be wedged on the bats under the windows, or until the maximum use period of 72 hours is reached. Clay left over 72 hours old may be recycled without warning.
After removing your clay, wipe the bat clean with a damp sponge. Do not pour water on the bat, as this will just make the situation of sopping wet bats even worse.
Following these steps keeps the bats useful and ensures everyone can recycle their clay effectively.
WPA Gallery: Our Solar Power
We’re live and feeding back into the grid!
This month we’re showing off our solar panels in action. The graphs below show our electricity use, how much power we’ve fed back into the grid, and how factors like sunlight and weather affected generation.
First up is the overview of the month of March. Green is what we generated, teal is what we bought from the grid, pink is what we sold back to the grid, and blue was our total power load for the day.
The next graphic is our “live feed” of power being generated by our solar panels vs. the power we’re using from the grid. As of this writing it’s a bright but overcast day. No kilns are running, but the extraction system is on in the kiln room as we prepare to start Watson. We want to figure out how to share this live feed with the membership, so stay tuned for updates.
The next three graphics show individual days in March with our power load (blue), how much power we took from/fed back to the grid (pink), and how much power we generated (green).
This first graph is our power generation on a sunny day with no kilns running. We made $3.63NZD this day!
To compare, below is a partially-sunny/overcast day with no kilns running. You can see when the sun came out from behind the clouds. We made $2.92NZD on this day!
And below is a sunny day with the kilns running in the morning and then ramping in the evening. We paid $54.15NZD for power on this day.
Calling all programmers!
As mentioned above, we’d love to link the live feed to our website. However, the app doesn’t have a direct way for us to share it, so we'd love some guidance on getting real-time updates online (if possible). If you think you can figure it out, email Admin: wellingtonpotters.info@gmail.com
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NEXT MONTH: Let’s show off some work for May! We all see so much of the works in progress, we don’t often see finished pieces. Is there something(s) you’ve made that you are particularly proud of? If so, please email your photos (and descriptions, if you’d like) to wellingtonpotters.info@gmail.com.
Suggestion Box
Thanks for your suggestions in the suggestion box! Believe it or not, the suggestion box is NOT a black void of notes from you all. Suggestions get read, discussed, and logged at the Committee Meetings. Below are the suggestions and outcomes from last month’s meeting (click the “+” to expand and see the reply).
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Thank you for letting us know! We’ll get onto it.
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Great idea. Peter has the supplies, you’ll see them soon.
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Julie has sourced a sponge/squeegee to help with getting clay scraps out from under the tables. You’ll find it hanging with the brush and shovel to the right of the entrance doors.
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Yes, to be repaired. However, if anyone happens to see an old clothes drying cabinet pop up somewhere (Facebook Marketplace? A second hand store?) pleeeeaaase let us know ASAP or grab it to donate to the studio.
PSAs from the Club Admin
A few brief announcements from Admin. Ngā mihi nui!
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Important: Cubby Care
Recently, items (including a bag of clay) have fallen from cubbies. Such incidents can cause injury and are therefore treated as a serious Health & Safety matter. Please ensure your items are stored and stacked carefully, and do not extend more than 5 cm beyond the front of the cubby.
NOTE: Fallen items that are unnamed will be recycled without warning.
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New doormats
Are you a frequent user of the rooms and interested in a regular ‘plus ONE’ role? We’re looking for a small team of mat handlers to keep the new mats (two of each size for regular rotation) and the main doorway area clean—twice a week, or more if needed.
We invest in commercial floor cleaning, so it makes sense to minimise dirt tracked into the studio. The team, likely a roster of up to six people, will be self-coordinating. If you can handle a hose, broom, and squeegee, you might be just who we need.
Want to help out? Contact Julie Harrington (Rooms Portfolio) at julietharrington@gmail.com so that she can create a roster and get you all connected.
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Need a bucket?
Free, used 10-L plastic buckets (stacked by the wheelie bin). First come, first served and all that.
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Bike racks full?
Make use of the post to the left of the concrete steps (outside glaze room) and the steel post on the right of the entrance to the mulch pit.
From the Membership
Through a Member’s Eyes: Exploring Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent
The Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent is probably now best known as home to the TV series The Great Pottery Throwdown. Photo by Moira Smith.
This article is of the Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent, in the English Midlands visited by WPA member, Moira Smith in 2025.
The Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent is probably now best known as home to the TV series The Great Pottery Throwdown. The working museum opened in 1974 on the site of two neighbouring factories – the Gladstone and the Roslyn. Their adaptation into a museum saved the buildings and magnificent bottle kilns from demolition after the kilns fell out of use in the mid-1960s, when the 1956 Clean Air Act forbade the use of coal-fired bottle kilns in urban areas.
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Stoke-on-Trent has been home to the pottery industry in England since the 17th century and the surrounding area is still known as The Potteries. The area was rich in coal and (earthenware) clay, and the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1777 made it easier to import china clay (kaolin) from Cornwall, and other ingredients for bone china such as bone ash and feldspar. The canal also made it easier to export the finished wares nationally and internationally. Companies such as Royal Doulton, Spode, Wedgewood, and Minton were established and based in the group of six towns that eventually became Stoke-on-Trent, the largest city in Staffordshire. It’s a city without a centre and navigating the many multi-laned Stoke-on-Trent roundabouts added a frisson of excitement, even when travelling by taxi.
A visit to the Gladstone Pottery Museum starts with an essential stop at the café to fill up on strong tea and bacon-butties, and through the giftshop to an exhibition of the latest masterpieces from The Great Pottery Throwdown. In September this year these were six birdbaths celebrating 100 years of Stoke-on-Trent’s city status, with each throwdown contestant designing a piece inspired by one of the six towns – Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton, and Longton.
The museum displays continued through a cobbled yard and included the manufacture of slip, and of slip-cast ceramic works, along with the production of saggars (ceramic boxes) that would have held the finished pieces for firing once they were dry. The route included a walk around (and into) the coal-fired bottle ovens (kilns) which consisted of a bottle-shaped brick exterior called a ‘hovel’ (chimney) with an oven (kiln) inside. The height of the hovel helped to create an updraft to distribute and pull the hot gases through the kiln.
A visit to the Gladstone Pottery Museum also includes a walk through the glaze-workshops and to the muffle (enamel) kiln where some pieces of domestic ware were fired for a third time with additional decoration, transfers and (presumably) lustres. On the ground floor near to the giftshop, potters-in-residence demonstrate their work, while at the rear of the site an exhibition of ceramic tiles, and that pinnacle of ceramic arts – an exhibition on the development of the flushing toilet completes the visit.
For more information on the Gladstone Pottery Museum go to their website here, and for a virtual visit click here.
Some other ceramics-related museums to visit in Stoke-on-Trent include The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Dudson Museum, Etruria Industrial Museum, The Wedgewood Big House, Middleport Pottery, Moorcroft Pottery, and the Spode Museum.
A partly loaded oven with various sizes of saggars. The space between the hovel and the oven was used as a covered walkway to access the fire-mouths that were located around the base of the kiln. Photo by Moira Smith.
Museum display inside the oven, showing the loading (or unloading) of the saggars. Photo by Moira Smith.
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NOTE: Recipes will be back in May! Do you have a good one to share? Email Admin: wellingtonpotters.info@gmail.com
April WPA Classes & Events
Bring Your Child/ren
Wednesday 15 April | 9:30AM - 12:30PM
Want to share your passion for clay with the child/ren in your life?
The club rooms will be open for 3 hours during the school holidays for you to bring your child/ren along to play with clay. No tutors are provided by WPA, so you are to be responsible for your child's behaviour and safety while in the rooms.
You must provide all materials and fully supervise their activities, cleaning up thoroughly at the end of the session. Finished art may be fired at WPA - for this event only.
Please SIGN UP for this one-off event. Max of 10 WPA members, all ages of children (under 16) are welcome. (Children 16 and over are welcome at our “Bring a Friend/Family” nights.)
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Friends and Family
Friday 17 April | 5 - 9PM
As of publication, there are still spots for this month’s Friends & Family event!
This is your chance to bring ONE friend or family member and dive into the world of ceramics and pottery! Hosted by Christine Winbush, you and your guest get to explore your creative sides while having fun together. You’ll need to bring your own clay, keep an eye on your person, and make sure everything is tidied up before you leave. Snacks and drinks are welcome, so feel free to bring along something to enjoy while you work on your masterpieces.
If you miss out once this newsletter is published, know that spots often open up at the last minute, and the “interested” list becomes our notification list when spaces become available — register yourself as “interested,” stay flexible, and you might get lucky!
If you’re already booked and your plans change, please cancel as soon as possible so another member can take your spot.
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WPA Field Trip to The Kilns at Te Horo
Sunday 19 April | Meet Martin at 10:30AM
Want to go check out the kilns at Te Horo?
Join WPA President Martin Henty at 10:30 AM on Sunday 19 April at the Mirek Smíšek beehive kilns at Te Horo for an informal tour and discussion of their history and use. The group will then travel to nearby Lavender Creek Farm to see the Hautere kiln in action, with member and Hautere Kiln Master Julie Harrington firing that day. Depending on your carpool group, there may also be an optional side trip to Ōtaki for lunch and to visit Shigemitsu Ohashi’s exhibition.
Although this is a free event, please sign up so we can confirm numbers and help organise carpooling. The drive to the kilns takes approximately one hour, so participants who are carpooling should meet at the studio by 9:15 AM for a 9:30 AM departure. Petrol reimbursement can be arranged within each carpool group.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Admin: wellingtonpotters.info@gmail.com.
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The Perfect Cup/Mug w/ Vivian Rodriguez | Weekend Workshop
Saturday 25 & Sunday 26 April | 9:00AM - 4:00PM
What makes a cup feel just right in your hands?
Design and create your ideal cup or mug in this focused, hands-on weekend workshop. Guided by Vivian Rodriguez, you’ll explore form, proportion, and function while refining your wheel-throwing skills. Learn techniques for creating consistent forms and discover multiple approaches to making and attaching handles to complete a cohesive set.
By the end of the weekend, you’ll have developed the skills to produce a coordinated set of up to four cups or mugs, along with practical tips for trimming, finishing, firing, and glazing functional ware.
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Salt & Soda w/ Julie Harrington | 5-Part Workshop
First Event: Thursday 30 April | 5:30 - 7:30PM
Curious about alternative firings? Explore salt & soda in the Hautere Kiln!
Discover the transformative effects of salt and soda firing in this five-part workshop series led by Julie Harrington. Participants will fire the Hautere Kiln at Lavender Creek Farm in Te Horo, learning how to design work, glaze, load, fire, and unload this high-fire kiln.
This workshop is suitable for all skill levels and requires no prior experience. By the end of the series, participants will have a strong understanding of salt firing techniques, hands-on experience running a manual diesel-fired kiln, and a shelf full of beautifully finished pots.
Note: participants are expected to attend every session. Please take careful note of all the dates to be sure you can be there.
Community News & Events
Advanced Throwing Class at Otaki Pottery Club
Heather Hayward is looking for a fellow potter to join her in an Advanced Throwing class in Otaki, starting April 20. The class runs Mondays, 9:30 am–12:30 pm, for 8 sessions. Cost: $389 per term.
Next term will focus on bowls – including large 3.5 kg bowls. Spaces in this class are rare, and the tutor, Jenny Turnbull, comes highly recommended. Heather has completed two terms and describes it as “life-changing.”
Heather is also looking for someone to carpool from Mt Cook or Berhampore. She drops her kids at Berhampore Primary in the mornings, so proximity helps.
For more info on the class: Otaki Pottery Club – Advanced Wheel Class
If you’re interested in joining Heather or sharing a lift, email her at hplhayward@gmail.com.
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Join the Repair Cafe!
Vogelmorn Bowling Club is looking for a ceramics repair person for their next Repair Cafe on Saturday 9 May, 9 am–2 pm.
If you’re interested, contact Elissa at vbcrepaircafe@gmail.com.
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Cobcraft Wheel Available!
WPA member Agata H is offering a mechanical Cobcraft pottery wheel for free. It is pedal-operated (not electric), very solid, and has smooth motion. Some rust may need attention.
Pickup is from Karori, and you’ll need a friend to help carry it.
For more photos and information, contact Agata via email at agatahladczuk@gmail.com.
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Links to other clubs’ current newsletters:
Have some content for the newsletter? Email it to wellingtonpotters.info@gmail.com.
The deadline for the next newsletter is 22 April.
