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Making Course 08 · Studio course

Ceramics —
Glazing & Finishing

Four Tuesday evenings on the part of pottery that decides everything: what the kiln gives back. Bring your own bisque pieces.

Starts
Tue 24 Nov
19:00–21:00
Where
Studio 2
14 Kirkgate, Leeds
Runs
4 weeks
10 places max
Enquire for this batch

5 left of 10 places on the Tue 24 Nov batch

Makers working with clay pieces in a bright ceramics studio

This batch starts in

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Counting down to Tue 24 Nov 2026, 19:00. When it hits zero, this batch is in session.

The last ten percent
decides everything.

Four Tuesday evenings on the last ten percent of pottery — the part that decides whether a piece gets kept or quietly recycled. Glazing & Finishing is for students who can throw (or hand-build) and want control over what comes out of the kiln.

Bring up to six of your own bisque-fired pieces, from any Meridian course or your own studio time. You'll test on tiles first, glaze for real in weeks two and three, and spend the final session on faults, fixes and one perfect final piece.

Tom fires everything in Studio 2 and talks the group through the unloading. The Glazing Saturday workshop days are open to course students at the member rate.

Hands working clay on a pottery wheel in Studio 2

Studio 2 — the glazing benches sit along the window wall.

The four
weeks

Same shape every week: teaching first, then practice with the teacher close by. Open a block to see what you will do — and what you leave with.

Reading a bisque-fired piece: what glaze does to form, where it runs, where it crawls. Wax-resist, dipping technique, and your first test tiles.

You leave with: six test tiles, labelled and fired.

The studio's six core glazes, dipped, poured and layered. Reading last week's tiles: what the kiln did and why.

You leave with: two glazed pieces with layered finishes.

Resist patterns, tape, latex and trailing. Designing a surface before you touch it — sketchbook work at the glazing table.

You leave with: a planned, patterned piece in the kiln.

Glaze faults and their fixes — pinholing, crawling, running — then a full final piece glazed, loaded by you, and reviewed when it comes out of the kiln.

You leave with: your finished piece, plus a faults field-guide.

Batch schedule

Ceramics — Glazing & Finishing · Studio 2

Upcoming batches of Ceramics — Glazing & Finishing. Every batch is taught by Tom Okafor.
Starts Day & time Places left Status
Tue 24 Nov 2026 Tuesdays · 19:00–21:00 · 4 weeks 5 of 10 Booking
Tue 19 Jan 2027 Tuesdays · 19:00–21:00 · 4 weeks 10 of 10 Booking
Tue 16 Mar 2027 Tuesdays · 19:00–21:00 · 4 weeks — Boards Tue 02 Feb

Every batch is the same 4 weeks, the same teacher, the same fee. Later batches board on the 1st of the month, two months ahead.

Full course fee

£164

or 3 × £54.67 monthly — the same total, no extra cost.

  • All glazes and two firings included
  • Bring up to 6 of your own bisque pieces
  • Glaze recipe cards for the studio range
  • 15% concession for full-time students & over-60s

How paying works

  1. 1

    Enquire — we hold your place for 48 hours

    Send the form below. We confirm your place by email within one working day, and it is held for 48 hours while you pay. No payment is taken from the form itself.

  2. 2

    Pay in full, or start instalment one

    The confirmation email carries one payment link. Instalments leave your account monthly on the date you choose; the last one lands before the course ends.

  3. 3

    Changed your mind? The rules are printed

    Full refund up to 14 days before your start date. Inside 14 days, one free transfer to a later batch. If we ever cancel, you choose: full refund or free transfer.

Portrait of Tom Okafor in the pottery studio

Your teacher

Tom Okafor

Tom has thrown pots for fourteen years — first in a community studio in Manchester, then as a production potter making tableware for restaurants. He still makes the mugs Meridian's café corner drinks from; check the base for the stamp.

He teaches the way he was taught: one skill at a time, demonstrated once, then practised until it sticks. His students' most-quoted review is also the shortest: “He never says good enough — he shows you the fix.”

Tom's other batches on the board

Good to know before session one

  • Bring your bisque pieces in week one — Tom checks firing temperatures before anyone dips anything.
  • Test tiles are yours to keep — label everything; future you says thanks.
  • Aprons and gloves provided; glaze washes out, enthusiasm doesn’t.
  • Finished pieces are ready three weeks after week four, when the course kiln unloads.

Enquire for
this course

Two minutes, no payment taken. We reply within one working day (Mon–Sat) and hold your place for 48 hours.

Ceramics — Glazing & Finishing

  • Next start: Tue 24 Nov · 19:00
  • Studio 2, Leeds
  • £164 or 3 × £54.67 · 5 places left

Prefer to talk? Call 0113 496 0000, Mon–Sat 09:00–21:00.

No payment is taken on this form.