November 2023 Newsletter

1 Nov

Written By Wellington Potters Association Info

The WPA Shop is live!

Great news: we’re live with the web shop! Clay orders now made on the website by 5PM on Tuesday will be available for pick up on the table at 10AM Wednesday, and orders by 5PM Friday available by 10AM Saturday. Have a question about clay? Peter (sales@rumbles.co.nz) is still your man!

Remember that the web store is password protected and only WPA members can purchase clay. The store URL and password is accessed via the same place as before, on the Shop page in HelloClub. The process may be a little bumpy while we make the transition, but please — if you have any dramas just email wellingtonpotters.info@gmail.com and we’ll work out the kinks.

Ceramicus, done and dusted for another year!

Thank you to all 52 potters who had work selected to be in the exhibition. This year we had 115 works on display, ranging from Briar’s teeny ‘For the Birds’ cups to Caz’s impressive and award winning ‘Rushbrook Road’ stack.

And thank you, again, to all our award sponsors, and to CCG and Wellington City Council - our opening night sponsors.

We got great feedback from our members, visitors, and Wellington City Council on the Begonia House venue. We look forward to hosting Ceramicus 2024 there!

Club Notes and Updates

Introducing the New WPA Life Members

Kate Ford

Kate has been a member of Wellington Potters association since February 2005. She was the amazing club secretary for an impressive 9 years and has been running orientation sessions on her weekends for many years.

Kate is a humble, quiet contributor in the background at the club. She checks and refills supplies like hand towels, soaps, and toilet paper. Without asking, she takes home and washes the tea towels and returns them folded to the kitchen drawers. She helps prepare the rooms, food, drinks, and set up at WPA events, and often will slip away into the night before she can be acknowledged.

Kate cares about the Wellington Potters’ community and mentions how it is a great place to be for one's mental health and well-being. Kate checks in on her fellow members, and is a kind, listening ear or supportive shoulder to lean on when one is needed.

Thank you Kate for all that you have done, and all that you continue to do.

Peter Rumble

Peter became a member of Wellington Potters association in November 2012, and has been a huge influence in the running of the club since. Having learnt about the kilns early on in his pottery career, he is the guru for all things kilns-related. He has maintained much of the equipment of the club and is our chief clay wrangler.

A committee member from 2017-2021 (and now again in 2023), his boundless energy and practical ideas on improvement in the rooms saw him as a driving force in the major refurbishment in 2018. He was also heavily involved in the recladding and re-roofing project from 2019-2021.

An education liaison, sign-maker, mouse-catcher, drinks-provider, and overall champion volunteer, Peter values others who work hard. But we would be lost without his hard work, and feel he has done more than enough to earn a lifetime membership to WPA.

Thank you, Peter.

——————————————————

Meet your WPA Committee

Hover over the image to learn more about each member.

Martin Henty, Club President & Education Portfolio

Martin has been a member of the WPA for 5 years, on the committee for 4, and Club President for 3. Martin enjoys hand building and sculpture, the challenge of going down new rabbit holes in pottery keeps him on his toes.

Julie Harrington, Vice President & Rooms Management Portfolio

Julie is a mum of 2 boys, aged 10 & 12. She is a gardener by trade, and loves all things botanical. She teaches one of the CEC courses in introduction in throwing, and has been on the committee for 3 years, 2 of which as Vice President. Julie looks after the building and maintenance along with Peter Rumble. Julie enjoys making domestic ware, garden sculptures, and seedpods sculptures. She has a passion for woodfire and recently has fallen in love with salt and soda firings.

Sarah Drake, Club Secretary

Sarah is a new face to the committee this year, joining us as our new Secretary. She is also a newbie at the club, having just joined the WPA in February. Sarah makes handbuilt pottery and loves both the making and the decorating, and trying out different techniques. Fun fact, Sarah won the First Time Exhibitor Award at Ceramicus this year, with her beautiful “Blue Flower Pot.”

Kelly Ye, Treasurer

Kelly is our Treasurer at the WPA & dealer in all things Finance. She has been on the committee for just over a year now and does an amazing job looking after our money & making sure we're on the good side of the IRD. It's been five years since she first joined the club and she is still making miscellaneous little vessels. Kelly is an accountant by trade and spends most of her 9-5 looking at spreadsheets, so pottery has been a wonderful & meditative way for her to reconnect her mind & body. She loves seeing what creations are taking place in the rooms & the joy (and frustration!) this brings people.

Ingrid Peek, Membership Portfolio & HelloClub support

Ingrid has been a member at the WPA since 2017, and an invaluable part of the committee since last year. Ingrid manages our extensive membership & volunteer portfolio and has helped create and implement much needed processes for the club, including HelloClub, new kiln installation, kiln license training programme, and soon the Raku club. Ingrid is a wheel-thrower, and loves to add textures where possible.

Peter Rumble, Operations Portfolio

Peter is a new (but also old) face on this year’s Committee. He doesn’t need much introduction (see his spotlight above), he has been a member of the WPA since 2012 as well as a committee member from 2017-2021. Peter is a talented hand builder, and you will definitely see him around the rooms working on his next project.

Kate MacDonald, Events Portfolio

Kate has been a member since May 2021, and a part of the Committee since September 2021. For the past 2 years she has been our Committee Secretary, and this year she is excited to pivot her role to coordinating members classes, Ceramicus, and cubbies. Kate is a hand builder, and specialises in things that take a long time to make and are “ultimately functionless.”

Gordon Sinclair, Health & Safety

Gordon has been a member of the WPA for about 5 years, 3 of which he has served on our Committee. Gordon holds the health and safety portfolio, working on all the legal things with our lawyer. He is always a helping hand with anything that comes up. At the moment, he is trying to recover some of his wheel throwing skills (as he took a break from the rooms during COVID).

Sammy Chou, Communications Portfolio

Sammy has been a member of the WPA since 2022, and a part of the Committee since September 2022. Sammy manages our club communications, such as our website and social media. Her goal has been to help better communicate things at the club, to foster a deeper sense of community at the WPA. She is primarily a wheel-thrower, and loves to make functional ceramics to eat from.

——————————————————

By the Numbers

As we promised in our MMCU (Mid-Month Catch-Up email), the Committee has been doing some digging into usage stats. The data shows that the average number of people using the rooms is slightly higher this year than last. Mondays and Tuesdays are our busiest days on average - CEC classes and the lure of cake at Tuesday Club mornings likely responsible for that. We also reached peak usage in August - now tapering off as people stop their memberships and the busy Christmas season is upon us.

Thank you to everyone that completed our mini survey about how often you sign in. MOST of you sign in regularly, and that shows us that real-life numbers are slightly higher than they are reported below. The trends of usage, however, will be accurate.

We’re still more popular than ever with 130+ members on our waitlist (Prospective). As soon as we induct new members, more people sign up!

As of 30 Oct 23
Full Members: 450 (max 550)
Associate Members: 28
Life Members: 12
Prospective Members: 137

Questions? Email wellingtonpotters.info@gmail.com and we’ll be happy to chat about our process.

PSAs from the Club Admin

Have you taken over a cubby? Let us know.

We’ve seen lots of offers and asks for cubbies on the Facebook page lately. If you have taken over a cubby from someone who is not continuing their membership and you haven’t let us know please email us ASAP at wellingtonpotters.cubbies@gmail.com. If we don’t know, then your things may be removed from the cubby.

——————————————————

A call for pens!

A LOT of pens have gone missing from the studio, so next time you are digging through your “drawers of denial” please grab a few and bring them to the rooms? Thank you!

——————————————————

Found something that needs repair or maintenance?

Our Maintenance book can be found on the sign-in desk. If you find anything that needs attention around the rooms, write us a note with as much info about what’s broken / failing and Julie Harrington (Rooms portfolio) and Peter Rumble (Operations portfolio) will work together to make sure it’s seen to.

Upcoming: Planning your Christmas Projects

Help us help you get your Christmas items through the kilns!

Xmas decorations – and other fiddly bits – need to be properly presented in the kiln room to be fired. (No kidding; last year we had 73 …yes, seventy-three… items presented, all in a jumbled pile, on the ‘please fire me’ shelf!)

For Bisque
Depending on their fragility either a) place them in a bowl [a pre-bisqued bowl is useful but not mandatory] or b) place them on an appropriately sized tray. A bit of advice: don’t go for paper-thin trays. They are difficult for the loaders to handle and can break easily. Go for a minimum 4mm thickness. You won’t regret it because they will be reusable for several firings.

For Glost
Place your small items on an appropriately sized bisqued tray. It’s up to you to space them properly. Precariously placed items can shift when moved and stick together in the firing.

Potters’ Mark
Identify your bowl, tray, kiln biscuit with an easily identifiable mark. If they’re for repeated use, perhaps use iron oxide wash to paint your full name in large writing on them. Deter the biscuit snatchers!

Payment
Remember; you must also pay for the bowl/tray. They, too, take up space and absorb heat.

——————————————————

Also, help us keep things moving! Please move your fired pots promptly from the kiln room.

There is now a colour-coded system on the shelves for fired pots. Green for “out this week”, yellow for “out last week” and red for “three weeks+”*. Because of the volume of pots being processed, the red shelves are going to be monitored much more stringently. Also, when putting bisqued items on the shelves to be fired, wherever possible, please stack them inside or on top of each other. This leaves more room for other members and also assists the kiln team with their loading.

WARNING: all pots currently on the red shelves will be removed to the substation roof on Monday 6 November and subsequent arrivals removed weekly.

*NOTE: a kiln week runs from Thursday (unloading time can be anything from 3pm to 7pm) until 4pm the following Thursday.

——————————————————

The kiln room closes over the holidays for a deep clean.

The last firing for the year will happen Monday 18 December, and every effort will be made by the kiln team to have everything fired ready for pickup on Thursday 21 (after 6pm) ...but don't expect miracles. No to-be-fired pots are to be placed on the shelves after Sunday 17 December and all fired pots are to be removed from the kiln room by Sunday 1 January.

The first club firings for 2024 will be Monday 22 January. Do not place your pots on the shelves before Friday 19 January so that the kiln team has clear shelves to deep clean during the break.

DID YOU KNOW…?

You can buy credit in Hello Club!

Perhaps you are getting a big end-of-year bonus? Or just want to ferret away some money that is guaranteed to directly fund your passion project? Either way, you can buy credit in Hello Club for future clay, classes, cubby rentals, kiln firings, or even your membership!

If you would like to add credit to your Hello Club account, please email Admin at wellingtonpotters.info@gmail.com.