Keep making, whatever life throws at you.
A flexible, prepaid way to use our Leyton pottery studio in East London. Book independent Open Studio sessions in the Learning Hub classroom, three hours at a time, and keep making without a monthly membership.
From £33 a session. Valid for four months. No monthly payment.
Launch offer
Bonus session + session for a friend
Turning Earth came into being to help make pottery accessible to more people.
We've long been asked to create a "Lite" version of our Studio Membership: a more affordable way to spend time making at Turning Earth, while still having access to a proper studio and equipment. With the cost of living crisis, making access more affordable has become more important than ever.
So we've thought carefully about how to respond to the changing times: making independent studio access more affordable and flexible, while maintaining a clear pathway to the full membership experience that our makers value so much.
Open-Studio Pass is the result.
A flexible, prepaid way to access independent Open Studio sessions in the Learning Hub in our Leyton centre. A lower-cost way to get into the studio, develop your practice and keep making.
Choose the pass that works for you. There's no monthly payment. Simply buy your pass and book your Open Studio sessions when it suits you.
£175
£35 per session
£330
£33 per session
5 sessions £175, or 10 sessions £330. Every session is three hours*, at our Leyton pottery studio.
These are independent making sessions, not taught classes, so you'll need to be comfortable working on your own projects. (If you are a complete beginner we recommend booking a class before you buy a pass.)
What's included
Scheduled Open-Studio sessions in the Leyton Learning Hub
Use of studio equipment
Independent making time
Four months to use your sessions
40cm x 40cm drying allowance (per session)
Not included
Clay, bought separately at the studio
Hand tools, so bring your own kit
Glaze firing, charged at £4.50 per litre
Unused sessions don't roll over
Personal storage (your work will be stored by the technician on the session trolley
Buy your pass and book your first session in one go, then book the rest as you like. There's no monthly payment and no rolling contract. Your four months start on the day of your first session.
*Well, three hours, plus an extra 30 minutes at the end for clean up time.
01
Choose 5 or 10 sessions and book your first session at the same time. Your four months start on the day of that first session, so pick the pass you'll realistically get through.
02
Your remaining sessions sit on your pass. Come back whenever you like and book with the same email you bought with, and the price comes off automatically. One at a time or a run of weeks, whichever suits.
03
Turn up at Leyton, find a bench and work on your own projects. Technicians are around if you get stuck.
04
Our technicians load, fire and unload the kilns, so you don't need to. Firing is charged by volume at £4.50 per litre, and you come back for your pieces when they're ready.
Tuesday
1pm–4pm
Wednesday
10am–1pm
2pm–5pm
Thursday
10am–1pm
6pm–9pm
Friday
2pm–5pm
Saturday
2pm–5pm
Sunday
10am–1pm
2pm–5pm
Up to nine sessions a week, every one of them three hours (plus 30 minutes after for clean up). There's no Monday session because that's when the studio is turned around and the kilns are unpacked.
25
founding sign ups
Already on the pass. There's nothing to claim and nobody to ask; it's simply there when you book.
Email us once you've booked and we'll add it to your friend's name. It has to be used with you at the studio, so we know who's coming and can keep a bench free next to you.
The answers below cover almost everything people ask us. Where there's a restriction, we've explained why it's there.
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Three hours. Every session is the same length, so a five-session pass is fifteen hoursmaking time in the studio and a ten-session pass is thirty. Please note, there is an additional clean up time of up to 30 minutes at the end of each session, so the total run time of a session is 3.5 hours.
▸
Up to nine sessions a week, Tuesday to Sunday. Tuesday 1pm to 4pm. Wednesday 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm. Thursday 10am to 1pm and 6pm to 9pm. Friday 2pm to 5pm. Saturday 2pm to 5pm. Sunday 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm. There's no Monday session because that's when the studio is turned around and the kilns are unpacked.
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Yes. Our booking system asks you to pick a session as part of buying the pass, so you leave with a date already in the diary. Your four months run from the day of the first session, not the day you pay.
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No. Clay is bought separately at the studio, the same as it is for our full members. It keeps the pass price down and means you only pay for what you actually use.
You can store your bag of clay between sessions in the shared clay rack for up to 4 weeks. You'll need to make sure it has your name and the date of your most recent session on it - we provide labels and pens.
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Everything in the Learning Hub classroom: wheels, benches, and the shared studio equipment. Small hand tools aren't included, so bring your own kit. Most people who've done a course already have one, otherwise basic tools can be purchased from the office for only £5.
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£4.50 per litre, charged on what you actually fire. A standard mug is roughly half a litre, so about £2. Our technicians load, fire and unload the kilns; you just leave your work on the shelf and collect it once it's out.
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They expire four months after your first session and don't roll over. We'd rather be honest about that upfront: the four-month window is what lets us hold space for pass-holders and price sessions at £33 rather than £45. If you're not sure how much you'll get through, start with the five-session pass.
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These are independent making sessions, not taught classes, so you should be comfortable working on your own projects. If you've finished a course with us or elsewhere, you'll be fine. If you've never touched clay, start with a pottery class instead.
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Your own hand tools and your apron. Wear something you don't mind getting a bit smeary, clay gets everywhere.
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Yes, up to one hour before start time, although please tell us as early as you can. Places in the Learning Hub are limited, so if you release a session in good time someone else can use it.
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Yes. A £175 gift voucher covers a five-session pass outright and £330 covers ten, or you can choose any amount and let the gift recipient put it towards one. The Gift Certificate arrives in their inbox as a PDF with a code on it, so there's nothing to post, and they enter the code when they book. (You can use your own email address if you want to print the Gift Certificate and give it to them yourself.)
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Arrive on time. Sessions run to a fixed schedule because the room will be booked after, so turning up late means less making time, not a later finish.
Label everything. Work moves between shelves, dampers and kilns before it gets back to you, and unlabelled pieces are the ones that go missing.
Clear your bench before you leave. The next person needs the space as you found it, and the technicians shouldn't be tidying up after you. Clean your stool and the floor underneath your bench too!
Sponge, don't sweep. Dry clay dust is the one real health risk in a ceramics studio, so wet-clean your bench and tools as you go and it never becomes airborne.
Both give you the studio. The pass gives you a set number of booked sessions in one room. Membership gives you the run of the place.
Open-Studio Pass
£175 or £330, four months to use
Turning Earth Membership
From £239 a month
Where you work
Learning Hub
Main Studio
When you can come
Up to nine set sessions a week, Tuesday to Sunday, three hours each
Any time we're open, up to 15 hours a week
Booking
Pre-booked sessions
No booking. Turn up when it suits you
Storage
40x40cm ware board on a shared trolley
Your own storage shelf, 90cmx45cmx45cm
Firing
£4.50 a litre (includes bisque)
Up to 30 litres a month included (worth £135)
Course prices
Standard prices
Member standby prices, up to 70% off when space allows
How you pay
Pre-paid session bundles
By the month
Open Studio sessions run at set times because the Learning Hub is a teaching room first, and a course usually follows. That's the trade for the lower price.
Read about Full Membership
Open-Studio Pass is a way to get started, get back into making or simply make studio time more affordable.
Maybe you've done a course and want to keep going. Maybe you've been making at home and are ready for proper studio equipment. Maybe you're finding your way back to ceramics.
Whatever brings you through the door, Open-Studio Pass gives you a way in, and you can progress to Full Membership when you're ready for more.
We know that when budgets are under pressure, creative time can be one of the first things to get squeezed.
We also know how important it is to have somewhere to make, learn, meet people and do something that isn't work or the everyday grind.
£175
5 sessions, £35 each
£330
10 sessions, £33 each
4 months
to use your sessions
£4.50
per litre for firing
First 25 purchasers get an extra session, plus a complimentary session for a friend.
Currently available at Turning Earth Leyton, our East London pottery studio