Looking for a date night or a mom's night out?  This is a casual workshop, no experience necessary!  Bring your creativity and your friends for a mindful evening and a chance to unplug. Slip Studio is a top-tier activity for couples in Westchester County.

Handbuild Your Own Matcha Bowl (Chawan) – Pottery Workshop

A Mindful Afternoon of Japanese Tea Culture and Clay in Westchester

Handbuild Your Own Matcha Bowl (Chawan) out of brown stoneware clay while sipping matcha and enjoying delicious Japanese cream puffs by Cream Bomb NYC. We'll make Matcha bowls large enough to whisk your matcha - measuring around 5" wide.

More than just a vessel, the Chawan is the heart of the tea ceremony. In this workshop, we will use the coil method to build the cylinder for our bowls. We will then attach the base and foot to the vessel using slabs and coils. 

Embracing Japanese culture, we will focus on wabi-sabi —finding beauty in the unique, organic imperfections of our handmade pieces. We are not looking for perfection but heart and soul!

As a former pastry chef, I understand that the vessel is just as important as the ingredients. We will build our bowl with thick enough walls to retain heat, but a wide enough base to allow for a vigorous, frothy whisk. We will also demonstrate the proper way to prepare matcha at home.

The Process:

• Learn the coil-building method, smoothing the inside of the vessel to create a functional cylinder
• Designed with a wide, flat base—perfect for whisking a frothy matcha without splashing
• Attach the bottom and foot of the vessel - scoring and slipping attachments
• Craft a smooth, tapered rim for the perfect sip, or a spout for pouring
• Choose from a variety of food-safe studio-made glazes
• All materials, clay, and tools are included in the price
• This workshop will last 2-2 1/2 hours

Your custom bowls will dry slowly, then get fired and glazed, ready for pick-up 4-6 weeks later.

A matcha demonstration and tasting will be provided, as well as a selection of hot teas, Japanese cream puffs from Cream Bomb NYC, and Japanese crunchy snacks for a complete night out!  

Our studio is small, and space is limited to a maximum of 12 guests (unless otherwise specified).

Parking is free and plentiful. Bathrooms are clean and across the hall. Please come dressed and ready to get your hands and maybe even your clothes a little dirty.

Please arrive on time so that we can start the project with enough time for completion. If guests arrive more than 30 minutes after the start time, they may be unable to finish their project. Ariella will do her best to accommodate for lateness and skill level, repairing work when she can to ensure the highest likelihood of survival through the kiln process.

Workshops & Family Clay Date cancellation and refund policy: 50% refund with written cancellation up to 1 week before the workshop. Cancellations received less than 1 week before will not be refunded. Rescheduling due to illness is permitted only once.

PLEASE NOTE: There are NO guarantees in pottery!

While working in clay is calming, pottery comes with many unknowns. Pottery is unpredictable and sometimes unforgiving. While Ariella will do her best to walk you through each step of the process, sometimes cracks and issues present themselves along the way. Either in the soft and malleable stage, or as the piece dries and hardens, and even into the bisqueware stage, clay moves and shifts. Even the best potters cannot predict the outcome, so please keep this in mind! Working in clay is meditative and gratifying; however, it is also humbling, as there are many factors out of our control.  This is the magic of ceramics- learning to let go and allowing for the process to guide you, and accepting that we are not always in control. This is the beauty of clay.  So enjoy the workshop, class, or private event, and remember that the experience IS the best part of pottery!  The final product is just the icing on the cake:).

Located in the heart of Westchester County, Slip Studio offers a serene environment for pottery classes near Scarsdale, Mamaroneck, and Greenwich. Our White Plains pottery studio features free parking and a mindful atmosphere for all skill levels.