Studio guidelines and policies

Important information below, please familiarize yourself with Hey Clay’s guidelines and policies for a smooth and fun studio environment for all potters!

  • Read about our foundational values here.

    • Timeliness: Students must arrive on time for the class to prevent disruption and double work for the instructors.

    • Check-in: All students must check in at the front desk upon arrival - for class as well as for Open studio time.

    • Open studio hours: Students will be able to come to the studio from 9 AM to 9 PM Tuesday to Sunday to continue practicing outside of class hours. This access will only be for the duration of the Foundations course.

    • Personal projects during the course: The Foundations course requires students to closely follow the curriculum, which has been designed by experienced ceramic educators. To ensure getting the most out of this course and to set beginners up for long term success in their pottery journey, we do not encourage working on personal projects during class times, unless they overlap with the scope of the curriculum. To work on personal projects, enrolled students can utilize Open studio hours. Additionally, students will have studio access for 1 additional week after course ends to finish up any outstanding projects - curriculum related or personal. After this, a graduate must purchase a membership to continue practicing and using studio resources.

    • Missed classes: The Foundations course curriculum has in-built make up weeks. If you miss a class, you will have plenty of opportunities to make up the class within the framework of the curriculum.

    • Firing and KilnFire: Firing is included in the fees of the Foundations course. However, students must still submit pieces through KilnFire for firing.

    • Cleaning: All students must take personal responsibility to keep their workstations, equipment and the studio clean after use. Our request is that you leave it better than you found it to make for an inviting environment for all.

  • General policies:

    • Communal shelves: Hey Clay does not offer private shelves. This allows us to provide more flexible membership management options to our customers like pausing or canceling, offering limited visit punchcards etc.

    • Pause or cancel anytime: You can pause your membership or prepaid punchcard anytime. If pausing, the minimum duration is 1 week and maximum is 3 months. Request to pause must be sent to frontdesk@heyclay.studio at least 2 weeks in advance of pause date. When a membership is paused or cancelled, members must ensure all their work is off the shelves, else it will be discarded.

    • Check-in: All members MUST check-in at the front desk upon arrival at the studio.

    • Firing and KilnFire: Members firing fees are $0.06 for bisque firing. No additional fees for glaze firing. All pieces must be submitted through KilnFire for firing.

    • Cleaning: All members must take personal responsibility to keep their workstations, equipment and the studio clean after use. Our request is that you leave it better than you found it to make for an inviting environment for all.

    Policies specifically for prepaid punchcards:

    • Validity: Prepaid punchcards are valid for 1 month

    • Unused visits: Unused visits will not roll over to the next month i.e they will be lost.

    • Re-upping: If you run out of visits, you can re-up to another punchcard or a recurring membership.

    • Clearing the shelves: Before a punchcard expires (either when visits are used up or when the 1 month validity is over), punchcard members must take all work off of the shelves unless they have purchased another punchcard or recurring membership.

  • We encourage students to lean into the process of playing with clay in this class. While it is not necessary to have finished a piece by the end of the class, students will be allowed to fire 1 piece if desired.

    • Students will pick a glaze of choice at the end of class

    • Please allow at least 3 weeks for the studio to finish and fire the pieces; an email will be sent when the pieces are ready

    • Pieces not picked up within 2 weeks of getting email notification will be discarded

    • All piece pickups must be submitted via KilnFire

  • Refund policies for Foundations

    • Requests made more than 1 week prior to first session: 100% refund

    • Requests made within 1 week of first session: 50% refund

    • Requests made within 12 hrs of class starting or after course starts: 0%

    In the event the studio needs to cancel the course due to any unforeseen circumstances, you will be refunded in full or given credit for a later registration.

    Refund policies for trial classes and workshops:

    • Requests made more than 1 week prior to the session: 100% refund

    • Requests made within 1 week of session: 50% refund

    • Requests made within 12 hrs of session starting or after session starts: 0%

    In the event the studio needs to cancel the session due to any unforeseen circumstances, you will be refunded in full or given credit for a later registration.

    Refund policies for memberships:

    • No refunds once a monthly recurring membership or prepaid punchcard is charged

    • No refunds for unused visits upon punchcard expiration

    All other transactions:

    • No refunds

    • Hey Clay will provide everything you need to work on your projects, just come as you are! Should you choose to bring your own tools, aprons etc, please make sure to take them back with you.

    • As a reminder, Hey Clay is a community studio. We do not have the resources or the space to support production level pottery projects. If this is your need, you can check out our neighbors Powerhouse Arts!

    • Students must follow Hey Clay’s Studio Guidelines and Policies to ensure a clean, safe and fun working environment for all

    • All questions and concerns must be promptly shared with frontdesk@heyclay.studio