Lathams News: CLAY AND SIP GIRL'S NIGHT OUT...

This year for Christmas, my beautiful girls gave me a voucher for a girls night out at a Clay and Sip Evening. The voucher was for three of us to attend, so whilst we were down looking after the children whilst Sarah was on her prac, Chloe booked us all in...

We had spent a good part of the day with Chloe at her place, so when it was time to go pick up the children from school, she came with us, so that we could all go from Sarah's place, as we had to leave by 5.45pm to make it into the city, find a park and be there for the 6.30pm start.

Chloe and I put a platter together whilst Sarah grabbed a glass of wine for us to take. The class was right in the city in Charlotte Street. We managed to find a car park just across the road from where the class was to be held, and fortunately for us, it was only $10 for the night. Much cheaper than if we were all to catch public transport in...

There must have been at least 40 people in the class.

Excited for the fun time ahead...

Time to nibble and sip...

Super organised with our nibbles...

Enjoying a glass or Moscato...

We were all really looking for to the clay and sip class as the reviews were pretty good. Appartently it is the perfect way to enjoy a night of sculpting, pinch potting and sipping with an expert.

We get to take home 2-4 small pieces, which was going to be nice and easy for us to carry home.

As this was a beginner-friendly workshop, the idea was for us to learn basic skills like hatching, sticking together and shaping forms and we would be using the air-drying clay.

They provide an instructing artist who does a demo at the front of the class and then we get one on one guidance and any assistance as needed...

Working with the air drying clay means that we can take it home once we have finished and let it dry, we would be able to paint it after about 24-48 hours if we so choose...

We will be working with air drying clay which means you can take it home and let it dry and after around 24 to 48 hours you can paint your creations yourself later however you feel with watercolours, acrylics or poster paints.

Enjoying a girl's night out...

Our piece of clay, instruction sheet and tools...

The class went for two hours. The first hour was spent making the class piece which the instructor had set for us, and we followed her through the process of making our bowl. We started off by breaking our clay in half and then he demonstrated out the front of the room and then walk around to make sure that everyone knew what they were doing and checking to see if there any questions at all from us...

Starting to work her clay..

Chloe working her clay...

Working my clay...

First we had to build our bowl free hand... It was a little tricky to do but we all managed to get there in the end. Both Chloe and Sarah had a couple attempts at doing it but then again they are both bits of perfectionists and wanted the perfect shape...

Once we had made our bowl, they we had to made a face to put on the base of our bowl.. This is where it became very interesting for us girls. None of us were happy with our faces, and we all had to have a go at redoing certain aspects of the face. I could not get my eyes right and I am still not happy with them..

My finished bowl..

Cheers to a great night out...

Sarah trying to get her lip just right...

Chloe's bowl

There were quite a few there for the class. We estimated that there were probably 40 odd of us and a good mix of both men and woman. Mostly they were there in pairs or groups.

Our completed bowls...

For the second hour of our class, we were able to use the rest of our clay and make anything that we wanted to make. We were given a laminated sheet with some ideas of things that we could make or our instructor suggested we could check out Pinterest, which is what we did..

Sarah looking for some ideas on Pinteret..

She was having great difficulty coming up with an idea. She is someone that likes to plan ahead and if she had known that this would happen would probably had done a bit more research before she came so that she was prepared. I think the fact that she was tired didn't help, as I know with myself, when I am tired, I cannot think straight.

Chloe meanwhile was on a roll and decided that she was going to make a little vase. Whilst she had a little difficulty initially and ended up redoing it, her visit piece looked really good...

Moulding her vase...

Sarah definitely struggled with this. I think in the end she made several attempts to make something but wasn't really happy with anything that she attempted. In the end she took most of her clay home to have another go when she wasn't so tired and could think more clearly..

I ended up doing another little bowl and attempted to make a little clay dragonfly to put on it. It was very hard to get the bowl made free hand, and whilst it wasn't perfect and I am not sure that I will ever really use it, to me, it was a night to celebrate with my girls and just being out with them and having fun was reward enough.

My attempts...

Another one of Chloe's creations...

It really was a fun night and a great Christmas present. I have always been keen to do a Paint and Sip night or something like this, but have no friends at home that have been interested in doing it. This is not the sort of activity you would do on your own. Lots more fun if there are a few of you so I have really enjoyed checking this off my bucket list...

Our class finished just after 8.30pm and our original plan was to find somewhere in the city to grab dinner after our class. By the time we got out it was almost 8.45pm, and we wanted to take our creations back to the car rather than cart them around Brissie city with us..

By the time we got to the car, we decided that we would head out to Coorparoo near where Chloe used to live to grab a bit to eat. Our car park closed at 10pm so that mean we would be rushing to grab a meal and get back to the car before they shut the carpark for the evening...

Coorparoo was on on our way home anyway.. By the time we got there, a lot of the restaurants were closing their kitchens and we didn't have a lot of places to choose from. In the end, we found a Burger's and Wings place that was happy to feed us so we ordered burgers. Sarah and I shared a burger whilst Chloe got her own. The burgers were great, lots of great flavour and I am sure that Sarah was wondering why she shared with me rather than get a full size burger for herself...