Hello and happy holidays everyone!
Just dropping in with a quick reminder about work processing during the holidays, and when to expect work back if you've taken a workshop with us in the past two months!
The holidays are the busiest time of year at the Clay Studio, not only do we still hold workshops, but many artists who make a living from their ceramic work are renting kilns to prepare for holiday sales and upcoming shows. This means our firing schedules are packed tight and kiln space is at a premium. On top of that, many factors slow the processing of works, from winter cold making things dry slower, to our resident artist instructors being out of town to visit their families for the holidays.
We know the work you make during our workshops is special to you, and we promise to get it fired as soon as we possibly can. Know that during the holidays (November/December), you can expect processing time to be longer than normal to accommodate the factors listed above. But we will keep works safe and reach out as soon as they are ready to pick-up! So please be patient with us. Generally, processing takes 3-4 weeks. Over the holidays, it can easily take 4-6.
When works are fired and ready to pick up, we'll reach out to you at the email you provided when you signed up for a given workshop. So make sure you check that email periodically. We also have a constant battle with email filters: spam and new promotions filters are constantly eating our mailers. So to ensure you see them and they aren't hidden away in these categories, add fire@theclaystudioofmissoula.org and info@theclaystudioofmissoula.org to your email whitelist, or to your contacts. We're currently testing other methods of notification, but right now, this is our best way of reaching out.
If you're really worried about what you created, you can email us to check in on the process. Email is best as one of our busy staff members can check and get back to you as soon as time allows! Usually within an hour.
Once things are fired, we keep them at the studio for three months to allow folks to pick them up. Ample time for a quick stop in during our business hours (or an email/call to arrange a special pick-up outside of them with staff if you can't!). Due to our very limited storage space, work must be discarded after this window to ensure we can give others the same grace period for pickup. So please don't delay your visit to the studio once you've been notified!
Hope you all have the happiest of holidays this winter, and we hope you'll join us for community programming in the new year!