Frequently Asked Questions

The workshop is located in the charming old Eby Farmhouse, at the top of a hill in Waterloo Park. The easiest access is from the Young Street entrance.

If you are taking classes at the workshop, firing is included so you get your finished pieces at the end; but we do not offer firing services to the pottery-making public.

The group started in the fall of 1967 after a Centennial Art Show in Waterloo Park. The City of Waterloo offered the former Jacob Eby farmhouse to local craft groups. Nine local potters formed a coalition to apply: Ann Roberts, Theresa Schiel, Winn Shantz, Dorothea Tutte, Evelyn Buckley, Helen Keeler, Elsa McKeller, Don Middleton, and Roma Middleton.

At one point, the house was offered to be shared by two groups: the local potters, and the weavers’ guild. This was an unacceptable pairing; the weavers didn’t want our clay dust, and the potters didn’t want their fibre lint. There was a rumble in the park and the potters won control of the whole house, because we came with hard clay weapons and they only had woven ones. The potters and weavers have been frenemies ever since.

Just kidding. There was no fight. The WPW was officially incorporated as a non-profit in 1969. The weavers do often plan their sales to coincide with ours at the same location, which is not a coincidence.

The house is available to members 24/7. There are no operating hours. We often have members working, throwing, and firing the kilns at all times of day and night. Park security is used to there being activity up there late at night.

Near the house, there are eight parking spots that are available to all park patrons, on a first-come first-serve basis. Those spots fill up when there are popular activities going on in the park, e.g. picnics and sporting events, and on nice weekend afternoons.

Directly beside the house, between the old fruit tree and a storage shed, there are two spots that are reserved ONLY for WPW members. To park there, you should display a member parking pass on your dashboard.

It is important to keep those two spots clear for members, since they will frequently be carrying heavy, fragile things.

No. Despite what you might have heard, the workshop has no ghosts. Paranormal investigators have swept the house with EMF meters and found nothing. A spiritualist medium declared that the house is “good enough”, before running to their car and driving away, and they are no longer returning our calls.

All the unusual sounds that people hear at night (footsteps, moaning, muffled screams, the faint tinkling of a child’s music box that seems to come from the basement) are just the normal sounds of a very old house settling and creaking. The house usually has at least one resident chipmunk, and those rodents are likely responsible for the unusual displacement of items, strange odors, and the persistent sensation that you are being watched.

The so-called “shimmering specters” that appear to pass through the walls in the upstairs rooms are merely reflections from the lights of ION trains going through the park, and the disembodied voices that whisper “Get out… get ouuuuut” are nothing more than wind passing over the exterior vents beside the gas kiln.

The kitchen cupboards flapping open and slamming closed at exactly 3:33am every year on April 15 is easily explained by the dissipation of heat from the basement kilns, acting on the antique hinges.

The best way to get started is to enroll in a beginner class. That way you can try it out without spending a lot on clay and tools, and you will be in a facility that accommodates the mess, because pottery is messy! You will also get good instruction so your first experiences are positive and not too frustrating.

Wheel throwing is a skill that you can learn in about an hour, and within a few classes — with practice — you’ll be adequately good enough to make something you’re proud of. That’s how you get hooked. Then you will spend the next 40 years mastering that technique.