Smoke & Sprig Ash Dish
Press wild hemp and hill botanicals into a notched ash dish — thrown on the wheel or pinched by hand, your call.
Duration
1 hour
Group size
Up to 6 guests
Price
₹2,500 / person
Skill level
Beginner — no experience needed
Age
16 and up
Takeaway
After firing · 3–6 weeks
Before you book
Glazing takes 3–6 weeks
Two firings, so finished pieces are ready 3–6 weeks later.
Fees are non-refundable
Fixed rates, no discounts, and no refunds — including no-shows.
Handmade, not commercial
Beginner pieces sometimes break in the making — that's normal.
Trimming and shaping can't be promised
Uneven first-attempt walls can't always be trimmed — we try, no guarantees.
Extra time is ₹1,500/hour
Sessions run for the booked duration; longer is ₹1,500 an hour.
Full studio terms are below — worth two minutes before you request a slot.
Request a slot
Tell us when suits you. We'll confirm the exact time and hold your spot on WhatsApp — usually within a few hours.
Preview your message
Hi Mita Pottery Studio! I'd like to request a workshop slot. *Workshop:* Smoke & Sprig Ash Dish (1 hour) *Preferred date:* Flexible — suggest a date *Preferred time:* Flexible — any time *Guests:* 1 · approx ₹2,500 total *Name:* — Sent from the workshop page on mitapottery.com
Opens WhatsApp with everything filled in — just hit send. Nothing is charged here; we confirm the slot and payment together. Cancellation policy
Prefer to call? +91 88796 54294
Wild hemp grows everywhere around Rakkar — along the footpaths, up the terrace walls, through every gap in the stone. This session turns that ordinary hill weed into the surface of a small, beautiful object: a round ash dish with a pressed-botanical face and a notched rim to rest a cigarette or an incense stick. Make it on the wheel if you want the challenge of a thrown form, or pinch it by hand if you'd rather keep your palms in the clay. Either way it ends up on a coffee table, a balcony ledge, or a dressing table holding your rings.
What you'll do
You'll start by picking your botanicals — hemp leaf is the signature (that serrated fan shape presses beautifully), but the studio basket also carries fern, cosmos, wild marigold, and whatever else is going that week. Then you choose your route. On the wheel, Madhumita will help you centre a small ball of clay and open it into a shallow, wide dish with a rolled rim — a forgiving form to learn on, because the shape is low and the walls are short. Pinching, you'll press and turn a ball of clay outward into the same shallow dish, thinning as you go until the floor sits flat.
Once the form holds, you'll lay your botanicals face-down and press them into the soft clay, then peel them back to reveal the veins. The last step is the detail that makes it an ash dish rather than a saucer: cutting and smoothing one or two rests into the rim, at the right depth and angle so a cigarette or incense stick actually sits without rolling. Madhumita will help you pick a glaze — a clear or matte lets the pressed leaf read; a dark oxide rubbed into the impression makes it read even harder.
The session, step by step
- 01Welcome, apron on, chai
- 02Choose your botanicals — hemp leaf, fern, cosmos, wild marigold
- 03Pick your route: wheel-thrown or hand-pinched
- 04Demo, then form your shallow dish
- 05Press and peel your botanical imprint
- 06Cut and smooth the notched rest into the rim
- 07Refine the base, choose your glaze
- 08Studio dries, bisque-fires, and glaze-fires your dish
What's included
Clay, wheel time (if you choose it), all tools, botanicals from the studio garden, guided instruction, and chai. Bisque firing, glazing & glaze firing — all included at no extra cost.
Wear & bring
Clothes you don't mind getting dusty — or wet and muddy if you pick the wheel. Tie back long hair. Short fingernails make pressing detail easier.
Who this is for
Guests who want something small, useful and a little irreverent to take home; anyone curious to try both the wheel and hand-building without committing to a full vessel; and repeat visitors who've already made a mug and want a different form.
Meet Madhumita
Madhumita has been pressing local botanicals into clay since the studio opened, and the hemp leaf is the one she keeps coming back to — it's the plant everyone in these hills walks past without looking at. She'll show you how deep to press so the veins survive the glaze, and how to cut a rest that still looks like part of the form rather than a notch hacked into it.
— ceramic artist & founder, Studio Mita
Read her full storyStudio terms
What to expect, in full
These apply to every session at the studio. Please read them before requesting a slot — booking means you're happy with them.
Glazing takes 3–6 weeks+
Glazing involves two separate firings, so your piece is ready 3–6 weeks after the session. We'll message you as soon as it's out of the kiln — there's no need to follow up before then, as firing times can't be sped up regardless of check-ins. Pieces not collected within one month of being ready are discarded, as we have limited storage space.
Fees are non-refundable+
Our rates are fixed and don't include discounts. Fees are non-refundable, including no-shows and cancellations.
Handmade, not commercial+
This is studio pottery — handmade, one piece at a time, with natural variation from one piece to the next. It won't look like the smooth, uniform finish of commercial ceramics, and that's the point, not a flaw. Since workshop pieces are made by beginners, breakage during the process — while shaping, drying, or firing — is a real possibility, not a rare exception. Glaze results can also vary. This is a normal part of learning pottery, and the studio isn't responsible for pieces that don't survive the process.
Trimming and shaping can't be promised+
Whether a piece can be trimmed and shaped properly depends entirely on how it was made. First attempts rarely come out at a consistent thickness, and walls that are uneven — too thin in one place, too heavy in another — can't always be trimmed to a clean profile without the piece collapsing or cracking. We'll always try our best to shape and trim what you've made, but we can't guarantee the outcome. Please don't come expecting commercial-grade perfection from a first build; the wobble is the honest record of your own hands.
Extra time is ₹1,500/hour+
Sessions run for the booked duration. Additional time beyond that is ₹1,500 per hour.
What the session covers+
Extra requests like jewellery, charms, or pieces outside the workshop scope aren't included — the same goes for underglazing and choosing specific glaze colours. All of it can be discussed as a separate add-on booking if you're interested, so do ask.
Your pace, your piece+
Everyone's creative pace is different. We'll guide you through the process, but pottery takes practice — we don't guarantee a specific outcome, and that's part of what makes each piece genuinely yours.
Damage in transit+
Pieces are packaged carefully, but we're not responsible for damage once they leave the studio.
Photography at the studio+
We may photograph the studio and finished pieces for our social media. Let us know if you'd prefer not to be included.
More about this workshop
Wheel or pinch — which should I pick?+
A shallow dish is one of the easier forms to throw, so the wheel is a genuine option even for a first-timer. Pinching is calmer and more forgiving. Madhumita will read the room and steer you; you can also start on the wheel and switch.
Does it have to be an ashtray?+
No. The same form works as an incense holder, a ring dish, or a desk catch-all — plenty of guests make it purely for the pressed hemp leaf and never put ash in it.
Can I take it home the same day?+
No — it needs bisque and glaze firing, which takes 2–3 weeks. You'll be notified when it's ready for pickup, or it can be shipped.
Can I make more than one?+
Time and clay allowing, yes — the form is small, and a confident second attempt often fits inside the hour.
Cancellation
Fees are non-refundable, including no-shows and cancellations. Tell us as early as you can if plans change.
Accessibility
The studio is on the 1st floor, stairs only. Call or WhatsApp +91 88796 54294 in advance with accessibility questions.
Getting here
First Floor, Ghoomakkad New Bldg, Rakkar Rd, Rakkar, Himachal Pradesh 176057. Directions
₹2,500/ person
1 hour · weekends