Make something.Badly, if necessary.Feel better anyway.
Psychology-informed clay projects, mindful making and gloriously imperfect pottery for beginners, overthinkers and recovering perfectionists. Online, mostly. Sunshine Coast, occasionally.
You don’t need to be good at this.
- You don’t need to be artistic.
- You don’t need to make anything useful.
- You don’t need to be good at pottery.
Clay gives your hands something to do while your brain gets a little quieter. It’s slow, it’s absorbing, it pushes back, and it has no opinion about your to-do list. That’s the whole pitch.
not a performance. not a productivity hack. just mud and attention.
Three ways in. No wrong door.
Make something unruly
Highland cows, wonky bowls and other project-based making. Printable templates and instructions included. Perfection not.
Browse ProjectsLearn online
A self-paced Mindful Clay course, in the works, for doing at home, at any old table, in your own time, with nobody watching.
Explore Mindful ClayCome to a workshop
Occasional small-group sessions on the Sunshine Coast. No experience required — just a willingness to get your hands messy.
See workshopsSimple handbuilding. Slightly smarter thinking.
Mindful Clay pairs beginner-friendly handbuilding with ideas borrowed from psychology — folded into projects you make with your hands.
- attention
- perfectionism
- self-criticism
- curiosity
- slowing down
- tolerating imperfection
- process over outcome
You’ll learn to pinch, coil and slab. You’ll also notice what your mind does when the rim goes wonky. Then you’ll keep going anyway. It’s process over outcome, with something to put on the shelf at the end.
Mindful Clay Course in the works
A longer self-paced online course. Handbuilding fundamentals, one psychology-informed idea per project, and plenty of permission to get it wrong.
Join the listClay Reset coming
A short recorded session for when you’ve got an hour, a lump of clay and a head full of noise.
Join the listClay Projects
Standalone projects — pinch pots, textured bowls, mugs, Highland cows. Pick one. Make it. Keep going or don’t.
Browse ProjectsPerfection is terribly overrated.
Wonky rims. Fingerprints. Unexpected glaze decisions. Cows who appear to have made questionable life choices. Around here these aren’t mistakes. They’re evidence that a human was involved.
handbuilt. imperfect. slightly feral.Cows inspired by chaos.
Handmade ceramic Highland cows with big personalities. Some look sweet. Some look mildly concerned. A few have definitely seen things. Alongside them: bowls for slow breakfasts, plates for shared dinners, and platters that make everything feel a bit more special. Shaped by hand, never exactly the same twice.
Potter. Psychologist. Maker of slightly wonky things.
I’m Suzanne. I’m a registered psychologist with more than 25 years’ experience, and I’m also a potter who has made more lopsided bowls than she’d care to count. Unruly Clay is where those two things overlap: simple, absorbing handbuilding, designed with an understanding of how overthinking, perfectionism and self-criticism actually work — and how much easier they are to notice when your hands are busy.
I came to pottery because I needed something creative — something I could make with my hands. I got hooked when I realised how grounding, absorbing and quietly mesmerising clay could be. It became one of the ways I protect space for myself outside work: a place to relax, create and get completely absorbed in the process of making — whether that ends up as an ugly cow or a functional, slightly wonky cup.
creativity over perfection, always
More about SuzannePottery workshops on the Sunshine Coast
Most of Unruly Clay happens online. A few times a year it happens in a room, with real clay, real people and a table that will need wiping down afterwards.
Make Your Own Highland Cow
Hand-build your own shaggy Highland cow, complete with expressive horns, unruly fringe and as much personality as you can give her. No experience required. Personality encouraged.
- Public dates
- Private groups
- Mobile workshops available
Start with something small.
A pinch pot. A questionable cow. Forty minutes without your phone. You don’t have to be good at it. You just have to start.
Explore Mindful ClayPrefer to make with other people? Come to a workshop →
Want to know when the first Mindful Clay course opens?
Leave your email and I’ll tell you — once, when it’s ready. No daily inspiration. No drip campaign. Promise.