Warm, funny and fast-talking Fabian Pesci draws a parade of regulars at Orlando-area farmers markets, where he sells ceramics with lacy patterns. Now the artist is opening his studio for two-part classes, teaching up to six fans at a time how to create their own platters and bowls. My advice? Learn to make pottery the FABU way. Did I mention the experience includes dinner?
Before opening his classes to the public, Pesci invited five hangers-on, including me, to learn to make pottery the FABU way. Now he's ready for the rest of you.
This is how it works. You'll gather one evening in Pesci's home, which has a studio in the back. You'll stick on a name tag and meet your fellow students. If conversation is awkward, don't be shocked if you soon find some chablis in a stemmed glass. Fun is part of the program.
You'll walk to the studio, where Pesci will show you all the steps to making his lace-embedded pottery. (Here's a feature I wrote about it for Edible Orlando.)
Then, the playing begins. You'll flip through piles of lace until you find two that you like, and through another pile of oddities like bathmats, which offer patterns for the underside of your creation. Everything else you need will be waiting on the work tables. And, step by step, you'll make the same kind of pretty, lacy, unusual pottery Pesci does. In other words, you'll learn to make pottery the FABU way.
Here's a bit of Fabian demonstrating.
[embed]https://youtu.be/h51286hMQho[/embed]
Once you've made your patterned dishes, you'll choose colors for each of your two pieces. When they're dry, Pesci will add the color and bake the pottery. It will be ready to use when you return a week later, and you'll eat a home-cooked dinner on it.
We started with melted sheep's cheese (which with Pesci's accent sounded like "cheap cheese") covered with honeyed nuts. Then this.
Delicious, truly.
Once Pesci cleans off your dishes--which can go in the microwave, oven and dishwasher--you'll take them home. Time to have a party!
If you want to learn to make pottery the FABU way, contact Pesci here or let me know and I'll pass your information on to him. The class is $135 per person, and would be well-suited to small personal and corporate groups. For the price, you'll receive the instructions, two pieces of your own pottery, and a delightful dinner with wine.
Live enthusiastically,
Rona