Three Ravens Pottery — Attraction in Rockford Township

I am not one to poo poo on small businesses and I was planning on never saying anything except to friends and the BBB, but I am heartbroken to have supported this company and offered my work. I was hired in July last year to teach hand building classes and do fun little holiday events. By the time I got a class to teach, it was a sold out Halloween session and they all built little pumpkins. I was told that I would get majority of the money made from the event outside of the materials used and the business cut. 13 people, 50 dollars a person. That is $650. I went home with $49 dollars for 3 hours of work. He kept the other $600. I reached out brushing it off thinking maybe it was a mistake and offered my next idea for Christmas only to be ghosted. I reached out to my old college professor in ceramics to finish my other piece that was suppose to be for the Christmas session with Tom's company, and my old professor told me that this is not the first time Tom has ripped off his employees. He will happily steal their work and ideas and profit off of it and never pay the person for it. His friendly attitude is a façade. I would not offer him any of your money or business. Go ANYWHERE else. He also kept all of my pieces and never gave...

I have been patronizing Three Ravens since September 2024. I took several wheel throwing classes with Madi and she always creates such a joyful and supportive environment. My husband and I attended a hand building ornament workshop with Jess who was so encouraging and even had my hesitant husband enjoying the experience and happy with his work! I’ve now been a member since May. Tom, the owner, has been helping throughout all of these different experiences. I have never met someone who cares so much about trying to reach people where they are and help them achieve anything they are willing to work to learn. All the while he works so hard and is successful at creating a welcoming, supportive, and collaborative community of artists. In the beginning I was nervous that I wouldn’t fit into the environment… boy was I wrong. Tom makes such an effort to greet everyone by name and introduce new students and members to everyone. This fosters an atmosphere where people inspire, brainstorm and share different tips and techniques they have learned with each other freely. I cannot recommend enough taking a class at Three Ravens - you won’t regret anything but not...

I just finished my first class here and plan on taking more. In the past, I have taken pottery classes at other studios but the Wednesday class I took here is definitely a favorite!

Emily, the instructor I had, was incredibly friendly and helpful. She is good at working and helping with any skill level. The Wednesday class I took had a range of people that were complete beginners to people that know some of the basics and Emily was able to teach us all something new or how to improve. Alyssa, the community outreach coordinator at Three Ravens, was also in my class and she was equally friendly and helpful when I had questions.

Overall, the class was a fun place to meet new people that share a similar interest in learning the craft and I definitely improved on the skill! Whether you want to take the class just for fun, meet new people, or you want to learn/improve on the craft I would recommend this studio to anyone that is...