Project guides

Hanging Wall Vases

Also called wall pockets. A vase with one flat side that hangs on a nail, holds a cutting or a dried stem, and takes up no surface at all. Easy to make and easy to get wrong, because a flat back and a curved front dry at different rates and the hanging hole has to survive shrinkage.

Build a flat back and a curved front, join them at leather hard with proper scoring, and cut the hanging hole bigger than you think. Dry it slowly with the front covered, or it warps away from the wall.

Four ways to build one The hole, the drainage and the drying Two videos, none of them ours
The route that works Hanging it safely Three things that go wrong
Illustration of a potter in a studio holding a green vase up to a hook on a grey wall while a woman in glasses watches, with a white wall pocket and a blue vase already on the wall and two slab pieces on the bench
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Four ways to build one The hanging hole Keeping the back flat Water, drainage and the wall Glazing and firing it Hanging it safely What goes wrong The whole idea, quickly The route that works Three things that go wrong Questions we get asked Keep going

Four ways to build one, the hole, the drying, and how to hang it safely.

The whole idea

A flat back is the hard part

Everything else about a wall vase is ordinary hand building. The difficulty is that one side has to stay perfectly flat while the other side is a curve, and those two shapes do not want to dry at the same speed.

A back that bows even slightly rocks against the wall and the piece hangs crooked no matter how carefully you placed the nail.

So the whole method is about controlling drying: cover the front, slow it down, and let both halves shrink together.

Start to finish

The route that works

How to make a Wall Pocket Clayworks (Clayworks Charlotte)
  1. Cut a back from a slab and let it firm to leather hard on a flat board.
  2. Make the front, either a second slab curved out or a thrown form cut in half.
  3. Score and slip both joining edges properly. This joint holds the whole weight later.
  4. Press them together and blend the seam, then run a thin coil inside along the join for strength.
  5. Cut the hanging hole now, while the clay is soft, and make it larger than you want.
  6. Cover the front with plastic and dry it slowly, flat against a board.
  7. Glaze it, keeping glaze out of the hole and off the back where it meets the wall.
If it went wrong

Three things that go wrong

The back bowed

The curved front shrank and pulled the flat back with it. Cover the front with plastic so it waits for the back, and keep the piece on a flat board the whole time.

The hole closed up

Clay shrinks by around an eighth as it dries and fires, and glaze narrows what is left. A hole that looked generous in soft clay ends up too small for a nail head.

It cracked along the seam

A join that was not scored and slipped properly, or two pieces joined at different dryness. Both halves should be the same leather hard before they meet.

The making

Four ways to build one

All four give the same thing: a flat back and a volume in front of it. Pick by what you already like making.

How to make a Wall-pocket SAB Pottery Lab A short slab version, about six minutes, with a textured edge.
  1. Two slabs, joined. The simplest. Cut a flat back, then a second slab bowed out into a pocket and joined around the edges. Full control of the outline, and it suits a shape with corners.
  2. A thrown form cut in half. Throw a small vase or cylinder, let it firm to leather hard, and cut it vertically. One half becomes the pocket, and it gets a flat slab back. This is how you get thrown curves on a wall piece.
  3. A thrown form flattened on one side. Throw it closed or nearly closed, then at leather hard press one side flat against a board. No join at all, which removes the seam that cracks.
  4. Over a slab mold. Drape a slab into or over a mold for the front, then back it with a flat slab. Repeatable, which matters if you want several that match.
  5. Whichever you choose, join at matching dryness. Two pieces at different stages shrink by different amounts and the seam opens later.
  6. Reinforce the inside of the seam with a thin coil blended in. That join is carrying the weight of the piece plus water, hanging on a wall, for years.

Size

Small works better than large. A big wall vase is heavy, needs a serious fixing, holds a lot of water, and warps more on the way to leather hard. Something that takes a single stem or a small cutting is both easier to make and more likely to actually get hung.

The detail that ruins pieces

The hanging hole

More wall vases are ruined by the hole than by anything else, and it is the easiest part to get right if you plan for shrinkage.

  1. Cut it while the clay is soft, not at bone dry. Drilling dry clay chips it and makes dust.
  2. Make it noticeably bigger than the final size. Clay shrinks by roughly an eighth from wet to fired, and glaze takes more off after that.
  3. A keyhole shape beats a round hole. Wider at the bottom, narrow at the top, so the piece drops onto a nail head and locks rather than sitting loose on it.
  4. Two holes beat one. A single hole lets the piece swing and sit crooked. Two, spaced apart, hold it level.
  5. Keep it in the thickest part of the back and leave plenty of clay around it. A hole near an edge is where a crack starts.
  6. Smooth the inside of the hole at leather hard, so there is no ragged edge to concentrate stress.
  7. Clean glaze out of it before firing. Glaze pools in a hole, narrows it, and sometimes seals it shut entirely.

The alternative that avoids the problem

A loop of clay at the top edge of the back instead of a hole through it, so the piece hangs off a screw or hook cleanly. Build it flush with the back, not stuck onto its face: anything added to the face lifts the piece off the kiln cookie, and it sags while it fires. The opening in the loop shrinks like any other hole, so cut it generous for the screw head or hook.

The hard part

Keeping the back flat

How to make a Wall Pocket Clayworks (Clayworks Charlotte) Fourteen minutes, slower and more detailed, including the joining, the decoration and the painting.
  1. Understand what causes the bow. The curved front has more surface area exposed to air, so it dries and shrinks first, and it pulls the flat back into a curve behind it.
  2. Cover the front with plastic. Plastic slows the fast part down so the slow part can catch up, and the front is the fast part. You want the front to wait for the back, not the other way round.
  3. Dry it flat on a board, back down, rather than standing it up or hanging it. Gravity plus uneven drying is worse than either alone.
  4. A little weight helps on a large flat back, the same way it helps with flat cut shapes.
  5. Compress the back slab with a rib on both sides before assembly. A compressed slab resists warping far better than one straight off the roller.
  6. Even thickness throughout. A back that is thicker at one end dries unevenly no matter what you cover it with.
It hangs on somebody's wall

Water, drainage and the wall

This is where a wall vase differs from every other pot: whatever it leaks, it leaks onto a wall.

  1. Glaze the inside completely. Unglazed stoneware still passes moisture slowly, and a damp patch on a wall shows up weeks later. The interior is the surface that matters most here.
  2. No drainage hole, ever. The opposite of a planter. A hole in the bottom of a wall vase drains onto the wall.
  3. Which means it is for cut stems, not plants. Fresh cuttings in water, dried stems, or a small plant still in its own plastic pot. Not soil sitting against the clay.
  4. Watch for crazing, seriously. A crazed interior seeps. On a mug it is a food safety issue; on a wall vase it is a stain on somebody's paint.
  5. Leave the back unglazed where it touches the wall, or at least the strip that makes contact. Glaze can mark paint, and bare clay grips slightly better.
  6. Test it before it goes on a wall. Fill it, leave it over a sheet of paper overnight, and look at the paper. Two minutes of effort, and it is the only way to be sure.
Finishing

Glazing and firing it

A shape with a flat back and a hole in it has its own glazing problems.

The back needs a clean edge

Wax the flat back, or wipe glaze off it before firing. A glazed flat face sitting on a kiln shelf sticks, and grinding it off afterward, wet and never dry, leaves a rough patch against somebody's wall.

Keep glaze out of the hole

Glaze pools in a hole and narrows it. Wax it, or wipe it clear with a damp sponge on a cotton bud before it dries.

It fires lying down

Flat back down is the stable way to fire it, on a kiln cookie or glaze catcher, a flat clay disc that catches anything that runs. We want one under every piece. Worth remembering when you choose a runny glaze for the front, because it will run downward toward whatever the piece is sitting on.

Glaze the inside thoroughly

Pour glaze in, swill and pour out, the same as any enclosed form. The inside is the part doing the waterproofing.

Think about the viewing angle

A wall piece is seen from below and from the side, not from above like a pot on a table. Put the interesting glaze where it will actually be looked at.

Check the hole after firing

Before it leaves the studio, put a nail through it. A hole that closed up is a piece that cannot hang, and it is better to find out now.

On the wall

Hanging it safely

A ceramic piece full of water, hanging above head height, is heavier than it looks and unforgiving if it comes down.

  1. Weigh it full, not empty. Water is heavy, and the fixing has to hold the full weight, not the shelf weight.
  2. A nail in drywall is not enough for anything but the smallest piece. Use a proper wall anchor, or find a stud.
  3. Two fixings rather than one if the piece has two holes. It stops it swinging and spreads the load.
  4. Not above a bed, a desk or a walkway unless you are confident in the fixing. This is the sentence worth saying when you give one away.
  5. Tell whoever receives it how it hangs and roughly what it weighs full. A gift that falls off a wall is a bad gift.
  6. Check it occasionally. Anchors loosen, especially if the piece gets lifted down and rehung for refilling.
Read this after a bad one

What goes wrong

The back is not flat

The front dried faster than the back and bowed it. Cover the front with plastic, dry it flat on a board, and compress the slab before you assemble.

A crack along the seam

Poor scoring, or two halves joined at different dryness. Score deeply, use real slip rather than water, and blend a coil along the inside.

The hole is too small

Shrinkage plus glaze. Cut it much larger than the finished size, and clean glaze out before it fires.

It stuck to the kiln shelf

Glaze on the flat back. Wax it or wipe it clean, the same as you would a foot, and fire it on a kiln cookie.

A damp patch on the wall

An under-glazed or crazed interior seeping. Glaze the inside fully, and do the overnight paper test before it goes up.

It hangs crooked

One hole, so it swings to find its own balance. Two holes, or a keyhole that locks onto the nail head.

Questions we get asked

The ones that come up at the tables

Why did the back of my wall vase bow?

The curved front has more surface exposed to air, so it dried and shrank first and pulled the flat back with it. Cover the front with plastic so it waits for the back, and keep the piece flat on a board.

How big should the hanging hole be?

Much bigger than the final size you want. Clay shrinks by roughly an eighth from wet to fired and glaze narrows what is left. Cut it while the clay is soft and clean glaze out of it before firing.

Should a wall vase have a drainage hole?

No. It would drain onto the wall. That means a wall vase is for cut stems in water, dried stems, or a small plant left in its own plastic pot, rather than soil against the clay.

One hole or two?

Two, spaced apart, so the piece cannot swing and sit crooked. A keyhole shape, wider at the bottom than the top, also works well because the piece drops onto the nail head and locks.

Do I need to glaze the inside?

Yes, thoroughly. Unglazed stoneware passes moisture slowly and a crazed interior seeps, which on a wall vase means a damp patch on somebody's paint rather than a ring on a table.

How do I know it does not leak?

Fill it and stand it on a sheet of paper overnight, then look at the paper. Two minutes of effort, and the only way to actually know before it goes on a wall.

What should I hang it on?

Something rated for the full weight with water in it, which is more than the empty weight. A plain nail in drywall is only adequate for a very small piece; otherwise use a proper anchor or find a stud.

Is there a way to avoid the hole entirely?

Yes. Build a loop of clay at the top edge of the back instead, flush with the back and not stuck onto its face, so the piece still fires flat on a kiln cookie. The opening shrinks like any hole, so cut it generous, and it hangs cleanly off a screw or hook.

Paper templates

The wall pocket on this page as a pattern you print and cut, and a faceted whale shark that hangs on the wall as a planter.

Printable patterns drawn at exact size, with a 1 inch check square on every sheet. All ninety-six, free for members logged in to a Clay Hole account, $4 to $40 each for everyone else.

A deep blue stoneware wall pocket vase hanging on a wall with eucalyptus, made from The Clay Hole wall pocket paper template Paper template 04 The Wall PocketA half-cone hanging vase with a flat back and a hanging hole.6 13/16 in tall with the hanger, 3 15/16 in wide$8, free for membersOpen A faceted deep blue whale shark wall planter with white spots, made from The Clay Hole paper template, planted along its back Paper template 21 The Geometric Whale SharkA faceted whale shark wall planter 19 1/2 in long, built from 37 flat facets over six ribs.Requires extra hardware purchase19 1/2 in long, 6 15/16 in tall, 2 3/8 in off the wall, a planter of about 1 1/4 cups$30, free for membersOpen A six-sided white stoneware bud vase with mitered corners holding dried grass, made from The Clay Hole paper template Paper template 03 The Hexagon Bud VaseSix tapered panels and a hexagon base, with mitered corners.5 3/4 in tall, 2 7/16 in across the base$8, free for membersOpen
One last thing

A pot with a job on a wall

Wall vases are one of the few pottery forms that have to work as hardware as well as pottery. It hangs, it holds water, and it does both above somebody's furniture for years.

Which is why the unglamorous parts matter more here than usual. Cover the front so it waits for the back, cut the hole far bigger than you need, glaze the inside properly, and test it over a sheet of paper before it goes up. Do those four things and the making itself is ordinary hand building.

Flat back, curved front, joined at matching leather hard. Cover the front so it waits for the back, cut the hole oversized, glaze the inside fully, and hang it on something rated for the full weight.

If you want the four building methods and the glazing detail, switch to the Comprehensive Version at the top of the page.