A Folded Ornaments made from The Clay Hole paper template 30: a house, a tree, a lantern and a bell, each folded from one thin slab

Paper template 30, a hand-building pattern

The Folded Ornaments

A house, a tree, a lantern and a bell, each folded from one thin slab. Finished: four ornaments 2 1/8 in to 2 7/8 in tall at 12 percent shrinkage.

  • Beginner
  • About an hour for all four, plus drying
  • About 1 lb of clay
  • 2 template sheets, 6 pages
$5.50 one PDF, 6 pages, yours to print as often as you like

Flip through the free sample
What you will make

Four ornaments folded from thin slabs

A house, a tree, a lantern and a bell, each folded from a thin slab. They are hollow and open underneath, so they glaze all over and fire standing. A good use for scraps from bigger projects.

Seven small pieces from a 3/16 in slab: two wall strips, two roofs, a tree, a bell and its top. Every piece is drawn at wet size for a 3/16 in thick slab, and the finished sizes below are what comes out of the glaze kiln at 12 percent shrinkage, which is what most of the studio's stoneware does.

Ornamentsfour
Height2 1/8 in to 2 7/8 in
Widest2 1/8 in
Hangs ontwine or ribbon
What is in the pack

6 pages. Every piece whole on its own sheet.

  • 2 template sheets, each piece printed whole at exact size, with a 1 inch check square and a 5 centimeter bar on every sheet so you can prove the print before you cut
  • A cover with the finished size drawn and labeled, so you know what you are building before you roll a slab
  • One page on printing, rolling, cutting and the seam method, the same on every template
  • Assembly in 9 numbered steps written for this piece, then drying, glazing, and the three things that go wrong and why
  • A size table at 10, 12 and 14 percent shrinkage, because 52 Buff, B-Mix and porcelain do not shrink the same

The pieces

  • House wallscut 1
  • House roofcut 1
  • Treecut 1
  • Lantern wallscut 1
  • Lantern roofcut 1
  • Bellcut 1
  • Bell topcut 1
Cover page of The Folded Ornaments, a printable pottery paper template from The Clay Hole in Draper, Utah
The cover
The template sheets of The Folded Ornaments shown small, a hand-building pattern from The Clay Hole
The template sheets, shown small
Why it works

Worked out from the finished piece backward

A template that is close is worse than no template, because you trust it. Every number in this pack comes from the finished size, through the slab thickness and the shrinkage, to the flat shape that makes it. Then the finished file was measured to prove the shapes landed at that size.

1

Exact scale, with a check

Every sheet carries a 1 inch square and a 5 centimeter bar. Print at 100 percent, measure the square, and the whole sheet is right. If it is not, the print is wrong and you reprint before cutting anything.

2

Seams and bevels planned

Each edge that needs a bevel is hatched on the template and the steps say which way it leans. Mitered corners come out square because all four pieces come from one outline.

3

Tapers cut as fans

A wall that flares is drawn as part of a ring, not a trapezoid, so it closes into a cone with no pleats. The curves are worked out from the exact rim and foot sizes.

4

Fits that are already solved

Lids, flanges, saucers and ridges carry the clearance built in, at wet size, so the parts still fit after they shrink together in the kiln.

MeasurementWet, on the template52 Buff, 10 percentMost stoneware, 12 percentPorcelain, 14 percent
House wall1 1/2 in1 3/8 in1 5/16 in1 5/16 in
Tree height3 1/4 in2 15/16 in2 7/8 in2 13/16 in
Lantern wall1 3/8 in1 1/4 in1 3/16 in1 3/16 in
Bell mouth2 7/16 in2 3/16 in2 1/8 in2 1/8 in
How to use it

Print, check, roll, cut, build

Print at 100 percent

Actual size, never Fit to page. Plain copy paper works. Card stock survives a wet slab and can be used again.

Measure the square

A ruler on the 1 inch square settles whether the sheet is right. Thirty seconds that saves a whole piece.

Roll 3/16 in thick

Every clearance assumes it. Let the slab firm up to soft leather hard before you cut, so it holds an edge and still bends.

Cut the count, then build

Lay the paper on the slab, cut straight down just outside the edge, bevel where the hatching says, and follow the 9 steps. Score, slip, press, compress, every seam.

The set

The other paper templates

Forty-six of them, ten beginner, eleven intermediate, six advanced, eight expert, seven insane and four kiln furniture, all built the same way. Free for members, $5.50 to $30 each for everyone else. See all forty-six on one page.

A straight-sided handmade speckled stoneware slab mug with a strip handle, made from The Clay Hole paper template, filled with coffee on a wooden tableThe Slab Mug Beginner, $5.50, free for members Two matching tapered stoneware tumblers in a teal glaze, made from The Clay Hole tapered tumbler paper templateThe Tapered Tumbler Beginner, $5.50, free for members A six-sided white stoneware bud vase with mitered corners holding dried grass, made from The Clay Hole hexagon vase paper templateThe Hexagon Bud Vase Intermediate, $8, free for members A deep blue stoneware wall pocket vase hanging on a wall with eucalyptus, made from The Clay Hole wall pocket paper templateThe Wall Pocket Intermediate, $8, free for members A small square pink stoneware keepsake box with a flat lid, made from The Clay Hole lidded box paper templateThe Lidded Keepsake Box Intermediate, $8, free for members A sage green stoneware butter dish with the lid lifted to show the butter, made from The Clay Hole butter dish paper templateThe Butter Dish Intermediate, $8, free for members A tapered square speckled stoneware planter in its matching saucer with a pothos, made from The Clay Hole planter paper templateThe Square Planter and Saucer Beginner, $5.50, free for members A folded black stoneware serving tray holding nigiri sushi, made from The Clay Hole folded tray paper templateThe Folded Serving Tray Beginner, $5.50, free for members A small stoneware tealight house with a blue roof glowing from a candle inside, made from The Clay Hole tealight house paper templateThe Tealight House Intermediate, $8, free for members A lavender stoneware ring dish with a cone holding two gold rings, made from The Clay Hole ring dish paper templateThe Ring Dish and Ring Cone Beginner, $5.50, free for members A six-sided slab-built stoneware table lamp body in speckled charcoal glaze with a white drum shade, lit, on a side table, made from The Clay Hole paper templateThe Slab Table Lamp Advanced, $12, free for 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from a Clay Hole paper templateThe Kiln Bead Rack Intermediate, $8, free for members A tall square pierced stoneware lantern lamp made from The Clay Hole paper template, glowing with dots of lightThe Pierced Lantern Lamp Expert, $20, free for members A tall narrow stoneware canal house lantern made from The Clay Hole paper template, every window glowingThe Canal House Lantern Expert, $20, free for members A tapered stoneware lighthouse lantern made from The Clay Hole paper template, its lantern room glowingThe Lighthouse Lantern Expert, $20, free for members A handmade 14 inch stoneware wall clock with raised indigo numbers, made from The Clay Hole paper templateThe Wall Clock Expert, $20, free for members A faceted deep blue whale shark wall planter with white spots, made from The Clay Hole paper template, planted along its backThe Geometric Whale Shark Insane, $30, free for members A white stoneware marble run tower with teal channels spiraling down it, made from The Clay Hole paper 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Or all forty-six at once

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Questions

The ones that come up

Do I need a membership to buy this

No. It is $5.50 for anyone. A membership makes every template free, along with everything else a membership includes.

How do members get it free

Log in on this page with the email your membership is under, and the download button appears in place of the price. No code, no checkout.

Can I make it bigger or smaller

Yes. Print every piece of the pack at the same percentage and the parts still fit each other. Anything over about 115 percent runs a piece off the page, so check the sheet before you cut.

Which clay

Any of the studio's stoneware. The template is drawn for a 3/16 in thick slab and the sizes assume 12 percent shrinkage. 52 Buff comes out a little bigger, porcelain a little smaller, and the size table above shows both.

Can I sell what I make from it

Yes. The pots are yours. The template file is for your own use and is not to be shared, which is the whole of the terms.

What if a piece does not fit on my printer

Every piece sits whole on one letter sheet with a 3/8 inch margin, which every ordinary home and office printer reaches. Landscape sheets print landscape. Let the printer rotate the page rather than scaling it.

Members

Every template, free, every time

Forty-six templates now and more as they are drawn, all free for members logged in to a Clay Hole account. Print one tonight and bring it to your next session.

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