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The Clay Hole University · Glazing

Bubble Glaze with Dish SoapPrintable pottery guide

Bubble glaze, on paper: the cup, the straw with the hole in it, the order that keeps underglaze bubbles safe, what each failed pot is telling you, and a log for what your own cup mixes do.

$7.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Beginner
  • 22 printable pages
  • 5 video picks
  • 8-question quiz + answer key

Flip through the free sample
  • Instant download
  • Prints on any printer
  • The lesson stays free
The printable, at a glance

What is the Bubble Glaze with Dish Soap printable guide?

It is the free “Bubble Glaze with Dish Soap” lesson rebuilt for paper: the six moves, the mix of glaze or underglaze, water and soap, the straw and where its hole goes, how to spill foam onto a pot and let the rings pop, the order that keeps underglaze bubbles safe, and six ways it goes wrong. Built to be printed, kept beside the glaze table and written in.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Bubble Glaze with Dish Soap” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 22printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 5hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 9glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For anyone with a cup of glaze, a straw and a plan to make a mess

The foam is the fun part. The cup is what makes it work.

Bubble glaze looks like luck, and mostly it is a cup. How much soap went in, how full it was, how slowly you blew, and whether the pot under it had something for the rings to show against. The kiln then keeps exactly what the foam left behind.

The guide puts the whole routine in one place: six moves on one page, the mix, the straw with its hole, how to spill foam instead of pouring it, why bubbles are the top layer, and what a faint pattern, a run or a popped cup is trying to tell you.

It also gives you what a cup cannot: a page to write on. What was in the cup, how much soap, how many layers and how it came out of the kiln. After a few pots you will know your own recipe, and you will be able to repeat the good ones.

Look inside

Real pages, for a glaze table

These are actual pages from the guide, shown here with the sample watermark.

  • Page 3 of the “Bubble Glaze with Dish Soap” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before you touch a cup: what you will learn, what to have with you, what is worth knowing, the common pitfalls, and what a good result looks like.
  • Page 5 of the “Bubble Glaze with Dish Soap” printable guide: what you need at the table, shown with the sample watermark
    What you need at the tableSix things on the table, and the start of step one, with its tick list.
  • Page 12 of the “Bubble Glaze with Dish Soap” printable guide: how it works here, shown with the sample watermark
    How it works hereThe parts that are specific to our building: the jars, the table, leaving it clean and the kiln.
  • Page 15 of the “Bubble Glaze with Dish Soap” printable guide: every pot, and how the bubbles came out, shown with the sample watermark
    Every pot, and how the bubbles came outA log to write in: the glaze or underglaze, the cup mix and soap, the layers and how it fired.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

A cup and a tick list are things you keep beside you

Bubble glaze happens at a table with foam on your hands. Paper suits that.

  • The six moves where you can see them

    The whole technique sits on one page you can pin up at the end of the glaze table.

  • A reason for every rule

    The straw with a hole, the tray under the pot, the wipe down when you finish. Each rule in the guide comes with the reason behind it.

  • A log for your own cups

    Columns for the glaze or underglaze, the cup mix and soap, the layers and how it fired. A few pots of notes beat a memory of what you squirted.

  • It does not mind a wet hand

    A page stays where you put it. It does not lock its screen while you are holding a cup.

How this one is built

Rebuilt for paper, not printed from a web page

Every guide in the series is set from scratch for print. Here is what that meant for this one.

  • Read against the studio’s own rules

    We checked the lesson against The Clay Hole’s glaze and underglaze certification and our other lessons. Where the lesson was out of step, the guide now says what those pages say.

  • Underglaze bubbles, in the right order

    Underglaze goes on raw clay and is bisque fired before any glaze goes over it. The guide teaches underglaze bubbles in that order, and says to ask a main instructor before covering a whole pot.

  • A more careful straw

    A hole in the straw makes it much harder to pull glaze up, and it does not make it impossible. The guide says so, puts the hole just below your lips, and keeps the rule to only ever blow out.

  • Checks you can tick

    Each of the four steps ends in a tick list, and the six moves are numbered.

  • A quiz that explains itself

    A short quiz, and an answer key that gives the reason behind every answer rather than only the letter.

  • Codes that keep working

    Every link is a short Clay Hole address. If a page moves, we repoint the address and your printed copy still goes to the right place.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “Bubble Glaze with Dish Soap” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

Your first cup will go flat before it reaches the pot. That is almost always a cup that wanted more soap than felt right. Squirt more, stir, go slower.

The straw with the hole in it is not a suggestion, and neither is the tray. Both are there so the fun part stays fun, and so the table is clean for the next person.

Dan Pearce, founder of The Clay Hole
The series

Build a little pottery library

Every printable guide in The Clay Hole University series takes one free lesson and rebuilds it for paper, with workbook pages, a glossary and a quiz with a worked answer key. Each one keeps its number for good, so a guide you buy today is the same guide in the same place next year.

Put any five printable guides in your cart and the cheapest one is on us. Put in nine and the two cheapest are on us. It happens automatically at checkout, no code to remember.

See every printable guide

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Sits next to

Three lessons that pick up where this one leaves off

Each one is free to read online, and the codes in the guide take you straight there.

Questions

Good to know

How is this different from the free lesson?
The teaching is the same, and the free lesson is not going anywhere. The guide is that teaching rebuilt for paper: a learning dashboard at the front, a log to write in, a one page summary, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
Is this only for people who work at The Clay Hole?
No. The cup, the straw and the layers suit any studio, wherever it is. Where a rule is only ours, such as how underglaze is handled or which tools open at which Level, the guide says so, so you can tell a Clay Hole rule from a fact of the craft.
Does it cover glaze chemistry?
No. It is about the technique: what goes in the cup, how to blow the foam and how to layer it. It does not explain why a glaze foams or fires the way it does.
Do I have to be a member to use it?
You do not need to be a member to read it or to try the method at home. If you use The Clay Hole’s glaze tables, the guide explains the certification that comes first.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Beginner. You need a cup, a straw, dish soap, a dark glaze or underglaze and a pot with something light to show against. The glossary fills in the rest.
What do I need besides glaze?
A paper cup, a straw, dish soap, a tray, a banding wheel and a sponge. The dashboard lists it all.
Do I need a fancy printer?
No. It is set for an ordinary home or office printer on regular US Letter paper, with nothing important near the edges, so normal printer margins cut nothing off.
Does it print in black and white?
Yes. Nothing in it depends on color to make sense: the text, the tick boxes and the tables are black on white, and color is used for headings and small labels.
Can I print just part of it?
Yes, and most people do. The one page summary and the log are the two worth having beside the table. They are numbered pages like any other, so you can print those and leave the rest on a screen.
How does delivery work?
It is a digital download. The link arrives by email and on the order confirmation page right after checkout, so you can have it printed and beside the table the same evening.
What happens if the guide is updated?
Every edition carries its version number on the last page. When we correct or improve one, the new edition replaces the old one in the shop, and we can send the updated link to anybody who already bought it.
Can I share it?
It is licensed for your own use. Print as many copies for yourself as you like, on as many of your own devices as you like. Please do not pass the file on, upload it or use it with a class or a group without asking us first.

Squirt more soap, then blow slowly

Cut the hole, mix the cup, blow until the foam spills and leave the bubbles to pop. The guide keeps the whole routine in front of you at the table.

Get the guide · $7.00

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Depending on what you are doing, ceramics may involve extreme heat, kilns, electricity, gas, flame, sharp tools, spinning machinery, heavy equipment, pressurized equipment, silica-containing dust, fumes, chemicals, raw materials, stains, oxides, glazes, combustible materials, hot surfaces, breakable objects, and other hazards capable of causing serious injury, illness, property damage, fire, or worse.

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Terms version 2026-09-19b