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The Clay Hole University · Surface and Decoration

Burnishing and Terra SigillataPrintable pottery guide

A polished surface on paper: when to pick up the stone, how to brush on terra sigillata, what a bisque firing does to the shine, and a log for learning the moisture window from your own hands.

$10.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 34 printable pages
  • 12 video picks
  • 7-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 Burnishing and Terra Sigillata printable guide?

It is the free lesson rebuilt for paper: why rubbing clay makes it shine, the moisture window and three ways to test for it, a burnish in order and the oiled second pass, tools that work, how to make and brush on terra sigillata, what a bisque and a glaze firing do to a polish, and the faults with what caused them. Built to be printed, kept beside the bench and written in.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Burnishing and Terra Sigillata” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 34printable pages, US Letter
  • 7quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 12hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 21glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For the potter whose shine keeps vanishing

The moment it is ready is not on a clock

Burnishing looks like the simplest finish in pottery. You rub a pot with a smooth stone and it shines. Then the clay smears, or the stone skates and leaves pale lines, and it feels like a skill you were born without. It is almost always how damp the clay was, not your hands.

The guide sorts it out on paper: the four stages from too soft to bone dry, three ways to tell which one your pot is in, a burnish in order from the first test on a scrap to the oiled pass at bone dry, and the quieter question of which part of a pot to do first.

It also says plainly what a kiln does to a polish. A bare burnish comes back duller from a bisque firing and a glaze firing erases it, so the guide helps you choose between a burnish and terra sigillata before you spend an evening on it.

Look inside

Real pages, for a bench with damp clay on it

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

  • Page 3 of the “Burnishing and Terra Sigillata” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before you touch clay: what you will learn, what to have on the bench, what is worth knowing, the common pitfalls, and what a good result looks like.
  • Page 5 of the “Burnishing and Terra Sigillata” printable guide: two techniques, side by side, shown with the sample watermark
    Two techniques, side by sideThe two techniques compared row by row, polishing the pot itself against painting on a very fine clay, then the idea behind the shine: clay particles are flat plates, and polishing gets them to lie down.
  • Page 20 of the “Burnishing and Terra Sigillata” printable guide: what a kiln does to a polish, shown with the sample watermark
    What a kiln does to a polishThe firing section: what a bisque does to a bare burnish, why terra sigillata keeps more of its sheen, and what a glaze firing does to both.
  • Page 27 of the “Burnishing and Terra Sigillata” printable guide: every pot you polish, and how it felt, shown with the sample watermark
    Every pot you polish, and how it feltA log to write in: the surface, how the clay felt, the tool, the minutes and what you saw. Your fingers learn the window faster than any timer.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

The window is something you learn with your hands

Burnishing happens at the bench with damp clay on your fingers. Paper suits that.

  • The stages, where you can see them

    The four stages from too soft to bone dry sit together, with what each one feels like and what it lets you do.

  • It stays by the bench

    A page stays where you put it. It does not lock its screen, and it does not mind a damp hand.

  • A log for your own clay

    Columns for the surface, how the clay felt, the tool, the minutes and what you saw. A few pots in, you know your own window.

  • One page to keep

    The stages, a burnish in order, terra sigillata in order, which surface suits which firing and how to read a fault fit on a single sheet.

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.

  • An order that agrees with itself

    The lesson said to burnish rims and handles last, and its own reason was that they dry first. The guide says first, and the foot, which dries last, goes at the end.

  • Dust handled where it matters

    Terra sigillata starts from dry powdered clay. The guide says so plainly: mix it at home, in a respirator, and treat dry stains and oxides the same way.

  • Video notes that say what the video shows

    Every note was checked against the video’s description, chapter list and frames, and rewritten where it claimed more than that.

  • 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 video moves, we repoint the address and your printed copy still goes to the right place.

  • A page to keep by the bench

    The one page summary holds the stages, both techniques in order, which surface suits which firing and how to read a fault, on a single sheet.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “Burnishing and Terra Sigillata” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

Most of what people find hard about burnishing is standing next to a pot that is not ready. You were early, or you were late, and the only cure for both is to touch a lot of pots at a lot of stages and pay attention to what your fingers tell you.

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.

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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. Polishing clay and brushing on terra sigillata work in any studio. Where a rule is only ours, such as the firings we run, the guide says so, so you can tell which line is a Clay Hole rule and which is a fact of the craft.
Do I have to make terra sigillata to use the guide?
No. The first half is burnishing alone, and terra sigillata starts in a section of its own. If you do make it, the guide says to do it at home, in a respirator, because it starts from dry powdered clay.
What will my kiln do to the shine?
A bare burnish is at its best in a low firing and comes back duller from a bisque. Terra sigillata keeps more of its sheen through a bisque, and a glaze firing erases either one. The guide helps you choose before you start.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Intermediate. The motions are simple and anybody can do them on a first day. What takes practice is judgment: reading how damp the clay is, knowing when to stop, and choosing a firing that suits the surface.
What do I need besides clay?
A smooth, hard tool such as a river stone, a metal spoon or a glass marble, a soft cloth, a barely damp sponge and a little oil for the second pass. For terra sigillata: dry clay, water, a deflocculant, a tall clear jar, a scale, and a respirator to mix it.
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 by the bench. They are numbered pages like any other, so you can print those and leave the rest on a screen.
Can I read it on a screen instead?
Yes. It is an ordinary PDF and it reads fine on a tablet or a phone. The workbook pages are the ones that want paper, because you write on them.
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 bench 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.

Learn the window from your own hands

Test on a scrap, wait for hard leather hard, go light, and keep a log of how each pot felt. The guide keeps it all in front of you at the bench.

Get the guide · $10.00

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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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