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The Clay Hole University · Project Guides

Ceramic Mosaics, from First Cut to GroutPrintable pottery guide

Roll one slab, break it on purpose, and turn a shelf of cracked pots into something that lasts. The whole job on paper, from the first cut to the last wipe of the sponge.

$12.505 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 34 printable pages
  • 15 video picks
  • 7-question quiz + answer key

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

What is the Ceramic Mosaics, from First Cut to Grout printable guide?

It is the whole mosaic on paper, in the order you actually do it, from rolling a slab that is meant to be broken to buffing the haze off three days later. It covers making your own tesserae rather than buying them, the firing trick that turns a hundred and forty four charges into one, how to use a shelf of cracked and failed pots as material, and the one skill that decides how the finished piece looks: cutting, which is really aiming a crack rather than cutting a line. Then the four decisions that have to agree with each other, base, adhesive and grout matched to where the piece will live, because a wooden panel and white glue are both fine indoors and both fail on a porch. Then laying, and andamento, which is the reason some mosaics look composed and others look filled in. Then the grouting hour, start to finish, including the haze that makes everybody think they have ruined it. Eight ways it goes wrong each get their own card with the cause, and almost every cause happened hours before the symptom. There is a record sheet for every piece you make, a glossary, the full quiz with an answer key that explains every answer, and a bench reference with the numbers and the fault index on one page.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Making ceramic mosaics” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 34printable pages, US Letter
  • 7quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 15hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 20glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For the shelf you cannot throw away

This is the one project where a cracked pot is raw material

Every potter has the shelf. The bowl that split in trimming, the mug whose handle let go, the plate that came out of the glaze firing with a hairline straight through it. It sits there for a year because throwing it away feels wrong and keeping it feels silly.

All of it is fired stoneware with real glaze on it, which is exactly what a mosaic is made of. It was never going to hold water anyway. The only thing standing between that shelf and a finished piece is knowing which board to stick it to, which glue, and how to aim a crack with a pair of nippers.

What goes wrong with mosaics almost never announces itself at the time. Whether the backs got glazed, whether anybody sorted by thickness, whether the board was wood and the piece was going outside. Every one of those looks perfect for eight months. That delay is the whole reason mosaics have a reputation for being fussy, and it is the reason this one is worth having written down before you start rather than after.

Look inside

Real pages, for a bench covered in adhesive

These are actual pages from the guide, shown here with the sample watermark. The full guide has none.

  • Page 6 of the “Ceramic Mosaics, from First Cut to Grout” printable guide: a mosaic is four decisions, and they all have to agree, shown with the sample watermark
    A mosaic is four decisions, and they all have to agreeThe layer diagram, with every part numbered beside it: why the finished surface sits at your thickest piece rather than the average, and which gap is the only one you control.
  • Page 9 of the “Ceramic Mosaics, from First Cut to Grout” printable guide: the cracked pot pile is the point, shown with the sample watermark
    The cracked pot pile is the pointFired stoneware with real glaze on it is exactly what a mosaic is made of. Washing, sorting flat from curved, and keeping the interesting rims whole.
  • Page 22 of the “Ceramic Mosaics, from First Cut to Grout” printable guide: eight ways it goes wrong, shown with the sample watermark
    Eight ways it goes wrongPieces let go, lumpy surface, a haze that will not shift, busy and somehow dead. Each with the cause, and almost every cause happened hours earlier.
  • Page 23 of the “Ceramic Mosaics, from First Cut to Grout” printable guide: every mosaic you make, and how it held up, shown with the sample watermark
    Every mosaic you make, and how it held upOne line per piece: where it lives, what you used for each layer, and what happened. The faults here are slow, so the record is the only honest feedback.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

Both hands are covered in adhesive for most of it

Cutting, buttering and grouting are all two handed jobs done with something wet on your fingers. That is the worst possible moment to be scrolling, and the best possible moment to have a page propped against a jar.

  • It stays on the step you are on

    A page does not scroll, time out or go dark while you are waiting fifteen minutes for grout to firm up. It sits there showing the next move.

  • Nothing to wipe your hands for

    Nobody has ever scrubbed back through a twenty minute video with a gluey thumb to find the part about which direction to wipe the sponge.

  • The grouting hour, in order

    Ten steps that have to happen in sequence with real waiting between them. Miss the order and you get the haze that takes two hours to fix instead of twenty minutes.

  • A fault index you can reach with an elbow

    The bench reference has the eight faults and their causes on one page. When a whole section slides, you want the cause in five seconds.

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.

  • The four decisions, up front

    A layer diagram with a numbered key beside it, showing what the base, the adhesive, the pieces and the grout each do, and why the finished surface sits at your thickest piece rather than the average.

  • Making the tesserae, step by step

    Eight steps from rolling a quarter inch slab to breaking it cold, plus the two options for when to cut, and what shrinkage does to a plan that has a dimension in it.

  • A table that matches the layers to the weather

    Four rows: indoors dry, indoors wet, outdoors or freezing, and glass. Base, adhesive and grout for each, so the four choices cannot disagree with each other.

  • Eight faults, each with its own card

    Not a list of tips. What caused it, what to do about the one in front of you, and which of them cannot be fixed once the glue is dry.

  • Videos as codes you can scan

    Fifteen, from mosaic makers with no connection to us, each chosen for a different part of the job and printed as a code beside the step it belongs to.

  • A record sheet, a glossary and a bench card

    Somewhere to log every piece and how it held up, the words the mosaic trade uses from andamento to pique assiette, and the numbers and faults on one page for the wall.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “Making ceramic mosaics” lesson at The Clay Hole University. No paywall, no sign-up, no catch.

This is the only project in the building where the shelf of failures is an asset. A studio full of potters generates cracked, warped and disappointing work constantly, and every bit of it is fired stoneware with real glaze on it. Cut it up.

The University is free and stays free. The guides are the version rebuilt for paper with an unreasonable amount of care, and buying one keeps the free side going.

Thank you. Genuinely.

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: the teaching in the order you do it, the numbers where you need them, a quiz with an answer key that explains itself, and somewhere to write down what actually happened when you tried it.

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

What does this give me that the free lesson does not?
The same teaching, rebuilt for a bench rather than a screen. It opens with a learning dashboard, runs the whole job in the order you do it, and then adds the things only paper can carry: a record sheet for every piece you make, a bench reference with the numbers and the eight faults on one page, a glossary, and the full quiz with an answer key that explains why each answer is right rather than just marking it. The lesson stays free and always will.
Do I need a kiln, or a studio?
You need somewhere to fire a slab, so a kiln or a studio that will fire for you. Everything after the firing is a home job: the board, the adhesive, the grout and the sealer are all hardware store materials with their own dust and their own cleanup, and the guide says so plainly. If you are a member here, the firing side is covered, including the one decision that changes the cost by a factor of a hundred.
Can I use broken pots instead of making tesserae?
Yes, and there is a whole section on it. Fired stoneware does not go off, so a pot that broke three years ago is still good as long as it is clean and completely dry. The guide covers sorting flat from curved, keeping the interesting rims and foot rings whole, reducing big shards without a hammer, and easing every edge you will touch, which is the step people skip.
I have never cut tile. Is that the hard part?
It is the one skill that takes practice, and it takes about fifty pieces. The thing that makes it click is that nippers do not cut at all: they start a crack and the crack runs, so you are aiming a crack rather than following a line. There are eight steps on it, including the quarter inch of jaw over the edge that fixes most bad cutting immediately, and two videos from people who cut ceramic for a living.
Is it safe? What do I need?
Safety glasses before the first cut, because a nipped glaze chip travels further than you expect and is sharp on every edge. And a mask rated N95, P100 or FFP while the grout powder is dry, because grout is a cement product and the dust carries silica. An unrated one strap mask does not do that job. The guide says both plainly and points at our masks and respirators lesson for how to pick one.
Is it too early for me?
It is marked intermediate, but not because the moves are hard. Rolling a slab, breaking it and pressing pieces into glue are all things a beginner can do on a first afternoon. It is intermediate because it is four crafts stacked on each other and the mistakes are all delayed, so a wrong choice looks perfect for eight months. That is exactly what a written guide is good for.
What format is it, and how do I get it?
A PDF, US Letter size, delivered the moment the order goes through. The link arrives by email and on the order confirmation page, so it is yours straight away with nothing to wait for.
Will it print properly on my printer?
Yes. 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. It reads fine in black and white too, though the layer diagram and the cover are nicer in color. You can print just the bench reference and the record sheet if that is all you want on the wall.
What happens when a guide is updated?
Every edition carries its version number on the last page, and the codes in it point at short Clay Hole addresses rather than at anything that can move. So if a video changes hands or a page moves, we fix the address and your printed copy keeps working. There is a code on the last page that always takes you to the latest version.
Can I share it, or use it with a class?
It is licensed to you, for your own use. Print it as many times as you like, put it on your own devices, spill grout on it and print a fresh one. Please do not forward, upload, resell or copy it for other people. If you want to use it with a class, a studio, a school or a group, ask us and we will sort something out.

The shelf of failures is the material

One slab, one firing charge, a pair of nippers and a board that suits the weather. Download it, print the bench reference, and keep it propped against a jar where the adhesive is.

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