You can move this picture: drag it, press and hold then drag on a touch screen, or use the arrow keys.Printable guide 06.06

The Clay Hole University · Advanced Throwing

Double-Walled PotsPrintable pottery guide

Two walls with a sealed pocket of air between them, which is the form that makes people pick a mug up off a shelf.

$10.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Advanced
  • 27 printable pages
  • 5 video picks
  • 8-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 Double-Walled Pots printable guide?

It is a printable workbook edition of The Clay Hole University’s free “Double-Walled Pots” lesson. It covers what is actually inside a double-walled pot, both ways to make one, one lump split in ten moves and two pots nested and joined in nine, the vent hole that has to go in at leather hard, and the nine ways these fail. On paper it adds a row for every attempt, a one page card for beside the wheel, a quiz with a full answer key, and a glossary.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Double-Walled Pots” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 27printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 5hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 16glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
Why a printable, for this one

The hard part is not strength, and it is not centring

A double-walled pot is two walls with a sealed pocket of air between them. It is the form that makes somebody pick a mug up off a shelf, and it is also the one where the hard part is knowing what the clay is doing somewhere you cannot see.

You close the inner wall over into a dome, and from that moment the thing holding your pot up is trapped air. You cannot look at it, you cannot rib it, and you cannot fix it once the outer wall is on.

So this guide is built to be open while you work, not read beforehand. The method you chose circled, the moves in order, and a row on the log for each attempt, because the first one will teach you more than the page can.

Look inside

Real pages, for a wall you cannot see

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

  • Page 5 of the “Double-Walled Pots” printable guide: two methods, compared, shown with the sample watermark
    Two methods, comparedOne lump split, or two pots nested and joined. What each is good for, how each fails, and which we would start you on.
  • Page 17 of the “Double-Walled Pots” printable guide: watch the hands, shown with the sample watermark
    Watch the handsThe wheel-side checklist, built to be propped against a bucket while your hands are busy.
  • Page 13 of the “Double-Walled Pots” printable guide: nine ways it fails, shown with the sample watermark
    Nine ways it failsEach one with what really caused it, and a box to tick for the ones that keep happening to you.
  • Page 15 of the “Double-Walled Pots” printable guide: the double wall log, shown with the sample watermark
    The double wall logOne row per attempt: the method, the clay, whether the vent hole went in, and where it went wrong.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Paper beats the screen here

Why this form, of all of them, belongs on paper

Everything that decides a double wall happens where you cannot see it, and it is decided in order. Paper keeps the order in front of you.

  • It stays open while your hands are committed

    Prop it against the splash pan and take the next move at a glance, because there is no good moment to stop in the middle of closing a dome.

  • It keeps the method you chose

    The two routes diverge before you centre and stop being interchangeable almost at once. Circle yours while the clay is still in the bag.

  • It remembers the vent hole

    A sealed pot with no hole is the one failure here that ruins other people’s work as well as yours. The log has a column for it on purpose.

  • One card lives by the wheel for good

    Both methods, the vent hole and the nine failures on a single page you can pull out of the binder.

How the guide is built

Built for a pot you have to get right in order

Every guide in the series is designed as a workbook first and a document second. For this one, that means:

  • A learning dashboard before page one

    What you will learn, what you need on the tray, the mistakes that get made first, and what the finished wall should feel like.

  • The complete lesson, redesigned for paper

    What is actually inside the form, both methods in full, nineteen moves between them with the reason under every step.

  • The vent hole, with a section of its own

    It goes in at leather hard, every time, and the guide keeps saying so rather than mentioning it once.

  • The drying and the kiln

    Two walls of different thicknesses dry at different speeds, which is where most of these are lost after the wheel.

  • Videos you can reach from a printed page

    Five videos chosen for what they show rather than who made them, each with a note on why it is worth your time and a code that goes straight to it.

  • Plain words for the jargon

    A sixteen term glossary, from the dome and the seam to the vent hole and the shoulder, written the way we would explain it at the wheel.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

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

A double wall looks like a party trick and it is really a sequence, done in order, on a wall you cannot see. Understanding that is the difference between a stunt and a form you can repeat, so the lesson stays free.

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
Collect them

Build a little pottery library

Every guide carries a permanent number. This one is 06.06, the sixth guide in Advanced Throwing. The series is designed to live together in a binder, section by section, so the craft ends up on your shelf in the order you learn 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.

See every printable guide

  • 5guides in your cart1 on us
  • 9guides in your cart2 on us
Where this leads

What to learn once one survives the kiln

These lessons pick up where this one leaves off. Each one is free to read now.

Good questions

Before you buy

Is this different from the free lesson?
The teaching is the same, and the free lesson is complete. The printable adds a row for every attempt, a diagnosis section with boxes to tick, a one page card for beside the wheel, a printed quiz with an answer key, and a glossary.
Which method should I start with?
The guide compares them properly and says which it would start you on. Neither is the beginner version, and it says that plainly rather than pretending one is easy.
Does it really need a vent hole?
Yes, at leather hard, every time. A sealed pocket that never gets one is a problem in the kiln for everybody’s work, not only yours, which is why the guide repeats it rather than mentioning it once.
How thick should the inner wall be?
Thinner than the outer one, because the outer wall does the structural work once the rim is joined. The guide gives the numbers and says which wall to leave heavy and why.
Why did my outer wall slump?
Usually it was thrown too thin for the height, or the inner dome was not closed enough to support it. Both are in the diagnosis section with the other seven.
Is this too advanced for me?
It assumes you can throw a cylinder you would keep and collar a rim without tearing it. If you can, this is a sequence to learn rather than a new skill.
I am not at The Clay Hole. Is it still useful?
Yes. It is about the form and what your hands do, wherever you throw. Anything specific to our studio is marked as ours, and the studio numbers carry the date they were true.
Do I need a fancy printer?
No. It is designed 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.
Can I print it in black and white?
Yes. Nothing depends on color, and we looked at the workbook pages in grayscale to be sure.
Can I use it on an iPad or laptop instead?
Yes. Every QR code in the guide is also a tappable link, so on a screen you just tap instead of scanning.
How do I get it after I buy?
Right after checkout you get a download link by email and on your order confirmation page. Each link works up to seven times.
What if the guide gets updated?
Every edition carries a version number. When we correct or improve a guide, everyone who bought it gets an email with the new edition at no charge.
Can I share it with my class or studio?
Please don’t. It is licensed for your own personal use. Anyone can read the full lesson free online, and the printable is here if they want their own copy.

You will still ruin the first one

Print it tonight. Pick the method before you centre, keep the checklist where you can see it, and write the row either way.

Get the printable · $10.00

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