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The Clay Hole University · Surface and Decoration

Engobes: What They Are and When to Use OnePrintable pottery guide

What an engobe is, how it differs from underglaze, slip and glaze, which stage to coat at, the ten steps from stirring the jar to the kiln, and the rules for bringing your own jar to The Clay Hole.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 29 printable pages
  • 19-term glossary
  • 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 Engobes: What They Are and When to Use One printable guide?

It is the engobe lesson on paper: what an engobe is and how it differs from underglaze, slip and glaze, the six situations where one earns its place, wet, dry or bisque, the ten steps from stirring the jar to the kiln, the common problems and the rules for bringing your own jar to The Clay Hole. Built to be printed, kept beside the jar and written on.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Engobes: What They Are and When to Use One” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 29printable pages, US Letter
  • 7quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 7QR codes, each on a short Clay Hole address
  • 19glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For the color we will never carry

A black pot, from a light clay

We carry no black, dark brown or red clay, and that is not changing. An engobe is how you get those anyway: a thin coat of color, brushed on, that stops the surface being the color of the clay underneath.

It is easy to get wrong in small ways. Two thin coats beat one thick one, the stage you coat at matters, and the glaze that goes over the top has to go over color that has already been fired on. None of it is hard, and all of it is easier with the steps in front of you.

The guide puts the choices in the order you make them, gives you one page to keep beside the jar, and has a log for every test tile so the good piece starts from a result instead of a guess.

Look inside

Real pages, for the bench next to the jar

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

  • Page 6 of the “Engobes: What They Are and When to Use One” printable guide: engobe, underglaze, slip or glaze, shown with the sample watermark
    Engobe, underglaze, slip or glazeThe four side by side on one page: what is in each, whether it hides the clay, when it goes on, how it comes out and whether it is food safe on its own.
  • Page 10 of the “Engobes: What They Are and When to Use One” printable guide: wet, dry or bisque, shown with the sample watermark
    Wet, dry or bisqueThree cards, one for each stage you can coat at, with what each is best for, what to watch out for and a verdict, and the one thing that is true at every stage.
  • Page 11 of the “Engobes: What They Are and When to Use One” printable guide: how to put it on, shown with the sample watermark
    How to put it onThe start of the ten steps: stirring the jar, pouring a cup so the jar stays clean, and choosing a soft, wide brush.
  • Page 22 of the “Engobes: What They Are and When to Use One” printable guide: every engobe test tile, shown with the sample watermark
    Every engobe test tileA log to write in: the clay, the color, the coats, the stage, the glaze over it and how it fired, so the good piece starts from a result instead of a guess.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

You will want it open beside a jar of color

Brushing engobe is a few habits kept steady with wet hands: stir, pour, go thin, wait. Paper suits that.

  • The steps stay in view

    Ten steps on two pages that you can prop beside the jar, with the reason under each one.

  • It holds still

    A page stays where you put it while both hands are busy. It does not lock its screen and it does not mind a splash of engobe.

  • A tile to write down

    The log has a row for every test tile: clay, color, coats, stage, glaze and result. A page of them will tell you more about your jars than any chart can.

  • One page for the jar

    The one page summary has which job takes which jar, which stage, how to put it on and the rules that never bend. Pin it up beside the shelf.

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 our other lessons

    The bisque rule, the kiln cookie, who gets studio underglaze and what counts as food safe were each checked against the lesson or page that teaches them, and where this lesson said something looser than the rest of the University, the guide and the free lesson were made to match.

  • Mayco’s words, checked

    Everything the lesson credits to Mayco was read against Mayco’s own pages. Four places where the lesson said more than Mayco does were corrected, in the guide and in the lesson.

  • Written for any studio

    Where The Clay Hole does something its own way, the guide names it, so a reader working somewhere else knows which line is a Clay Hole rule and which is the craft.

  • The colors as a list

    The seven approved engobes are a table with a small square of color beside each name, so you can see the whole list at a glance.

  • 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 “Engobes: What They Are and When to Use One” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

Think of an engobe as a change of outfit for the pot, not a change of body.

If that would bother you, decide before you buy a jar, not after.

Then make one tile. It costs almost nothing, and it is the only honest way to find out what your clay, your color and your glaze do together.

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, or every printable we sell on one page.

  • 5guides in your cart1 on us
  • 9guides in your cart2 on us
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.
Do I need this if I only want to paint designs on pots?
Probably not. Underglaze is the tool for drawing on a pot, and the guide says so plainly. An engobe is for changing the whole surface: a black, a dark brown, a red, a clean white ground to glaze over, or a coat to carve through.
Can I put a glaze over an engobe?
Yes, after a bisque firing. The guide is clear that at The Clay Hole an engobed piece is bisque fired before any glaze touches it, brushed or dipped, and it gives the reason.
Are engobes food safe?
Not on their own. They fire matte and stay porous, so anything that holds food or a drink needs a glaze over the top that is rated for food. The guide says how to check.
Which engobes does it cover?
Mayco Stoneware Engobes, in the seven colors listed in the guide. The rules section is specific to The Clay Hole, and the guide marks which lines are a studio rule and which are the craft.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Intermediate. You should be comfortable brushing on an even coat and telling leather hard from bone dry. Nothing in it needs a wheel.
What do I need besides a jar?
A soft fan brush or a hake, a cup to pour into so the jar stays clean, a leather hard piece if you plan to carve or a bisque piece if you do not, and a scrap of your own clay for a test tile. 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. The text, the tick boxes and the tables are black on white, and every color is written out by name. The small squares beside the seven engobes are the only use of color for its own sake, and the names carry the meaning.
Can I print just part of it?
Yes, and most people do. The one page summary and the test tile log are the two worth having beside the jar. 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 jar 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.

Make one tile first

An engobe rewards the person who fires a test tile before the good piece. The guide puts the steps in front of you, keeps the rules in one place and gives you a log for the result.

Get the guide · $5.00

The Clay Hole University Printable Guide Terms

Licensing, safety, digital delivery, and refund terms for printable guides and paper templates

Your copy is yours. The work behind it is not.

These terms cover every printable guide and every paper template from The Clay Hole. In this section, "product" means the guide or template you bought, including its PDF file and everything in it. The rules below apply to both. Paper templates add one permission, in the next section, and nothing else in that section loosens anything here.

Your purchase gives one individual purchaser a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license for personal use only. You may download the product to your own devices, print copies for your own use, write all over them, spill clay water on them, replace a coffee-damaged copy, and generally use the heck out of what you bought.

What you may not do is distribute the product to anyone else, whether you charge for it or not.

That means you may not share, forward, email, upload, post, publish, copy, reproduce, resell, sublicense, redistribute, or otherwise provide the product, or any substantial portion of it, to another person. That includes passing it on as a photo, scan, screenshot, tracing, printout, or recreation. You may not place it in a shared drive, group chat, membership library, online community, file-sharing service, studio resource folder, classroom packet, employee handbook, course, workshop, or other shared collection. You may not make copies for students, members, employees, friends, classes, studios, schools, groups, or organizations.

You may not remove or obscure copyright notices, watermarks, attribution, or other ownership information, or sell, republish, or commercially exploit modified or derivative versions of the product, including patterns, outlines, or designs based on it.

Purchasing the product does not transfer ownership of its copyrighted text, photographs, illustrations, graphics, designs, patterns, shapes, layouts, worksheets, or other original content. Those rights remain with The Clay Hole and their respective rights holders. Copyright law protects the expression contained in these guides and templates, while ideas, methods, techniques, and processes may have different legal treatment.

If you would like to use one of our guides or templates with a class, studio, school, team, or other group, contact The Clay Hole about permission or group licensing. Please do not make twenty copies and call it manifesting.

Paper templates: make them, sell what you make

Everything in the section above applies to paper templates in full, including the template file, its patterns, and its design. This section adds one permission, and the credit that goes with it. It is the only exception to the personal-use rule above.

If you buy a paper template, you may use it to make ceramic pieces, and you may sell those pieces, in person or online. That permission belongs to the purchaser, and it covers the ceramic pieces only. It does not cover the template, its patterns, or any copy or version of them, which may not be shared, sold, or passed on in any form.

You may not claim that you created the design. The design of each paper template, including its shapes, proportions, patterns, and layout, was created by Dan Pearce. That stays true no matter how many pieces you make or sell. Do not describe the design as your own, and do not sell it as your own design.

Your final creative choices are yours. The glazes, colors, surface decoration, carving, texture, and any changes you make to the form belong to your finished piece, and you may claim them as your own work. The structural credit for the design stays with Dan Pearce.

Credit is required for pieces sold online. If you sell online a piece made from an Advanced, Expert, Insane, or Legendary template, your listing must credit Dan Pearce as the designer of the template and link to theclayhole.com. For example: Made from a paper template designed by Dan Pearce, https://theclayhole.com. Pieces made from Beginner and Intermediate templates do not need the credit, but you still may not claim the design as your own.

Templates marked NEW

Every paper template starts out marked NEW, as part of the New Pattern Program. NEW means nobody has built that template in clay yet. It does not mean the template is unfinished. Every template is audited at least three times for accuracy and is drawn to work as designed. The NEW mark comes off once someone builds the template and it checks out.

When you buy, claim, or download a template marked NEW, or a bundle, package, or collection that holds one, you accept that it has not been built yet, that you use it at your own discretion, and that you may need to adjust as you build if your project needs it.

A template marked NEW is covered by every one of these terms, exactly like any other template. If you find something indisputably wrong in one, the promise in "Refunds, mistakes, and making it right" below applies.

Pottery is wonderfully unpredictable. It also carries real risk.

We work hard to make The Clay Hole University and our paper templates accurate, useful, practical, and ridiculously thorough. But pottery is a hands-on craft involving countless variables that no written guide can completely control or anticipate.

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.

These guides and templates are provided for general educational and informational purposes. They are not a substitute for hands-on training, competent supervision, your studio’s safety procedures, applicable laws or codes, Safety Data Sheets, or the instructions and warnings supplied by the manufacturers of your clay, glaze, chemicals, tools, kilns, equipment, protective gear, or other materials.

Studios, kilns, clay bodies, glazes, firing schedules, electrical systems, ventilation systems, equipment, environmental conditions, application thicknesses, material formulations, and individual techniques vary enormously. Something that works beautifully in one situation may fail spectacularly in another. That is part of pottery. Occasionally, it is a very expensive part of pottery.

You are responsible for determining whether any technique, material, combination, firing schedule, tool, or process described in a guide or template is appropriate and safe for your specific circumstances before using it.

Use appropriate protective equipment. Use adequate ventilation and dust control. Read manufacturer instructions and Safety Data Sheets. Follow your studio’s rules. Obtain qualified instruction when a process or piece of equipment requires it. Test materials and techniques before committing important work to them. If you do not understand how to perform something safely, do not proceed until you do.

Never assume that a ceramic surface, glaze, clay body, firing method, finished vessel, repair, decoration, or other result is food-safe, microwave-safe, dishwasher-safe, oven-safe, structurally sound, chemically stable, or suitable for any particular purpose solely because it appears in or is discussed in one of our guides or templates. Verify suitability independently when it matters.

Ceramics also refuses to sign contracts promising beautiful results. Colors change. Glazes move. Kilns have opinions. Pots crack. Materials interact unexpectedly. Manufacturers reformulate products. Equipment behaves differently. The Clay Hole does not guarantee any particular aesthetic, functional, firing, glazing, structural, or other result.

By choosing to use the information in a guide or template, you accept responsibility for your own materials, equipment, workspace, safety decisions, testing, methods, and results. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, The Clay Hole and its owners, employees, contributors, and affiliates are not responsible for injury, illness, property damage, lost work, failed projects, kiln or equipment damage, financial loss, or other loss arising from or related to your use of, or reliance upon, the guide or template.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any right or liability that applicable law does not allow us to exclude or limit.

Digital guides and templates, immediate delivery, and refunds

These are digital products delivered electronically and made available for use immediately after purchase. Unlike a physical book, a downloaded digital file cannot meaningfully be returned to us once it has been delivered.

By completing your purchase and requesting immediate access to the guide or template, you consent to digital delivery beginning immediately. Where applicable law provides a cancellation or withdrawal period for digital content, you acknowledge that beginning the download, access, or delivery of the digital content may cause that cancellation or withdrawal right to end.

Once access to or delivery of the purchased digital guide or template has begun, the purchase is final and non-refundable except where a refund, replacement, cancellation, or other remedy is required by applicable law.

If the file you receive is corrupted, inaccessible, materially different from what was described, or there is a genuine technical problem with delivery, please contact us. We would much rather fix the problem than leave you staring angrily at a PDF that refuses to PDF.

Refunds, mistakes, and making it right

Except where the law requires otherwise, we do not offer refunds on any paper template or printable guide. Pottery has a hundred different ways to do most things, and every guide and template shows one of them. We put real work into making each one as accurate, thorough, and finished as we can, because we want you to love what you bought. A guide or template that you would have done differently, or a piece that surprises you in the kiln, is pottery being pottery, not a problem with the file.

Mistakes happen, even in work we care about this much. To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not responsible for any cost or loss that comes with an error in what we send, whether that is clay, materials, firing costs, or your time.

What we will do is fix it. If you find something that is indisputably wrong in a guide or template (an actual error, not a different way of doing it), contact us and we will correct it within a week and upload the new document so you can download it.

Custom step illustrations from Clayla have one more promise. It is rare for an illustration not to work, but Clayla does not get every drawing right. If you buy one and it misses, text us the illustration and we will be happy to refund it.

Terms version 2026-11-15