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The Clay Hole University · Glazing

Glazing Big Pottery, FasterPrintable pottery guide

Big and carved pieces on paper: how to pick dip, pour or brush before you open a jar, how to glaze carved work without burying it, wax resist, runs and kiln cookies, and a way to work a whole table in passes.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Advanced
  • 38 printable pages
  • 14-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 Glazing Big Pottery, Faster printable guide?

It is the free “Glazing Big and Intricate Pottery Faster” lesson rebuilt for paper: why a big bisque piece runs out of drinking room, how to choose between dipping, pouring and brushing, how to glaze carved work without burying it, wax resist, how to keep a run off your kiln shelf, and a set of passes for glazing a whole table at once. Built to be printed, kept beside the glaze table and written in.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Glazing Big and Intricate Pottery Faster” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 38printable pages, US Letter
  • 7quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 7QR codes, each on a short Clay Hole address
  • 14glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For anyone with a big vase, a platter or a carved pot on the glaze table

A big pot is not harder to glaze. It is faster.

A mug will forgive almost anything. A big piece will not, because a bisque pot can only drink so much water before it is full, and after that the glaze stops grabbing and starts sliding. Most of what goes wrong on a large piece is the order you worked in, not your hands.

The guide puts the decisions first. It helps you choose dip, pour or brush for the shape in front of you, and then walks through each one: dipping in halves, the inside pour and the outside pour, brushing in bands, and the thin, careful method for carved and textured work. It covers wax resist, what makes a glaze run onto the shelf, and why a kiln cookie goes under every piece.

Then it gives you the thing a video cannot: a page to write on. Note the method, the glazes, how it went on glaze day and how it fired. After a few big pieces you will know which method suits which shape, 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 “Glazing Big Pottery, Faster” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before you touch a jar: what you will learn, what to have with you, what is worth knowing, the common pitfalls, and what a good result looks like.
  • Page 7 of the “Glazing Big Pottery, Faster” printable guide: pick your method, shown with the sample watermark
    Pick your methodThe last of the setup checks as a tick list, then the start of the method picker: find the shape you are holding, from a tall vase to a wide platter, and it says how to glaze it.
  • Page 17 of the “Glazing Big Pottery, Faster” printable guide: carved and intricate work, shown with the sample watermark
    Carved and intricate workThe method for carved and textured pieces, in four numbered steps: color into the cuts, wipe the high points back, then thin coats.
  • Page 31 of the “Glazing Big Pottery, Faster” printable guide: every big piece, and how the glaze came out, shown with the sample watermark
    Every big piece, and how the glaze came outA log to write in: the method and size, the glazes and coats, how glaze day went and how it fired.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

Glaze day is a wet-hands day

You cannot scroll a phone with glaze on your fingers. Paper does not mind.

  • The routine where you can see it

    The whole guide is boiled down to one page you can pin up beside the table, in the order you actually do things.

  • Decisions before the jar opens

    The method picker and the setup checks are pages you can tick off before any glaze is open, which is when the decisions have to be made.

  • A log for your own big pieces

    Columns for the method and size, the glazes and coats, what happened on glaze day and how it fired. A few pieces of notes beat a memory of what you did.

  • A reason for every rule

    Why a cookie goes under every piece, why you never shake a dipped piece, why the inside goes first. The reason is printed next to the rule, so you can tell what is a fact of the craft and what is only the studio’s habit.

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

    We checked the lesson against our own dipping and brushing lessons and our glaze rules. Where the lesson was out of step, the guide now says what those pages say.

  • Video picks, labelled honestly

    The lesson points you to videos by other potters. Each one carries a note on what its own description shows, and the guide says plainly that none of them are ours.

  • Setup you can tick

    The checks before you open a glaze are a tick list, and the dipping, pouring and passes are numbered steps in the order you do them.

  • Our rules marked as ours

    One section is only true at The Clay Hole, and it says so, so you can tell a rule of our studio from a fact of the craft wherever you work.

  • 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

    The codes at the back are short Clay Hole addresses. If a lesson 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 “Glazing Big and Intricate Pottery Faster” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

A big piece does not ask for better hands than a mug. It asks you to make every decision before the first drop of glaze lands, because a pot can only drink so much and then it stops cooperating.

Every studio has its own rules, so take the hand skills from the videos and the rules from us.

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

  • 5guides in your cart1 on us
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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 method picker, a log to write in, a one page routine, 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. Choosing a method, glazing carved work, wax resist and working in passes suit any studio. One section covers how glazing works here, and it is marked as ours, so you can tell a Clay Hole rule from a fact of the craft.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Advanced, because big and carved pieces punish mistakes. If you use our glaze wall, the guide says which certifications come first. The glossary fills in the vocabulary.
Does it cover spraying?
Only to explain why it is left out. The guide is about dipping, pouring and brushing, the three methods you can do with ordinary studio or home equipment.
What do I need besides glaze?
A banding wheel or a bat, a sponge, a towel, a kiln cookie for every piece and, for the biggest work, a catch tub and a container tall enough for your tallest form. The dashboard and the gear section list the rest.
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 routine 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.
Can I read it on a screen instead?
Yes. It is an ordinary PDF, so you can read it on a computer or a tablet. The tick lists and the log are made for pen on paper, but nothing stops you reading 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 glaze 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.

Decide first, then open the glaze

Pick the method, set up the table, put a cookie under every piece, and work in passes. The guide keeps the whole routine in front of you on glaze day.

Get the guide · $5.00

The Clay Hole University Printable Guide Terms

Licensing, safety, digital delivery, and refund terms

Your copy is yours. The guide is not.

Your purchase gives one individual purchaser a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license for personal use only. You may download the guide 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.

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Pottery is wonderfully unpredictable. It also carries real risk.

We work hard to make The Clay Hole University 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 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 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. 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, 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.

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Terms version 2026-09-19b