You can move this picture: drag it, press and hold then drag on a touch screen, or use the arrow keys.Printable guide 06.03

The Clay Hole University · Advanced Throwing

Gooseneck and Skinny Neck PotsPrintable pottery guide

A bottle is a cylinder that got squeezed. Three routes to the same shape, and one of them is far kinder to a beginner.

$10.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Advanced
  • 35 printable pages
  • 10 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 Gooseneck and Skinny Neck Pots printable guide?

It is a printable workbook edition of The Clay Hole University’s free “Gooseneck and Skinny Neck Pots” lesson. It covers why the neck is the hard part, the parts of a bottle named so the rest has something to point at, collaring as the move everything hangs on, and three genuinely different routes to the same shape with an honest comparison first. On paper it adds a row for every bottle, a diagnosis section, 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 “Gooseneck and Skinny Neck Pots” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 35printable pages, US Letter
  • 7quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 10hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 16glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
Why a printable, for this one

A quarter inch of diameter per pass, and no way to reach inside

Once the opening gets narrower than your hand, you are shaping a pot you can no longer reach inside of. Everything after that moment has to be done from the outside, and every decision you did not make before it is now permanent.

Collaring is the whole craft here, and it is mostly restraint: a quarter inch of diameter per pass, a slow wheel, and stopping earlier than you want to. None of which is easy to remember while a wet neck is walking out of round in front of you.

So this guide is built to be open on the table. The route circled before you sit down, the nine failures where you can see them, and a row on the log for each bottle, because the ones that fail are the ones that teach you the pass you took too far.

Look inside

Real pages, for a pot you cannot reach inside

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

  • Page 9 of the “Gooseneck and Skinny Neck Pots” printable guide: the parts of a bottle, shown with the sample watermark
    The parts of a bottleSix words, named once, so the rest of the guide has something to point at instead of describing it every time.
  • Page 25 of the “Gooseneck and Skinny Neck Pots” printable guide: keep these open at the wheel, shown with the sample watermark
    Keep these open at the wheelFour short lists built to be propped against a splash pan, with a line to tick as you go.
  • Page 21 of the “Gooseneck and Skinny Neck 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 20 of the “Gooseneck and Skinny Neck Pots” printable guide: the bottle log, shown with the sample watermark
    The bottle logOne row per bottle: which route you took, where the neck went, and what you would change next time.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Paper beats the screen here

Why narrow necks, of all things, belong on paper

The decisions here are made before the neck closes and cannot be revisited afterwards, and the move itself is about doing less. Paper is where restraint gets written down.

  • It stays open while the neck is closing

    Prop it against the splash pan and check the next pass without stopping, because the neck keeps moving whether you are watching it or not.

  • It makes you pick a route on purpose

    Three routes, and the internet mostly shows you the hardest one because it films the best. Circle yours before you centre.

  • It keeps the nine failures in front of you

    Tick the ones that describe your bottles. After a few the pattern is on the page with its cause printed beside it.

  • One card lives by the wheel for good

    The setup, the cylinder, the collar and the last two minutes, on a single page you can pull out of the binder.

How the guide is built

Built for a move that is mostly restraint

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 a good collar actually feels like.

  • The complete lesson, redesigned for paper

    The parts of a bottle, why the neck is the hard part, collaring in nine steps, and all three routes each with its own walkthrough.

  • An honest comparison before you commit

    What each route needs, what it forgives, where it usually goes wrong, and a straight answer about which to make first.

  • Videos you can reach from a printed page

    Ten 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.

  • A quiz that teaches instead of grading

    Seven questions with an answer key that explains every answer, so a wrong one still teaches you something.

  • Plain words for the jargon

    A sixteen term glossary, from the shoulder and the belly to the throwing stick and the chuck, 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 “Gooseneck and Skinny Neck Pots” lesson at The Clay Hole University. No paywall, no sign-up, no catch.

A narrow neck looks like a trick until somebody explains collaring, and then it turns out to be a hard form built out of easy parts. That is worth knowing, so the lesson stays free, for anybody, anywhere.

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 06.03, the third 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, or every printable we sell on one page.

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

What to learn once a neck comes out true

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 bottle, 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 of the three routes should I start with?
The guide gives a straight answer rather than leaving you to pick: make three small bud vases in one piece before you attempt anything else, because it is the fastest way to feel what collaring does to a wall.
How much can I collar in one pass?
About a quarter inch of diameter, which is much less than people expect. Going faster is the single most common reason a neck goes oval or spirals, and the guide says why.
Why does my neck twist?
Usually collaring too fast, with uneven pressure, or with the wheel too quick for the amount of movement. A wall pushed inward faster than it can move spirals, and it is in the diagnosis section with the other eight.
Do I need a throwing stick?
No, and the guide is clear that it is a tool that solves a problem you have to meet first. It covers what a stick does and when it earns its place, without telling you to buy one.
Can I fix a leaning neck?
Sometimes, and the guide says when. A leaning neck is usually a centering problem wearing a disguise, which is why one of the three lessons it sends you to next is about centring.
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.

Go make three bud vases

Print it tonight. Circle the route, keep the nine failures where you can see them, and write the row whether the neck survives or not.

Get the printable · $10.00

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