You can move this picture: drag it, press and hold then drag on a touch screen, or use the arrow keys.Printable guide 06.18

The Clay Hole University · Advanced Throwing

How Dan Throws Giant Sectional PotsPrintable pottery guide

Dan’s own method for pots taller than most people are: the numbers, the order, the tool list, the joins, and the lessons he paid for in lost clay.

$22.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Advanced
  • 36 printable pages
  • 17-term glossary
  • 10-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 How Dan Throws Giant Sectional Pots printable guide?

It is a printable workbook edition of The Clay Hole University’s free “How Dan Throws Giant Sectional Pots” lesson. It is his own account of his own method, written in the first person: what he puts on the wheel head, the two wheels, the bats in six sizes, the torch work, the twenty six numbered steps, and the parts he got wrong first. On paper it adds a section log, a one page reference for the join, a quiz with a full answer key, and a glossary.

Prefer to read it online first? The “How Dan Throws Giant Sectional Pots” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 36printable pages, US Letter
  • 26step method, start to finish
  • 10quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 8QR codes, each on a short Clay Hole address
  • 17glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
Why a printable, for this one

This one is not a technique. It is somebody’s whole method.

Most guides in this series explain a move. This one is Dan writing down how he personally builds pots taller than most people, section by section, including the parts he got wrong for years and the numbers he keeps coming back to.

It starts by telling you not to do it casually. The method uses a huge amount of clay, very heavy equipment, open flame, tall work, and pots that can weigh hundreds of pounds. He says so on page four, before anything else, and he means it.

What he cannot give you in writing is the feel of it. That part you earn at the wheel, one section at a time. What he can give you is the order, the arithmetic, the tool list, and about a decade of lost clay condensed into twenty six steps.

Look inside

Real pages, from somebody who has lost a lot of clay

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

  • Page 5 of the “How Dan Throws Giant Sectional Pots” printable guide: how giant are we talking?, shown with the sample watermark
    How giant are we talking?The ceiling: what the wheel, the bats, your body and ultimately the kiln will allow, with his own practical maximums.
  • Page 7 of the “How Dan Throws Giant Sectional Pots” printable guide: the tool list, shown with the sample watermark
    The tool listTwenty eight items, each with why it is on the list, including the rule about what a bat must never be made of.
  • Page 25 of the “How Dan Throws Giant Sectional Pots” printable guide: the hints, shown with the sample watermark
    The hintsThe things he wishes somebody had told him sooner, which is the part you cannot get from watching.
  • Page 11 of the “How Dan Throws Giant Sectional Pots” printable guide: the section log, shown with the sample watermark
    The section logOne row per section: the weight, the height wet, the firmness when you joined it, and what happened.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Paper beats the screen here

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

This is a build that runs over days, with a torch in one hand, and numbers from session one that you need again in session four.

  • It carries across a build that takes days

    Section one’s weight and height matter when you are joining section five. The page still knows them; you will not.

  • It stays open with a torch in your hand

    There is no version of this work where reaching for a phone is sensible. The steps prop up and stay put.

  • It records the firmness that decided everything

    Too early and the pot collapses under the added weight; too late and the seam is miserable. The log is where that timing becomes repeatable.

  • One card lives by the wheel for good

    The join in order, on a single page you can pull out of the binder and keep with the bats.

How the guide is built

Built as one potter’s method, not a general technique

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 the method demands of your body and your budget, and an honest page about whether to attempt it at all.

  • Twenty six numbered steps, in his order

    From the drawing on paper to the last honest look, each one written the way he actually does it rather than the way it is usually taught.

  • The arithmetic before the clay

    What a section costs in clay, what the whole pot costs, and the absorption number he works to. Where a figure is his rather than published, it says so.

  • The tool list, with reasons

    Two wheels rated for the weight, bats in six sizes, the torches, the long rulers, and why each one is on the list.

  • The parts he got wrong first

    A section on the things he wishes somebody had told him sooner, which is the part that does not survive being filmed.

  • Plain words for the jargon

    A seventeen term glossary, written the way he would say it to you in the building.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

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

I learned this from Stephen Procter in Vermont, and a lot of the foundation of what I do started with what I learned from him. Passing it on properly costs me nothing, so the lesson stays free. The printable is the version built to survive a session.

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 06.18, the eighteenth 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

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Where this leads

Where to go from here

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 section log, a one page reference for the join, a printed quiz with an answer key, and a glossary.
Does it have videos?
No, and that is deliberate. This method is photographs and words, because what matters is the firmness of a wall and the order of the steps, and neither of those survives being filmed.
How big can I actually go?
As big as your wheel, your bats, your body and ultimately your kiln will allow. The guide gives Dan’s own practical maximums and tells you to measure your kiln before you plan the pot.
Do I need two wheels?
For this method, yes. One holds the growing pot and the second is where every new section gets thrown. The guide says what they need to be rated for.
Is a torch essential?
For this method, yes, and the guide gives the rules plainly, including never on a plastic bat. If that rules it out for you, the sectional guide (06.08) covers the wet to wet method, which skips stiffening entirely.
Should I be worried about my back?
Honestly, yes, and the guide says so rather than being brave about it. The method has you lifting heavy bats to chest height repeatedly, and it points you at the lesson on saving your back.
I am not at The Clay Hole. Is it still useful?
Yes. It is one potter’s method, and the method travels. Anything specific to our building 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.

Build the skill first. Build the stamina second.

Print it, put it in a sleeve, and keep it with the bats. Then be ready for a very fun battle between you and a stupid amount of clay.

Get the printable · $22.00

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