You can move this picture: drag it, press and hold then drag on a touch screen, or use the arrow keys.Printable guide 08.06

The Clay Hole University · Project Guides

How to Make Kitchen StrainersPrintable pottery guide

Colanders, berry bowls, tea strainers and soap dishes, with the one number that decides whether they work and the glaze day drill that keeps every hole open.

$7.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 28 printable pages
  • 10 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 How to Make Kitchen Strainers printable guide?

It is the whole strainer job on paper: which of the four forms you are making, how much bigger than finished to cut the holes, the one drying window they cut cleanly in, and the glazing drill that stops the kiln sealing them shut. The web version’s calculator comes with it as a printed table, so you can work out a hole size with clay on your hands.

Prefer to read it online first? The “How to Make Kitchen Strainers” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 28printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz 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
The one form that fails completely

A mug with a flaw is still a mug

A colander whose holes filled with glaze is not a colander. It is a bowl that holds dirty water, and there is nothing to do with it. That is what makes a strainer different from everything else you have thrown: it is the one piece where one detail decides whether the whole thing works.

Two details, really. How much bigger than finished you cut the holes, which is arithmetic nobody does in their head, and whether you go back and open every single hole twice on glaze day, which is the step everyone means to do and then does once.

Both of those happen with wet hands, under a clock, at the bench. Neither of them happens while you are scrolling.

Look inside

Real pages, for a wet bench and a glaze bucket

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

  • Page 3 of the “How to Make Kitchen Strainers” printable guide: what you will learn, and what goes wrong, shown with the sample watermark
    What you will learn, and what goes wrongThe whole guide in one spread before you start: what to have ready, the pitfalls, and what a finished one looks like.
  • Page 6 of the “How to Make Kitchen Strainers” printable guide: how big to cut the holes, shown with the sample watermark
    How big to cut the holesThe lesson’s calculator as a printed table. Finished hole size down the side, how you plan to glaze it across the top, and the cutter to reach for in every cell.
  • Page 9 of the “How to Make Kitchen Strainers” printable guide: there is one window, and it is not very wide, shown with the sample watermark
    There is one window, and it is not very wideToo soft, this is the one, too late, repair only. The four stages with what each one does to a hole, so you can tell by feel.
  • Page 17 of the “How to Make Kitchen Strainers” printable guide: work backwards to the hole you want, shown with the sample watermark
    Work backwards to the hole you wantThe arithmetic as a sheet you fill in: the piece, the finished hole, the shrink rate, the glaze allowance, what to cut and what it came out.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

Glaze day gives you about a minute, and both hands are busy

Dip a strainer and every hole floods at once. From that moment you have roughly a minute to open all of them before the glaze sets, with a needle tool in one hand and the pot in the other. That is the worst possible time to be looking for a phone.

  • It does not go dark

    A page sits there showing the drill while you work through fifty holes. No timeout, no scrolling back to find where you were, no wet knuckle on a screen.

  • You can tick it as you go

    Two lists, making day and glazing day, meant to be printed and marked with a pencil. Print them again for the next piece.

  • The arithmetic is already done

    A table of finished hole sizes against the four ways of glazing, with the hole to cut and the nearest standard cutter in every cell. No maths with slip on your fingers.

  • It survives the studio

    Clay dust, glaze splash and a wet bench. A printed page you can replace for nothing beats a phone you have to wipe.

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.

  • The calculator, as a table

    The lesson’s hole size tool runs in a browser and cannot print. Its formula is worked out here across eight finished sizes and four ways of glazing, with the nearest standard cutter named each time.

  • The four forms, all at once

    Colander, berry bowl, tea strainer and the soap and garlic holders, side by side with the finished hole size each one needs. The web shows you one at a time.

  • Every fault, not just the one you picked

    Six ways a strainer goes wrong, each with what happened, whether this piece can be saved, and what to change next time. On the web they are six buttons.

  • One drying window, drawn out

    Too soft, leather hard, bone dry, after bisque. What each one does to a hole, so you can tell where you are by feel rather than by guessing.

  • Two working lists and a planning sheet

    Making day and glazing day as tick lists, plus a sheet for working a hole size backwards from the size you want and writing down what it came out.

  • A quiz, an answer key and a glossary

    The same questions as the free lesson, with the reasoning behind every answer, and the words this job uses in plain language.

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 to Make Kitchen Strainers” lesson at The Clay Hole University. No paywall, no sign-up, no trial. This is the same teaching set for paper, so you can take it to the bench.

A mug with a flaw in it is still a mug. You drink out of it, you like it, nobody knows. A colander whose holes filled in is not a colander at all.

People believe the part about cutting them bigger and then skip the part that matters just as much, which is going back and opening every hole twice on glaze day. Glaze films across an opening the way water films across a small ring, and the kiln turns that film into a wall.

Your first one will clog somewhere, and it will clog for a reason you can name. That is more than most first attempts give you, and the second one will be right.

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: the teaching in the order you do it, the numbers worked out, the things that go wrong with what to do about each one, workbook pages to fill in, and a quiz with the reasoning behind every answer. This one is number 08.06, in the project guides, and its number never changes.

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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 lesson is the same teaching and it stays free. This is that teaching rebuilt for paper: the hole size calculator worked out as a printed table, all four forms and all six faults laid out at once instead of behind buttons, two tick lists for the bench, a planning sheet you fill in, a glossary and the quiz with an answer key. It is for the bench, not the sofa.
Do I need a wheel?
No. A strainer is a bowl with holes in it, and the guide is about the holes. Throw the bowl, pinch it, or drape a slab into or over a mold, and everything from the hole size onwards is the same. One of the videos in it is a complete build with no wheel anywhere.
Is this too advanced for me?
It is set at intermediate, and that is about patience rather than skill. Nothing in it is hard to do with your hands. What makes it intermediate is that the holes only cut cleanly inside one drying window, and that the glazing asks you to go back over every opening twice when you would rather be finished.
Will it print properly on my printer?
Yes. It is set for US Letter with margins any home printer can manage, and it is built to read in one colour as well as in colour. Print it single sided so you can mark the lists up, or double sided if you want it thinner.
Does it work in black and white?
It does. The tables, the drying window and the fault list all read from the type and the layout rather than from colour, and nothing depends on telling one shade from another.
Can I just read it on a screen?
You can, and the links and codes in it all work. But the reason it exists is the bench: wet hands, a glaze bucket and about a minute to clear fifty holes. That is the moment a printed page beats a phone.
Can I print only part of it?
Yes, and most people do. The two working lists print as a pair, the one page reference prints on its own, and the planning sheet is meant to be printed again for every new piece.
How does delivery work?
It is a digital download. The link arrives by email and on the order confirmation page as soon as the order goes through, and the file is yours to keep and print as often as you like.
What happens if the guide is updated?
Every edition carries its version number on the last page, and updates are free to anyone who has bought it. If a correction matters, the new file goes out to existing buyers.
Can I share it or use it with a class?
It is licensed to you for your own use. Print it as many times as you like for yourself. Sharing the file, copying it for other people, uploading it, or using it with a class, a studio, a school or a group needs permission first, and we are easy to ask.

Cut them bigger, and open them twice

Two decisions and one drill, and the thing drains instead of holding dirty water. Download it, print the two lists and the planning sheet, and keep them beside you from the first hole to the last glaze pass.

Get the guide · $7.00

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Terms version 2026-11-12