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The Clay Hole University · Trimming, Handles and Drying

How to Pull HandlesPrintable pottery guide

Five ways to make a handle, one way to attach any of them so it stays on, the drying that decides whether it survives the kiln, and a table for the seven things that go wrong.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 27 printable pages
  • 8 video picks
  • 8-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 How to Pull Handles printable guide?

It is the handle bench on paper: five ways to make one (pulled off a carrot of clay, pulled straight off the mug, a rolled coil, a slab strap and a lug), the five things every handle needs whichever way you make it, the attaching steps in the order they happen, how to dry a handled piece so the join catches up, and a table of the seven faults with what caused each. Built to be printed, propped up beside your work and written in.

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

  • 27printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 8hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 16glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For the mug that comes out of the kiln in two pieces

The pull is the small part

A pulled handle looks like a magic trick on video: one long stroke, a taper, a curve, done. Then the mug goes to the kiln and the handle comes out lying beside it. Very often the pull was fine. The handle and the pot were at different stages when they met, or the join was rushed on the shelf afterwards.

So the guide gives the decisions around the pull the same room as the pull. The five things every handle needs, the eight attaching steps in order, and the drying, which is where handles are actually lost. The five methods sit in between, each with its own numbered steps and a video card with a code that takes you straight to the video.

It also has a page to write down every handle you make: the method, how wet the pot was when they met, how long you covered it and what the kiln did. When one lets go, that page tells you which of those it was.

Look inside

Real pages, for a table with a bucket of slip on it

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

  • Page 3 of the “How to Pull Handles” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before you touch clay: what you will learn, what to have on the table, what is worth knowing, the common pitfalls, and what a handle that survived looks like.
  • Page 6 of the “How to Pull Handles” printable guide: pulled off a carrot, shown with the sample watermark
    Pulled off a carrotThe first method, in numbered steps you can look back at with wet hands, with an aside to the free lesson on handle blanks from an extruder.
  • Page 13 of the “How to Pull Handles” printable guide: attaching, in the order it happens, shown with the sample watermark
    Attaching, in the order it happensThe start of the eight steps that work for every method: same wetness, two points picked, scored deep, slipped on both faces.
  • Page 20 of the “How to Pull Handles” printable guide: every handle, and how it held, shown with the sample watermark
    Every handle, and how it heldA log to write in: the method, how wet the pot was, how long you covered it, what came out of the kiln and what to change. The second handle starts from what the first one taught you.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

Handles are made with both hands wet

Pulling, scoring and slipping all happen with clay to the wrist. A page that stays where you put it is a better companion than a screen that locks.

  • Steps you can look back at

    Every method is a numbered list. Do step four, look away, and find step four again. A video keeps going whether or not your hands did.

  • It holds still

    A page does not lock its screen and does not mind slip. Prop it against the wedging table and it stays open at the step you are on.

  • A log that finds the cause

    When a handle cracks, you want to know which of a few things it was. The log has a column for each one, so you are reading your own notes instead of guessing.

  • Seven faults on one page

    Flat, torn, sagging, twisted, too small, cracked at the join and popped off in the kiln, each with why it happened, what to do next time and what to do with this piece.

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.

  • Video notes that say what the video shows

    Five of the eight notes said more than the videos’ own descriptions support. We checked each against the video’s description, chapters and frames, and rewrote them in the guide.

  • One covering time

    The lesson said a couple of hours in one place and a day or two in four others. The guide says a day, with a day or two on the drying card, so it never contradicts itself.

  • The join, in agreement with its own lesson

    The squeeze-out step now says what the free join lesson says: blend it in, never wipe it with a wet sponge, and brush the last of it off with a barely damp brush.

  • A trouble table for paper

    On the web page the seven faults are seven buttons over one panel. In the guide they are seven rows you read across.

  • 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 video 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 “How to Pull Handles” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

A handle pulled on camera looks like a magic trick: one long stroke, a taper, a curve, finished. The camera skips the bit before, when somebody checked how soft the clay was, and the bit after, when the mug sat under plastic for a day looking as though nothing was happening.

That is where handles are made or lost.

Then give the dull steps the attention you would give the pull, because the dull steps are the ones that keep it on the mug.

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.

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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, numbered steps for every method, a table for the seven faults, a log to write in, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
Which method should I start with?
The coil. It teaches you taper, curve and joining without asking you to master a pull, and it needs no wheel. When coil handles feel easy, learn to pull one off a carrot of clay. The guide has all five side by side so you can choose.
Do I need a wheel?
Not for the handles. Pulling, rolling a coil, cutting a strap and shaping a lug are all done with your hands and a table. The mug they go on can be thrown or built.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Intermediate. The pull is a muscle skill that takes weeks, but the parts that decide whether a handle survives take an afternoon to learn, and the guide says to start with the coil if you have never made one.
What do I need besides clay?
A bucket of water and a damp sponge, slip from the same clay body as the pot, something curved to rest a handle on, a cardboard template and guide sticks for straps, and plastic to drape over the finished piece. The guide lists all of it on the dashboard.
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 steps 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 attaching steps, the one page summary and the log are the ones worth having beside the table. They are numbered pages like any other, so you can print those and leave the rest on a screen, where it reads fine on a tablet or a phone.
How does delivery work, and what if the guide is updated?
It is a digital download. The link arrives by email and on the order confirmation page right after checkout. Every edition carries its version number on the last page, and 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 six, keep two, and write down which was which

Match the wetness of the handle to the pot, score and slip both faces, press with a small twist, and give the piece a day under a loose cover. Those checks take a few minutes and decide whether the handle is still on the mug when the kiln opens. The guide keeps them in front of you.

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