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The Clay Hole University · Glazing

Dipping GlazesPrintable pottery guide

Dipping glaze, on paper: the preparation, the mix, the dip and the drain, the touch ups, which of the methods you find online work in a shared studio, what each fault in the kiln is telling you, and a log for what your own buckets do.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 30 printable pages
  • 13 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 Dipping Glazes printable guide?

It is the free “How to Use Dipping Glazes” lesson rebuilt for paper: how to wax, rinse and look over a piece, how to mix a shared bucket, the dip itself and the drain, tong marks and tidy edges, the methods other potters use and which of them work in a studio where the buckets have many owners, and six faults and what each was. Built to be printed, kept beside the buckets and written in.

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

  • 30printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 13hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 11glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For anyone about to lower a pot into somebody else’s bucket

The four seconds at the bucket are decided long before.

Almost every dipping disaster is a preparation problem wearing a technique costume: wax that was not dry, dust on the bisque, a bucket nobody stirred properly. The kiln then does exactly what it was told, and you find out afterward.

The guide puts the whole routine in one place: wax, rinse, mix, dip, drain, dry, tidy, clean up, each with the reason behind it. It also sets our way beside the advice you will meet in videos, and says why some of it cannot follow you into a studio where a great many people share every bucket.

And it gives you the thing a bucket cannot: a page to write on. The glaze, the time on the lid, how the piece looked dry and how it came out of the kiln. After a few pieces you will know what each bucket does on your clay.

Look inside

Real pages, for the dipping room

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

  • Page 7 of the “Dipping Glazes” printable guide: before your piece touches glaze, shown with the sample watermark
    Before your piece touches glazeFive steps before the bucket: bisque, nothing unfired, wax on the dry pot, a cold rinse and a last look over.
  • Page 13 of the “Dipping Glazes” printable guide: tong marks, bare spots and tidy edges, shown with the sample watermark
    Tong marks, bare spots and tidy edgesSix cards on fixing a dipped pot once the glaze is dry, with two videos and a code for each.
  • Page 18 of the “Dipping Glazes” printable guide: when it goes wrong, shown with the sample watermark
    When it goes wrongSix faults, each with what caused it and what to do before and after the firing.
  • Page 23 of the “Dipping Glazes” printable guide: every piece you dip, shown with the sample watermark
    Every piece you dipA log to write in: the glaze and bucket, the time on the lid, how it looked dry and how it fired.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

A routine and a log are things you keep beside you

Dipping happens standing up, with wet hands and a heavy piece. Paper suits that.

  • The routine where you can see it

    The steps, the checklist and the faults sit on pages you can pin up beside the buckets.

  • A reason for every rule

    A shared bucket only stays good if everybody treats it like their own. Each rule in the guide comes with the reason behind it.

  • A log for your own buckets

    Columns for the glaze, the time on the lid, how it looked dry and how it fired. A few pieces of notes beat a memory of what you did.

  • It does not mind a wet hand

    A page stays where you put it. It does not lock its screen while you are holding a pot.

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 the studio’s own rules

    We checked the lesson against The Clay Hole’s certification, the glaze list, our other lessons and the videos it recommends. Where the lesson was out of step, the guide now says what those pages say.

  • Every piece on a kiln cookie

    The guide says what our firing rule says: every piece goes on a kiln cookie or glaze catcher, and a runny glaze runs onto the cookie, not the shelf.

  • Video notes that say only what the video shows

    Every video has a short note, a link and a code. Each note was checked against the video’s own description and chapters, and says where the maker does something we do not allow.

  • A checklist you can tick

    The routine is a tick list, and the preparation, the mix and the dip are numbered steps.

  • 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 page 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 Use Dipping Glazes” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

The care comes from the buckets. A great many people share them, so one wet pot in the wrong glaze does not show up at the bucket or on the ware tray. It shows up weeks later, in the kiln, on somebody else’s work.

So when you are not sure, ask. Nobody has ever been annoyed by a question, and everybody has been annoyed by a ruined glaze.

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 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. The preparation, the mix and the dip suit any studio with shared buckets. Where a rule is only ours, such as the dip time printed on each lid or one piece for one dipping glaze, the guide says so, so you can tell a Clay Hole rule from a fact of the craft.
Does it replace the dipping certification?
No. Members of The Clay Hole take the dipping certification before their first dip. The guide explains what it is and where to find it, and it teaches the technique the certification leads into.
Do the videos play from the paper?
Each video has a short note, a link and a code. Scan the code or type the short address and it opens the video.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Intermediate. You need a bisque fired piece and somewhere with dipping buckets to use what you read. The glossary fills in the vocabulary.
What do I need besides glaze?
Wax resist, a barely damp sponge, the whisk or paddle that belongs to the bucket and a way to write down what you did. The dashboard lists it all.
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 checklist and the routine are the two worth having beside the buckets. They are numbered pages like any other, so you can print those and leave 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 buckets 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.

Wax it, mix it, dip it, then walk away

Do the preparation, time the dip from the lid, drain without shaking and leave the piece alone until it is dry. The guide keeps the whole routine in front of you at the buckets.

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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.

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Terms version 2026-09-19b