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The Clay Hole University · Glazing

Making a Glaze Catcher: Insurance for a Runny GlazePrintable pottery guide

The one rule for every glaze catcher, on paper: how to tell when a glaze can run, three ways to make a catcher, what to do when a drip gets through, and a log for every catcher you make.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Beginner
  • 22 printable pages
  • 5 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 Making a Glaze Catcher: Insurance for a Runny Glaze printable guide?

It is the free “Making a Glaze Catcher” lesson rebuilt for paper: the one rule for every catcher, how to tell when a glaze can run, three ways to make one (thrown, pinched, or three balls of clay on a cookie), six ways it goes wrong and what to do about each, and five videos worth watching before the night you need one. Built to be printed, kept by the glaze table and written in.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Making a Glaze Catcher” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 22printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 5hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 11glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For anyone who has ever found a pot stuck to a shelf

Make them before you need them.

A glaze catcher is a small dish that costs a few ounces of clay and saves a shelf. The trouble is that the pot that needs one is never the pot you have time to make one for.

The guide gives you the rule in a sentence: the same clay as the pot, reaching past the foot, with something between them that will not fuse. Then three ways to make one, what to do first so the glaze stays put, and what to do, with safety glasses on, when it fuses anyway.

It also gives you something a web page cannot: a log to write in. The pot it went under, the clay, how far it reached past the foot and what it caught. After a few firings you know the size that works for your pots.

Look inside

Real pages, for beside the glaze table

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

  • Page 3 of the “Making a Glaze Catcher: Insurance for a Runny Glaze” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before any glaze goes on: what you will learn, what you need, what is worth knowing, the common pitfalls, and what a good result looks like.
  • Page 5 of the “Making a Glaze Catcher: Insurance for a Runny Glaze” printable guide: what you need, then step one, shown with the sample watermark
    What you need, then step oneThe short list of things on the table, and how to decide whether a glaze can run and prevent what you can.
  • Page 12 of the “Making a Glaze Catcher: Insurance for a Runny Glaze” printable guide: how it works at the clay hole, shown with the sample watermark
    How it works at The Clay HoleThe studio cards: cookies and catchers, the flux glazes that must sit on one, alumina and kiln wash, and firing.
  • Page 15 of the “Making a Glaze Catcher: Insurance for a Runny Glaze” printable guide: every catcher, and what it caught, shown with the sample watermark
    Every catcher, and what it caughtA log to write in: the clay and kind, how far it reaches past the foot, the glaze above it and what it caught.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

A rule and a log are things you keep beside you

A catcher gets made at the wheel or the table, long before the kiln. Paper suits that.

  • The rule where you can see it

    Same clay, past the foot, something between. It sits on a one page summary you can pin up beside the glaze table.

  • Safety steps you can point at

    Safety glasses for every fix, a rubber mallet on the catcher and never the pot, and marks smoothed wet. They sit beside the fix they belong to.

  • A log for your own catchers

    Columns for the clay, how far it reached past the foot, the glaze above it and what it caught. A few firings of notes beat a memory.

  • It does not mind a clay-dusty table

    A page stays where you put it. It does not lock its screen, and you can wipe it down with the rest of the table.

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 rules and our other lessons. Where it was out of step, the guide now says what those pages say.

  • Safer wording on the fixes

    Freeing a fused pot now starts with safety glasses, a rubber mallet on the catcher and a wet diamond pad, never dry grinding.

  • Plainer promises about cost and size

    Firing is explained by the size of the box, not a per inch figure, and a catcher now reaches an inch past the foot on every side.

  • Video notes that say what the video shows

    Each of the five videos has a note checked against its description and chapter list, and the third was rewritten because it shows a different trick from the one the lesson named.

  • 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 “Making a Glaze Catcher” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

A glaze catcher is the cheapest insurance in the studio, and you make it on a slow night.

And if a glaze ever does reach a shelf, tell us. It is far better said than found.

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 summary, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
Does it show me how to make a catcher?
Yes, three ways: thrown as a shallow saucer, pinched into a flattened pinch pot, or three pea-sized balls of clay glued to a cookie. Each has its own tick list, and the guide says what to do first so the glaze stays put.
Is this only for people who work at The Clay Hole?
No. The rule works in any studio. Where a rule is only ours, such as the flux glazes that must sit on a catcher you supply, the guide says so, so you can tell a Clay Hole rule from a fact of the craft.
Does it tell me which glazes need a catcher?
It tells you how to spot a glaze that can run: flux glazes, thick overlaps, a glaze marked as a runner, anything you have never fired. For the glazes on our wall, it names the flux glazes that must have one.
Do I need to be a member to use it?
You do not need to be a member to read it. If you are a member, the guide tells you what to do if a glaze reaches a shelf anyway: tell the studio team.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Beginner. A catcher is one of the quickest things to make, and the guide assumes only that you have glazed a piece. The glossary fills in the words.
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. 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 summary and the catcher log are the two worth having beside the glaze table. They are numbered pages like any other, so you can print those and leave the rest on a screen.
Do the videos work on paper?
Each video has a short note and a code that takes you straight to it, so you can scan it from the page.
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 bench 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.

Make the stack, then glaze with confidence

Same clay, past the foot, something between. The guide keeps the rule and the fixes in front of you at the table.

Get the guide · $5.00

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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.

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