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The Clay Hole University · Surface and Decoration

Making and Using Pottery WashesPrintable pottery guide

Weigh the colorant and the flux, stir the dry powders first, add water in stages, wipe it back while it is damp, and fire a tile before the pot, with the order and the respirator set out so the first batch works.

$12.505 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 and Using Pottery Washes printable guide?

It is the wash lesson on paper: what goes in a wash and what each ingredient does, why the flux is not optional, how to weigh a batch by dry weight, how the same jar changes between oxidation and reduction, and how to put it on and wipe it back so a carved surface reads. Every common fault is set out with what caused it. A worked table for the split and the water, a bench checklist, a one page summary, and a log for every batch. Built to be printed and written on.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Making and Using Pottery Washes” 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
  • 12glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For the carved pot you have not washed yet

Weigh it, stir it, wipe it, then fire the tile

A wash is the cheapest way to make carving read from across the room: colorant, flux and water, brushed on everywhere and wiped back so the texture keeps the color. It is also metal powder, so the respirator goes on before the jar opens, and the rinse water goes in its own bucket and not down the sink. That is not a list you want to scroll to with a wet sponge in your hand.

The numbers are the other half. Half colorant and half flux by dry weight is where you start, and the water is a multiple of that weight. Write them where you can see them. A phone goes dark and gets brown fingerprints. A page stays where you put it.

The guide keeps the order in front of you, names what goes wrong and what caused it, and leaves room for a batch log and a one page summary. The log is where the colorant, the flux, the split and the water get written down, so the next batch starts from a note and not a guess.

Look inside

Real pages, for the bench beside your work

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

  • Page 5 of the “Making and Using Pottery Washes” printable guide: the ingredients, shown with the sample watermark
    The ingredientsEight cards, from red iron oxide as the place to start to the flux and the water, each with what it does and the catch to know about.
  • Page 6 of the “Making and Using Pottery Washes” printable guide: the batch table, shown with the sample watermark
    The batch tableThe split for 100 grams of dry powder, worked out from the lesson’s own calculator, with the water for a thin, a watercolor and a thick wash, and a word on the strong colorants.
  • Page 10 of the “Making and Using Pottery Washes” printable guide: what goes wrong, shown with the sample watermark
    What goes wrongThe start of the fault section. Each fault says what caused it and what to change next time, from a color that rubs off to dark specks and a glaze that pinholed.
  • Page 15 of the “Making and Using Pottery Washes” printable guide: every batch, and how it turned out, shown with the sample watermark
    Every batch, and how it turned outA log to write in: the colorant, the flux, the split, the water and what happened. The last column is the one that pays, because the next batch starts from it.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

You do this in a respirator, with a wet sponge in your hand

Wash work happens at the bench, covered and careful, looking at the scale and then at the pot. Paper suits that.

  • The respirator line stays in view

    The first step is the one that protects you. On a page beside the scale it is there every time, and it does not need a dry finger to find.

  • The split, worked out and written down

    Colorant and flux by dry weight, then the water as a multiple, in pencil next to the steps. You can check the sum again at the scale without losing your place.

  • A log that holds the recipe

    The batch log has a column for the colorant, the flux, the split and the water. By the time the kiln opens you will have forgotten what went in, and the page has not.

  • One page for the bench

    The one page summary has the starting recipe, the order, the studio rules and what each fault is telling you. It pins up beside the jar for the moments when your hands are full.

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.

  • A respirator, said plainly

    The guide says a fitted respirator, names the level for mixing oxide powder, adds gloves, keeps the work away from shared tables and keeps the respirator on until the powder is wet and the bench is wiped down. The free lesson says the same.

  • Food safety follows the glaze

    A bare wash is raw oxide with nothing sealing it in, so it stays off anything that touches food. Under a glaze it is only as safe as that glaze, so the guide sends you to the Food Safe Lookup and does not make the claim for you.

  • Rinse water has a place to go

    Cobalt, copper and manganese do not belong in a drain. The guide says to rinse in your own bucket, let it settle, and ask where the clear water goes.

  • A table you can compute from

    The lesson has an online calculator. The guide gives its answers as a table for a 100 gram batch, so you can scale it at the bench without a screen.

  • A quiz that explains itself

    A short quiz, and an answer key that gives the reason behind every answer rather than only the letter, worded to match the corrected lesson.

  • Codes that keep working

    Every link, video picks included, 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 “Making and Using Pottery Washes” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

A wash is the first surface trick I teach, because it costs almost nothing and the result shows from across the room. You brush color on everywhere, you wipe most of it off, and the carving keeps what is left.

So mix a small batch of iron, put it on something carved, and fire a test tile before a pot.

Your first wash will come out lighter than it looked wet, and the tile is how you find that out cheaply.

Dan Pearce, founder of The Clay Hole
The series

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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 batch log to write in, a one page summary, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
What do I need to try it?
A scale that reads in grams, a fitted respirator and gloves, a colorant such as red iron oxide, a flux, a jar and an 80 mesh sieve, bisque pieces with some texture, and a test tile. The guide lists them on its first pages.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Beginner in the University. The mixing takes about ten minutes. The care goes into the respirator, the weighing and the test tile. If you have never mixed a wash, start with red iron oxide, which is the forgiving one.
Can I use this at The Clay Hole?
The guide is written for any studio, and says where The Clay Hole’s own rules apply. Oxides are bring your own here and have to be cleared with the studio team before they go into a kiln, so talk to us before you mix anything.
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 summary, the batch table and the batch log are the pages worth having at the bench. They are numbered pages like any other, so you can print those and leave the rest on a screen.
Can I read it on a screen instead?
Yes. It is an ordinary PDF and it reads fine on a tablet or a phone. The workbook pages are the ones that want paper, because you write on them.
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 your 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.

Respirator on, stir first, tile before the pot

Weigh by dry weight, stir the powders together, add the water in stages, wipe it back while it is damp, and write the batch on the back of a tile. Those habits take minutes and decide whether the color is there after the firing. The guide keeps them in front of you at the bench.

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