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The Clay Hole University · Pottery Foundations

Making a Matching Set Without Making Yourself MiserablePrintable pottery guide

From one good piece to a set that belongs together, on paper: what has to match, what to measure, the tools that repeat a shape, one schedule for every piece, and a log that carries your numbers to the next set.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 25 printable pages
  • 4 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 Matching Set Without Making Yourself Miserable printable guide?

It is the free “Making a Matching Set Without Making Yourself Miserable” lesson rebuilt for paper: deciding what has to match, how many to make, the measurements to take from the first piece, the gauges and templates that repeat it, both kinds of capacity, one drying schedule, and a thrown set and a hand-built set from start to finish. Built to be printed, kept beside the wheel and written in.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Making a Matching Set Without Making Yourself Miserable” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 25printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 4hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 19glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For anyone who has made one piece they love and wants four

A set is one piece, written down.

Making one good mug takes skill and a little luck. Making four that belong together takes the same skill plus a reference: one piece you measure while it is fresh, and a way to hit those numbers again on every piece after it.

This guide starts with the decision that makes the rest easy, which is what actually has to match. Then come the measurements, the tools that repeat a shape, capacity, one schedule from the wheel to the kiln, and a thrown set of mugs and a hand-built set of plates, step by step.

And it gives you what a web page cannot: a set log with a line for every set, so the numbers from this one start the next, and a one page reference to keep beside the wheel.

Look inside

Real pages, ready for the wheel

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

  • Page 3 of the “Making a Matching Set Without Making Yourself Miserable” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before the first section: what you will learn, what you will need, what is worth knowing first, the common pitfalls and what success looks like.
  • Page 8 of the “Making a Matching Set Without Making Yourself Miserable” printable guide: tools that repeat a shape, shown with the sample watermark
    Tools that repeat a shapeSix cards: a scale, calipers, a pointer gauge, a profile rib, paper templates and a handle strip, each with the judgment it saves you, and a note on setting them from the first piece.
  • Page 15 of the “Making a Matching Set Without Making Yourself Miserable” printable guide: six ways a set falls out of step, shown with the sample watermark
    Six ways a set falls out of stepThe end of the section on acceptable variation, then six cards on what pulls a set apart, from throwing to size instead of weight to chasing the last sixteenth of an inch.
  • Page 18 of the “Making a Matching Set Without Making Yourself Miserable” printable guide: the set log, shown with the sample watermark
    The set logA line for each set: the clay and ball weight, the height and rim while wet, the foot and trimmed weight, the glaze, and which pieces you kept. Two questions to answer after.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

A page that sits beside the wheel

Most of what this guide teaches happens with wet hands, a scale and a pair of calipers. Paper is already on the table.

  • Numbers you write down

    The set log keeps the clay, the ball weight, the height and rim, the foot, the glaze and the pieces you kept, so your next set starts from real numbers.

  • The schedule at a glance

    The one page reference holds the match list, the reference measurements and the schedule in the order you meet them.

  • Two worked examples

    Four mugs on the wheel and four plates on one slab mold, step by step, so you can follow either one with clay on your hands.

  • Slip on your fingers is fine

    A printed page does not mind a smear of slip, and it does not lock its screen while you set the calipers.

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 our other lessons

    We checked the lesson against our lessons on proportions, lids, throwing off the hump, handles, drying covers, slab molds and glaze, so the guide says what those pages say about the same rules.

  • Sources you can look up

    The gauge, the throwing templates, the paper templates and the volume arithmetic come from articles in Ceramic Arts Network, Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated, and every sum was worked through again.

  • Both kinds of work

    A thrown set and a hand-built set sit side by side, so the same method reads whether you work at the wheel or at the slab table.

  • Written for a reader in any studio

    The lines about our own studio say so, and the rest is written for a potter who works at a shared studio or at home.

  • Video notes that claim no more than the videos

    Each video note was written from the video’s own title, description and chapters, so it promises only what the video says it covers.

  • Codes that keep working

    Every link is a short Clay Hole address. If a page moves, we point the address at its new home 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 Matching Set Without Making Yourself Miserable” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

Making four that belong together feels like a different skill, and mostly it is not. It is the same mug, made with its decisions written down.

Pick the few things that have to match, hold them, and let the rest of the set look like a person made it.

Dan Pearce, founder of The Clay Hole
The series

Build a little pottery library

Each guide in The Clay Hole University series rebuilds one free lesson for paper, with workbook pages, a glossary and a quiz with a worked answer key. Its number is permanent, so the guide you buy today sits in the same place in the series 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, or every printable we sell on one page.

  • 5guides in your cart1 on us
  • 9guides in your cart2 on us
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 set log, a one page reference, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
Do I need a throwing gauge?
No. A scale and calipers do most of the work, and the guide shows how a stick taped to the splash pan does the height. It also describes a simple homemade pointer gauge, if you want one.
Does it help if I hand build?
Yes. Half the method is the same for slabs, and the guide works through a set of plates on one slab mold step by step, with paper templates standing in for calipers.
Do I need to be a member of The Clay Hole to use it?
No. It is written for a potter anywhere. Where it mentions our studio’s certification, our kilns or our dipping buckets, it says so.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Intermediate. If you can already make one piece you like, on the wheel or from slabs, you have what you need, and the glossary fills in the words.
Does it work for left-handed potters?
Yes. Nothing in it depends on which way your wheel turns: weights, calipers, gauges, templates and the schedule work the same in either direction.
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 tables and the set log are black on white, and the pictures print in grey. Color is used for headings and small labels.
Can I read it on a screen?
Yes. Every code in the guide is also a link you can tap, so it works on a tablet or a laptop as well as on paper.
Can I print just part of it?
Yes. The set log and the one page reference are the pages worth keeping beside the wheel. 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 before you weigh out your next set.
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.

Same hands, written down

What to match, what to measure and one schedule for every piece, with a log that carries the numbers to your next set.

Get the guide · $5.00

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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.

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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.

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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