You can move this picture: drag it, press and hold then drag on a touch screen, or use the arrow keys.Printable guide 05.19

The Clay Hole University · The Pottery Wheel

Throwing on a Mini WheelPrintable pottery guide

A small wheel is not a cheap version of a big one. Two numbers change, the torque and the size of the head, and four to eight ounces, fingertips, pulses of pressure and almost no water are what change with them.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 24 printable pages
  • 5 video picks
  • 8-question quiz + answer key

Flip through the free sample
  • Instant download
  • Prints on any home printer
  • The full lesson stays free online
The printable, at a glance

What is the printable edition of Throwing on a Mini Wheel?

It is the free lesson of the same name, rebuilt as a workbook. It starts with the two numbers that make a small wheel behave differently, then the six things to have on the table before you plug it in, then four steps with a tick list at each: the two numbers in practice, a clay pad for a bat and centering with braced thumbs and fingertips, the two pull pot, and getting it off, covered and fired. Then six things that go wrong, three about the motor and the head and three about water, thickness and palms. On paper it adds a pot by pot log, a one page card for the table, a quiz with a full answer key, and a glossary.

Prefer to read it online first? “Throwing on a Mini Wheel” is free to read, and always will be.

  • 24printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 5hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 16glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
Why a printable, for this one

Everything you know is slightly too much

A palm, a steady push and a generous splash of water are three good habits on a full size wheel. On a small one they stall the motor, shove the pot sideways and turn four ounces of clay into soup.

The adjustment is not difficult, but it is constant, and all of it is muscle memory: less clay than feels dignified, more speed than feels sensible, fingertips instead of palms, pressure in pulses so the motor gets its speed back between them, and a sponge that is damp rather than wet.

So this one is built to sit on the table beside the wheel, where a pot this size dries in about the time it takes to admire it: the tick lists on one card, and a log that finds the clay weight your own wheel is happy with.

Look inside

Real pages, for the table beside the wheel

These are actual pages from the guide, shown here with the sample watermark. The full guide has none.

  • Page 5 of the “Throwing on a Mini Wheel” printable guide: the five minute version, shown with the sample watermark
    The five minute versionThe whole technique in six moves: weigh out four to eight ounces, stick down a clay pad as the bat, wheel fast with fingertips and pulses, a damp sponge, two pulls, then wire it off short and cover it fast.
  • Page 6 of the “Throwing on a Mini Wheel” printable guide: what you need on the table, shown with the sample watermark
    What you need on the tableSix things, starting with a wheel that is not a toy, then weighed clay, a mat or a clamp, a nearly dry sponge, a short wire and a needle, and a pad of clay with a lid for the finished pots.
  • Page 8 of the “Throwing on a Mini Wheel” printable guide: the pad, and centering, shown with the sample watermark
    The pad, and centeringWhy the pad is the bat, centering with elbows down, thumbs braced and fingertips cupping, pressure in pulses, the water habit to break, and the five point tick list for all of it.
  • Page 11 of the “Throwing on a Mini Wheel” printable guide: the mini wheel log, shown with the sample watermark
    The mini wheel logEight pots, one row each: what you made, the clay weight, whether the motor stalled, how many pulls it took, and what went wrong.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Paper beats the screen here

A small table, a cup of water, no room for a phone

These wheels get set up on a kitchen table, and a pot this small dries while you are looking for the right video.

  • The mini wheel card

    What to have out, the two numbers, the six moves, the tick lists and the first thing to try when the motor gives up.

  • A pot by pot log

    Eight rows that find the clay weight your own wheel is happy with, and the big wheel habit that keeps coming back.

  • Water stays away from it

    Paper can sit in the dry half of the table. A phone goes where your hands go, and your hands are wet.

  • Read it, then watch it

    Five potters on five small wheels, each behind a QR code, from people who have nothing to do with us.

How the guide is built

Built for a wheel that fits on a table

Every guide in the series is designed as a workbook first and a document second. For this one, that means:

  • A learning dashboard before page one

    What you will learn, what you need, the traps, and what success looks like.

  • The two numbers first

    Torque and head size, because every habit in the guide is built on one of them or the other.

  • Four steps, each with a tick list

    The two numbers in practice, the pad and centering, the two pull pot, and off, covered and fired.

  • Six things that go wrong

    Three about the motor and the head, three about water, thickness and palms, each with the first thing to try.

  • Buying advice we checked

    The test is the weight of clay a motor is rated for, which is what the makers actually publish, not the wattage on the box. We do not sell small wheels and we do not recommend a brand.

  • Codes that keep working

    Every QR code points at a short Clay Hole address, so a printed copy keeps working when a video moves.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “Throwing on a Mini Wheel” lesson at The Clay Hole University. No paywall, no sign-up, no catch.

A small wheel makes you throw with your fingertips and almost no water, which is a lesson the big wheel lets you dodge for years. That is its best trick, and knowing it before you spend money on one should not cost anybody a thing, so the lesson stays free.

The University is free and stays free. The guides are the version rebuilt for paper with an unreasonable amount of care, and buying one keeps the free side going.

Thank you. Genuinely.

Dan Pearce, founder of The Clay Hole
Collect them

Build a little pottery library

Every guide carries a permanent number. This one is 05.19, the nineteenth guide in The Pottery Wheel. The series is designed to live together in a binder, section by section, so the craft ends up on your shelf in the order you learn it.

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
  • 9guides in your cart2 on us
Where this leads

Small pots, and the wheel at the other end

These lessons pick up where this one leaves off. Each one is free to read now.

Good questions

Before you buy

Is this different from the free lesson?
The teaching is the same, and the free lesson is complete. The printable adds a pot by pot log, a one page card for the table, a printed quiz with an answer key, and a glossary.
Which small wheel should I buy?
We do not sell them and we do not recommend a brand. The test the guide gives you is the one the makers publish themselves: the weight of clay the motor is rated for. Wattage is not the test, and neither is a big number printed on a box.
How much clay?
Four to eight ounces. A pound is the upper limit on the better small wheels and far too much for the toys, so weigh it. At this size a little too much clay is the whole difference between throwing and stalling.
Is a small wheel a good way to learn?
It is a good way to learn fingertip control and water discipline, and a poor way to learn centering with your palms, which is what a full size wheel teaches. The guide says that plainly rather than selling you the idea.
Do I need a bat?
On a small head, a pad of clay stuck down and scored is the bat, and a wire cut takes the pot off it. Some wheels take small bats on pins, which is better. Lifting a wet pot off a bare head with your fingers is how most of them get ruined.
Why does everything dry so fast?
A four ounce pot has almost no mass and a lot of surface, so it loses water in minutes. Throw faster, use less water, and get it under cover the moment it is off the wheel. The guide has a step for that and a tick list with it.
Do I already need to throw?
It helps, because most of this is unlearning. A palm and a steady push are exactly what a small motor cannot take, so the habits a full size wheel gave you are the ones the guide asks you to put away.
I am not at The Clay Hole. Is it still useful?
Yes. It is about what changes on a small wheel, whoever made it. The one page about how things work in our studio is marked as ours, and the studio numbers in it carry the date they were true.
Do I need a fancy printer?
No. It is designed 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.
Can I print it in black and white?
Yes. Nothing depends on color, and we looked at the workbook pages in grayscale to be sure.
Can I use it on an iPad or laptop instead?
Yes. Every QR code in the guide is also a tappable link, so on a screen you just tap instead of scanning.
How do I get it after I buy?
Right after checkout you get a download link by email and on your order confirmation page. Each link works up to seven times.
What if the guide gets updated?
Every edition carries a version number. When we correct or improve a guide, everyone who bought it gets an email with the new edition at no charge.
Can I share it with my class or studio?
Please don’t. It is licensed for your own personal use. Anyone can read the full lesson free online, and the printable is here if they want their own copy.

Less clay, more speed, fingertips.

Print it, keep the card on the table, and weigh the first eight pots onto the log.

Get the printable · $5.00

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