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The Clay Hole University · Surface and Decoration

Overglazes and Lusters on PotteryPrintable pottery guide

Clean the surface, keep your hands off it, put on one thin coat, vent the kiln and fire it cool, with the order set out so the first bottle goes on a tile and the second goes on a pot.

$12.505 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 25 printable pages
  • 9 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 Overglazes and Lusters on Pottery printable guide?

It is the overglaze lesson on paper: what gold, white gold, copper, bronze, mother of pearl, china paint and decals each do, what to buy for a first order, the eight steps that prepare the surface, one thin coat, and how to vent and fire it at the low cones it needs. Eight faults are set out with what caused each, and what you can and cannot say about a pot with metal on it. A bench checklist, a tile and piece log, a one page summary, nine video picks with codes, a quiz with a worked answer key and a glossary.

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

  • 25printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 9hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 13glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For the bottle you have not opened yet

Wipe it, leave it alone, one thin coat

Gold is expensive, a wasted firing is slow, and almost every ruined piece comes down to the surface, the coat or the temperature. That is a short list, and it is exactly the kind you want beside you with clean hands and a paper towel, not on a phone you would have to touch.

The order matters as much as the rules. Decide the finish when you glaze, wipe with alcohol and let it dry fully, handle the pot through a paper towel, put the respirator on before the bottle opens, paint one thin coat that looks wrong, and fire it low with the kiln venting. Each of those is a line on the page, with a tick box.

The guide keeps the eight faults in one place, says what caused each, and leaves room for a log. The log is where the product, the glaze underneath and the cone get written down, so the next piece 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 6 of the “Overglazes and Lusters on Pottery” printable guide: the family, one by one, shown with the sample watermark
    The family, one by oneBright and premium gold, white gold, copper and bronze, mother of pearl, china paint and decals, each with what it does and what to watch, and the one combination rule.
  • Page 8 of the “Overglazes and Lusters on Pottery” printable guide: preparing the surface, shown with the sample watermark
    Preparing the surfaceThe steps that do most of the work: pick the pot, decide the finish, wipe, wait, stop touching it and put the respirator on first.
  • Page 13 of the “Overglazes and Lusters on Pottery” printable guide: what goes wrong, shown with the sample watermark
    What goes wrongThe start of the fault section. Each card says what the result looks like and what caused it, before you blame the bottle.
  • Page 18 of the “Overglazes and Lusters on Pottery” printable guide: every tile and piece, and how it came out, shown with the sample watermark
    Every tile and piece, and how it came outA log to write in: the product, the glaze under it, the cone and what happened. The last column is the one that pays, because the next piece starts from it.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

You do this with clean hands and a respirator on

Overglaze work is slow, careful and solvent smelling. You do not want to touch a screen in the middle of it.

  • Nothing to touch mid job

    After the alcohol wipe, nothing bare handed goes near the pot. A page on the bench can be read without a clean finger.

  • The respirator line stays in view

    The first thing before the bottle opens is the thing that protects you. On a page beside the work it is there every time.

  • A log that holds the recipe

    Product, glaze finish under it and cone, written down while you remember. By the time the kiln opens you will not.

  • A checklist for the lid

    Two short lists: before you open the bottle and before the kiln lid comes down. Tick them off in pencil.

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.

  • Checked against our other lessons

    We read the cone arithmetic, the rim and food claims and the firing steps against the kiln, food safe and firing lessons, and fixed the places they disagreed. The free lesson now says the same.

  • Gold on a rim, said plainly

    Makers disagree about gold near the mouth. The guide keeps gold off rims and the inside of a cup or bowl, and says to read the maker’s label.

  • Video notes that say only what is there

    Each video pick says what its description and chapters show, and nothing more.

  • Written for any studio

    The Clay Hole’s own rules, such as how the baby kiln is booked, are named and dated as Clay Hole facts, so a reader working somewhere else knows which line is ours and which is a rule of the craft.

  • 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, 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 “How to Use Pottery Overglazes” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

Most people decide on gold after the pot is finished, and that is the moment it is hardest to get right. The glaze underneath decides whether the metal comes out like a mirror or like soft brass, so the real choice happens a firing earlier than you think.

Gold is expensive and a wasted firing is slow, so the first bottle belongs on a tile and not on the pot you love.

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.

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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 bench checklist, a tile and piece 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 glaze fired pot with no crazing, a bottle of luster and essence to thin it, a small natural hair brush kept for this, rubbing alcohol and lint free cloths, and a fitted respirator with organic vapor cartridges. The guide lists them on its first pages, and says to put the first bottle on test tiles.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Intermediate in the University. The painting is simple. The care goes into the cleaning, the thin coat and a cool firing in a kiln that vents. If you have never decorated a fired glaze before, read the free lesson first and keep the guide beside you for your first tile.
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 bench checklist, the log and the one page summary are the three 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.

Wipe it, one thin coat, fire it cool

Clean the surface, keep your hands off it, paint one thin coat and fire it low with the kiln venting. Those habits take minutes and decide whether the gold is there when the kiln opens. The guide keeps them in front of you at the bench.

Get the guide · $12.50

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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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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