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The Clay Hole University · Glazing

Oxide and Carbonate WashesPrintable pottery guide

Put on the respirator, pick one metal, mix a wash in spoons, wipe it back while it is damp, and fire a tile before the pot, with the eight metals, the three starter recipes and the food rule set out so the first tile works.

$10.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Beginner
  • 17 printable pages
  • 3 video picks
  • 5-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 Oxide and Carbonate Washes printable guide?

It is the wash lesson on paper: what a wash is and what it is not, what each of eight metals does in the kiln, three starter recipes measured in spoons, how to put a wash on and wipe it back so carving and stamping read, and where a bare wash can and cannot go. It says plainly which firing your results follow here, with a five step drill for a test tile, a bench checklist, a one page summary and a log for every wash. Built to be printed and written on.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Oxide and Carbonate Washes” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 17printable pages, US Letter
  • 5quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 3hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 11glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For the carved pot you have not colored yet

Mix it small, wipe it back, fire the tile first

A wash is raw metal color in a jar: an oxide or a carbonate, water, and sometimes a little melter. You brush it over texture, wipe the high spots clean, and what stays in the low spots does the talking. It is also dry metal powder, so the respirator goes on before the lid comes off. That is not a line you want to scroll to with a wet sponge in your hand.

The metals are the other half. Red iron oxide is the forgiving one to start with. Cobalt is very strong, so it gets the smallest batch and the first tile. Write down which metal, how strong and how it went on. A phone goes dark and gets brown fingerprints. A page stays where you put it.

The guide keeps the order in front of you, says what each metal does, and leaves room for a wash log and a one page summary. The log is where the colorant, the strength and the result get written down, so the next wash 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 1 of the “Oxide and Carbonate Washes” printable guide: the cover, shown with the sample watermark
    The coverThe guide as it lands on your desk: the lesson name, what it covers, and what is inside before you turn a page.
  • Page 3 of the “Oxide and Carbonate Washes” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginThe dashboard: what you will learn, what to have on the bench, the pitfalls to know about and what a good first tile looks like.
  • Page 4 of the “Oxide and Carbonate Washes” printable guide: the oxide cast, shown with the sample watermark
    The oxide castWhat a wash is, then the metals one at a time, starting with red iron oxide as the place to begin.
  • Page 11 of the “Oxide and Carbonate Washes” printable guide: every wash, and how it turned out, shown with the sample watermark
    Every wash, and how it turned outA log to write in: the colorant, the strength, how it went on and the result. The last column is the one that pays, because the next wash 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 jar 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 jar it is there every time, and it does not need a dry finger to find.

  • The recipes, measured in spoons

    The classic iron wash, the stay-put wash and the cobalt ink, written as spoons and parts. You can check a ratio again without losing your place or dirtying a screen.

  • A log that holds the recipe

    The wash log has a column for the colorant, the strength, how it went on and what you would change. 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 metals, 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 on before the jar opens, for every dry oxide and carbonate, plus gloves, wet cleanup and never a broom. It asks for extra care with manganese. The free lesson says the same.

  • Bare wash stays off food

    A bare wash is unsealed colorant, so it stays off anything that touches food. Under a fitted clear 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

    Washes never go into the shared glaze buckets, and the rinse water goes in its own bucket, not down the sink. The guide says so in the places you will be looking when it matters.

  • Which firing your chart means

    Every oxide chart has an oxidation column and a reduction column. The guide says which one predicts your results in the studio’s electric kilns, so you read the right one.

  • 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 “Oxide and Carbonate Washes” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

A wash is the oldest way to put color on a pot, and it is still the quickest way to make carving and stamping look like you meant every mark. You brush the color on, you wipe the high spots clean, and what stays in the low spots does the talking.

So start small. Mix one iron wash, put it on three test tiles, fire them, and let the tiles tell you what to do next.

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 wash 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 fitted respirator and gloves, red iron oxide to start, spoons and a cup kept for oxides only, bisque pieces with some texture, a sponge and test tiles of your own clay. The guide lists them on its dashboard page.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Beginner in the University. A wash takes about ten minutes to mix. The care goes into the respirator, the labels and the test tile. If you have never mixed one, start with red iron oxide, which is the forgiving one, and leave cobalt until you have a tile or two behind you.
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. Staff load every kiln, so tell us at drop-off that there is a wash on the piece. Washes never go into the shared glaze buckets, and the rinse water goes in its own bucket. Ask us first if you are unsure.
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 and the wash 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, start small, tile before the pot

Pick one metal, mix a small batch, wipe it back while it is damp, and write the wash 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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