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The Clay Hole University · Electives

Pottery Workshops Worth Traveling ForPrintable pottery guide

A field guide to the workshop abroad: the famous schools by name, six questions to ask before any deposit, the shape of the bill, and a five move plan that makes the trip change your pottery.

$10.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: All levels
  • 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 Pottery Workshops Worth Traveling For printable guide?

It is the free “Pottery Workshops Worth Traveling For” lesson rebuilt for paper: the famous schools and places worth knowing by name, the questions that separate a transformative week from an expensive pottery-themed vacation, the shape of the bill so quotes stay comparable, and the five moves that make the trip pay off. Built to be printed and kept beside the keyboard while the replies come in.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Pottery Workshops Worth Traveling For” 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
  • 14glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For the person with a trip half planned

The trip is made before you leave, and the week you get back.

A workshop abroad can change your pottery or it can fill a camera roll, and the difference is mostly decided before you board: which school, which questions you asked, and what you were hoping to find out.

The guide puts those questions on paper. Six to ask before any deposit, the shape of the bill so two quotes can be compared, and five moves for before, during and after the trip.

It also gives you what a web page cannot: pages to write on. A shortlist for the programs you email, with a column for what each one told you, and a one page trip sheet to keep beside you while you wait for the replies.

Look inside

Real pages, from the field guide

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

  • Page 3 of the “Pottery Workshops Worth Traveling For” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before the field guide: what you will learn, what you need, what is worth knowing, the common pitfalls and what it looks like when the trip has paid off.
  • Page 5 of the “Pottery Workshops Worth Traveling For” printable guide: the world map, shown with the sample watermark
    The world mapThe famous names worth knowing, from the Tuscan countryside to Jingdezhen and the American craft schools, listed for orientation and not endorsement.
  • Page 9 of the “Pottery Workshops Worth Traveling For” printable guide: questions, shown with the sample watermark
    QuestionsThe ones that come up before booking: whether you are good enough yet, which tools to bring, whether your pieces will make it home, and how a workshop sits next to a year of practice.
  • Page 11 of the “Pottery Workshops Worth Traveling For” printable guide: your shortlist, shown with the sample watermark
    Your shortlistA page to write on: each program you email, who teaches and how much, whether your firing is included, the group and the wheels, and the whole bill.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

A sheet you write on, not a page you scroll

Choosing a workshop is a comparison, and a comparison is easier with the answers side by side.

  • The six questions in one place

    The vetting questions sit on a single sheet you can keep beside the keyboard while the replies come in, and ask in writing so the answers exist.

  • A shortlist to fill in

    The shortlist page turns three emails into a comparison: who teaches, whether your firing is included, the group and the wheels, and the whole bill.

  • The five moves, in order

    Write the question, shortlist three, train for it, keep a daily log, and book your first session back. They are on the trip sheet where you will find them again.

  • It goes in the bag

    A printed sheet needs no signal in an airport, does not lose its place and does not run out of battery before you find the gate.

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.

  • Every claim checked, and several corrected

    A guide that tells you what to ask a school should get its own facts right. We corrected a line that said Jingdezhen invented porcelain, a flame we said a community studio cannot offer, and olive groves we could not confirm.

  • Counts that match what they count

    Every count was checked against the thing it counts, including the six questions, the five moves and the three films, and the lesson now says plainly which two questions matter most.

  • Video notes that say what the videos show

    Each of the three film notes was rewritten from the video’s own description, chapter list and upload date, so it claims no more than they show. One title had drifted from YouTube’s, so searching the printed title now finds the film.

  • Links that go where they say

    Every lesson this guide points at was opened and read. Two cards promised travel advice that the lessons they link to never give, and now say what those lessons actually cover.

  • A search line for every video

    On paper a video cannot play, so each one has its title and channel to search for, and a code that opens it.

  • Codes that keep working

    Every link is a short Clay Hole address. If a page 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 “Pottery Workshops Worth Traveling For” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

The pattern that works: go with a question your home practice has already raised, and come back with a habit, not just photographs.

Photos remember the pots; the log remembers the teaching.

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.

See every printable guide

  • 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 shortlist to write in, a one page trip sheet, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
Do I need to be a member of The Clay Hole to use it?
No. It is a field guide to choosing and using a workshop abroad, and it works wherever you throw. One closing section says where a home studio fits into the trip, and it says so.
Is it a travel guide, and do you recommend these schools?
It is not a travel guide. It books nothing and does not tell you when to go. It tells you what to ask a school before you pay, what the bill is made of, and what to do before, during and after the trip. The famous names are listed for orientation, not endorsement, and the guide says to confirm current details with each school.
Is this too early for me?
No. It is marked for all levels. Masterclasses assume fluency and the guide says so, but many programs welcome beginners, and it shows you how to read a program’s stated prerequisites before you book.
Do the videos play on paper?
No. Each of the three films has its title and channel to search for and a code that opens it. None of them was made by us or for us.
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 shortlist are black on white, and color is used for headings and small labels.
Can I use it on a tablet or phone instead?
Yes, it is a normal PDF and opens anywhere. Most people print the trip sheet and the shortlist, because those are the two you write on and keep beside you.
Can I print just part of it?
Yes, and most people do. The trip sheet and the shortlist are the two worth having on paper. 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 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.

Six questions, five moves, and a trip that comes home with you

Ask the dull questions early, in writing. Then book your first session back before you fly, so the trip turns into a habit.

Get the guide · $10.00

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Your purchase gives one individual purchaser a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license for personal use only. You may download the guide to your own devices, print copies for your own use, write all over them, spill clay water on them, replace a coffee-damaged copy, and generally use the heck out of what you bought.

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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.

You are responsible for determining whether any technique, material, combination, firing schedule, tool, or process described in a guide is appropriate and safe for your specific circumstances before using it.

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.

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Terms version 2026-09-19b