You can move this picture: drag it, press and hold then drag on a touch screen, or use the arrow keys.Printable guide 04.01

The Clay Hole University · Preparing Your Clay

Ram’s Head Wedging, Step by StepPrintable pottery guide

The method almost everybody learns first, taught properly: set the table up so your body does the work, six steps, a count to wedge along to, and the cut face that tells you whether it worked.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Beginner
  • 19 printable pages
  • 2 video picks
  • 7-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 Ram’s Head Wedging, Step by Step?

It is the free lesson of the same name, rebuilt as a workbook. It sets the table up first, because most wedging pain is standing wrong at a table that is the wrong height. Then what your hands are actually doing, the six steps, a count to wedge along to, the four ways it goes sideways, and how to read the cut face. On paper it adds four short practice sessions, a wedging log, a one-page wedging card, a quiz with a full answer key, and a glossary.

Prefer to read it online first? “Ram’s Head Wedging, Step by Step” is free to read, and always will be.

  • 19printable pages, US Letter
  • 6step method, start to finish
  • 7quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 2hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 16glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
Why a printable, for this one

Push down and forward. Never fold.

Most of the people who say wedging hurts are not wedging wrong. They are standing wrong, at a table that is the wrong height, with too much clay in front of them.

It is a rocking motion that starts at your hips, not an arm exercise, and getting that right is most of the battle.

Then cut the lump open. Four seconds, and it is the only honest answer you are going to get about whether it worked.

Look inside

Real pages, for the wedging table

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

  • Page 5 of the “Ram’s Head Wedging, Step by Step” printable guide: set up so your body does the work, shown with the sample watermark
    Set up so your body does the workThe surface, the height, how much clay, and where to stand.
  • Page 6 of the “Ram’s Head Wedging, Step by Step” printable guide: what your hands are doing, shown with the sample watermark
    What your hands are doingThe heels, the thumbs, the horns, the nose and the crease, named one at a time.
  • Page 11 of the “Ram’s Head Wedging, Step by Step” printable guide: the wedging log, shown with the sample watermark
    The wedging logOne row a session: the clay, how many pushes, what the cut face showed, and how your wrists felt.
  • Page 15 of the “Ram’s Head Wedging, Step by Step” printable guide: the quiz, shown with the sample watermark
    The quizSeven questions with an answer key that explains the reasoning behind each one.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Paper beats the screen here

A card at hip height, not a phone

Wedging happens standing up with clay on both hands. That is not a moment for a screen.

  • The wedging card

    The setup, the six steps, the count, the four ways it goes sideways and how to read the cut face.

  • Four practice sessions

    Twenty pushes, then thirty, then a real lump. A month of wedging, planned.

  • A wedging log

    Your own count, and what your wrists said about it.

  • Table height, in writing

    The single most common wedging complaint, solved before you touch the clay.

How the guide is built

Built for the table, not the screen

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 setup first

    Surface, height, how much clay, and your stance, before any technique.

  • Six steps and a count

    The motion, then a tempo to do it to, with the lesson’s own push counts.

  • Four practice sessions

    Short, specific, and each with a goal you can check.

  • The cut face

    How to read streaks, holes and color, which is the only honest test.

  • 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 “Ram’s Head Wedging, Step by Step” lesson at The Clay Hole University. No paywall, no sign-up, no catch.

Most people who tell me wedging hurts are standing wrong at a table that is the wrong height. That is a five minute fix and nobody should pay to hear it, 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 04.01, the first guide in Preparing Your Clay. 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
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Where this leads

From the table to the wheel

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 four practice sessions, a wedging log, a one-page wedging card, a printed quiz with an answer key, and a glossary.
Ram’s head or spiral?
Ram’s head first. Both hands do the same thing at the same time, so there is only one idea to hold. Spiral is the next guide, and it is better for bigger lumps.
Does wedging get the air out?
That is the smaller half of the job. Wedging evens out the moisture and lines the clay particles up, which is what makes clay throw well. Air pockets are mostly a wheel problem, not a kiln one.
It hurts my wrists. What now?
Check the table height, the amount of clay and your stance first, which the guide covers in order. Slam wedging is the gentler method if it still hurts, and pain that lasts past a session is worth taking to a doctor or hand therapist.
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.

Now go hit some clay against a table.

Print it, set the table height, and log the first four sessions.

Get the printable · $5.00

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