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The Clay Hole University · Surface and Decoration

Relief Carving in ClayPrintable pottery guide

Plan three levels, outline every shape, take the background down to one depth, and end up with a carving that reads under glaze instead of a lumpy tile that dried out.

$7.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 25 printable pages
  • 5 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 Relief Carving in Clay printable guide?

It is the carving order on paper: how thick and how firm the clay has to be, how to give every shape one of three levels, the outline cut that keeps an edge crisp, how to lower a background to one depth and check it against a marked toothpick, how to model and cut the detail last, and how to dry and glaze a relief so the shadows survive. Built to be printed, kept on the table beside your slab and written in.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Relief Carving” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 25printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 5hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 15glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For the third night of a carving

A relief is decided before the first cut

A carved surface rarely goes wrong in the cutting. It goes wrong before, in a wall too thin to spend or clay too soft to hold an edge, and after, in a fast dry or three coats of an opaque glaze that fill in every shadow you made.

Both ends are things you can plan. Give every shape a level before the tool touches the clay, mark your depth on a toothpick, carve at firm leather hard, and give the piece the days it needs under plastic.

The guide sets that order out in four steps with a tick list at each, adds the faults people really meet, and gives you a page to write down how thick you started and how far you dropped the background, so your second relief starts from numbers and not a hunch.

Look inside

Real pages, for the table beside your work

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

  • Page 3 of the “Relief Carving in Clay” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before you touch clay: what you will learn, what to have on the table, what is worth knowing, the common pitfalls, and what a relief that worked looks like.
  • Page 5 of the “Relief Carving in Clay” printable guide: the whole technique in six moves, shown with the sample watermark
    The whole technique in six movesStart thick, draw and pick three levels, outline, lower the background, model then detail, clean and dry slowly. The shape of the whole job on one page, before the slow version.
  • Page 9 of the “Relief Carving in Clay” printable guide: tick lists you work down, shown with the sample watermark
    Tick lists you work downEvery step ends in a tick list. This page closes step two’s and opens step three, where the shapes become forms, undercuts are kept for the edges the eye lands on, and the detail goes in last.
  • Page 18 of the “Relief Carving in Clay” printable guide: every relief, and what it taught you, shown with the sample watermark
    Every relief, and what it taught youA log to write in: how thick the clay was where you carved, how far you dropped the background, the stage it was at and the days it dried. A few rows in and the next one starts from a number.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

Relief is worked out at the table, under a lamp

You carve with one hand, hold the piece with the other and keep looking at it in the light. Paper stays where you put it.

  • The moves stay in view

    The six moves and the numbers that decide the job sit on one page you can prop beside the slab, so you can check the depth and the stage without stopping to scroll.

  • It holds still

    A page stays put while your hands are in clay. It does not lock its screen and it does not mind a damp thumbprint.

  • Numbers to write down

    The log has columns for how thick the clay was, how far you dropped the background and how many days it dried, so the next relief starts from a real number.

  • The faults, one page away

    The six ways a relief goes wrong sit on the one page summary, each with what to do about the piece in front of you.

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.

  • One depth rule

    The free lesson gave two different limits for how deep a cut on a pot can go before it needs a carving layer. The guide and the lesson now agree on the smaller one, the one the lesson’s own wall thickness allows.

  • Video notes that say what the video shows

    Every note on the five videos was checked against the video’s own description, chapter list and length. Each one said more than the video bears out, and we rewrote them in the guide and in the lesson.

  • Written for any studio

    The Clay Hole’s own tools, firing rules and kiln cookie rule 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 is a short Clay Hole address. If a video moves, we repoint the address and your printed copy still goes to the right place.

  • A page to keep by the slab

    The one page summary is the whole technique on a single sheet: the six moves, the numbers, the six faults and the rules of thumb.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “Relief Carving” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

Nobody tells you that relief is mostly not carving. You draw it, you decide what sits in front of what, you cut one line around everything, and then you wait for the clay to be exactly the right amount of firm. The cutting is an evening or two. The rest is choosing, measuring and waiting, and that is where a relief is won or lost.

What I like about it is that it hides nothing. The depth you chose shows up as a shadow the moment a lamp is on it, and a background that wandered by a millimeter shows up too. That is why a marked toothpick is the best tool on the table.

Label the bag with who you are and when you started, keep it on your shelf, and come back tomorrow. The clay will still be there, and it will be in better shape than you left it.

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 log to write in, a one page summary, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
Is this only for tiles?
No. A tile is the easiest place to start, but the same order works on a thrown wall, if it is thick enough, and on a carving layer added to a pot. The guide says how thick each one needs to be.
What do I need to try it?
Firm leather hard clay, a medium and a small loop tool, a needle or small V tool, a small wooden modeling tool, a dry brush and a barely damp one, a toothpick, and a bag with a damp paper towel. The guide lists what to have on its first pages.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Intermediate in the University because the tool work takes practice. The order itself is short, and if you have made a slab tile you can follow it.
What about the drying and the glaze?
Both get a step of their own, because they are where a finished carving is most often lost: a slow, even dry, and glaze that pools in the low points instead of filling them.
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 log are the two worth having by the slab. 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 slab 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.

Decide the levels, then cut to a depth

Plan three levels, outline every shape, take the background down to one depth, and give the piece the days it needs to dry. Those habits decide whether a relief reads under glaze. The guide keeps them in front of you at the table.

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