You can move this picture: drag it, press and hold then drag on a touch screen, or use the arrow keys.Printable guide 13.08

The Clay Hole University · Other Ways to Find, Fire, and Form

Saggar FiringPrintable pottery guide

A foil parcel on paper: what a saggar is, the pot and surface it needs, what each material does, the packing table, the low firing, opening it safely, and a log for every parcel you pack.

$12.505 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Advanced
  • 30 printable pages
  • 7 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 Saggar Firing printable guide?

It is the free “Saggar Firing” lesson rebuilt for paper: what a saggar is and the three kinds, the pot and the polished surface that take color, what each material does, how to pack and wrap a foil parcel, the low firing, opening and keeping the color, a safety part and the list of faults. Built to be printed, read before the day and written in. It is outdoor work with real fumes, so it prepares you rather than replacing an instructor beside you.

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

  • 30printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 7hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 19glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For anyone who wants a surface no glaze can make

You are not choosing the pattern. You are choosing the odds.

A saggar is a small kiln inside the kiln. Wrap a bisque pot in foil with sawdust, salt and a little copper, seal it, fire it low, and open it onto smoke, blushes and hard-edged marks that nobody drew. What decides the result is the pot, the surface, the packing and the moment you stop.

The guide gives you that in order: what each material in the parcel is doing, the packing table, how the low firing should climb, and how to open and keep the color without scrubbing it off.

It also gives you what a web page cannot: a log to write in. The bed, the colorants, what touched the pot, how loose or tight the wrap was and what came out. A few parcels of notes show you what each choice actually did.

Look inside

Real pages, for reading before the day

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

  • Page 3 of the “Saggar Firing” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before anything gets near a kiln: what you will learn, what you would need, what is worth knowing, the common pitfalls and what a good result looks like.
  • Page 5 of the “Saggar Firing” printable guide: what a saggar actually is, shown with the sample watermark
    What a saggar actually isA saggar was invented to keep the fire out, and we use it to keep the fire in. A cutaway diagram of a foil parcel, with every part named.
  • Page 19 of the “Saggar Firing” printable guide: saggar work at the clay hole, shown with the sample watermark
    Saggar work at The Clay HoleWhy this is outdoor work that never goes in a shared studio kiln, and how it sits beside the other alternative firings.
  • Page 23 of the “Saggar Firing” printable guide: every parcel you pack, shown with the sample watermark
    Every parcel you packA log to write in: the bed, the colorants, what touched the pot, how loose or tight you wrapped it, and what came out.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

Read it cold, before anything is lit

You cannot see through foil once it is wrapped, and there is no do-over after the firing. Learning it from a page you have already read suits both.

  • The order, where you can find it

    The packing table and the firing are on the page in order, with the reason for each. Nothing to scroll through with gloves on.

  • A reason for every material

    Sawdust, salt, copper and the rest each have a job, and each one is easy to overdo. The guide says which, and what you will see if you do.

  • A log for your own parcels

    You cannot see inside a parcel, so notes are the only way to learn from one. Columns for the bed, the colorants, the wrap and what came out.

  • A page stays where you put it

    It does not lock its screen, and you can set it on the packing table and come back to it. Safety first, and the order is already in your head on the day.

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.

  • Read against the studio’s own rules

    We checked the lesson against The Clay Hole’s rules and our other lessons. Where the lesson was out of step, the guide now says what those pages say.

  • Safety said plainly

    The copper carbonate, the fumes and the optional ferric chloride all carry the protection they need, and the guide says what belongs outdoors.

  • Not a substitute for the team

    The guide teaches the order and the preparation. At The Clay Hole an instructor decides what goes in our kilns, and the guide says so.

  • Decorative, and plainly so

    A saggar pot is bare, porous and carries carbon and metal salts. The guide says it is not food safe and not watertight.

  • Video notes that say what the videos say

    Every video is another maker’s work, printed with its own QR code. Each note was written from the video’s own description and chapters, so it claims no more than that.

  • 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 “Saggar Firing” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

A saggar is a small kiln inside the kiln, and you decide what the weather is in it. Foil, sawdust, salt and a little copper, sealed up and fired low, and what you open is a surface no glaze can make.

You are not choosing the pattern. You are choosing the odds.

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 sit beside this one

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 of the packing table, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
Can I do this at home?
The guide is plain that this is outdoor work with a cartridge respirator, eye protection and gloves, and that it does not belong in a garage or a kitchen. At home the part you can do is prepare the pot and the surface. We would not use the only kiln you own, and the guide explains why.
Does the guide replace hands on teaching?
No. It teaches the order and the preparation. At The Clay Hole an instructor decides what goes in our kilns, and a first parcel is much easier beside someone who has opened a few.
Can I put a saggar parcel in the studio kilns?
No. Salt and metal vapor are hard on elements and brickwork, and in a shared studio that damage lands on everybody else’s firings. The guide says this up front and tells you where this kind of work belongs.
Is a saggar pot food safe?
No. It is bare, porous bisque carrying carbon and metal salts, so it is for decoration and not for holding water, food or drink. The guide says so plainly.
Do I need the raku safety certification first?
The guide describes it as worth reading and says the other alternative firings follow the same rules. It does not replace a safety meeting in person.
What is the ferric chloride part?
It is an optional, advanced material and genuinely hazardous. The guide says it is not for a first firing, not for the studio, and needs a fitted respirator, splash goggles, covered skin and an outdoor, upwind spot.
Are the videos yours?
No. Each one is another maker’s work. The guide prints each with its own QR code and a short note taken from the video’s own description and chapters, and nothing in the guide depends on watching them.
Do I need to be a member of The Clay Hole to use it?
No. The guide teaches the preparation and the order of the steps for anyone. Where a line is only ours, such as how our kilns are run, the guide says so.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Advanced. It helps to have made and bisque fired a few pieces first, and the glossary fills in the words.
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 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 packing summary and the parcel log are the two worth having beside you. 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 and read 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.

One parcel, a low fire, and notes

Learn what each material does, keep an instructor beside you, and write down what came out. The guide keeps every step in front of you before anything is lit.

Get the guide · $12.50

The Clay Hole University Printable Guide Terms

Licensing, safety, digital delivery, and refund terms

Your copy is yours. The guide is not.

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.

What you may not do is distribute the guide to anyone else, whether you charge for it or not.

That means you may not share, forward, email, upload, post, publish, copy, reproduce, resell, sublicense, redistribute, or otherwise provide the guide, or any substantial portion of it, to another person. You may not place it in a shared drive, group chat, membership library, online community, file-sharing service, studio resource folder, classroom packet, employee handbook, course, workshop, or other shared collection. You may not make copies for students, members, employees, friends, classes, studios, schools, groups, or organizations.

You may not remove or obscure copyright notices, watermarks, attribution, or other ownership information, or sell, republish, or commercially exploit modified or derivative versions of the guide.

Purchasing the guide does not transfer ownership of its copyrighted text, photographs, illustrations, graphics, layouts, worksheets, or other original content. Those rights remain with The Clay Hole and their respective rights holders. Copyright law protects the expression contained in these guides, while ideas, methods, techniques, and processes may have different legal treatment.

If you would like to use one of our guides with a class, studio, school, team, or other group, contact The Clay Hole about permission or group licensing. Please do not make twenty copies and call it manifesting.

Pottery is wonderfully unpredictable. It also carries real risk.

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.

These guides are provided for general educational and informational purposes. They are not a substitute for hands-on training, competent supervision, your studio’s safety procedures, applicable laws or codes, Safety Data Sheets, or the instructions and warnings supplied by the manufacturers of your clay, glaze, chemicals, tools, kilns, equipment, protective gear, or other materials.

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.

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.

Ceramics also refuses to sign contracts promising beautiful results. Colors change. Glazes move. Kilns have opinions. Pots crack. Materials interact unexpectedly. Manufacturers reformulate products. Equipment behaves differently. The Clay Hole does not guarantee any particular aesthetic, functional, firing, glazing, structural, or other result.

By choosing to use the information in a guide, you accept responsibility for your own materials, equipment, workspace, safety decisions, testing, methods, and results. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, The Clay Hole and its owners, employees, contributors, and affiliates are not responsible for injury, illness, property damage, lost work, failed projects, kiln or equipment damage, financial loss, or other loss arising from or related to your use of, or reliance upon, the guide.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any right or liability that applicable law does not allow us to exclude or limit.

Digital guides, immediate delivery, and refunds

These are digital products delivered electronically and made available for use immediately after purchase. Unlike a physical book, a downloaded digital file cannot meaningfully be returned to us once it has been delivered.

By completing your purchase and requesting immediate access to the guide, you consent to digital delivery beginning immediately. Where applicable law provides a cancellation or withdrawal period for digital content, you acknowledge that beginning the download, access, or delivery of the digital content may cause that cancellation or withdrawal right to end.

Once access to or delivery of the purchased digital guide has begun, the purchase is final and non-refundable except where a refund, replacement, cancellation, or other remedy is required by applicable law.

If the file you receive is corrupted, inaccessible, materially different from what was described, or there is a genuine technical problem with delivery, please contact us. We would much rather fix the problem than leave you staring angrily at a PDF that refuses to PDF.

Terms version 2026-09-19b