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The Clay Hole University · Glazing

Spraying GlazePrintable pottery guide

Sprayed glaze, on paper: the respirator rule, the four tools, thinning and sieving, an even coat, how to tell it is thick enough, fades and layers, what each fault is telling you, and a log for what your own spraying does.

$7.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 19 printable pages
  • 1 video pick
  • 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 Spraying Glaze printable guide?

It is the free “Spraying Glaze: Atomizers, Airbrushes and Spray Guns” lesson rebuilt for paper: the rule about the respirator and where you spray, which of the four tools is for which job, how to thin, sieve and spray an even coat, how to know the coat is thick enough, the fades, layers and spattering only spraying gives, and six faults and what each was. Built to be printed, kept where you spray and written in.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Spraying Glaze: Atomizers, Airbrushes and Spray Guns” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 19printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 1video, with a QR code
  • 10glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For anyone who sprays glaze at home

The mask goes on before the glaze goes in the cup.

Spraying does things nothing else does: a fade with no line in it, an even coat on a piece too big to dip, layers that stay where you put them. It is also the one way of glazing that puts the material into the air you breathe, so the guide starts with the rule and keeps it in front of you.

Then it gets practical: which of the four tools is for which job, how thin the glaze should be, how far back to stand, how to overlap the passes and how long to wait between coats. Most sprayed pots fail by being too thin, so a whole page is about knowing how thick is thick enough.

And it gives you the thing a spray booth or a back garden cannot: a page to write on. The glaze, the tool, the coats, the distance and how it fired. After a few pieces you will have a method instead of a lucky pot.

Look inside

Real pages, for wherever you spray

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

  • Page 5 of the “Spraying Glaze” printable guide: what spraying does that dipping cannot, shown with the sample watermark
    What spraying does that dipping cannotSix jobs where a sprayed coat is the answer, from fades with no edge to a cupful of an expensive glaze.
  • Page 9 of the “Spraying Glaze” printable guide: when it goes wrong, shown with the sample watermark
    When it goes wrongSix faults, each with what caused it and what to change next time.
  • Page 12 of the “Spraying Glaze” printable guide: every piece you spray, shown with the sample watermark
    Every piece you sprayA log to write in: the glaze and tool, the coats and distance, how it looked wet and how it fired.
  • Page 15 of the “Spraying Glaze” printable guide: test yourself, shown with the sample watermark
    Test yourselfThe first page of an 8-question quiz, with a full answer key that explains every answer.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

A rule and a log are things you keep beside you

Spraying happens in a mask, with glaze on your gloves. Paper suits that.

  • The rule where you can see it

    The respirator rule and the one page routine sit on pages you can pin up where you spray.

  • A reason for every step

    Thin, sieve, a foot back, keep moving, let it flash off. Each step comes with the reason behind it, so you can tell what to change when a pot comes out wrong.

  • A log for your own spraying

    Columns for the glaze and tool, the coats and distance, how it looked wet and how it fired. A few pieces of notes beat a memory of what you did.

  • It does not mind a dirty glove

    A page stays where you put it. It does not lock its screen while you are holding a pot.

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 lessons

    We checked the lesson against our lessons on masks, dipping, brushing and resists. Where it was out of step, the guide now says what those pages say.

  • The respirator and the tool agree

    The guide asks for a sealed respirator, so it points you at an atomizer on a small air pump, because you cannot seal a respirator over a tube you blow through.

  • Video notes that say only what the video shows

    The video has a short note, a link and a code, and the note says only what we could check.

  • Steps you can follow

    The coat is eight numbered steps, each one a whole sentence, and the routine is a one page reference.

  • 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 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 “Spraying Glaze: Atomizers, Airbrushes and Spray Guns” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

So the order matters. The mask and the outdoor space come first, and the glaze goes in the cup second. After that it is patience: thin it, count the coats and write down what worked.

Members do not spray here. If you spray at home, do it properly.

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 log to write in, a one page routine, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
Can I spray at The Clay Hole?
No. Members do not spray at The Clay Hole, at any Level. This guide is for spraying at home, outdoors or in a properly extracted booth, with a fitted respirator on.
Do I need a compressor and a spray gun?
No. The guide starts you on an atomizer on a small air pump, and says when a gun is worth thinking about. It also explains why we would skip the mouth atomizer.
Is this safe to do without a booth?
Outdoors is fine, and a properly extracted booth is fine. A spare room with a window open is not. The guide puts the respirator and the place first for that reason.
Do the videos play from the paper?
The video has a short note, a link and a code. Scan the code or type the short address and it opens the video.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Intermediate. You need bisque fired pieces, a respirator and somewhere safe to spray. The glossary fills in the vocabulary.
What do I need besides glaze?
A half-face respirator with P100 filters, goggles, an atomizer, a banding wheel, a fine sieve and a test tile. The dashboard lists it all.
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 routine is the page worth having where you spray. It is numbered like any other, so you can print that 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.

Mask on, thin it, count the coats

Put the respirator on first, thin and sieve the glaze, stay a foot back and keep the pot turning. The guide keeps the whole routine in front of you.

Get the guide · $7.00

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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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Terms version 2026-09-19b