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The Clay Hole University · Trimming, Handles and Drying

Throwing and Cutting Handles on the WheelPrintable pottery guide

The whole job, in the order you do it: which of five ways to make a handle suits which pot, how to throw the ring, when to cut it, and how to put a stiff handle on a mug so it stays there.

$7.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 30 printable pages
  • 9 video picks
  • 7-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 Throwing and Cutting Handles on the Wheel printable guide?

It is the thrown handle on paper: five ways to make a handle on the wheel, how to throw a ring off a hump, why the wall wants a shallow C for a section, how to tell soft leather hard and cut inside that window, how to fit, score, slip and blend a stiff handle onto a mug, and what to change when it goes wrong. Built to be printed, worked through at the wheel and kept on the bench.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Throwing and Cutting Handles on the Wheel” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 30printable pages, US Letter
  • 7quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 9hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 18glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For a set that has to match

The wait is the price, and the timing is the skill

A pulled handle is made one at a time, so no two are quite alike. A thrown handle is cut from a single wall, so the pieces come from the same clay, at the same thickness, with the same curve. The price is a wait: the ring has to stiffen before it will cut.

What decides whether a thrown handle survives is small and easy to skip with wet hands: a shallow curve in the wall, a slant on each end, a rounded edge, and a mug that is as firm as the handle when they meet. Miss one and the handle sags in the glaze firing or lets go in the bisque.

The guide sets each check in the order you do it and keeps the sizes next to the step that needs them. It also has a page to write down every ring you throw, how wide you made it and how long it stiffened.

Look inside

Real pages, for a bench with a bucket of water on it

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

  • Page 3 of the “Throwing and Cutting Handles on the Wheel” 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 bench, what is worth knowing, the common pitfalls, and what a good handle looks like.
  • Page 9 of the “Throwing and Cutting Handles on the Wheel” printable guide: the cross section, shown with the sample watermark
    The cross sectionThe diagram page: the ring from above and one slice through its wall, the numbered key beside it, and the two reasons the curve in the wall matters.
  • Page 11 of the “Throwing and Cutting Handles on the Wheel” printable guide: cutting the ring into handles, shown with the sample watermark
    Cutting the ring into handlesThe cutting steps: wait for soft leather hard, mark every cut before you make one, use a thin sharp blade, bevel both ends, round every cut edge and rest the arcs curve side down.
  • Page 24 of the “Throwing and Cutting Handles on the Wheel” printable guide: every ring, and what it made, shown with the sample watermark
    Every ring, and what it madeA log to write in: how wide the inside was, the wall, how long the ring stiffened, how many arcs and what happened. A few rows in and the next ring starts from a measurement instead of a guess.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

A wait is easier to manage with a page beside you

A thrown handle is a few measurements, one stretch of waiting and a short list of checks, all done with clay on your hands. Paper suits that.

  • The numbers sit beside the steps

    The width of the ring, the height and thickness of the wall and how far down to open are each next to the step that needs them, not somewhere in a twenty minute video.

  • It holds still

    A page stays where you put it while you bevel an arc with a knife in one hand. It does not lock its screen, and it does not mind slip.

  • A number to write down

    The log has a column for how long the ring stiffened before you cut it. The next ring starts from a measurement instead of a hunch.

  • One page for the wheel

    The one page summary has the five ways, the numbers, the checks before you cut and what to change when it goes wrong. It pins up beside the wheel.

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.

  • Two reasons, corrected

    The lesson gave trapped air as the reason a closed hollow handle needs a hole. It is water turning to steam, so the guide and the free lesson now say that and keep the rule. Sanding a bisqued edge is now wet, never dry, in both.

  • Video notes that say what the video shows

    We checked every note in the free lesson against the video’s own description, upload date and frames, and rewrote the ones the videos do not bear out, in the guide and in the lesson.

  • Written for any studio

    Where the lesson talks about The Clay Hole, the guide says so and dates it, so a reader working somewhere else knows which line is a Clay Hole fact 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 wheel

    The one page summary is the whole job on a single sheet: the five ways, the numbers, the checks before you cut, and what to change when it goes wrong.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “Throwing and Cutting Handles on the Wheel” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

Throwing the handle takes the guessing out of it. You choose the curve with a measurement, you cut the pieces out of one wall, and they match because they came from the same wall.

So throw a few rings on a day when nothing depends on them. Cut some too soon and some too late, and write down what each one felt like.

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.
Does it cover pulled handles?
No. It is about handles made on the wheel: a thrown ring, a cylinder, a hollow tube, a ring taken off the pot, and lugs. Pulling a handle by hand is its own free lesson.
Which way should I start?
The lesson’s advice is to start with the ring taken off the pot you are already throwing. It costs you one extra inch of height, and if it goes badly you have lost nothing but an inch of clay.
Do I need a wheel?
Yes. Every one of the five ways is thrown, and the guide is written for someone sitting at a wheel.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Intermediate. You need to be able to center a small mound, open it and raise a short wall. The new skills are judging soft leather hard by feel and cutting inside that window, and both come from doing it a few times.
What do I need besides clay?
A fingertip or a small rib, a damp sponge, a wire, a board or bat, a needle tool for marking, a fettling knife or craft blade for cutting, and soft clay and slip for the join. The guide lists all of it on the dashboard.
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 ring log are the two worth having by the wheel. 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 the wheel 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.

Cut it at the right moment

Put a shallow curve in the wall, mark every cut before you make one, and cut when an arc lifts and holds its shape. Those three checks take a few minutes and decide whether the handle is still on the mug after the glaze firing. The guide keeps them in front of you at the bench.

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