You can move this picture: drag it, press and hold then drag on a touch screen, or use the arrow keys.Printable guide 06.01

The Clay Hole University · Advanced Throwing

Throwing Off the HumpPrintable pottery guide

One lump, many pots, no recentering between them, and the four seconds where the wire goes through.

$10.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Advanced
  • 27 printable pages
  • 4 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 Throwing Off the Hump printable guide?

It is a printable workbook edition of The Clay Hole University’s free “Throwing Off the Hump” lesson. It covers the idea in one paragraph, what to get within arm’s reach before you sit down, the method phase by phase in twenty six numbered steps, undercutting and wiring off, and how to make six that actually match. On paper it adds a row for every pot that comes off the mound, a diagnosis section for the twelve things that go wrong, a one page card for beside the wheel, a quiz with a full answer key, and a glossary.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Throwing Off the Hump” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 27printable pages, US Letter
  • 7quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 4hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 16glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
Why a printable, for this one

You do not get to stop and think between pots

Hump throwing is a rhythm, not a sequence. You centre the top few inches, throw a pot, undercut it, wire it off, true the top again and start the next one, and the whole appeal is that you never stop to recentre a fresh lump.

Which means the moment you have to go and look something up, the rhythm is what you lose. The mound dries while you read, your hands cool off, and the next three pots come out unlike the last three.

So this guide is built to sit beside the wheel and be glanced at rather than read. The twenty six steps in order, the wheel-side checklist on one page, and a row on the log for each pot as it comes off, which is the only way six of them ever end up matching.

Look inside

Real pages, built for a mound that is already turning

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

  • Page 5 of the “Throwing Off the Hump” printable guide: the idea in one paragraph, shown with the sample watermark
    The idea in one paragraphWhat the technique actually is, and why the top few inches are the only part you centre.
  • Page 18 of the “Throwing Off the Hump” printable guide: the wheel-side checklist, shown with the sample watermark
    The wheel-side checklistThe whole rhythm as short lines you can glance at between pots without losing your place.
  • Page 13 of the “Throwing Off the Hump” printable guide: twelve things that go wrong, shown with the sample watermark
    Twelve things that go wrongEach one with what really caused it, and a box to tick for the ones that keep happening to you.
  • Page 17 of the “Throwing Off the Hump” printable guide: the hump log, shown with the sample watermark
    The hump logOne row for each pot that comes off the mound: what it was, what it weighed off the top, and whether it survived.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Paper beats the screen here

Why this technique, of all of them, belongs on paper

The whole point of the hump is not stopping. A page is the only thing you can consult without stopping.

  • It is glanced at, not read

    Prop it against the splash pan and take the next step in at a glance, because the mound is drying the whole time you are not throwing.

  • It is how six pots end up matching

    Write the weight off the top for each one as it comes off. A set matches because the numbers matched, not because your hands felt the same.

  • It tells you which of the twelve keeps getting you

    Tick the diagnosis rows that describe your pots. After a session or two the pattern is on the page with its cause printed beside it.

  • One card lives by the wheel for good

    The setup, the phases, the undercut and the wire, all on a single card you can pull out of the binder and leave where you throw.

How the guide is built

Built for a rhythm you are not supposed to interrupt

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 within arm’s reach, the mistakes that get made first, and what a good hump actually feels like under your hands.

  • The complete lesson, redesigned for paper

    The idea in one paragraph, the setup, and the method phase by phase in twenty six numbered steps, laid out so each step sits where your eyes land.

  • Undercutting and wiring off, with a section of its own

    The four seconds that decide whether the pot comes off clean or takes its floor with it.

  • How to make six that match

    The part that turns a party trick into production, and the reason the log has a column for weight.

  • Videos you can reach from a printed page

    Four videos, four different approaches, none of them ours, each with a note on why it is worth your time and a code that goes straight to it.

  • Plain words for the jargon

    A sixteen term glossary, from the working zone and truing the top to the knuckle check and the twisted wire, written the way we would explain it at the wheel.

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 Off the Hump” lesson at The Clay Hole University. No paywall, no sign-up, no catch.

Hump throwing is the thing that makes a person look fast, and it is really just a rhythm plus a wire. Knowing that should not cost anybody anything, so the lesson stays free, for anybody, anywhere.

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 06.01, the first guide in Advanced Throwing. 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

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Where this leads

What to learn once the rhythm holds

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 a row for every pot off the mound, a diagnosis section with boxes to tick, a one page card for beside the wheel, a printed quiz with an answer key, and a glossary.
How much clay goes on the wheel head?
More than feels sensible, because you are only centring the top few inches of it and the rest is there to hold that part still. The guide gives a range rather than one number, and says what too little and too much each cost you.
Do I have to centre the whole lump?
No, and that is the entire idea. You true the top, throw out of that, and leave the rest of the mound alone. If you find yourself centring the whole thing you have talked yourself back into ordinary throwing.
How do I get the pot off without wrecking it?
The undercut and the wire get their own section, because that is where most hump pots are lost. It is about four seconds of work and it is the part every video skims.
Will my pots actually match?
They will if you write the numbers down, and they will not if you trust your hands. That is why the log has a column for what each pot weighed off the top, and there is a whole section on making six that match.
Is this too advanced for me?
It assumes you can already centre and throw a small pot you would keep. If you can, the hump is mostly a new rhythm rather than a new skill.
I am not at The Clay Hole. Is it still useful?
Yes. It is about the mound and what your hands do, wherever you throw. Anything specific to our studio is marked as ours, and the studio numbers carry the date they were true.
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.

One mound, a dozen pots, and a page beside you

Print it tonight. Set the tray up before you sit down, keep the checklist where you can glance at it, and write the weight of every pot that comes off.

Get the printable · $10.00

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