The Clay Hole University · Hand Building
Using Cookie Cutters on Clay SlabsPrintable pottery guide
A workbook for the technique everybody thinks they already know. One sheet of plastic wrap, a slab that was ready before you cut it, and shapes that come out of the kiln flat instead of curled.
- Skill level: Beginner
- 19 printable pages
- 3 video picks
- 8-question quiz + answer key
- Instant download
- Prints on any home printer
- The full lesson stays free online
What is the Using Cookie Cutters on Clay Slabs printable guide?
It is the whole technique on paper, in the order you do it: the plastic wrap trick and why it works, how firm the slab has to be before you cut, which cutters are worth using, and the part almost nobody gets right, which is how to dry a flat shape so it does not curl. There is a batch log to write in, a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer, and a one page reference to keep on the bench.
Prefer to read it online first? The “Using Cookie Cutters on Clay Slabs” lesson is free, and always will be.
- 19printable pages, US Letter
- 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
- 3hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
- 18glossary terms in plain language
- 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
Nobody is bad at cookie cutters
This is the technique people arrive confident about. They have been pressing cutters into dough since they were six, so a slab of clay looks like the same job with a different filling. Then the first batch comes out torn at the edges, one shape is still stuck in the cutter, and the ornaments that did survive have curled up like crisps on the shelf.
Almost none of that is about skill, and almost none of it happens during the cut. It happens before, in a slab that was too soft or thicker at one end, and afterward, on a shelf where a flat shape has nothing holding it down. The cut itself takes thirty seconds and is the part you do not need to practice.
The fix that does the most work costs about a dollar. Lay a sheet of kitchen plastic wrap over the slab and cut through it, and the blade never meets the clay, so nothing sticks. The wrap gets carried down into the cut at the same time and folds over the corner, which rounds the edge for you. That is the sponging and the sanding gone, in one press.
Real pages, for a table covered in clay
These are actual pages from the guide, shown here with the sample watermark. The full guide has none.
The trick, and why it does two jobsThe whole thing in six lines, with the videos beside it, and the reason a rounded edge is a durability fix rather than a cosmetic one. 
Which cutters, and what the slab has to beMetal against plastic, deep against shallow, which outlines will not survive the kiln, and the cutting and drying method beginning underneath. 
Beyond flat shapes, and six ways it goes wrongDraping, piercing, pressing and building on one page, then the fault list: curled, torn, stuck, cracked, mismatched, the hole closed up. 
Every batch of shapes, and how they came outOne line per batch: thickness, how firm, wrap or no wrap, days drying, how they came out. Three of these and you stop guessing.
Your hands are covered in clay and the slab is firming up while you read
Cutting is a short job with a window. The slab reaches the right firmness, you have a sheet of wrap down and a cutter in your hand, and that is not the moment to be waking a screen with a knuckle.
It does not go dark on you
A page sits there showing the step you are on for as long as you need. No timeout, no scrolling back to find where you were, no clay on a screen you will have to clean off later.
You can write on it
The batch log is a table with room for eight lines. Thickness, how firm the slab was, whether you used the wrap, how many days it dried and how the shapes came out. Your handwriting, in the studio, at the time.
It goes where the work is
Onto the table, onto a damp board, under a bag. Print it again when it gets ruined, which it will, because that is what the license is for.
The fault list is quicker to read than to search
Six ways a batch goes wrong, each with its cause and its fix, side by side on one page. Finding yours takes about four seconds, which is faster than typing what happened into anything.
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.
The trick first, in six lines
The plastic wrap page comes before the slab page, because it is the thing you can use tonight. The reasons are underneath it rather than in front of it.
The slab section says what it is for
Most cutter failures are slab failures wearing a disguise, so the slab gets its own section, with a code beside it pointing at the free lesson on rolling an even one.
Cutting and drying as numbered steps
Press, lift, peel, lift the shape, lay it on paper, sandwich it, dry it slowly, turn it over. Each one its own line, each one a complete sentence, which took some rewriting for print.
A cutter comparison you can check against a drawer
Metal, plastic, plunger, deep, intricate and homemade, each with what it does well and what it does badly, so you can look at what you already own.
Six faults, with causes
Curled, torn, stuck, cracked at the thin points, mismatched sizes and a hanging hole that closed up. Read it after a bad batch and the answer is on the page.
Videos as codes, not links
Each hand-picked video has a QR code on a short Clay Hole address, so a printed page still gets you to the clip, and we can keep those addresses working.
The lesson is free. It always will be.
All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “Using Cookie Cutters on Clay Slabs” lesson at The Clay Hole University, which anybody can read online without buying anything.
This is the technique that quietly puts people off hand building. It looks foolproof, the first batch comes out torn and curled, and somebody decides they are not any good at this. They were never the problem.
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
Build a little pottery library
Every printable guide in The Clay Hole University series takes one free lesson and rebuilds it for paper: the teaching in the order you do it, the numbers where you need them, a quiz with an answer key that explains itself, and somewhere to write down what actually happened when you tried it.
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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.
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Guide 07.04 · free lessonHow to Use Slab Molds, Step by StepWhere a cut shape becomes a dish. This guide tells you to drape one over a mold and stops there. 07.04 is the whole method, and it is the lesson that opens up the studio’s shelf of slab molds, which is free to use with a certification.
Read the free lesson -
Guide 07.11 · free lessonImprinting TexturesThe other thing you do to a flat slab, and the natural partner to a cut shape: pressing texture in rather than cutting an outline out. It also answers the question this guide raises and does not settle, which is how thick to roll when you are going to press something deeply into the clay.
Read the free lesson -
Guide 07.12 · free lessonUsing Any Dish or Pan as a Slump MoldThe no-equipment version of draping, and the same sheet of plastic wrap doing a second job. Any bowl or pan from the kitchen, lined with wrap, turns a cut shape into a curved piece tonight, with nothing bought and nothing cast.
Read the free lesson
Good to know
What do I need to buy?
Is this only for ornaments?
Why do my shapes curl as they dry?
Is it too basic for me?
Can I use it with children?
How does it differ from the free lesson?
What format is it, and how do I get it?
Will it print properly on my printer?
What happens when a guide is updated?
Can I share it?
Four changes, and your first batch stops looking like a first batch
Firm the slab, lay a sheet of wrap over it, press straight down and lift straight up, then dry the shapes between two boards. None of it is difficult, none of it takes talent, and all four are in here with the reasons underneath them.
Get the guide · $5.00