You can move this picture: drag it, press and hold then drag on a touch screen, or use the arrow keys.Printable guide 05.08

The Clay Hole University Ā· The Pottery Wheel

Using Ribs While You ThrowPrintable pottery guide

A rib is not a smoothing tool. The four real jobs it does on the wheel, which rib for which job, nine rules that apply to every rib you will ever pick up, and six moves from the floor to the finishing pass.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • 26 printable pages
  • 7 video picks
  • 8-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 printable edition of Using Ribs While You Throw?

It is the free lesson of the same name, rebuilt as a workbook. It starts with the four real jobs a rib does on the wheel, three of which change the pot structurally rather than cosmetically, then which rib for which job, from wood and metal to soft rubber and profile ribs. Then nine rules that apply to every rib, six moves in the order you would use them on a real pot, how to make a rib of your own, and what each common rib problem means. On paper it adds a rib log, a one-page card for beside the wheel, a quiz with a full answer key, and a glossary.

Prefer to read it online first? ā€œUsing Ribs While You Throwā€ is free to read, and always will be.

  • 26printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 7hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 15glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
Why a printable, for this one

Smoothing is the least of it

Most people meet a rib on day one, use it as a smoothing tool, and never find out what else it is for.

A rib compresses, holds a line your hand cannot, strips off the weak slurry, and supports a wall from the far side. Three of those four jobs change the pot itself, not just its surface, and knowing which job you are asking for is most of the skill.

The rest is a handful of rules that get broken without anybody noticing: a wheel that is too fast, a rib with nothing behind it, an edge held upright like a chisel. This guide puts them on one page beside the wheel, so you catch yourself mid-pass.

Look inside

Real pages, for beside the wheel

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

  • Page 4 of the ā€œUsing Ribs While You Throwā€ printable guide: four real jobs, shown with the sample watermark
    Four real jobsIt compresses, it holds a line your hand cannot, it removes the slip, and it supports from the far side. Plus the fifth job this guide leaves alone.
  • Page 6 of the ā€œUsing Ribs While You Throwā€ printable guide: which rib for which job, shown with the sample watermark
    Which rib for which jobWood, metal, soft rubber, firm rubber, plastic and profile ribs: what each family is genuinely good at, and what it does to you at the wrong moment.
  • Page 9 of the ā€œUsing Ribs While You Throwā€ printable guide: rule zero and move one, shown with the sample watermark
    Rule zero and move oneThe last two of the nine rules, why no rib can save a pot that is not centered, and the first steps for compressing the floor.
  • Page 17 of the ā€œUsing Ribs While You Throwā€ printable guide: the rib log, shown with the sample watermark
    The rib logOne pot, one row: the move and the rib, the wheel speed, what the surface showed, and the one thing you will change on the next pot.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Paper beats the screen here

A card that lives beside the wheel

Every rib mistake happens mid-pass, with a wet hand on the wall and the wheel turning. That is when the rule needs to be in front of you.

  • The rib card

    The nine rules in a line each, the six moves, which rib for which job, and what to change when it goes wrong, on one page.

  • A rib log

    The move, the rib, the wheel speed and what the surface showed, so the rule you keep breaking turns up in your own handwriting.

  • Softest first, hardest last

    Wood and firm rubber while there is still clay to move. Metal at the end, slowly, with a finger behind it.

  • What the surface is telling you

    Ripples, a tear, an off-round pot, a mark where you stopped, a rib that smears, and what to change for each.

How the guide is built

Built for the pass, not the tool drawer

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, the traps, and what success looks like.

  • Four jobs before any tool

    What a rib is actually for, so every choice after it makes sense.

  • Which rib for which job

    Six families sorted by stiffness, including the honest note that some metal ribs flex a little, though the edge still does not give the way rubber does.

  • Nine rules, then six moves

    The rules every rib obeys, then the floor, the wall, the curve, the inside of a bowl, the finishing pass and the profile rib, each as a short numbered list.

  • Making a rib of your own

    From an old plastic rib, an expired gift card or a scrap of hardwood, with at least an N95 on while you cut and sand wood.

  • Codes that keep working

    Seven hand-picked videos, each on a short Clay Hole address, so a printed copy keeps working when a video moves.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free ā€œUsing Ribs While You Throwā€ lesson at The Clay Hole University. No paywall, no sign-up, no catch.

A rib is the only tool on the wheel that does not get tired halfway up a pull. Finding out what it is really for should not cost anybody a thing, so the lesson stays free.

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 05.08, the eighth guide in The Pottery Wheel. 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

  • 5guides in your cart1 on us
  • 9guides in your cart2 on us
Where this leads

From the rib to the rest of the pot

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 rib log, a one-page rib card, a printed quiz with an answer key, and a glossary.
Which rib should a beginner start with?
Wood. It is stiff enough to shape and compress, and it will not cut through a thin wall, which is exactly why beginners should start there. Firm rubber is the everyday rib: firm enough to move clay, flexible enough to follow a gentle curve, and it will not cut. Metal comes last, slowly, with a finger behind it.
Are metal ribs rigid?
Not quite. They are thin, hard and sharp, and some flex a little depending on the shape, but the edge does not give the way rubber does. That hard edge is why metal leaves such a crisp surface, and why it is the rib most likely to slice a thin wall open.
Why does my rib leave ripples?
Almost always the wheel is too fast. A rigid tool against fast clay bounces, and every bounce prints a ridge. Slow the wheel down, wet the surface, wipe the rib, and press slightly harder rather than slightly lighter. Light and fast is what causes it.
Will ribbing the floor stop S-cracks?
It is the part of the fix that happens at the wheel. The rest is a floor close to the thickness of the walls, no water left standing in it, and even drying, and the guide gives all four.
Can I make my own rib?
Yes. Start by cutting up something you already own, round every edge that will touch clay, and dry anything wooden flat. Wear at least an N95 while you cut and sand wood, because wood dust irritates the nose and lungs and is classed as a cause of cancer. In a shared studio, ask before cutting anything on studio equipment.
Are profile ribs a shortcut?
No. A profile rib needs a good even cylinder to work on, so you still have to be able to throw one, and it can catch and rip a thin wall. Where it earns its place is repeatability: twelve mugs that stack, or a lid that fits the pot you made yesterday.
I am not at The Clay Hole. Is it still useful?
Yes. A rib works the same on any wheel. Where something is our studioā€™s, such as which members use the studioā€™s ribs, the guide says so and dates it.
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 check that every QR code still scans from a soft grayscale home print.
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 donā€™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.

Slow wheel. Finger inside, rib outside.

Print it, keep the rib card beside the wheel, and go use a rib badly for an hour.

Get the printable · $5.00

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