Whether you're an experienced ceramicist or just getting started, learning how to make pottery handles that are both functional and beautiful is a very important skill to develop. Well-crafted handles on pottery can mean the difference between a mug that sits on the shelf and one that someone reaches for every morning.
In this post, an excerpt from the March/April 2026 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated, Marion Angelica shares two distinctive approaches to pottery handles. Both handles go beyond the standard pulled handle and will expand your pottery practice in exciting new directions. How can you put your own spin on them? –Jennifer Poellot Harnetty, editor
Handles can make or break the beauty and functionality of an otherwise wonderful pot. This article offers a variety of handles that will add to the uniqueness of your cups as well as ensure they effectively serve their purposes. All of these handles are handbuilt from coils and slabs rather than pulled in a traditional way.
A few considerations: First, handles make a vessel easier to lift or pour. Second, they make the vessel unique and visually interesting. Both are important qualities. With each form, the handle plays a slightly different role. In a cup, the handle needs:
To be sturdy enough to support the weight of both the clay and the liquid in it.
To fit the user’s hand and be situated so that when the liquid-filled cup is tipped, the weight is generally evenly distributed.
To work much like a lever. Ideally, the fulcrum (its turning point) of a handle would be exactly in the middle of a cup. If the fulcrum of a handle is placed very low on a cup, the weight of the liquid will make it more challenging to keep the cup upright, and the liquid is more likely to slosh or spill. If the handle’s fulcrum is very high, tipping the cup will feel heavy because the user will need to lift the full weight of the liquid to tip it. For design purposes, it is necessary to place a handle so it fits the shape of the cup. This will often dictate the placement of the handle’s fulcrum. The larger the form, the more critical the placement becomes.
To feel comfortable in the hand, without sharp edges, but not so round that it is difficult to grip. Since folks have different-sized hands, it is often smart to make a variety of handle sizes by adjusting the handle’s arc to reflect this. The change of a ½–1 inch (1.3–2.5 cm) can make all the difference.
To have a design that echoes or is harmonious with the shape of the cup.
Making Pottery Handles: Cut Handle (A)
This handle is particularly useful for vessels like pitchers and steins that carry a lot of liquid because the cut upper section of the handle provides extra leverage when pouring or tilting these vessels.
To begin, roll a slab that is ½ inch (1.3 cm) thick and compress it on both sides. Cut a long, tapering triangular piece from the slab (A1). With your fingers, compress and round the cut edges of the triangle, flip it over, and repeat.
Next, place the triangular piece with the wide end away from you and then, using a rolling pin, roll over the piece gradually increasing the pressure as you move toward the triangle’s tip (A2). Turn the piece over, straighten the piece if necessary, and repeat this action. Do this as many times as you need to get the handle as thin as you desire. The wide end should be thicker than the narrow end.
Continue by adding any desired texture or lines to the handle as you wish (see A4). With a pencil, draw a line on your working surface, 4½–5 inches (11.4–12.7 cm) long (for a standard mug; longer for a stein or pitcher) and line up the clay alongside the line. Cut a curve in the wide end of the handle to create the length you have chosen. The curve should reflect the curve of the body of the vessel. Lightly tap the curved cut to compress it.
Place a ¼-inch (6.4-mm)-diameter dowel (or the handle of your pin tool) in the center of the curve and gently roll it back and forth several times until it reaches the outer edges of the cut (A3). This compresses the clay and creates a collar (the thickened area where a branch grows from the trunk of a tree), which helps the handle look integrated into the body of the cup. Score this rolled curve thoroughly.
Lay the handle with the wide end away from your body and using a long-bladed fettling knife tipped at a 45-degree angle (A4) away from your body, cut the handle 1–1¼ inch (2.5–3.2 cm) from the wide end of the handle. Gently slip the wide end of the handle off the knife without distorting the clay and set it aside. Place the knife at the top edge of the cut, tipped at a 45-degree angle toward your body, and cut out a small wedge of clay. The wedge can be recycled.
Handling each piece carefully, score the cuts you just made, add slip, and reassemble the handle, being sure to line up any texture you had added (A5). Score the wide end of the handle and the inner side of the handle’s tip. Set the reassembled handle on its side for a few minutes to let the join firm up (A6). Score and slip the cup/stein/pitcher as you did in the rolled handle directions.
Making Pottery Handles: Three-Finger Handle (B)
This is a very comfortable and interesting handle. It consists of three parts: the circular finger hold, the finger rest, and the thumb rest (B1). The pointer finger is placed in the circular part of the handle while the thumb sits atop the thumb rest, and the middle finger rests on the clay piece below the circle.
Repeat steps 1–3 from the Cut Handle above. Curve the handle into a full circle with the tip of the handle overlapping inside the wide part of the handle (B2). The result will be that the clay will fit against the body of the vessel and will not be able to uncurl.
Roll a small ball of clay (approx. ½ inch (1.3 cm) diameter). Place the ball in the center of the palms of your hands and move them in a small circle to shape the ball into a disc. Use your thumb or a small ball to indent one side of the disc (B3). Cut an arc out of the indented side of the disc. This will be the thumb rest on this handle.
Roll a small ball of clay (approx. ½ inch (1.3 cm) diameter) and place it on your work surface. Flatten the ball with the rolling pin or pony roller into a cigar shape. This becomes the third-finger rest beneath the circular section of the handle.
To assemble this handle, add the circular section to the vessel by scoring and slipping it to attach to the cup (B4). Then, score and slip the thumb rest and add it on top of the circular piece (B5). Finally, add the third finger rest by scoring and slipping one end to the underside of the circular piece and the other end to the cup (B6).
Marion Angelica is a studio artist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She holds an MFA in ceramics from SUNY New Paltz.
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Published Mar 6, 2017
Pottery Handles
Handles can make or break the beauty and functionality of an otherwise wonderful pot. This article offers a variety of handles that will add to the uniqueness of your cups as well as ensure they effectively serve their purposes. All of these handles are handbuilt from coils and slabs rather than pulled in a traditional way.
A few considerations: First, handles make a vessel easier to lift or pour. Second, they make the vessel unique and visually interesting. Both are important qualities. With each form, the handle plays a slightly different role. In a cup, the handle needs:
Making Pottery Handles: Cut Handle (A)
This handle is particularly useful for vessels like pitchers and steins that carry a lot of liquid because the cut upper section of the handle provides extra leverage when pouring or tilting these vessels.
To begin, roll a slab that is ½ inch (1.3 cm) thick and compress it on both sides. Cut a long, tapering triangular piece from the slab (A1). With your fingers, compress and round the cut edges of the triangle, flip it over, and repeat.
Next, place the triangular piece with the wide end away from you and then, using a rolling pin, roll over the piece gradually increasing the pressure as you move toward the triangle’s tip (A2). Turn the piece over, straighten the piece if necessary, and repeat this action. Do this as many times as you need to get the handle as thin as you desire. The wide end should be thicker than the narrow end.
Continue by adding any desired texture or lines to the handle as you wish (see A4). With a pencil, draw a line on your working surface, 4½–5 inches (11.4–12.7 cm) long (for a standard mug; longer for a stein or pitcher) and line up the clay alongside the line. Cut a curve in the wide end of the handle to create the length you have chosen. The curve should reflect the curve of the body of the vessel. Lightly tap the curved cut to compress it.
Place a ¼-inch (6.4-mm)-diameter dowel (or the handle of your pin tool) in the center of the curve and gently roll it back and forth several times until it reaches the outer edges of the cut (A3). This compresses the clay and creates a collar (the thickened area where a branch grows from the trunk of a tree), which helps the handle look integrated into the body of the cup. Score this rolled curve thoroughly.
Lay the handle with the wide end away from your body and using a long-bladed fettling knife tipped at a 45-degree angle (A4) away from your body, cut the handle 1–1¼ inch (2.5–3.2 cm) from the wide end of the handle. Gently slip the wide end of the handle off the knife without distorting the clay and set it aside. Place the knife at the top edge of the cut, tipped at a 45-degree angle toward your body, and cut out a small wedge of clay. The wedge can be recycled.
Handling each piece carefully, score the cuts you just made, add slip, and reassemble the handle, being sure to line up any texture you had added (A5). Score the wide end of the handle and the inner side of the handle’s tip. Set the reassembled handle on its side for a few minutes to let the join firm up (A6). Score and slip the cup/stein/pitcher as you did in the rolled handle directions.
Making Pottery Handles: Three-Finger Handle (B)
This is a very comfortable and interesting handle. It consists of three parts: the circular finger hold, the finger rest, and the thumb rest (B1). The pointer finger is placed in the circular part of the handle while the thumb sits atop the thumb rest, and the middle finger rests on the clay piece below the circle.
Repeat steps 1–3 from the Cut Handle above. Curve the handle into a full circle with the tip of the handle overlapping inside the wide part of the handle (B2). The result will be that the clay will fit against the body of the vessel and will not be able to uncurl.
Roll a small ball of clay (approx. ½ inch (1.3 cm) diameter). Place the ball in the center of the palms of your hands and move them in a small circle to shape the ball into a disc. Use your thumb or a small ball to indent one side of the disc (B3). Cut an arc out of the indented side of the disc. This will be the thumb rest on this handle.
Roll a small ball of clay (approx. ½ inch (1.3 cm) diameter) and place it on your work surface. Flatten the ball with the rolling pin or pony roller into a cigar shape. This becomes the third-finger rest beneath the circular section of the handle.
To assemble this handle, add the circular section to the vessel by scoring and slipping it to attach to the cup (B4). Then, score and slip the thumb rest and add it on top of the circular piece (B5). Finally, add the third finger rest by scoring and slipping one end to the underside of the circular piece and the other end to the cup (B6).
Marion Angelica is a studio artist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She holds an MFA in ceramics from SUNY New Paltz.
Unfamiliar with any terms in this article? Browse our glossary of pottery terms!
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