How to Clone a Pottery Record for Matching Sets
Matching sets fail in the notes, not only on the wheel. You throw four mugs, then retype the same clay, weight, and glaze stack four times, or you log one mug and hope you remember the rest.
Claybook clone copies a craft into as many new records as you ask for. Log the hero piece once. Duplicate it. Tweak only what drifted.
When to clone instead of starting from scratch
Clone when pieces share a recipe:
- A set of mugs or bowls from the same clay and weight
- Test tiles on the same body with one glaze changed
- Commission repeats of a form a customer already bought
- A second throwing session of “the same mug as last month”
Start a fresh craft when the form, clay, or intent is actually new. Clone is for siblings, not cousins.
How to clone from the library
- Open Crafts
- Long-press the hero piece
- Tap Clone
- Choose how many copies
- Confirm
Claybook creates numbered copies and copies the clay, shape, location, tags, notes, steps, surfaces, and photos onto each new record.
Rename the copies if you want “Mug 1 of 4” instead of the automatic suffix. Open any copy to fix a thinner rim or a different dip time.
How to clone from the craft screen
If you already have the piece open, use clone from there when you are looking at the finished recipe and think “three more of these.”
Same result: new records, same guts, new names.
A set workflow that stays honest
Throwing day
- Log mug 1 fully: clay, 400 g Formed step, shape, photo
- Clone three copies
- If a sibling used 420 g, open that copy and change the weight on its Formed step
- Put all four in the damp box location
Glaze day
If they all get the same stack, add surfaces on the hero, or add them once and clone before glaze if you had not cloned yet.
If they already exist as four records, you can still edit each glaze log. For shared firing updates, select all four and bulk edit after the kiln.
After the fire
Keep the set tagged (set-of-4, customer name). Filter by tag when you photograph or price the group.
Test tiles
Clone is fast for a glaze grid.
Log one tile: clay, size, bisque. Clone ten. Change only the surface log on each copy. You get a filterable grid without ten empty crafts.
What clone copies, and what you should check
Expect clay, shape, steps, surfaces, tags, location, notes, and photos to come along.
Then check:
- Weights if the set was not perfectly even
- Glaze notes if one piece got a second dip
- Photos if you do not want the hero’s wet shot on every sibling (replace per copy)
- Names so search stays readable
Clone is a head start, not a claim that every mug is identical.
Clone vs bulk edit
| Job | Use |
|---|---|
| Create new sibling records | Clone |
| Update many existing records after a firing | Bulk edit |
| Change one pot’s glaze | Edit that craft |
They stack. Clone the set on throwing day. Bulk-edit the set on unload day.
Takeaway
Document the hero. Clone the rest. Fix only the differences. Matching work is a throwing skill and a record-keeping skill. Claybook handles the second one in a few taps.