Mastering Ceramic Glaze and The Must Know Tips on Using It

The complete work of pottery includes creating various shapes and then finishing off the art along with the application of glaze. Glazing sets each of the pots apart from the others, which renders uniqueness to every piece. This extensive part of pottery decoration includes a heap of techniques and tricks that the potters use to create their masterpieces.

The work of glazing thus needs to be mastered with proper skill and efficiency. Glazing is very important, and you need to apply it properly to make the pot look more beautiful. The work of glazing is quite labor-intensive and requires proper knowledge of colorants to acquire the desired shade and decoration.

However, there are a few things that you need to know. Some factors come along with mastering ceramic glazing, and this post will discuss what they are, all about the different types of glazes, and why you need to glaze your stuff. You’ll be able to, by the end of this, become a glazing master

Table of Contents

Okay, but why Glaze?

Why should you glaze? Well, glazing is a big part of pottery, and it has several different purposes, That’s because it does the following:

It adds a coating to bisque wares
It makes it waterproof
It makes them safe for food
It helps bring more color to the piece itself
You have way more options with this

Or many, the possibilities that you get with glazing are practically endless, and the patterns, along with the techniques that you have, will allow you to create this without any sort of limit. If you feel like your pottery is kind of bland, then start trying this, since it can make anything that’s ordinary look extraordinary, and also a lot more like art.

However, with pottery glazes, there are a lot of different actors that go into this that’s because they’re made up of chemicals, and in a basic sense, these chemicals, along with the compounds, actually react to the clays and the material in a whole lot of different ways, That means, that you may not always get the same result each time that you do this.

Glazes react a lot differently depending on what you use with them; the possibilities that you have with this are endless, but remember, you want to use this correctly to create different and worthwhile pieces that will help you take your work to the next level.

You will want to always bisque ire before using these glazes. That’s because:

The glazes tend to be absorbed
The single-fired pieces tend to be used for decorative means rather than actual uses
It is much harder to work with something that isn’t bisque-fired

Now that you know why you do it, let’s discuss the factors and all the different types of glazes that you can try out.

The Factors that involve this

Many glazes are affected by the clay, stains, and slips, along with underglazes. However, most of the time, the metallic oxides are what you see that determine a lot of this; three main factors affect the glaze color and the overall look of the pottery. This is important to learn because if you’re going to be going into pottery making, and you want to experiment with glazes, knowing these three factors can make a major difference in your life.

These three actors are, in essence, the umbrella which each of the other variables falls under. They are:

Glaze composition: not just the colorants within this, but the materials within the glaze that, in the essence effect, the colorant, or this combination. To get optimum results, you can use a good quality readymade glaze, like Mayco Stroke & Coat Wonderglaze Glaze.
Temperature: if you fire this at certain temperatures that you’re using, it actually can affect this. For example, some of the glaze colorants are quite volatile, and they will dissipate and move off the piece if this goes too high. In contrast, when it’s too low, it can affect the overall colors. The temperatures play a huge part in this.
The atmosphere of the kiln: this goes along with what was said before, but in essence, sometimes during firing and cooling, you can see different factors that affect this.
Firing schedule: It is also essential to ensure a proper firing schedule for better application of the glaze on the pot. So, here is a guide for your firing schedule.

Temperature	Ramp hour
150-degree Fahrenheit / hour	2 hours
400-degree Fahrenheit / hour	3 hours
120-degree Fahrenheit/ hour	Until it reaches the temperature

These four factors are what you should watch out for, and with these four factors in place, you’ll have a better idea of what it takes to take your kiln firing and your glazing to the next level.

Now that you know what affects this, let’s talk about each of the glazes and how they can be affected by the atmosphere of the kiln.

Chromium oxide

With chromium oxide, you’re essentially getting a whole bunch of different colors, including red, pink, brown, yellow, but most of all green. There are a few factors that you’ll need to watch out for with this, and it’s quite volatile once you get past cone 6 or so, you might notice that if you do fire it higher, it causes a smoky effect, which may be what you’re going for.

Here are a few things to know about each of them and what color you should watch out for:

If it’s chrome red, you have it at the firing of cone 08 or lower. However, this is toxic and shouldn’t be used in functional wares
Chrome and zinc give you a brown, which makes it functional
Chrome that goes yellow needs to have a lead-soda fire glaze at around cone 08 or lower than that. However, if it goes higher, it’ll turn green. This is also extremely toxic, so don’t use this in food ware
Chrome and tin give you either pink, warm brown or gray pink. This is all dependent on what parts of the oxides in the glaze related to one another
Chrome plus cobalt give you a teal color when fired past cone 9 or so, and it also is fired in a reduced atmosphere, Any magnesia glazes are added to this, and they can create nicer colors if that’s what you’re going for, You’ll want to play around with this

For many potters, using chrome coloring and glazes is the way to go because this is typically how they get their colors. Different factors affect this, and you can mess around with these if that’s what you feel like doing.

Cobalt Oxide with a Cobalt Carbonate

This is another type of powerful colorant glaze that you can try. This one, in particular, will almost always give you a blue, due to the cobalt within it. Typically, if you’re looking to have a good sort of glaze to work with that isn’t too intense or the firing, and has a better particle size to work with, this is the way to go. However, there are a few things that you should know about when mixing these two factors, and some things that are worth keeping in mind.

Cobalt with manganese and iron will give you a very powerful and intense black, which may make it hard to see any staining on there
Magnesia and cobalt, when fired at cone 9 or higher, can give you a blue that’s mottled with pinks, purples, and reds. However, this is extremely hard to control and very hard to replicate once more due to the temperature range being extremely narrow and the atmosphere you’re firing in
Cobalt with rutile gives you streaked and mottled looks to it
If you have a glaze that’s high in magnesia, you’ll notice that when you fire, the very small levels of cobalt will give you a color range that goes from blue-violet to pink

This is another pretty volatile set of colors and glazes, and you should mess around with this before you begin with it, to see if that will work, remember, if you’re going for blue, this is ultimately the way to go.

Copper Oxide and Copper Carbonate

Another very popular type of glaze is copper one, That’s because it’s got a very strong flux to this,
which can make a glazed area much glossier. However, if you fire this past cone 8 or over this, the copper will be extremely volatile, and it will start to jump, If you’re going to oxidize it, it’ll be green, but if you want to reduce it, you should make it red. Typically, copper oxide is often more intense than copper carbonate, but both of them often do the same, it just determines what you’re going to get in terms of the extent of color.

Where are a few things that you should know about when firing with copper oxide, or copper carbonate?

Copper gives a very nice range of greens when you’re using a lead glaze. Typically, though, copper does increase the solubility of lead, which is toxic, and should only be used when you’re creating decorative ware
Typically, copper fired with glazes high in barium does give a very pretty blue or a blue-green, and this is done in both a reduced and oxidized atmosphere. However, barium is toxic, so don’t use this in functional ware
Copper is an alkaline glaze that will create a turquoise, and this is because of its ability to be in an oxidized atmosphere
If you low low-fire raku copper, it will give you a very metallic-looking copper, which is often seen in raku pottery. However, as time goes on, the glaze will start to oxidize and become green

What About Iron Oxides?

Iron oxides are a much more challenging type of glaze to work with. However, it’s also one of the most important types of glazes to work in some cases, especially when it comes to colorants.

That’s because of the following factors:

There is naturally occurring iron in a wealth of clay bodies
You can get a variety of colors with this

That makes sits a bit challenging, especially if you’re going or a specific color. For example, if you’re trying to understand the gamut of glazes, just know that most of the clay bodies go from light gray to deep brown. When there are clear glazes, most of the iron clay bodies have a very similar sort of color range in many cases.

Typically, bodies that contain iron in them are fired but they aren’t mature, Most of the clay bisque ware pieces that you work with are something that falls into this. In many cases, using iron oxides will give you a yellowish or salmon-pink color in time. If you see a pot that’s glazed with a glaze that’s lower in temperature, and it’s fired below the maturity temperature of the body itself, it will give either ocher, salmon, or a reddish-brown color in many cases when you’re making the piece itself.

There are also different types of iron oxides when it comes to glazes. Typically, most of the time the iron in this is the red iron oxide that you probably are familiar with. This is called ferric oxide. However, there are a few factors in this:

Red iron oxides have similar properties to yellow iron oxide
Yellow iron oxide is another type of ferric oxide, so it’s similar, but it has a very different color when you fire
Black iron oxide is called ferrous oxide, and typically is much coarser than the others, and not used as much
Crocus Martis is an impure iron oxide, and it can leave some speckled, spotty, or rough effects

Now, the following are the different types of iron oxides, which are used in glazing pots.

Iron oxides	Formula	Color
Ferric oxide or Colcothar	FeO3	Red
Ferric oxide hydrate	FeO (OH)	Yellow
Ferric oxide or Iron (III)	Fe2O3	Red-brown
Ferric Ferrous Oxide	Fe3O4	Black

The type of iron oxide that you use in the pottery does determine this, and you should spend some time going over this. Generally. However, iron creates a warm color that goes from light tan to a straw color, to even a deep rich brown. You just have to experiment with this. However, there are a few little rules that you can follow when you’re using iron oxide glazes.

The high-fire ones that contain bone ash along with iron create a persimmon red or orange color
Iron is the type of chemical that has a flux ability when it’s in a reduced atmosphere. It’s much less active in some cases compared to refractory oxidation areas of atmospheres
Those that have iron and tin within them that is a high fire in terms of glazes give a color that’s mottled and creamy in color, and it does create a red-brown in many different areas
An iron that’s in a high fire reduction creates a very delicate iron blue, and also one that’s a celadon green in some cases
Those iron content that’s high fire and has a high level of iron in them will give you a very glossy-looking dark brown or even a brownish-black in some cases. In thin areas, the iron might begin to oxidize when it cools down. This, in turn, will cause areas to turn red, and from there, you get red highlights from this as well.

Iron oxide is a very interesting material to work with because of its nature, and you’ll notice as well the difference that this makes when you’re working with it, and what it can do for you.

Manganese Dioxide

This is another type of glaze that you can use. Typically, it’s introduced in the form of manganese carbonate, so if you see this on the bottle itself, it’s that, if it’s black, typically it’s used in clay bodies and slips, which gives splotches and spots. However, compared to copper and other colorants, manganese is very weak. This is another type of glaze that often isn’t used all that much because it is very toxic, so you need to utilize the safety precautions that you need to achieve this.

There are a few coloring factors that go along with this, and they are as follows:

In glazes that are high in alkaline, manganese will give you a blue-purple or plum color
Above cone six, this produces a brown color in the pottery
If you’re using a lead glaze, the manganese will give you a soft purple, but with brown tinges in it. However, this is extremely toxic, so don’t use this in functional ware

Nickel Oxide

This is probably one of the most unpredictable glazes since when you’re just using it without anything else, it gives results that are extremely unpredictable, due to its volatile nature, which means that it can be anything from gray to brown. However, if you use this with another colorant, you will notice that it will tone down the other colorants that are produced, so if you want to reduce the presence of a color that’s created in a chemical, this is ultimately the way to do it.

Rutile

Rutile is a titanium ore that’s not pure, and it contains iron, along with other materials. This is one of the more interesting colorants since it generally creates a tan when oxidized, and a gray when it’s reduced. For rutile, it encourages the growth of crystals that are present in mid-range and also high-fire glazes. It is used to create streaky and mottled effects in pottery.

There are a few different factors that are associated with rutile, and they are as follows:

If you use rutile that has boron in it, it will give streaks or spots that are very pronounced, and if you mix this with other colorants, you can create some interesting streaky colors due to the nature of how it works together
Rutile will change the opacity, increasing this
If the glaze is fluid, the rutile will encourage the blues to be opalescent in a sense

Rutile is good if you want to introduce more opacity into the piece that you’re making. But, as always, be careful of the mixing of said colors

Are there other Colorants?

Yes, there are other colorants that you can use to change the nature of your pottery.

Antimony: used to create a yellow in glazes that fire low
Gold gives you a pink, red, or purple range
Cadmium and selenium together give extremely bright reds, but they burn out very easily. However, they’re also toxic, so don’t use them in functional ware
Ilmenite is a colorant that works similarly to a black iron oxide
Platinum gives a gray
Silver and bismuth give a luster overglaze and are great for that
Iron chromate gives you a shade of either gray, black, or brown, and typically, adding this with tin together will give you a pink, or a brownish-red. However, if you do this with a brush, it actually will give a black haze to it that has a pink halo to it. with this one, in particular, it’s toxic, so definitely don’t use this for functional ware, and also handle this with care, and the proper safety tips
Uranium oxide gives you a red, yellow, or coral color. However, even when you fire in a glaze, it’ll be radioactive, so if you’re trying to stay away from radiation, don’t use this. As an aside as well, it is toxic, so you should handle this with care as long as you’re able to create the glaze that you want

With all of these it’s super, super, super important that you make sure that you handle these carefully, and if they are toxic, incorporate the proper measures to take care of this, and make sure that if you mix these chemicals, you know what will be toxic, and what won’t be. Pottery glazing is quite fun, but it’s important to remember that you’re going to be working with volatile chemicals, and often, these may act in different ways. Plus, sometimes combining the wrong chemical will produce a result that’s often not something you want to deal with. If that’s the case, you’ll need to read up on the glaze, check the bottle, and see how it can be mixed, so that you’re able to create the best and prettiest pottery that you can, but also pottery that will be safe to use, and pottery that isn’t too volatile or anything. work to achieve this, and play around with the glazes, especially if you think it’ll end up looking cool later on.

Tips that you need to follow to master the art of glazing

To ensure the proper application of glazing and a top-notch result, the first thing you need to ensure is the appropriate application of the glaze mixture and the right way of firing. But before knowing that, you need to learn about the mistakes that you must avoid while glazing your pottery.

Here are mistakes that you need to avoid.

Glazing problems	Reasons
Shivering	Using a lower expansion glaze compared to the clay body
Crazing	Using a higher expansion clay compared to the clay body
Blisters	Inappropriate application with improper preparation
Crawling	Drying the underglaze before applying the overglaze
Pin holing	Improper control of the firing cycle
Settling	Using contaminated or bacteria-affected clay.

Here are a few more tips that you can nurture to become a pro in ceramic glazing. Let’s have a look:

Ensure a glaze that is compatible with your clay: While opting for pottery glazing, the first thing that you need to ensure is the application of the glaze that is compatible with the clay that you have used for making the pottery. The choice of your glaze and the clay determines the result you will get after firing the pottery glaze. It is crucial to know if your glaze goes to create a good bond with your clay or not. It is a matter of practice to know which kind of clay is compatible with which type of glaze. To acquire the best results, make sure that the range of firing temperature of your clay matches the firing temperature of your glaze. Firing the clay before glazing gives better results. You can use 5lb Pottery Clay: Best Mix- BMix – BMX – Mid Fire Cone 5-7 – Rocky Mountain Clay.

Sand your bisque ware properly: Before applying the glaze, it is crucial to ensure no dust or grime is present on the bisqueware’s body. The best thing you can do to get rid of all the dust is, to use sandpaper to rub onto the body of the bisque-fired pottery to get rid of all the unwanted dust. Rub the sandpaper evenly everywhere to get rid of all the sharp bumps, and rough edges. You can make your sandpaper a bit damp before using it on the pottery surface to prevent the spreading of dust.

Properly clean the bisque ware: The glazing is not going to adhere properly if there is any kind of dirt or oiliness. It is best to clean your bisque ware using a damp sponge or a cloth to eliminate all the unwanted debris to ensure a nice glaze bond on the pottery surface. To get the best results, you can submerge your pottery in a bucket full of water, or you can rinse it thoroughly with running water. Then allow it to become evenly dry before applying the glazing mixture on the top of the pottery surface.

Get rid of oil on your pottery surface: If there is any oil on the surface of your pottery, the glazing is not going to stick to it. To ensure the proper application of glaze on the surface of your ceramic, make sure that you are keeping your bisqueware away from any kind of oils or lotions. Also, the natural oils from your hands can disrupt the process. That is why it is better to clean your hand properly while working with your pottery, or you can use rubber gloves to prevent your hand’s moisture from disrupting your glazing process.

Mix your glaze adequately before applying it: Irrespective of what glazing application technique you are using for your pottery glazing, you need to make sure that the mixture you have prepared is of the proper consistency. Mix your glaze properly by stirring it to ensure there are no lumps or crystallizing in the process. After preparing the mixture, make it pass through a sieve to get rid of bubbles or particles that can make the smooth mixture suffer. Ensuring the proper thickness of the glazing is also essential. The right consistency is not thick or thin; instead, it is milky and creamy.

Proper application of the ceramic glaze: While applying the glaze mixture, make sure you are using the appropriate technique. While applying one coat of your glazing, opt for an even application all over. Make sure you are not streaking while adding the glazing. To avoid sticking, it is vital to ensure that you are not applying too much thin coat of glazing. Too much runny glaze is going to ruin your entire glazing and lead to messiness. If you are using the brushing technique, it is better to keep changing the direction of the brush while applying. If you have applied the vertical application initially, make sure the second one is horizontal or diagonal. Start with glazing the inside area first, then move to the outer space to ensure a hassle-free application. You can use the Creative Mark Hake Paintbrush Set.

Ensure a proper drying process: While applying a glaze, it is essential to dry it properly. In case you are working with several glazing coats, you need to dry each of the coatings before applying the second one. Or else it is going to ruin the entire application. It is better to dry out each coat and go to the next one.

Make sure there exist no bubbles in the glazing mixture: The first thing you need to keep in mind while applying the glaze mixture is, getting rid of any kind of bubbles present in the mix. After mixing the glaze properly, get rid of all the bubbles if you are planning to dip your pottery in the glazing mixture. The trick is to slowly stir the mixture and strain it properly.

Remove the extra glazing: If the glaze is dripping from an area, then it is because there is too much glazing at one point. If the glazing is dripping from an area where you have already applied the glaze, merely wipe it off. But make sure that you are doing it after the glaze application is completely dry. Once it is completely dry, use a cleanup tool, metal rib, or sandpaper to remove any type of extra glaze.

Avoid contamination: Your glaze can get contaminated if you are not working in an organized manner. To avoid contamination, rinse your brush and other tools properly before using them for a fresh batch. While using a brush, the mixture is going to run towards the handle. Make sure you are wiping it properly or wipe it off to prevent any kind of contamination.

Dry appropriately before firing: It is crucial to ensure that you are correctly drying your glaze before putting the ceramic ware inside the kiln. The kiln will not react in a friendly manner if it comes in contact with wetness or even slight moisture. It can completely explode inside the kiln, which is going to break your pottery. Before exposing your glazed pottery to the fire of the kiln, opt for drying it properly. Touch your pottery to know if it is feeling cool to your touch or not. If it still feels cool, then you need to wait for some more time to make it completely dry before putting it inside the kiln to avoid any kind of unwanted accidents.

Tools that you are going to need for beautiful pottery glazing:

The work of glazing needs lots of tools, which are essential to get the best pottery-making results.

Here are the tools that you are going to need for your ceramic glazing.

Tools	Why do you need them?
Spatula	To mix the small amount of glaze properly
Whisk	Whisk ensures a first and even mixing of the glaze
Sieve	To strain the glaze mixture
Brush	For applying the glaze mixture
Banding wheel	To make the ceramic spin for a first glaze application
Tongs	To make the ceramic dip into the glazing mixture
Glaze bulb applicator	To add a detailed application of glaze with the liner decoration

Conclusion:

Ensure that you are using all the suitable colorants and the techniques mentioned above to get the best results with your pottery making from the very beginning. At the same time, you need to ensure that you are avoiding all eh unnecessary mistakes that can ruin your entire effort of glazing your pottery. The best way to ensure this is to stick to all the tips from the very beginning. And the more you practice, the more you are going to unleash better and more innovative techniques.

Happy sculpting!