Studio Snap-Shot: 110 Glazes

Glazing has always been the weaker side of my ceramic work because I’ve focused most of my time on developing hand-building skills for sculpting form and told myself that too much colour would take the emphasis away from the form, opting for simple finishes instead.

But, I’ve always been drawn to colour in the painting aspect of my practice. So much so that I’ve even written a FREE booklet, Colour Theory 101: The Essential Cheatsheet for Artists and an Ebook/Email Course Colour bundle; Demystifying 52 Colours in 15 Minutes: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Watercolour Paints.

I’m now itching for a bit of colour in my ceramic work and to ease into a world of glazing, I’ve taken the premixed Amaco Potters Choice Glazes I own and created over 110 combinations at 1200 degrees celsius.

There were quite a few surprises and for the first attempt with this product, I’m excited…

There were a few combinations I’m going to take further and try on some simple Pinch pots and Misfits to see how they fair on 3D forms. Others, just turned out like mud so they might need a second test with a thicker application to see if it was applied too thinly to do the glaze justice.

Amaco Potters Choice are known for their layering to create endless combinations. This batch of tests just focuses on layering just two different glazes on top of each other but these glazes can have many more layers if you so choose. Their instructions recommend 3 coats but the application is subjective so I wonder if my coats are perhaps thinner than they should be for some of the poop-esque tiles.

I found that some of the glaze finishes varied depending on the type of clay they are applied to and good practice is it to try it all on one clay type, and again on another, (which I didn’t) so it could be useful to take the combinations I like and retry them on the various clays I own.

Here are a few photos of the beauties I’ll try again…

and Here’s the not so neat table of glazes…

If you want to give the Amaco Potters Range a try, I’ve a Love: Glazes Pinterest board with a collection of stunning glaze combinations and recipes to get dreamy-eyed over, or you can check out the Amaco Website which has downloadable PDFs with drool-worthy combinations.

I bought my stock from Scarva Pottery Supplies because I’m fortunate to live just a 30-minute drive away, but they ship worldwide.

This has been a relatively quick way (in comparison to mixing glazes from raw ingredients), to get such a number of glazes out of the kiln, and I’ve heard and seen such wonderful reviews from this range that I’m glad I started this new journey with them and I look forward to updating you with the next discoveries!

I’d love to hear your experience with the Amaco Potters Choice Range - any tips for this total Amaco Newbie? Hit the comments section, I’m all ears!

---

Stay in touch!

The best place to hear updates, get exclusive discounts and a dose of inspiration for your art, is on Studio Notes: a twice monthly email from my studio to yours…

---