Glaze making is one of the most rewarding and technically rich areas of ceramics. Whether you’re mixing your first simple base glaze or developing a complex glaze chemistry practice, the guides below cover glaze making for beginners through to advanced testing and chemistry. Work through them in order or jump to what you need.
Starting Out
- Beginner Glaze Making Shopping List — everything you need to buy to get started
- Glaze Making Equipment for Beginners — scales, sieves, buckets, and safety gear
- Types of Scales for Ceramics — choosing the right scale for glaze work
- Ohaus Scout Pro Scale Review — a popular studio scale reviewed
- Triple Beam Balance Scale — how to use a manual scale for glaze weighing
- Types of Masks for Glaze Making — protecting your lungs from ceramic dust
- Beginning a Glaze Pantry — building up your materials inventory over time
Understanding Glaze Materials
- What is Specific Gravity and How to Measure It — essential for consistent glaze application
- Glaze Viscosity: How to Measure and Adjust It — getting the right consistency
- What is Vitrification — understanding how clay and glaze mature
- How to Make Ceramic Washes — oxide washes for surface decoration
- How to Turn a Dipping Glaze into a Brushing Glaze — using CMC gum
- How to Calculate Exactly How Much Water is in Your Glaze
- Chemical Formulas for Glaze Making — an introduction to glaze chemistry notation
- What Materials Contain — a reference for common ceramic material compositions
Colorants and Stains
- Ceramic Colorants: A Complete Guide — overview of oxides, carbonates, and stains
- Colorants and Glaze Testing — how to set up systematic color tests
- What Are Mason Stains? — commercial stains explained
- Iron Oxide in Ceramics
- Cobalt Oxide in Ceramics
- Copper Oxide in Ceramics
- Rutile in Ceramic Glazes
- Manganese Dioxide in Ceramics
- Chromium Oxide in Ceramics
- Nickel Oxide in Ceramics
- Titanium Dioxide in Ceramics
- Tin Oxide as a Ceramic Opacifier
- Zirconium Oxide as a Ceramic Opacifier
- Praseodymium Oxide: Yellow Stains
- Vanadium Oxide in Ceramics
Glaze Fluxes and Chemistry
- Alumina Al2O3 in Ceramic Glazes
- Silicon Dioxide SiO2 Silica
- Calcium Oxide CaO
- Potassium Oxide K2O
- Sodium Oxide Na2O
- Magnesium Oxide MgO
- Barium Oxide BaO
- Lithium Oxide Li2O
- Strontium Oxide SrO
- Boron Oxide B2O3
- Zinc Oxide ZnO
- Phosphorus Oxide P2O5
Glaze Testing
- Glaze Color Testing Guide — step-by-step instructions for systematic testing
- Types of Ceramic Test Tiles — how to make and use test tiles effectively
- Line Blend — testing two materials against each other
- Line Blends Guide — the full method explained
- Triaxial Blend — testing three materials simultaneously
- How to Test for Shrinkage and Absorption
- How to Normalize a Glaze Recipe — understanding Unity Molecular Formula
- Glaze Making Resources — books, websites, and tools
