Online Classes and Workshops with Sue
What's Your Next Step on the Glaze Journey?
- You know you want to learn more about glazes
- You're not familiar with my 3 glaze courses
- You're wondering which glaze course would be the next best step for where you're at on your glaze journey
This video was originally recorded live in Jan 2023. You can read more about each course by clicking the links below. I hope to see you in one of my glaze courses soon!
5 Ways You Can Make Your Glazes More Amazing (using glaze chemistry)
If you’ve ever wished your glaze could be just a little more…
- cost effective
- green/red/blue/purple
- compatible with your other glazes
- matte/glossy
- stable/fluid
… then you don’t want to miss this free class!
Date: Sep 21, 2023 Live class is now over
The replay is available to watch until Sep 29, 2023.
The Art of Glaze Chemistry
Learn how to use glaze calculation software to analyze your glaze recipes and adjust melting temperature, change surfaces between matte, satin and glossy, and fix glaze fit issues like crazing/shivering/dunting.
Explore how base glaze composition affects colourants so you can design the unique glaze palette you've been wishing for.
This course takes a super deep dive into the science behind glaze composition so you can develop the best glazes for your work. No previous chemistry knowledge required.
Price: $597 USD
Registration open Sep 21-29, 2023.
What Do the Glaze Materials Do? workshop
A beginner friendly workshop that will help you understand the role and function of each of our glaze materials. This is the first step to understanding glaze chemistry, which opens up a whole other world of ceramic possibilities.
If you’re ready to start learning about glaze materials, then you don’t want to miss this workshop where I’ll explain what glazes are made of, how they melt in the kiln, and how each material fits into the the equation.
90 Days Access
Price: $57 USD
Glaze Mixing Essentials
Learn how to mix your own glazes from scratch and do a Colour Run by testing a base glaze with multiple colourants in this online workshop.
Glaze mixing is a foundational skill that will enhance your creative potential, save you money and increase your understanding of the materials you're working with.
You'll get instant, lifetime access to the co when you register, plus an invitation to my monthly membership - The Glaze Lab - for extra support.
Price: $197 USD
September sale: Save $30 until Sep 30
Mastering Glaze Consistency
A 4-week, online program that will teach you how to get the best glaze results possible with your existing glazes, and repeat those results from firing to firing.
Learn my step-by-step testing system for improving the consistency of your glaze application and results, and fixing many glaze flaws like running, crawling, glazes turning out the wrong colour, cloudy clears etc.
Price: $347 USD
Next registration will be early 2024.
Free Guide
Do you have these glaze challenges?
- You don't know how much water to add to your glazes
- You get different results every firing
- Your glazes aren't turning out as expected
- You can't seem to keep your glaze thickness consistent
Grab my FREE GUIDE
You'll start understanding your glaze results better when you measure specific gravity. It just takes a few simple steps to calculate the water content of your glazes and then it's easy to keep them consistent. No more guessing!
Consistent water content = consistent application thickness = consistent results.
Sue’s Ceramics Blog
Articles and videos about clay, glazes and studio tips, written by Sue McLeod
Understanding Cone 6 – NCECA presentation 2018
On Mar 15, 2018 I gave my first ever NCECA talk. I was part of a panel discussion called Glazes Without Borders, moderated by Matt Katz. My co-presenters Kiara Matos and Peter Berg gave talks about...
Glazy Demo – Adding Recipes and More
Do you use Glazy.org to store/share your glaze recipes? If you’re just hearing about Glazy for the first time, you should definitely go check it out. It’s a ceramics recipe website that allows you to store recipes with photos, share them with the community and analyze the chemistry/UMF of your glazes, all in one place.
What Glazes Can You Make with Limited Materials?
When you start looking for glaze recipes and have a limited number of materials on hand, you may find that you have almost (but not quite) all the materials for a million glaze recipes, but you can’t find a recipe that only uses the materials you currently have.
15 Tips to Get Started with Glaze Testing
I find ceramic glazes to be absolutely fascinating. I had no idea when I started working with clay that glazes would become the main focus of my life. Glazing was always an afterthought and I basically ruined most of my pieces by glazing them…
How to Add Bentonite to a Wet Glaze
When I was in school and learning to mix my own glazes, I was warned: “Make sure you add bentonite to the DRY materials and mix them together BEFORE you add any water.” It was good advice. The reason for the warning is when bentonite gets wet it swells and gels and…
Different Styles of Test Tiles You Can Make for Glaze Testing
The word “test tile” can refer to any shape of clay that’s used to test glazes, slips, underglazes, engobes etc. Test tiles can be any shape you wish and can be made in a variety of ways. In this post, I’ll share lots of different examples of ways you can…
What to Keep Track of in Your Glaze Journal
How Magic Becomes Science. Have you ever unloaded a BEAUTIFUL piece from the kiln and thought, “Gee, I wish I could remember how I did that”? A big part of glaze testing and advancing your understanding of glazes is record keeping. Whether you’re dipping test tiles or…
How to Make a Good Kiln Wash to Protect Your Kiln Shelves
Kiln wash is a material that you can paint onto your kiln shelves. It looks very similar to a glaze when being applied. It acts as a barrier to prevent unexpected glaze runs or drips from ruining your shelves. Kiln shelves are made of a hard material that is similar to…
How to Convert Kaolin to Calcined Kaolin
If you have too much clay in a glaze recipe, you might have issues with your glaze crawling during the firing. Crawling is where the glaze pulls away from the clay body due to a combination of shrinkage, poor adhesion and high surface tension.
How to Make a Cone Pack
In this post, you’ll learn how to make a cone pack using pyrometric witness cones set into a coil of clay. Cones are important for measuring the heatwork of your firings.
Temperature vs Heatwork – Why We Use Witness Cones
I receive a lot of glaze questions and the first question I generally ask in return is “What did the cones look like?” Knowing whether the kiln was over- or under-fired is important for diagnosing many glaze issues. Sometimes I’m told a kiln temperature in response. But…
Why Specific Gravity Isn’t Listed on Glaze Recipes
If you’ve been glazing for any length of time, you may have heard about the importance of measuring the specific gravity of your glazes and you may have found yourself wondering: “If it’s so important to measure specific gravity, why aren’t specific gravity values published on glaze recipes?”
5 Reasons Why Your Large Batch of Glaze Doesn’t Match Your Test Batch
Has this ever happened to you? You mix up a test batch of a new glaze, dip a test tile and you like the result, so you mix up a large bucket, dip a test tile and your results look nothing like your test batch?
A Week in the Life of a Ceramics Studio Technician
What Does a Ceramics Studio Technician Do? Since 2015, I’ve been a ceramics studio technician at a community pottery studio. We run 14 classes per week for both adults and children. We also have an open studio drop-in program where 60 registered members can…
How to Calibrate Your Kiln Sitter for Accurate Firings
If you’re anything like me, then your first kiln wasn’t or isn’t going to be the digital programmable kind. Many of us start out with a manual kiln that we got second hand. I have 4 different sized kilns in my home studio and none of them are digital or programmable.
Start Mixing Your Own Ceramic Glazes – A Shopping List
Are you ready to start mixing your own glazes? Perhaps you’ve reached the point in your ceramics journey that you want to start understanding the materials you’re working with and what is actually happening when you put your pottery into the kiln.
99 Cone 6 Glazes You Can Try
Have you been looking for new glazes to add to your glaze palette? If so, I have 99 different cone 6 glazes you can try. That probably sounds like a lot to look through, but it’s really just 9 base glaze recipes plus 10 colour variations each.
Commercial Glazes vs Mixing Your Own – A Cost Comparison
This post will give you an idea about the differences between commercial glazes and mixing your own from cratch.
A Clay Reclaim Process Using a Pugmill/Clay Mixer
If you run a community studio or your personal studio is high production, you probably have a lot of clay scraps to deal with. This article will describe the clay reclaim process we use at the very busy pottery studio where I worked as technician for 6 years.
A Low Tech System for Recycling Clay Scraps
As clay artists, we’re so lucky that we can reduce the amount of waste we produce by reclaiming or recycling our unfired clay. When we make something that cracks, warps or doesn’t look how we wanted it to, we can reclaim our clay, bringing it back to its original state so…
Are You Mixing Your Glazes Well Enough?
Glaze results on the thin side? As a studio technician at a busy pottery studio, it’s my job to mix and maintain 20 different studio glazes. I’m also the one studio users often go to for help when their glazes don’t work out as they had hoped. Every now and then…
How to Turn a Matte Glaze Glossy with One Ingredient
Do you have a matte glaze that you wish was a bit glossier, or would you like a glossy version of one of your matte glazes? It’s really easy to convert a matte glaze to a glossy glaze, just by adding one ingredient…
How to Make a Saturated Epsom Salt Solution to Flocculate your Glazes
Flocculate… What Does That Even Mean? You may have heard this term “flocculate” in reference to glazes and thought it was a funny word but you’ve never really known what it means. Or you may have been told what it means several times and still…
How to Fix a Hard-Panned Glaze with Epsom Salts
Have you ever had a glaze settle into a rock hard layer on the bottom of your glaze bucket? It’s impossible to mix and even if you do get it mixed, it just settles out again. This annoying phenomenon is called “hard-panning” and it often happens to glazes that don’t have enough…
Publications
Technofile: Matte to Glossy
Published in Ceramics Monthly – Jun/Jul/Aug 2023
Click here to read the article!
Originally published in Jun/Jul/Aug 2023 issue of Ceramics Monthly, pages 58-59. http://www.ceramicsmonthly.org
Technofile: Test vs Large Batch
Published in Ceramics Monthly – Oct 2022
Click here to read the article!
Originally published in Oct 2022 issue of Ceramics Monthly, pages 86-87. http://www.ceramicsmonthly.org
Technofile: Air Bubble Myth
Published in Ceramics Monthly – Apr 2021
Click here to read the article!
Originally published in April 2021 issue of Ceramics Monthly, pages 54-55. http://www.ceramicsmonthly.org
Tips and Tools: The Kiln Sitter
Published in Ceramics Monthly – Nov 2020
Click here to read the article!
Originally published in Nov 2020 issue of Ceramics Monthly, pages 60-61. http://www.ceramicsmonthly.org
Technofile: Hard Panned Glazes
Published in Ceramics Monthly – Oct 2020
Click here to read the article!
Originally published in March 2020 issue of Ceramics Monthly, pages 90-91. http://www.ceramicsmonthly.org
Originally published in March 2020 issue of Ceramics Monthly, pages 62-63. http://www.ceramicsmonthly.org
“O La Fuente”
by Sue McLeod
Published in 500 Teapots – Volume 2
Page 257
"Understanding Cone 6" - Pittsburgh 2018
My NCECA presentation Understanding Cone 6 is all about using glaze chemistry, the Unity Molecular Formula and the Stull chart to understand how different surfaces are created at cone 6.
Which glaze formulas are likely to be matte or glossy? Which ones are likely to be crazed or be under-fired? How does flux ratio impact fired results?
Click here to read or watch/listen to this presentation on my website.
Understanding Cone 6 presentation slides and script are also available as a free download!