Mastering Glaze Consistency
Does this feel familiar?
You put so much effort into making pots and you think you've finally got your glazing process down, but then you have another disappointing kiln opening.
Or what about this?
You got some great results out of the kiln so you enthusiastically glazed another kiln load. But this time, you're so frustrated to find out your glazes look different.
Even though you focus on glazing consistently, your results are anything but consistent.
You might be thinking:
"Why does my glaze look like that?"
"Why is it not working?"
"What am I doing wrong?"
It's time for some direction
If you’ve been reading books, doing countless Google searches and watching dozens of YouTube videos then you KNOW there’s more to mastering the glazing process than counting the number of seconds you hold your piece in the glaze for.
You also likely know that it’s important to pay attention to the amount of water you’re adding to your glazes.
You’ve probably heard the term “specific gravity” before and you may have even started measuring the specific gravity of your own glazes because you KNOW that it’s one of the keys to consistent results.
Maybe you’ve even dabbled with flocculants and deflocculants too.
You’re testing all the techniques and suggestions that you’ve heard about because you’re serious about finally taking control of this glazing business.
You’ve spent so much time piecing together all the information you’ve found that you’d think you’d have it all figured out by now.
But you always seem to learn some new, significant tip or detail that you had no idea about before and then you have to figure out where that detail fits within all the information you already have.
It’s ok, because you’re up for it. You’re invested in the process.
You're a potter, after all.
You didn’t hop on the potter’s wheel and throw amazing pots right away. You put a lot of time into learning the making process.
You failed a lot but you kept trying.
And now you’re ready and excited to put your energy into mastering the glazing process in a systematic way so you can make sure you’re focusing on the right things.
If you’re a potter or ceramic artist who wants more control over the glaze results coming out of the kiln and more confidence in your ability to consistently repeat your best results, then you probably already know that you need to learn a bit of science and the technical side of ceramics to take your glazing skills to the next level. I can help you with that if you join my program.
Introducing:
Mastering Glaze Consistency
Learn how to create the best glaze results possible with your existing glazes, and repeat those results from firing to firing.
In this course, you'll go through every step of the making, glazing and firing process and understand the exact causes of disappointing glaze results and how to prevent them.
Learn the art and science of glaze consistency with easy to understand explanations and a complete glaze testing system that you can use to determine the best application conditions for your glazes and repeat them every time you glaze.
By the end of this course, you'll have:
- A sense of relief that you finally understand why glazes are so hard to control
- A collection of test tiles that reveal the potential results for each of your glazes and the exact process for re-creating your favourites
- A repeatable system that you can use with every new glaze you encounter so you can skip the lengthy and expensive trial and error process
- A foundation of technical, scientific knowledge that will help you make good glazing decisions
- A new vocabulary of ceramic lingo so you'll finally understand what the experts are talking about in glaze books and online
- The confidence to make intentional glazing decisions instead of just going for it, crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.
And you'll also have specific strategies for solving these common issues:
- unexpected running
- cracking and peeling before the firing
- crawling during the firing
- cloudy clear glazes
- glaze is the wrong colour
- glaze is rough on rims
- glaze takes forever to dry
- glaze dries too quickly
Stop sacrificing your body of work to the “kiln gods”.
Stop crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.
Stop ruining your pieces by glazing them.
Start loving the glazing process because you finally understand how they work.
If you’re tired of piecing together bits and pieces of information that you’ve gathered off the internet and you’re ready for someone to lead you through all the important details of consistent glazing, then I invite you to join me in my online course.
Mastering Glaze Consistency is the only program of its kind that:
- Gives you a full picture of all the factors that are affecting your glaze results, including using witness cones, bisque temperature, test tiles, application method, water, viscosity and flocculation
- Teaches you the science of glazes BEFORE they enter the kiln, without assuming you have any prior technical knowledge
- Breaks down the technical aspects of glaze application into very easy to understand explanations, complete with pictures of my own glaze results and video walkthroughs of the processes
- Gives you all the steps that you need to implement what you’ve learned with easy to follow, step-by-step glaze maintenance and testing systems that you can use to fine tune and master each of your existing glazes
I’ve taken everything I’ve learned through my years as a ceramics studio technician, courses I’ve taken, research I’ve done and thousands of glaze tests and put it all into an online program that walks you through all the WHATs, WHYs and HOW-TOs of consistent glaze application and results. I hope you'll join me and finally take your glazing game to the next level!
Pricing
Join Mastering Glaze Consistency
- Lifetime access to Mastering Glaze Consistency program
- Glaze testing assignments that will reveal the best application conditions for each of your glazes
- 4 weekly Q&A sessions with Sue on Zoom (see schedule)
- Private, students only community for asking questions 24/7
- Worksheets, action plans, presentation slides, video transcripts
- Bonus behind the scenes flocculation/deflocculation research videos
- Mastering Glaze Vocabulary - Word Hunt challenge
2023 Price
$347 USD
Subject to change
Pay by credit card
What my students are saying…
“Since taking your glaze consistency class in the spring, I have slowly been improving my glazing skills. I just had the best kiln unloading of my life! The main fixes were from witness cones on all the shelves (top and bottom was under firing) and using an electric mixer. I was using a toilet bowl brush and I don’t think it was doing the job. I would never have guessed I was under mixing. Or that my kiln was so uneven. Seems obvious now.
Also, I have an engineering and physics degree, and your explanations of the chemistry and physics of ceramics were the best I’ve ever heard. Everything finally clicked in place.”
Lindsey’s results before taking Mastering Glaze Consistency on the left and her improved results on the right.
Does this story sound familiar to you?
You’ve spent days, weeks, even months throwing, building, sculpting a kiln load of pots and then you get to the part where it’s time to glaze all of these creations.
You pick up a mug, hold it in your hand, turn it around and imagine what it will look like when it comes out of the glaze firing.
You start planning something like:
“I’ll use Glaze X on the inside. I’ll pour the glaze in and quickly pour it back out again.
Then on the outside, I’ll create contrast with Glaze Y on the top that will run into Glaze Z at the bottom. Glaze Y is a little runny but Glaze Z is super stable. I’ll do quick dips of each, with an inch of overlap because that’s what I did last time and the combination looked spectacular.
Then I’ll add a splash of Glaze X on the handle to tie the outside in with the inside. I’ll do all 12 mugs the same.”
The mugs look perfect in your mind. Just what you envisioned before you ever started making them. You’re feeling very inspired and excited about your craft and the work you’ve been creating. Your making skills have improved so much over the last few months.
You can’t WAIT for this kiln opening.
This story can continue in a variety of ways...
Scenario #1:
Your mugs come out of the kiln looking exactly as you expected.
Scenario #2:
Your mugs come out of the kiln safely, no drips, but why are the glazes so splotchy? Last time you used this glaze combo, the results were great. This time, it looks like a child glazed them.
Scenario #3:
You open the kiln and “NOOOOOO…” your glazes have run all over the place.
Scenario #4:
You open the kiln and at first glance, your mugs look a-MAZ-ing!! Exactly as you hoped they would look. But then your heart sinks as you notice that the glaze has crawled on the inside of most of your mugs. It’s not extreme, but just enough to send them to hammer pile.
What’s your glaze story?
Of the 4 scenarios described above, which are you most familiar with?
Scenario #1 is what we all strive for. It’s what we deserve eventually, right?
If we keep trying and take lots of notes, surely one day, we’ll be good at this.
But how frustrating is it when you pay such close attention to your process and try so hard to repeat what you did last time, only to get completely different results?
Scenarios #2, #3 & #4 are so common, but not necessary.
I can help you change your glaze story and feel just as confident about glazing as you are about making pots.
What my students are saying…
“I have a blue commercial glaze with which I have problems getting consistent results. So the course description was exactly matching with what I was looking for. Throughout the course I realized that I have more glazing issues that I can try to solve now 🙂
The course really met my expectations! It was very well structured, provided good and clear explanations, showed enough examples, etc.”
If you’re ready to take control of your glaze results without sacrificing your body of work to the kiln gods, here’s the path that will get you there:
Curriculum
The course is broken up into 7 MODULES and each module contains several short, easy to digest VIDEO LESSONS.
Module 1 is a preparation module.
The rest of the course is broken into two Phases: The Learning Phase and the Implementation Phase.
Modules 2-4 are the Learning Phase where you’ll learn all the WHATs and WHYs and science behind achieving consistent glaze results. This is where you build your foundation of knowledge.
Modules 5-7 are the Implementation Phase where you’re going to learn HOW to implement your new knowledge through a series of step-by-step tests and experiments to help you fine-tune your glazes and get them working the way you want them to.
Click on each module to read a description.
Module 1 - Setting Yourself Up For Success
Module 1: Setting Yourself Up for Success
The first module will help you get prepared to take this course. You’ll get a detailed description and checklist of all the tools and supplies you’ll need to implement what you learn in the program.
Highlights:
- Start a glaze journal to keep track of your glazing process and connect your process with your results coming out of the kiln.
- Learn all the useful details you can pay attention to while glazing and firing
- Make test tiles and test pots that will give you the most relevant information about your glazes so you don’t have to sacrifice your body of work for the sake of learning.
- Gather the supplies you’ll need for measuring specific gravity, flocculating and deflocculating your glazes.
Module 2 - Why Are Glazes So Inconsistent?
Module 2: Why Are Glazes So Inconsistent?
In this module we’ll go over all the reasons why glaze results are so inconsistent.
Learn the 7 factors that affect glaze results and how to control them – including temperature, cooling cycle, glaze application thickness, bisque porosity, mixing, application method, specific gravity and viscosity.
Highlights:
- Learn about the importance of using Witness Cones for understanding your glaze results.
- Understand the difference between “heat work” and “temperature”
- Understand how the temperature you bisque fire to is affecting your glaze application.
- Learn why insufficient mixing can lead to disappointing glaze results
- Learn ways to improve the consistency of your glaze application whether you’re dipping, brushing or spraying your glazes.
Module 3 - Water Content and Specific Gravity
Module 3: Water Content and Specific Gravity
How does the amount of water in your glaze affect your application and results? How do you know how much water to add to your glazes?
This is where we discuss the concept of specific gravity, why it’s important, how it’s measured and how it’s going to help you control and improve your glaze results.
Highlights:
- Learn how to calculate the amount of water in any glaze, regardless of batch size or whether you mixed it yourself.
- Understand why using a hydrometer is NOT a good way to measure specific gravity and what to do instead.
Module 4 - Viscosity and Flocculation
Module 4: Viscosity and Flocculation
In this module, you’ll learn why water isn’t the only way to change the thickness of a glaze and how the materials our glazes are made of affect glaze application and fired results.
Understand when to use flocculation and deflocculation to adjust your glaze viscosity, instead of only adjusting the water content.
Highlights:
- Learn about the role of clay particles in a glaze recipe and how they play an important part in glaze viscosity.
- Finally understand the concepts of “flocculation” and “deflocculation”, the difference between them, how they affect a glaze on a particle level, and when you should use them to improve your glaze application.
- By the end of this module, your technical ceramics vocabulary will have expanded a great deal. Celebrate by using the word “flocculate” at the dinner table!
- This is also the end of the Learning Phase and you’re now ready to move into the Implementation Phase.
Module 5 - Measuring and Adjusting Specific Gravity
Module 5: Measuring and Adjusting Specific Gravity
Now that you’ve learned all the reasons for measuring specific gravity, let’s go over the steps! We’ll start by going over all the times and situations when I recommend taking a specific gravity reading of your glazes.
You’ll analyze your glazes as they are now and as you’ve been using them. Then you’ll get into adjusting the specific gravity to see how changes in water content affect your fired results.
Highlights:
- Dig out your test tiles and put all your new technical knowledge to practice with some glaze testing.
- Learn my simple, 2-Step Glaze Tuning System that you can use as a guide for all future glaze adjustments
- Learn how to use specific gravity to make sure your glaze results are always consistent and how to adjust specific gravity to suit different glaze application needs.
- I’ll share the trends I’ve seen with specific gravity values for different types of glazes, like matte glazes and clear glazes.
- View my own specific gravity tests with full explanations of my results.
Module 6 - Assessing and Adjusting Viscosity
Module 6: Assessing and Adjusting Viscosity
How do you know when your glaze needs to be flocculated or deflocculated? In this module, you’ll learn a couple of methods for assessing the viscosity of your glaze in order to decide if it needs adjusting.
Highlights:
- Understand when a glaze needs a water adjustment vs a flocculation adjustment
- I’ll share my experiences with different flocculants and deflocculants and explain why I choose the ones I recommend.
- Learn what happens when you add too much flocculant or deflocculant
- Perform my Multi-Viscosity Experiment by testing each of your glazes to find the sweet spot for where they work the best for you.
- View my own Multi-Viscosity Experiments with full explanations of the results.
Module 7 - Improving Glaze Results
Module 7: Improving Your Glaze Results
Now that you’ve learned all the steps for adjusting your glazes and you’ve done some testing of your own, let’s talk about all the ways you can improve our glaze results by implementing what you’ve learned in this course to solve common glaze issues and inconsistencies.
Highlights:
- Gain a full understanding of how to use this course to improve your glaze results and solve common problems that you’re having now or may encounter down the road.
- Learn how to deal with unexpected running, cloudy clear glazes, very thin wares, titanium glazes, cracking/crawling glazes, glaze drying issues and hard-panning.
- Celebrate all you’ve learned by glazing some pots and sharing how your results have improved with others.
What my students are saying…
“I was getting some bad kiln results and couldn’t figure out what to do about it. I had already purchased some flocculant and deflocculant, but I didn’t know how to use them. Since I don’t have any glaze community nearby I was stuck. YouTube videos helped, but were incomplete. I didn’t just want an instruction for what to do – I wanted to know why I was doing it.
This course more than met my expectations. As someone with 25+ years of university teaching I was delightfully surprised with your organization and delivery of the course material. I liked the previews of the lessons and the ability to print out the transcripts so I could listen instead of scrambling to write everything down. I will confess I had never measured specific gravity before, so my glaze mixing was really just guess-work. I’m so much more confident now.”
Here’s an example of one glaze with increasing water content
Inconsistent water content
=
Inconsistent glaze application thickness
=
Inconsistent glaze results
The good news is, it’s easy to take control over your glaze’s water content.
You can measure how much water there is in any glaze. Even if your glaze has been around forever and there’s no way to possibly know how much water has been added, you can find out exactly how much water is in that glaze.
The process is called measuring specific gravity and it’s the first step to mastering glaze consistency.
Once you start taking control of the water content of your glazes, not only are you going to see a noticeable improvement in the consistency of your glaze results, but you’ll start to see how many of your past glaze issues were a result of inconsistent water content.
You’ll start to connect the dots and say “I can’t believe I wasn’t paying attention to the water in my glazes before.”
Now, you might be wondering, “Is that all I have to do? Will measuring the water in my glazes solve all my glaze problems? Can it be that simple?”
If you’ve been working in ceramics for long enough, you probably know the answer to this.
Glazes are more complicated than that
Adjusting the water is just the first step. You also need to consider how the viscosity of the glaze is affecting application.
The viscosity of a glaze is the physical thickness in the bucket. Viscosity can be adjusted in several ways. Adding water will thin a glaze down, but adding water isn’t always the best option.
It’s important to understand how not enough or too much water could have a negative impact on your glaze results and why.
Different glazes are going to behave differently, depending what they’re made of. Each glaze is unique and is going to have its own ideal conditions that depend on a number of factors.
Here are some of the factors that we need to consider:
- What’s your application method?
- Do you think the glaze looks better when thin or thick?
- Will the glaze be layered?
- What’s the glaze made of?
- Do the glaze materials absorb water?
- Do the glaze materials dissolve in water
- How much is too much water for this glaze?
- Does the glaze dry too fast or too slowly?
- Is your glaze completely homogenized?
- Does the glaze run when thick?
- Does the glaze shrink when it dries?
- Does the glaze crawl?
- How is the glaze’s viscosity affecting your application?
- Does the glaze need to be flocculated or deflocculated?
- How porous is your bisque?
These are just some of the factors that contribute to the end result.
If you’re reading this list and thinking, “I’ve only ever considered #1 before,” don’t worry! You’re not alone.
Most people just try to get their glaze to the right visible thickness for their application method and don’t give much thought to the rest until they’re trying to solve a problem.
This is what many of us are taught and then teach others.
But the truth is, all of these other factors are playing a role in your glaze results, whether you’re paying attention to them or not.
There’s a scientific explanation for all of it and there’s a simple step-by-step system you can follow to make sure you’re not leaving anything out.
Once you understand the science behind glaze application, your glaze results will start to make a whole lot more sense. You’ll be able to make better glazing decisions, troubleshoot issues and advance your creative skills with more controlled glaze application.
You’ll finally have the confidence to glaze that stock-piled bisqueware without the fear of ruining your pots by glazing them.
Does that sound exciting to you? Is it time to finally roll up your sleeves and master the art of glaze consistency?
Pricing
Join Mastering Glaze Consistency
- Lifetime access to Mastering Glaze Consistency program
- Glaze testing assignments that will reveal the best application conditions for each of your glazes
- 4 weekly Q&A sessions with Sue on Zoom (see schedule)
- Private, students only community for asking questions 24/7
- Worksheets, action plans, presentation slides, video transcripts
- Bonus behind the scenes flocculation/deflocculation research videos
- Mastering Glaze Vocabulary - Word Hunt challenge
2023 Price
$347 USD
Subject to change
Pay by credit card
What my students are saying…
“I signed up to understand how to make glaze and get consistent results.
I understand so much more about what the ingredients are, how to fix our guild’s problematic glazes, how to figure out how much water to add to the recipe and get consistent results.”
FAQs
Will this course help me with commercial glazes?
This course is designed for anyone who controls the water content of their glazes. This includes glazes made from scratch, dry commercial powdered glazes and commercial dipping glazes. I don’t personally have experience with commercial brushing glazes so I don’t know how the techniques in this course would affect them.
If you ONLY use small jars of commercial BRUSHING glazes and you don’t ever intend on using any of the other kinds of glazes, this course may not be as relevant to you. There are some sections that would help you, like learning all the factors that are affecting your results but the specific gravity and flocculation sections weren’t designed with commercial brushing glazes in mind. Use caution if you decide to take the course. Always test on a small amount of glaze before adjusting larger quantities.
Do I need a hydrometer to take this class?
No. I’ll be teaching you why NOT to use a hydrometer to measure specific gravity and why to weigh your glazes instead. Please DON’T buy a hydrometer to take this class.
Does this course focus on a certain temperature? Cone 04? Cone 6? Cone 10?
No, this course isn’t temperature specific. It focuses on helping you achieve consistent glaze application for consistent results at any temperature.
What if I can't access my studio right now?
Even though the course includes assignments to do in your studio, there is also a lot that you can learn just by watching all the course videos.
If you don’t have access to your studio right now but are itching to make progress in your ceramics journey, you can sign up and do the course now, and then when you get back into your studio you can go back and do all the assignments. You have lifetime access to the course so whenever you’re ready to get back into the studio, the course will be there for review.
Why are the prices in USD? Do you have Canadian pricing?
Since my students are international and I can only use one currency in my checkout, my prices are in US dollars. There’s no option to pay with a different currency at this time.
What does lifetime access mean?
When you purchase this course, you have lifetime access. This means that as long as Sue McLeod Ceramics is selling this product, you will have access – for the lifetime of the course.
You will receive any updated versions of the product without additional charge.
If the product is ever going to be discontinued (which Sue does not plan or anticipate), she will give you 30 days’ notice to download all materials in the program.
Questions?
All questions about the course can be sent through my website contact form. I’d love to hear from you!
Your Instructor – Sue McLeod
I’ve been a studio potter since 2010 and was a ceramics studio technician at a community studio from 2015-2021. I’m now teaching online courses full time.
After exploring ceramics through a mainly artistic lens for a few years, I gradually got sucked into the technical side.
Learning about the materials we use, how they work together and the chemical reactions that happen in the kiln has been the most inspiring part of my artistic journey.
As I learn and understand more and have those lightbulb moments where something finally makes sense, I can’t help but want to share with my community.
It wasn’t so long ago when nothing made sense to me and I remember how frustrated I was when things didn’t turn out as I hoped.
Having knowledge of the chemistry of clay and glazes gives me the freedom to be more creative. It allows me to turn my inspirations into physical creations and you can too!
I believe that all ceramic artists can benefit from exploring the chemistry of their clay and glazes, even at a very basic level. If you’re looking for someone to take complex subjects and explain them in a way that’s easy to understand, even for the most right-brained creatives, you’ve come to the right place!
Thanks for joining me on the ceramics journey.
What my students are saying…
“I’ve had a wonderful experience. Learned so much, and had really good access to additional feedback through the guided group Facebook discussion page, and the ZOOM sessions. Those are really great. Lots of information while listening to other students, and plenty of time for feedback and cogent explanations of my individual issues. Can’t really think of anything at all that could make it better.
The whole concept of specific gravity and adjusting glazes for optimum performance was exactly what I wanted, and didn’t even know I needed. Now that I understand what’s going on, moderately understand anyway, I’m more capable, and less a slave to ignorance. “Knowledge is power,” my dad used to say. I feel powerful, over glaze anyway.”
“I’ve always felt like glazing was my least favorite part of making pottery. I just wanted to get through it ASAP and results were always a surprise. I got tired of spending time making something only to feel overwhelmed by all the stuff I couldn’t understand or control during the glazing process.
By taking this course, so many of my glazing issues have been addressed. I am looking forward to troubleshooting any problems that come up.”
“I needed to learn why some things glaze well and some things don’t. Why some batches of glaze turn out terrible versus turning out amazing.
This course gave me the insight as to what likely was occurring with our guild glazes. It changed my relationship in the sense that I now have information to figure out why something happened, how to address, and how to improve.”
“I wanted to learn more about controlling glaze thickness, dealing with settling (hard panning) in buckets and generally understand more about keeping my glazes in good shape.
Taking this course made me want to keep better track of things, and know that I can control glazes instead of just putting up with whatever happened. It improved my relationship with glazes a lot!”
“I learned how to create consistent results by adjusting glaze consistency. The course taught me how much water to add to glazes, how to properly measure specific gravity, how water content can affect a glaze, how to test to see which specific gravity suits which glaze, and how to test/alter the viscosity of a glaze to create best/most desired results. I learned why my glazes were behaving the way they were and what to do about it.
I now understand what I was doing wrong and I learned what to do to assess/test/fix my glazes”
“Specify gravity was my favourite. It just makes sense and will take a lot of guesswork out of glazing. Also having the glaze journal has already proven beneficial.
I was very satisfied with every aspect. I like how Sue tried to keep it simple. I’m a senior and don’t have a chemistry back ground. Sue made it all less intimidating. It’s easy to follow, informative and worth every penny.”
“This class was comprehensive to cover all glaze problems and offered practical ways to ‘practice’ correcting your glazes without ruining whole batches.
When I went on-line to solve individual glaze problems, several possible corrections were offered but didn’t explain why you would try one over another. Sue explains why and how you should systematically explore the various choices. This class has addressed each issue in a way that made logical sense so I could remember the solutions to each problem.”
Questions?
All questions about the course can be sent through my website contact form. I’d love to hear from you!