Online Classes and Workshops with Sue
Classes with yellow backgrounds are free!
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
You can read more about each course by clicking the links below. I hope to see you in one of my glaze courses soon!
Thinking about mixing your own glazes? Feeling nervous to take the plunge?
In this FREE CLASS, you'll learn what's involved, what you'll need, and how to set up your studio for glaze mixing success.
Join Sue McLeod for a behind-the-scenes look inside her glaze mixing lab and discover:
✅ What tools, equipment, and safety gear you’ll need to start mixing your own glazes from scratch
🧰 How to set up your studio for safe, efficient, and organized glaze mixing
💡 Whether mixing your own glazes is the right next step for you — including the benefits, costs, and creative opportunities it brings
If you're considering making the switch to mixing your own glazes, this class will give you the clarity and confidence to take the leap.
Price: FREE!
Glaze Mixing Essentials
Create your own unique palette of custom glazes by learning to mix glazes from scratch in this online course.
Glaze mixing is a foundational skill for any serious potter who wants to make pots that have their own signature style. By the end of this class, you'll know how to safely mix and alter the colour of any glaze recipe, for any temperature. You don't need a large studio or any scientific background to take this next important step in your glaze journey.
You'll get instant, lifetime access to the course when you register, plus an invitation to my monthly membership - The Glaze Lab - for extra support.
Price: $197 USD
What Do the Glaze Materials Do? workshop
This workshop will teach you the role and function of your glaze materials. This is an intro to glaze chemistry, which opens up a whole world of ceramic possibilities like substituting materials and developing your own glaze recipes.
If you mix your own glazes but have no idea why each material is included in the recipe, don't you think it's time to learn? Knowledge is empowering. Even if you think it will be too complicated, I have a way of explaining these things that makes it simple to understand.
90 Days Access.
Price: $57 USD
Mastering Glaze Consistency
Learn how to get the best glaze results possible with your existing glazes, and repeat those results from firing to firing in this online course.
My step-by-step testing system will help you improve the consistency of your glaze application and results, and will fix many glaze flaws like running, crawling, peeling, glazes turning out the wrong colour, cloudy clears etc.
Price: $397 USD / $495 CAD
Next registration opens January 14, 2027. Join the waitlist.
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 / $795 CAD
Next registration opens Spring 2027. Join the Waitlist.
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
How to achieve consistency with brushing glazes?
Question: “Brush on glazes are less consistent in my experience. How do we know the ideal consistency with a brush on glaze?”
Testing Pencil Crayons at Cone 6
Writing information on test tiles I do a lot of glaze testing, which requires me to write testing info on my small test tiles. When I first started out, I used red iron oxide mixed with water and a...
Exploring One Glossy Glaze with Many Colours
Create a palette of compatible glazes When you first start mixing your own glazes, it can be overwhelming to decide on which glaze recipes you’re going to use. There are so many! There are literally...
Exploring Iron Reds and Fast Cooling Cycles
Randy’s Red - A classic glaze recipe “Randy’s Red” is a recipe that has been around for a long time. I’m not even sure who the original “Randy” is. This glaze was one of the staple studio glazes at...
Can you use bentonite instead of epsom salt for hard panning?
Question: Can you use bentonite instead of Epsom salt for hard panning? Dealing with hard-panning In my free Strategic Glazing class, I talk about flocculation. Flocculation is a way of increasing a...
How to deal with glazing tong marks?
Question: When using tongs, what is a reliable method for covering the small holes left behind in a way that doesn’t show as a different color in the fired piece?
What’s the role of witness cones in a kiln-sitter kiln?
Question: Any suggestions for using witness cones when your kiln has a kiln-sitter rather than a controller? I have a small, old school doll kiln and can't create a schedule. All I can control is...
What’s the difference between Orton self-supporting cones and large cones
Large cones vs Self Supporting cones Question: Orton temperature equivalents - I thought self supporting and large cones were interchangeable, but the table shows slightly different temps for the...
Can I speed up my kiln’s cooling cycle?
How can I speed up my kiln's cooling cycle? Question: “What can we do to make big kilns cool down faster? Keep the door slightly open at a certain temperature?” There isn't really a practical way to...
Why does my kiln fire unevenly?
Why does my kiln fire unevenly? Question: “Why do I get different results on my cone pack based on which shelf-- top, middle, or bottom-- the pack is located?” Our kilns tend to fire unevenly and...
Sodium silicate turned my glaze into thick sludge
Can you save a glaze that has turned to pudding after adding too much sodium silicate? Question: I added way too much sodium silicate to two big buckets of glaze. They were too thick and water...
Doesn’t high speed mixing create bubbles in the glaze?
What if mixing creates bubbles in our glaze? Question: When high speed mixing, is it necessary to allow the glaze to sit for some period of time before dipping to avoid tiny bubbles? What to do...
How long will a five gallon glaze bucket stay homogenized for?
How long will my glaze stay suspended for? Every glaze is going to be different depending on their composition. Some glazes will settle very quickly, and other glazes will just stay mixed and...
If I sieve my glaze, am I sieving out good particles?
We sieve glazes to break down clumps (and sometimes remove foreign objects) All of your glaze particles and ingredients should go through the sieve. All we're really doing when we're sieving is...
If your glaze freezes, is it still ok?
What happens when glazes freeze? Yeah, freezing is fine. You would definitely want to high speed mix your glaze after it has frozen, but freezing just affects the water. I would high speed mix and...
The stir test – how homogenized is your glaze?
Are you stirring your glaze for long enough? “When you said in the stir test, 10 Seconds. 30 seconds. 60 seconds of stirring. Are you talking about high speed mixing or just hand mixing?” In my free...
Does a lower bisque temp = more pores?
How temperature affects the porosity of our bisque We start with bone dry greenware, which is porous. So all the water - the physical water - has evaporated from the clay body before the bisque...
How does the thickness of your piece affect glaze application?
How does the thickness of your piece affect the glaze application? In my free Strategic Glazing class, I talked about: When the conditions are the same and we repeat our steps, then the result is...
12 Tips for Managing Glazes at a Busy Pottery Studio
Glaze Management 101. It’s a lot of work to run a school or community pottery studio. There are a lot of moving parts to look after. I’ve been a studio technician for 5 years now and it’s a very busy and rewarding job. As the technician, I’m taking care of all the behind the scenes…
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.
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.
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.
Why I Use a Graduated Cylinder for Measuring Specific Gravity
I use a graduated cylinder for measuring specific gravity. A slender container is going to have smaller increments than a wide container, giving higher accuracy. You could compare this concept to using a scale with 1g increments vs 5g increments. The smaller measurement is…
Publications
Technofile: Well-Mixed Glazes
Published in Ceramics Monthly - Apr 2026
Click here to read the article!
Originally published in Apr 2026 issue of Ceramics Monthly, pages 58-60. http://www.ceramicsmonthly.org
Technofile: Temp vs Heatwork
Published in Ceramics Monthly - Nov 2024
Click here to read the article!
Originally published in Nov 2024 issue of Ceramics Monthly, pages 54-56. http://www.ceramicsmonthly.org
Technofile: Calcining Kaolin
Published in Ceramics Monthly - Sep 2024
Click here to read the article!
Originally published in Sep 2024 issue of Ceramics Monthly, pages 58-59. http://www.ceramicsmonthly.org
Technofile: Clear Glaze Clarity
Published in Ceramics Monthly - Apr 2024
Click here to read the article!
Originally published in Apr 2024 issue of Ceramics Monthly, pages 58-61. http://www.ceramicsmonthly.org
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!