Glazing Workshop Syllabus

GLAZING WORKSHOP @ Asmbly Ceramics

Course Description:

Bring your bisque-fired pieces to life in this hands-on Glazing Workshop! In this session,

you’ll learn the fundamentals of glazing: how to apply glaze cleanly, testing different

techniques, and experimenting with colors. The instructor will cover best practices for

dipping, pouring, brushing, and layering glazes to create unique effects. This workshop is

perfect for beginners and those looking to refine their glazing skills. All materials and tools

are provided. Students may bring bisque fired pieces from Asmbly classes, or pieces made

during Asmbly open studio hours.

Learning Objectives

After completing this course students should be able to:

● Use studio glazes and tools to create unique finishes.

● Apply even coats, layer glazes, and experiment with combinations.

● Properly prepare your pieces for firing.

Student Responsibilities

1. Wear closed toe shoes, have long hair tied back, and no dangling clothing or jewelry.

2. Bring a piece that has been bisque fired and is ready to be glazed. Pieces must have been

made at Asmbly and must be made from Asmbly- approved materials.

I. PART ONE / Getting Started

Glazing Basics

• Start Clean: You want to wash your bisque work before you start. Fingerprints,

oils, clay dust and debris seen and unseen can contaminate the surface of your

work. This can result in bare spots, pockets or bubbles in the glaze, trash suspended

in the glaze or discoloration. A clean wet cloth, brush, or even compressed air will

do.

• Stay Clean: Make sure that you lay out cardboard or paper on whatever surface

you are using. Glazes that spill dry quickly and is hard to tell from clay. Someone

could easily add this to their clay body during wedging or working. This will create

a pockmark or bubble with some explosive possibility. Make sure you have a sponge

ready for clean up as well as your glaze sponge.

Tools and Materials

You will need: Lazy Susan, wax, wax brushes, glaze brushes, condiment containers, bowl ½

full water, small moist sponge, large dry sponge.

III. PART TWO / Glaze Techniques

Applying Glaze

• Preparing your base: Anywhere that your work touches the tabletop will need to

be wax coated to prevent glaze from adhering to the body of the work. Be aware

that dried glaze can become embedded in this wax, and will have the same

consequences. You want to ensure that you leave AT THE VERY LEAST 1/8th of an

inch of space from the bottom of the work to where the glaze begins (1/4 or more

on fluxes and house dips). Glaze is silicate and mineral components becoming glass.

Glass is fluid and gravity is inevitable and it is always sad to have to scrape a work,

or possibly destroy it, to remove it from a kiln shelf. Simply using the wax brush,

brush the wax resist anywhere you do not want glaze to be. If you want a very

clean line, I recommend tape first, then wax over the edge, then removing the tape.

Tape also resists glaze, but presents its own challenges, mostly with adherence

during the application of other glazes and removal.

• Prepare your glaze: If you are using a commercial glaze from a jar, first ensure

the lid is sealed tightly. Next you are going to shake it vigorously vertically and

horizontally, left and right, up and down. Open the jar. If it still looks marbled or the

color uneven then seal the jar and shake is violently without losing your grip.

Sometimes you may want to use the back of a CLEAN brush handle to scrape the

chunky sludge off the sides. This is vital because it may affect glazes as the mineral

components will clump to the sides. If the glaze is overly thick or muddy, you can

add water CAUTIOUSLY! Tablespoons are preferred over the tap. Once your glaze

has a nice consistency, pour out a small amount into the condiment cup. Try not to

over fill, as you can add more over time, and glaze does dry quickly.

• Prepare your brush: You want to moisten your brush first. I recommend spraying

it with the pressure washer into the sink. This ensures you have no glaze

contamination. Then you want to remove any excessive moisture. Thats where your

large dry sponge comes into play. Have your bowl of water handy to rinse your

brush when it becomes chalky. A dry brush glazes the brush rather that the work.

• Apply the Glaze: Load your brush by dipping one side of the bristles, with a light

scoop of glaze when retracting. This will give you a bead at the tip or edge of your

brush. Touch this point to your work. As the glaze touches, but before your bristles

make full contact, pull the brush into the direction of coverage. This should deliver a

thin to solid stroke. Do not brush back and forth if you can avoid it! Attempt to

deliver your strokes in one direction. Once your intended area is covered YOU MUST

WAIT until the first layer is completely and utterly dry. There is no hurrying this

process. Fans and heat guns will seal in moisture and cause problems. The color of

the glaze will be an even chalky when it is dry enough for another layer. For most

glazes you want a minimum of two layers for them to work properly. Some

specialty glazes want only one layer for maximum effect. Three layers is pretty

standard and safe if you are unfamiliar with the glaze. Four or more layers is

pushing it and is most likely to just pour off of your work and onto someone else’s.

Standard glaze is alchemy and has no respect for color theory. Underglaze is the

most paint like of the glazes. Underglaze will not stick to the kiln shelf, so it can be

applied anywhere. The primary color in underglaze will make any standard glaze

more vibrant and opaque If brushed underneath. It can be mixed according to color

wheel (sorta) and can be thinned to be used as a wash or applied as a water color

to great effect.

• Dip Glaze Application: A simpler and stricter form of application, it’s a much

faster process. I again mention the consideration of generous wax spacing on the

bottom of the vessel to be dipped. Open the bucket and take your scrub brush and

scrape the sides of the walls into the mix. Ensure you break up any sedimentation in

the bottom of the bucket, especially where the wall meets the bottom. Wisk and stir

until the glaze have an even color and consistency. With the tongs or hook dip your

work in one to two seconds, with possibly one swish around if it has a lot of detail.

Let the excess drip back into the bucket. When it is done dripping you may want to

set the work down on its waxed base because you are going to have to WAIT for it

to dry completely before dipping it again. Dips are typically thicker and if one dip

looks consistent, you are probably good. If it appears to be a minor spot missed, use

a glaze brush to do a spot touchup. It’s fine to dip in one color then another or over

a commercial glaze IF YOUR GLAZE IS COMPLETELY DRY FIRST!

• Tidy: Wipe glaze off of the bottom of your work. When the wax melts away any

glaze bits will fuse somewhere they are not supposed to, or turn to glass splatter or

beads.

Preparing for Firing

• Considerations in construction: Informing your work with the consideration of

your glaze application matters immensely the more complex your work is. The first

and simplest is the cookie. A coaster for your work that takes the work into

consideration for propping it up for complete flow or absorbing runoff. You can also

make kiln furniture that will hold your work in a way to make the spot with no

glaze invisible. This can be made from the same clay body you are using, and they

can be reused a few times. Making kiln furniture out of porcelain or other cone 10

clays will give you a lot more milage. For jewelry applications heat resistant rods and

furniture can be purchase (just don’t forget to wax your holes.) This is strictly for

LOW FIRE. Another thing of note: Low fire kiln furniture uses metal points, allowing

for more complete glazing with only a few pinholes.

• Glaze Type Awareness: There are so many glazes and more are constantly being

added. They do different things at different temperatures. We typically run a Cone 5

glaze, with the regular Cone 04 low fire. We can fire Cone 10 but that is primarily

for porcelain, which we see little of. Your jars of glaze will say what cone your

glaze is meant to be fired at. There is a lot of small print on these jars you should

attend to. Jungle Gems doesn’t loudly tell you it is best at a low fire with 1-2 coats

just as Stoneware doesn’t tell you that you need at least cone 6 to match the

example tile. This can lead to glazes that don’t fully flow and turn into sharp

bubbles and flakes, or glazes that run right off of your work and right onto the

shelf. Some washes (mostly metal) fill in the pores of your work, making those

portions covered repellent to glaze. A little bit of flux can cause glaze to flow

dramatically and unexpectedly. Rather than dissuade people from embracing all this

magic, we have a shelf system designed to make sure your work gets processed

without damage or delay.

• Commercial Glaze: any standard glaze that doesn’t do anything weird. Rutile and

Honey Flux types are borderline here. Jungle Gems as well, but you’re really missing

out not doing them at low fire.

• Specialty Glaze: Englobes, crawl glazes, cobblestones, added fluxes, textures or any

other strangeness that does more than lay down flat.

• House Dip: Did you dip it in our bucket? Put it on this shelf even if it has a

commercial glaze on it.

• Test Glaze: Almost all commercial lead-free glazes are on the table, but we do like

to have a test tile as a sample if we haven’t seen it before. Anything mixed after

purchase or categorized previously as a specialty glaze must go through this

process.

• Reglazing: I enjoy reglazing work that I am disappointed in or for specific effects.

This is a challenging process with lots of potential for ruining work and trashing kiln

shelves. Once your work has been glaze fired it becomes resistant to glaze. First off,

the pores are filled with glaze. However, if you fire a bisqued, unglazed work at

cone five, or just again really, you will get a color change and the pores will still

shrink becoming resistant to glaze. Any application of glaze over glaze should be

expected to run, flowing much further that the glaze underneath. To apply glaze

over glaze you must still moisten your brush. Rather than brushing on the glaze you

will have to dab cautiously. This will be slow and tedious as the glaze will take

much longer to dry. It is very likely that dry glaze will flake off on its way to the

kiln. Supposedly hairspray will solve this adherence issue, but I haven’t verified it

myself. Honestly, if you are reglazing, you should drop any expectations now and

embrace the chaos.

• Kiln Form and Slip: Use your phone to activate the QR code and fill in the form.

Please take and attach a picture of your work. This form will give you a kiln ID

number. Apply this number to a slip to put with each of your works and circle all

the items that apply to your work. Please add any notes the operators should be

aware of.

Cleaning Your Space

Clean glaze spills, wash brushes, and organize tools to keep the studio ready for the next

group.

ASMBLY MAKERSPACE, INC | 9701 Dessau Road #304 | Austin, Texas 78754 |