How to Make Homemade Glaze for Clay Pottery

Select a recipe from a reputable source. Recipes are expressed in ratios. To create a test batch, simply convert the ratio numbers to grams to create your glaze. To create a full batch, multiply the ratio by the desired amount. For example, if you wish to make 1,000 grams, then multiply all parts of the recipe by 10.

Measure glaze ingredients individually using a triple-beam scale and mix dry ingredients together in a 5-gallon bucket. It is important to be precise with measurements to ensure that the ingredients will fire at the appropriate temperatures. Any deviance from the recipe could result in an unusable or dangerous glaze that could heat inappropriately and shatter a pot or damage your kiln. Wear goggles, a mask and gloves during the measuring and mixing process as many of these substances are toxic if inhaled.

Add 11 oz. of distilled water per pound of dry glaze powder if you are creating a glaze in which you will dip your pottery. Add 8 oz. of water per pound of dry glaze powder if creating a glaze that you will spray on your pottery with a spray bottle. Add 7 oz. of water per pound of dry glaze powder if you are making a glaze you will brush onto your pottery.

Mix the dry ingredients with water using a whisk or emulsion blender until the glaze is the consistency of low-fat milk. Set aside for 24 hours.

Place a sieve over a clean 5-gallon bucket. Pour the glaze mixture through the sieve into the clean bucket. Push the glaze through the sieve where it thickens using a rubber rib. Clean out the original glaze bucket and repeat the process, transferring the glaze between buckets through the sieve at least two more times until the glaze is completely smooth.

Test your glaze on a piece of bisque-fired pottery or an unglazed pottery fragment and fire in a kiln to see how it looks and fires before using it on regular pottery.