Ceramic glaze is not paint. It is a glass coating that must chemically bond to the clay body during firing, and when that bond fails, the glaze shivers off in sharp flakes or peels away in sheets before the kiln even reaches temperature. Shivering and peeling are two distinct glaze defects with different causes, different…
Glaze blisters are not a mystery. They are trapped gas struggling to escape through a glaze surface that sealed too early. Bloating is even worse. It is the clay body itself swelling into a spongy, deformed mass that ruins the pot permanently. Both defects trace back to the same root cause: gas that cannot get…
Pinholes in ceramic glaze are not random accidents. They are trapped gas bubbles that burst through the molten glaze surface during firing and fail to heal over before the kiln cools. Every pinhole tells you exactly what went wrong if you know how to read it. This guide covers every cause, the science behind why…
Crazing is not a firing mistake. It is a thermal expansion mismatch between your glaze and the clay body underneath it. That fine web of cracks across your glaze surface has nothing to do with underfiring or cooling too fast. The glaze simply shrinks more than the clay during cooling, and the tension creates the…
Ceramic glaze crawling has nothing to do with your kiln. The problem starts before the piece ever sees heat, and it is almost always fixable without changing your firing schedule. By the Numbers Glaze Crawling: What the Data Shows Sources: Studio potter surveys, Rhodes’ Clay and Glazes for the Potter, Digitalfire Reference Library 70% of…
Ceramic glaze is not paint. It is a glass coating that chemically bonds to clay at temperatures above 1,800°F, and when that bond fails, the defect always traces back to one of three root causes: formulation, application, or firing. This guide covers every common glaze defect (crawling, pinholes, blistering, crazing, shivering, bleeding, running, and more)…