Do I need a certification to use engobes at The Clay Hole?

No. There is no certification, gate or quiz for engobes. Members read the guidance, buy their own approved jar and use it.

What temperature do Mayco Stoneware Engobes fire to?

Mayco rates them from cone 5 to cone 10. The Clay Hole fires glaze to cone 5 and a half, between cone 5 and cone 6, which is cone 5 with a twelve minute hold. That sits at the low end of Mayco's range.

What stage of pottery do you apply engobes at?

Wet or leather-hard clay, bone dry greenware, or bisque. Leather-hard is best for carving, bone dry is the riskiest because of cracking, and bisque is the safest and most forgiving.

Can engobes be mixed together?

Yes. Engobes are intermixable and can be blended with brushstrokes for shading. They do not move or bleed into each other during the firing.

Will an engobe crack greenware?

It can on bone dry pieces, because dry clay pulls water out of the engobe quickly and unevenly. Keep coats thin, coat the whole piece rather than one side, and apply at bisque for thin or wide forms.

Does The Clay Hole sell engobes?

No. The studio does not stock or sell engobes. Members buy their own Mayco Stoneware Engobes online and store the jar on their own shelf or in their cubby.

Engobes in Pottery: What They Are and When to Use One

Everything about engobes, including the four way comparison and every question we get asked. Your choice sticks on every page here.

The short version

All of it, in seven lines

Everything you actually need before you open the jar.

1It is a colored coating, not a different clayTwo coats and the surface stops being the color of the clay underneath. Break the pot and it is the clay color all the way through, and a chipped rim shows that color.
2We do not sell them and we never willSeven Mayco Stoneware Engobes are approved and nothing else is. Buy your own from a ceramic supply shop and keep it on your shelf with your name on it.
3Buy one for a clay color we do not stock, or to carveBlack, dark brown, brick red, terracotta. Carving back through it so the light clay shows is sgraffito, and it is why most people buy their first jar. If you only want to paint a design onto a pot, use underglaze and save the money.
4Put it on bisque unless you are carvingBisque is the safe stage. Nothing left to crack, nothing left to warp. If carving is the plan, brush it on at leather-hard instead.
5Two thin coats, a soft wide brush, cross your directionsStir the jar hard and pour some into a cup rather than dipping into it. Every failure here gets worse when the engobe goes on heavy.
6It fires matte and it is not food safe on its ownA glaze over the top brings the shine back, and for anything you eat or drink from it has to be a glaze rated for food, so check the Food Safe Lookup. Fire the engobe in a bisque after it goes on, even if the pot was bisqued before. That is a second bisque, and it comes before any glaze, brushed or dipped.
7Every piece goes on a kiln cookie, engobe on the bottom or notWrite every color on your kiln ticket. It fires at the normal glaze rate, five cents per cubic inch with a four dollar and eighty cent minimum. And no, none of this lets you bring your own dark clay in.

The one sentence to remember

An engobe changes the color of the surface. It does not change the clay, it does not make the piece food safe, and it does not shine. Everything else here is a footnote to that.

Section one

What an engobe actually is

An engobe is a hybrid. Mayco calls it part slip, part glaze and part underglaze, and that is a fair description. There is enough clay in it to shrink along with your pot. There is enough flux in it to grip bisque, which plain slip will not do. And there is enough color packed into it that two coats hide whatever is underneath.

It is not a decoration sitting on the clay. It is a replacement for the surface of it.

1Glaze, if you want itEngobes come out of the kiln matte. A clear glaze over the top brings the shine back. For anything you drink from, the glaze has to be one rated for food, so check the Food Safe Lookup first. The left of this drawing has it. The right does not.
2The engobeTwo or three coats, about as thick as a sheet of paper once it dries. This thin band is doing all of the work.
3Your clay, unchangedStill 52 Buff. Still B-Mix. Still whatever you threw with. Chip the rim and you will see it right there.
4A line carved throughBecause the engobe is its own layer, you can scratch through it and the clay shows as a clean bright line. That is sgraffito, and it is why a lot of people buy their first jar.
5Bare engobeNo glaze at all is a real finish. Flat, matte, soft to the touch. Just not food safe on its own.

The one sentence to remember

An engobe changes the color of the surface. It does not change the clay, it does not make the piece food safe, and it does not shine. Everything else on this page is a footnote to that.

Section two

Engobe, underglaze, slip or glaze

Four buckets of goo that all look about the same in a jar. Here is the short version of how they differ, and which of them you already have access to here.

	Engobe	Underglaze	Slip	Glaze
What is in it	EngobeClay, flux and a lot of color	UnderglazeColor with a little clay in it	SlipClay and water, nothing else	GlazeGlass-forming minerals, melters, stabilizers and color
Does it hide the clay	EngobeYes, in two coats	UnderglazeUsually, in three	SlipOnly while the clay is still wet	GlazeDepends entirely on the glaze
When it goes on	EngobeWet clay, dry greenware or bisque	UnderglazeWet clay, dry greenware or bisque	SlipWet clay only	GlazeBisque
How it comes out	EngobeMatte, every time	UnderglazeMatte	SlipThe same texture as bare clay	GlazeWhatever that glaze does
Food safe on its own	EngobeNo	UnderglazeNo	SlipNo	GlazeOnly the ones that say so
What it is best at	EngobeTurning a whole piece a different color	UnderglazeDrawing and painting a design	SlipJoining wet clay and decorating it	GlazeThe finished surface people touch
Do we supply it	EngobeNo. You buy your own	UnderglazeYes, well over a hundred, and your level decides which	SlipNo	GlazeYes, hundreds of them

The one that trips everybody up

Underglaze is for drawing on a pot. An engobe is for changing the whole pot. If you want to paint a fox on a mug, reach for underglaze and save your money. If you want the mug to stop being buff colored in the first place, that is an engobe, and nobody here has one to lend you.

Section three

Why we will not carry black or dark brown clay

Here is the entire clay list. It has no black, red or dark brown.

52 Buff B-Mix B-Mix w/Grog B-Mix w/Specks Speckled Buff Half & Half #16 Porcelain Berlin Gray

Light and medium. Berlin Gray, a dark gray, is the darkest. No black. No red. No dark brown. And no, you cannot bring your own bag in either, no matter how careful you promise to be. Studio clay only.

It is not that we have anything against black or dark brown clay. It is that they do not stay where you put them.

Iron and manganese travel. They travel in the reclaim, in the sinks, in the wash pit, in the sponges, in the wedging canvas, on the bats, on the wheels, on the towel somebody grabbed right after you were done with it. One bag of black stoneware in a shared studio turns into gray streaks running through fifty different pieces of lighter clay that never asked for any of it. We would be chasing that out of the building for a year.

So we made a call and we are sticking to it. Everybody’s clay stays out of the black and brown range, and everybody’s white pot stays white.

An engobe is the loophole

It lives in a sealed jar. It goes on with a brush. It never touches the reclaim, the pug mill or anybody else’s work. Two coats of Black Engobe over B-Mix and, out of the kiln, you have a black pot.

You get the look. Nobody else gets the mess. That is the whole trade.

The dark stops at the surface

It is a surface, not a clay body. Break the pot and it is the clay color all the way through. Chip the rim and a little line of that clay color shows up where the dark used to be. If the look you are chasing needs the dark to go all the way to the core, an engobe will not get you there.

Section four

When to reach for one

Most pieces do not need an engobe. Six situations where one earns its place.

1

You want a clay color we do not carry

Black, dark brown, brick red, terracotta. Two coats and the outside of your piece is that color, sitting on top of the clay you actually threw with.

2

You want to carve into it

Sgraffito only works when there is a layer sitting on top of a clay that is a different color. That is the entire job description of an engobe.

3

Your glaze keeps going muddy

Buff and speckled bodies drag glaze colors down. A coat of White Engobe underneath gives the glaze a clean white ground to sit on, the way it would on porcelain, and the color reads true again.

4

You want lines that stay exactly where you put them

Engobes do not run into each other in the firing. Thin lines stay thin. Two colors touching stay two colors. This is why they work for majolica and silkscreen work.

5

You want matte outside, glossy inside

Bare engobe on the outside, a clear glaze on the inside. A soft flat body with a surface you can still drink out of, as long as the glaze inside is rated for food.

6

You want to rescue a piece

Engobes go on bisque, so a piece that came out of the bisque firing looking like nothing you had in mind can still be turned into something else entirely.

So what are you actually trying to do?

Tap the one that sounds like you.

Black Engobe or Sparkle Black Engobe, two coats

This is the thing engobes are best at. Black Engobe gives you a flat, dense black. Sparkle Black has a shimmer in it, and Mayco recommends burnishing it with your fingers before the last coat has fully dried to bring that out.

Leave it bare for a soft matte black, or put a clear over the top for a deep glossy one. Over Sparkle Black, make it a zinc-free clear. They look like two completely different pots.

Section five

Wet, dry or bisque

Engobes will go on at any of the three stages, and all three are allowed here. They behave completely differently at each one, though, so pick by what you are trying to do rather than by whichever pot happens to be sitting in front of you.

Wet or leather-hard: the carving stage

The clay is still shrinking and the engobe shrinks right along with it, which is the most forgiving bond of the three. Leather-hard is the sweet spot. Not slick and wet, not dry and pale. Leather-hard.

Best for

Sgraffito, marbling, feathering, anything you plan to carve into or push around while it is still soft.

Watch out for

Soaking a thin wall. Two wet coats onto a freshly thrown pot can soften it enough to slump or warp. Let it firm up first.

The verdict

The best stage if carving is the plan, and the one that asks the most of your timing.

One thing that is true at every stage

Thin coats beat thick ones. Every single failure mode on this page gets worse when the engobe goes on heavy: cracking, crawling, flaking, sticking to the shelf. Two thin coats will cover better than one thick one, and they will stay put.

Section six

Do this

How to put it on

Ten steps, and none of them are complicated. Most of the trouble people run into comes from skipping the first one or rushing the sixth.

Six steps, and none of them are complicated. Most of the trouble people run into comes from skipping the first one or rushing the fourth.

You will want a soft fan brush, a cup, and somewhere to set the piece down that you do not mind getting engobe on.

A potter in a clay stained apron brushing terracotta engobe onto a freshly thrown pot on the wheel, with the open jar and a second fan brush on the table beside him

1Stir it hard, then pour some into a cup.
The color settles like concrete at the bottom of the jar. Stir until it looks smooth, keep going another thirty seconds, and scrape the crust off the inside walls back in. Never put a brush that has been in your water bucket into the jar.
2Use a soft, wide brush.
A fan brush or a hake lays it down flat. Stiff bristles leave tracks, and those tracks are still there after the firing.
3Two coats minimum, three if you want it dead solid.
Two fully cover on our light clay bodies. Over Speckled Buff, give it three.
4Cross your directions, and let each coat lose its shine first.
One coat one way, the next across it. Go again too soon and you lift the coat underneath instead of adding to it. This is the step people rush.
5Then decide about glaze.
Bare is matte. A glaze over the top goes deeper and shines. For anything you eat or drink from, the glaze has to be one rated for food, so check the Food Safe Lookup. Fire the engobe in a bisque after it goes on, even if the pot was bisqued before. That is a second bisque, and it comes before any glaze, brushed or dipped.
6Wipe the rim and the threads before you close it.
Dried engobe in the threads is a lid that never comes off again.

1Stir it. Do not shake it.
Engobes are heavy and the color settles hard at the bottom of the jar. Stir until it looks smooth, then keep going another thirty seconds. Scrape the dried crust off the inside walls and stir that back in as well.
2Pour some into a cup. Never dip into the jar.
A brush coming out of your water bucket carries water back in with it, and a jar that gets watered down a little every session slowly stops covering. Pour out what you need. Leftovers from a single color can go back in.
3Use a soft, wide brush.
A fan brush or a hake lays engobe down flat with the fewest streaks. Stiff bristles leave tracks, and those tracks are still going to be there after the firing.
4Two coats minimum. Three if you want it dead solid.
Mayco says two coats can transform a clay body and asks for two or three. On our light clay bodies two holds up. Over Speckled Buff, or any time you want zero variation showing through, give it three.
5Cross your directions.
Brush the first coat one way and the next one across it. It evens out the coverage and it hides the brush marks better than any amount of careful work in a single direction.
6Let each coat lose its shine before the next one.
Not bone dry. Just no longer wet looking. Go again too soon and you lift the coat underneath and start dragging color around instead of adding to it. This is the step people rush.
7Do not overwork Speckled Buff.
The specks smear if you keep brushing back over them. Lay it down and leave it alone. Worth knowing too: those specks can show under a sheer glaze and vanish completely under an opaque one.
8Burnish Sparkle Black with your fingers.
Rub the surface before the last coat has fully dried. That is Mayco’s own tip and it makes a real difference to how much of the sparkle actually shows up.
9Then decide about glaze.
Leave it bare and you get matte. Two or three coats of a glaze over the top and the color goes deeper and the surface gets a shine. If the piece will hold food or a drink, the glaze has to be one rated for food, so check the Food Safe Lookup. Mayco specifically recommends a zinc-free clear over Sparkle Black.
Bisque it first, brushing or dipping. An engobed piece has to go through a bisque firing after the engobe goes on and before any glaze touches it, because unfired engobe lifts off into the shared jars and buckets.
10Wipe the rim and the threads before you close it.
Dried engobe in the threads is a lid that never comes off again. Nobody here has a spare to sell you, so treat the jar like it is the last one.

Make a test tile the very first time

Take a scrap of whatever clay you actually use. Brush two coats on one half and three on the other, bisque fire it, then put your clear glaze over one end of it and leave the other end bare. Fire it again and keep it. One tile answers more than this whole page can, because the same engobe reads differently on porcelain than it does on 52 Buff, and a glaze can behave differently over an engobe than it does on bare bisque.

Section seven

Look at this

Two pots, one glazed and one not

These are two nearly identical pots. Both carry all seven engobes in stripes. One went into the kiln with no glaze on it at all. The other was glazed and fired the whole way. Put them side by side and the entire glaze decision from step nine is sitting right there.

These are two nearly identical pots. Both carry all seven engobes in stripes. One went into the kiln with no glaze on it at all. The other was glazed and fired the whole way. Put them side by side and the entire glaze decision is sitting right there.

A round Clay Hole test pot fired bare at cone 5 and a half, painted in vertical stripes with all seven Mayco stoneware engobes running from white and speckled buff through the two reds and brown to the two blacks, every stripe matte — **Fired bare**No glaze anywhere on it. Every stripe is what you get out of a cone 5½ firing if you stop after step nine.

Glazed and firedThe same seven stripes, with one band of clear gloss, one band of a single blue glaze, and the top and bottom left bare on purpose.

What you are looking at, top to bottom

1The top is still bareAbove both glaze bands the engobe is untouched, which is the whole of the pot on the left. Flat, matte and soft to the touch. This is the finish we keep warning you about, and plenty of people decide they wanted it all along.
2The lower band is one single glazeAmaco Blue Rutile, run straight across every engobe in one continuous band. Look at what it does over the white, then look at the same glaze over the black. One glaze, doing seven different things depending only on what is underneath it. That is why you fire a test tile.

1The top is still bareAbove both glaze bands the engobe is untouched, which is the whole of the pot on the left. Flat, matte and soft to the touch. This is the finish we keep warning you about, and plenty of people decide they wanted it all along.
2The middle band is clear glossOne zinc-free clear over the same engobe underneath it. The color underneath did not change at all. It just went deep and wet instead of flat and chalky, which is the entire reason anybody puts a clear over anything.
3The lower band is one single glazeAmaco Blue Rutile, run straight across every engobe in one continuous band. Look at what it does over the white, then look at the same glaze over the black. One glaze, doing seven different things depending only on what is underneath it.
4The bottom is bare clayNo engobe and no glaze under the carved logo, just the clay body itself. That pale stone color is what the entire pot would have been.

This is the whole argument for a test tile

One glaze, poured straight across seven engobes, comes out a different color on every stripe it crosses. That is what we mean over in the common problems when we say an engobe changes the glaze you put on top of it. You would never have picked that blue out of a jar lid, and neither would we.

Section eight

What you can do with them

Covering a whole pot in one color is the obvious use and it is not always the most interesting one. Eight things engobes are genuinely good at.

Carving

Sgraffito

Italian for scratching. Two coats of engobe at leather-hard, then carve your design back through it so the light clay shows. The single most common reason anybody buys their first jar.

Layering

Two by two by two

Two coats of engobe, two coats of one glaze, two of another. Mayco builds most of their combination results this way. The engobe underneath changes how everything above it flows, which is the whole point.

Detail

Fine lines and majolica

Engobes will not move or bleed into their neighbors in the firing. Thin lines stay thin and two colors touching stay two colors, which is exactly what majolica style painting needs.

Wet work

Marbling

Lay two or three colors on while everything is still wet and drag a needle tool through them. They blend where you push them together and stop dead everywhere you did not.

Masking

Wax resist

Wax over your engobe, then a second color or a glaze over the top of that. Everywhere the wax is, the first layer stays. Sharp edges without any taping.

Texture

Woodgrain

Drag a stiff brush or a comb through wet engobe and you get grain. Mayco publishes a woodgrain bowl walkthrough on their site that gets the grain a different way, if you want to see theirs.

On the wheel

Banding

Hold a loaded brush steady against a slowly spinning pot and let the wheel draw the line for you. Clean stripes that no amount of freehand work will match.

Mixing

Blending your own

Engobes are intermixable, so seven jars is really an open palette if you are willing to mix. Brushstroke two into each other for shading and they hold whatever gradient you made.

Section nine

Before you start

Common problems

Every one of these has cost somebody a piece.

Matte is not a setting you can turn off

Engobes fire matte. Every color, every time. If you had a glossy pot in your head, that is a second product and a second decision, and it has to go on before the piece is fired.

Not food safe on its own

The surface stays porous. Anything anybody is going to eat or drink out of needs a glaze over the top that is rated for food, and Mayco says the same: its own pages list the engobes as dinnerware safe only with a clear glaze over them.

It changes the glaze you put over it

Engobes influence how the glaze above them flows, and they change its color. A glaze that has behaved perfectly for you on bare bisque for a year can start moving once there is an engobe underneath it. Runs land on kiln shelves, and kiln shelves cost hundreds of dollars. Go look at the blue band on the test pot again.

Thick coats can flux and stick

Mayco says two coats will not stick to a kiln shelf and that a heavier application may flux. They also say results vary with the kiln wash on the shelves, and they recommend testing. This is exactly why anything with engobe on the bottom goes on a kiln cookie here.

It cracks bone dry greenware

Dry clay pulls water out of the engobe fast and unevenly. Seams open, flat pieces warp, and it usually happens on the piece you spent the most time on. Thin coats and full coverage, or wait for bisque.

It crawls over dust and oil

Engobe laid over bisque dust, or over the natural oil off your hands, pulls back into islands in the firing and leaves bare clay showing between them. Wipe the piece down before you start and try not to handle the areas you are about to coat.

Chips give it away

It is a skin. Knock the rim of a black engobed mug against the sink and a bright buff line appears, and there is no fixing that after a glaze firing.

You own all of it

We do not stock engobes, we cannot lend you one, and if you run out halfway through a piece on a Tuesday night there is nothing anybody here can do for you. Seven colors also is not many next to a wall of hundreds of glazes. Buy the color first, then plan the piece around it.

Section ten

Non-negotiable

The rules here

Short list, and none of it is negotiable. The seven Mayco Stoneware Engobes below are the only engobes approved for use in the studio.

WhiteEG001

Speckled BuffEG002

Brick RedEG003

Dark BrownEG004

BlackEG005

Sparkle BlackEG006

TerracottaEG007

Those squares are our best guess at the fired color on a screen, which is a terrible way to choose a glaze color and an even worse way to choose an engobe. Look at the fired pot up in section seven, then at Mayco’s own fired chips, then fire your own test tile.

Those squares are our best guess at the fired color on a screen, which is a terrible way to choose a glaze color and an even worse way to choose an engobe. Look at the two fired pots above, then at Mayco’s own fired chips, then fire your own test tile.

See the fired colors at Mayco

1We do not sell them

Never have, no plans to. The jar is yours to buy, carry in and carry back out. Nobody here can lend you one at nine on a Tuesday night.

2Mayco Stoneware Engobes only

All seven colors are approved and nothing else is. No other brand, no homemade one, no jar somebody handed you at a workshop. You do not need to check in with anybody to use them.

3It lives on your shelf or in your cubby

With your name on it. Not on a studio shelf and not in the glaze room.

4Every piece goes on a kiln cookie

Engobe on the bottom is fine, and it goes on a cookie like every piece in a glaze firing. Glaze over the top and it is a glazed piece now, so cookies, catchers and bare bottoms all apply as normal.

5Our glazes go over it, after a bisque firing

An engobed piece goes through a bisque firing before any glaze touches it, brushed or dipped, because the jars and buckets belong to everybody. Test any combination on a tile.

6Write it on your kiln ticket

Every engobe color and every glaze. It fires like any other glazed piece, five cents per cubic inch with a four dollar and eighty cent minimum, and bisque firings are still free.

1We do not sell them

Never have, and there are no plans to. The jar is yours to buy, carry in and carry back out.

2Mayco Stoneware Engobes only

All seven colors are approved. Nothing else is. Not another brand, not a homemade one, not the jar somebody handed you at a workshop.

3Order your own online

Mayco sells through distributors rather than direct, so you will be buying from a ceramic supply shop. They come in wide mouth pints.

4You do not have to check in with anybody

Bring it and use it. There is no sign-off, no certification and no quiz for this one.

5It lives on your shelf or in your cubby

With your name on it. Not on a studio shelf, not in the glaze room, and not tucked behind somebody else’s work.

6Every level can use them

Green Level Member through Black Level Member. Same rules for everybody.

7Studio clay only, still

None of this opens a door to bringing your own bag of clay in. The engobe is the workaround. A sack of black stoneware is not.

8Engobe on the bottom is fine, on a kiln cookie

You are welcome to coat the bottom of a piece. When you do, it goes on a cookie when you leave it on the ready for glaze firing tables. Staff load every kiln, and no cookie means no firing.

9Put a glaze on top and the normal glaze rules apply

Cookie, catcher, bare bottoms, all of it. The piece is a glazed piece now and it gets treated like one.

10Engobe alone still needs a cookie

Every piece in a glaze firing sits on a kiln cookie, glazed or not, and no cookie means no firing. Leave the top bare and the bottom clean and it still goes on a cookie. Engobe the bottom and rule 8 applies as well.

11Our glazes go over it, after a bisque firing

An engobed piece goes through a bisque firing before any glaze touches it, brushed or dipped. Unfired color lifts off on the brush and into the jar, and the jars and dipping buckets belong to everybody. Test any combination on a tile first, since the engobe underneath changes how the glaze moves.

12Write it on your kiln ticket

Every engobe color and every glaze, same as always. When something goes sideways in a firing, that ticket is the only way anybody can work out what happened.

13It fires like any other glazed piece

Five cents per cubic inch with a four dollar and eighty cent minimum. Bisque firings are still free.

Section eleven

Questions we get asked

Do I need a certification for engobes?

No. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to pass. Read this page, buy your jar and get to work.

Can I put one of your glazes over my engobe?

Yes, after a bisque firing. Whether you brush or dip, the engobed piece has to be bisque fired before any glaze touches it, because unfired engobe lifts off into shared jars and buckets. Either way, test the combination on a tile first, because an engobe underneath changes how the glaze above it flows, and a glaze that has never run on you before can start running.

Will they survive our firing?

Comfortably. Mayco rates the stoneware engobes from cone 5 to cone 10, and we fire glaze to cone 5½, which is cone 5 with a twelve minute hold on the end of it. We land between cone 5 and cone 6, at the low end of their range, which is the easy end.

Can I eat off it?

Not off bare engobe. It fires matte and stays porous. Anything that holds food or a drink needs a glaze over the top that actually seals the surface and is rated for food, and the Food Safe Lookup is where to check.

What brush should I buy?

A soft fan brush or a hake. Wide and soft beats narrow and stiff every time here, because the goal is a flat even coat rather than a precise edge.

Can I mix two colors together?

Yes. Engobes are intermixable, so seven jars is really an open palette. You can also blend one into another with brushstrokes for shading, and whatever gradient you made is what comes out of the kiln, because engobes do not move.

Will it crack my greenware?

It can, on bone dry pieces. Dry clay pulls the water out fast and unevenly, seams open and flat pieces warp. Keep the coats thin, cover the whole piece instead of one side of it, and if the piece is wide or thin, wait for bisque.

Can I bring my own dark clay if I promise to be careful?

No. Not with an engobe, not with a promise, not for one piece. Studio clay only. The darkest clay we stock is Berlin Gray, a dark gray stoneware, and we have no black, dark brown or red. The engobe exists so you can get that look without any of us washing iron out of the wash pit for the rest of the year.

Where do I actually buy them?

Any ceramic supply shop that carries Mayco. Mayco sells through distributors rather than direct, so start on their stoneware engobe page and work out who stocks them near you or online. They come in wide mouth pints.

Does it cost extra to fire?

Nothing extra for the engobe itself. The piece fires at the normal glaze firing rate, five cents per cubic inch with a four dollar and eighty cent minimum. Bisque firings are still free.

What if I am still not sure about something?

Ask any instructor on the floor, or text the studio at 385-241-5528. Bring the jar with you if you have already bought it, so we can read the label together.

That is the whole thing

Go get a jar

Buy the color you want. Bring it in. Keep it on your shelf with your name on it. Two thin coats beat one thick one, test it on a tile before you commit a good piece to it, and put it on a kiln cookie every time.

That is all of it. The rest is just you finding out what a black pot does to a glaze you thought you knew.

That is all of it. There is a longer version of this page if you want it, with the four way comparison against underglaze and slip, the stage by stage breakdown, the eight techniques and every question we get asked. Flip the switch back at the top.

Browse the seven approved colors See which underglazes your level opens

How we teach brush glazing Find a glaze on the wall The eight clay bodies we stock Get certified for dipping glazes Studio FAQs Everything at The Clay Hole

Still stuck? Ask any instructor on the floor, or text the studio at 385-241-5528.

Every piece of pottery pictured on this page is a simulation of what you can expect from engobes rather than a photograph of a finished studio order. Real results move with the clay body, how thick the coats went on, which glaze went over the top and where the piece landed in the kiln. Fire a test tile before you commit to anything you care about.

Mon	Class 10:30 AM to 2 PM · Class 6:30 to 10 PM
Tue to Thu	Class 6:30 to 10 PM
Fri	Open studio 6:30 to 10 PM
Sat to Sun	Open studio 10 AM to 1:30 PM

Mon	Class 10:30 AM to 2 PM · Class 6:30 to 10 PM
Tue to Thu	Class 6:30 to 10 PM
Fri	Open studio 6:30 to 10 PM
Sat to Sun	Open studio 10 AM to 1:30 PM

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Before You Join

Your Membership

Your Pottery

The Room

Your Classes

Your Pottery

Studio Etiquette

Being a Member

Your Account

Your Level

Sharing and Gifting

Pausing

While you are paused

If a pause is not quite it

Canceling

Start with what changed

If it is not really about the pottery

If it is the money

The eight clays

Choosing a Clay

Colored Clay

Keeping It Workable

Friend Passes

Raku, Explained

Learn the Firing

For Workshop Hosts

Getting Here

When to Come

Kilns & Pick-Up

Talk to Us

Start Here

Make It

Finish It

Go Further

Find Yours

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Special Cases

Make Your Own

Try Something Odd

When It Goes Wrong

His Story

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See It for Yourself

Before You Decide

More Ways In

Unlimited Class Pass

Before you add it