Glazes by Membership Level
Every glaze we stock, sorted by the level that opens it. 21 at Green, 90 at Yellow, 449 at Purple, 624 at Black.
- Glazes
- 694
- Makers
- 9
- Studio favorites
- 95
- Good on texture
- 240
Every glaze in the Bible carries a membership level, and that level is the only thing standing between you and using it. It is not a quality ranking. A Green Level gloss can outperform a Black Level reactive on the right pot, and some of the most useful glazes we own are on the lowest shelf.
What the level actually reflects is cost and availability. A jar of specialty reactive glaze can run four or five times the price of a standard gloss, some lines come from a single distributor and arrive when they arrive, and a few we buy in quantities that would be unreasonable to hand out to everyone.
The levels stack. Each one opens everything below it as well, which is why the count grows so sharply as you move up rather than trading one shelf for another.
That is the real argument for moving up, and it is worth being blunt about it. At Green you have 21 glazes. At Yellow you have 90. At Purple you have 449. At Black you have 624. The jump from Yellow to Purple is the single biggest change anyone makes in this studio.
By what your level includes
Every glaze here is a studio favorite. The groups run from the level that includes the most through to the ones you order yourself.
Green Level
21
21 glazes, all of them Coyote, and every one a workhorse. Gloss colors, four celadons, the Copper and Iron set and a handful of mottled and satin surfaces.
This shelf is smaller than the others and that is worth planning around rather than fighting. The way to get a great pot out of 21 glazes is layering: a solid gloss underneath and a reactive or mottled one over part of it, with a clean line where you stopped. Coyote build their Gloss range specifically to sit under their reactive lines, so the tools for this are already on your shelf.
Green Level members bring their own brushes and tools, so it is worth buying well once. A soft wide hake or goat-hair brush for laying even coats, a small round for detail, a fine liner with a long belly that holds enough load to finish a stroke, a rubber rib, and a clean sponge you keep only for glazing. Stiff cheap brushes leave streaks that fire in permanently, and that is the single most common reason a Green Level pot disappoints its maker.
Yellow Level
69
69 more, which takes you to 90 in total and more than quadruples what Green opens.
The character of the jump is variety rather than volume. Yellow adds the bulk of the Coyote celadons, more satins, the Spectrum Texture range and the first of the Texas Two-Step glazes, which means this is the level where reactive surfaces and glaze combinations really start.
If you have been layering two glosses to get something interesting, this is the level where you stop having to work that hard.
Purple Level
359
359 more, and 449 in total. This is the biggest single jump in the studio and the one most members should think hardest about.
Purple is where the Mayco ranges arrive in bulk, where the Speedball underglazes open up, and where most of the everyday color on the shelves lives. It is also where you stop planning a pot around what you are allowed to use.
Because it is so large, it is grouped by maker below. Six makers, each with its own personality, and the fastest way to understand the shelf is to look at one maker at a time rather than at 359 jars.
Black Level
175
175 more, and 624 in total. Everything the studio stocks on open shelves.
This is where the Amaco Velvet underglazes, the Amaco celadons, the Coyote shinos and the Speedball Mid-Fire range sit. These are the expensive jars and the temperamental ones, the glazes that reward a test tile and punish a guess.
If you already know what you want a surface to do and the middle shelves will not do it, this is the level that will.
Owner Only
9
34 glazes that live outside the shelf system entirely. You order the jar, it is yours, and we store it here.
These are the ones we cannot reasonably stock for everyone: single-source specialty glazes, the fluxes, the low-fire crystal glazes we keep for raku firings. Any member at any level can use this route.
It is also the answer when you have seen a glaze somewhere else and want it. Ask, and if it fires at our cone we can usually get it.
Raku workshops
5454 glazes that never touch the regular kilns. These come out at raku workshops, where the firing is fast, low and finished in the sixty seconds after the pot leaves the kiln.
Raku is decorative rather than functional, and it is the one process in the studio where you watch the result happen in front of you.

The jump nobody regrets
If you take one thing from this page, make it this. The move from Yellow to Purple takes you from 90 glazes to 449, and it is not a difference of degree. At 90 you are choosing from what is available; at 449 you are choosing what you actually want.
Members who upgrade almost never talk about the number. They talk about no longer planning a piece backwards from the shelf, and about finally making the thing they had in their head when they sat down at the wheel.

Why a glaze costs what it costs
The price of a jar has very little to do with how good the glaze is and a lot to do with what is in it. Reactive and specialty glazes carry expensive colorants, often cobalt, and rare earth compounds that cost many times what an iron or copper oxide does.
Availability matters just as much. Some lines come through a single distributor, some are made in small batches, and a few of our favorites have been on back order for months at a time. A level is our way of sharing that cost fairly rather than pricing membership for the most expensive shelf and charging everyone for it.

Getting more out of a small shelf
Every level below the top can be stretched a long way with two habits. The first is layering: a solid base glaze under a reactive one, stopped deliberately so there is a clean edge between them. The second is texture: a breaking glaze over a carved, thrown or stamped surface reads as two colors instead of one.
Combine both and a shelf of 21 glazes produces more distinct results than a shelf of 200 used flat. That is not a consolation prize, it is how experienced potters work at every level.

Where to look next
Level is only one way to cut the Bible. If you know what you want a surface to do rather than what you are allowed to use, the other collections will get you there faster.
Good for Texture gathers everything that breaks over carving. Studio Favorites is the shelf we would defend. All the Celadons is where the quiet, work-revealing glazes live.
Common questions
Do the levels stack?
Yes. Each level opens everything below it, which is why the totals climb so sharply.
Is a higher level a better glaze?
No. Level reflects what a jar costs us and how easily we can get it, not how good it is. Some of the most useful glazes we own are on the Green shelf.
Which jump makes the biggest difference?
Yellow to Purple, by a distance. It takes you from 90 glazes to 449.
What if I only want one glaze from a higher level?
Order it yourself. Any member can, at any level, and we store it here.
Do Green Level members need their own tools?
Yes, brushes and hand tools. Buy a good soft wide brush and a fine liner before you buy anything else.
Where do raku glazes sit?
Outside the levels. They come out at raku workshops rather than off the shelves.
Can I test a glaze from a level I am not on?
Ask. We would rather you found out on a test tile than upgraded on a guess.
The honest summary: every level makes good pots, and every level up removes a decision you would rather not be making.
Also worth a look
About these images and what your pot will actually look like
We have done our best to represent every glaze here accurately, and you should still expect your pot to look different from what is on this screen.
Our glaze tile images are digitally created. They are built to show the character of a glaze, not to be a color match.
A screen is not a printout, a printout is not a test tile, and a test tile is not a finished pot. Each step in that chain shifts what a glaze looks like, sometimes a lot.
On top of that, the pottery itself changes the result: the clay body, how thick the glaze went on, whether it was brushed, dipped or sprayed, what was layered under or over it, where the piece sat in the kiln, how hot that spot ran, how fast it cooled, what was fired next to it, and how much texture the surface had. Two pots glazed from the same jar on the same day can come out different.
Treat every image here as a starting point, and treat a test tile fired on your own clay as the real answer.











































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































