Velvet Underglaze
57 underglazes / Amaco
Underglaze is not glaze. It is not paint, and it is not a base coat. It is the stuff you draw with.
Amaco's Velvet line is the one most studios settle on, because it goes on silky, holds a line without bleeding, and keeps its color from low fire all the way up.
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Velvet Underglaze by the numbers
Friendly studio tip for this underglaze family
Underglaze is for drawing, not for coloring.
If you are illustrating, doing sgraffito, carving, lettering, or washing color into texture, you are exactly right. If you are about to solidly cover a pot, stop and ask a main instructor first, the ones in the pink tees. These are the most expensive bottles in the building.
And remember the order: raw clay, then bisque, then glaze. Underglaze goes on before the first firing here, not after.
How the Velvet Underglaze line works
Fifty seven colors on our shelf, all Black Level, and worth understanding before you reach for one.
These bottles are the most expensive thing per ounce in the building. That is the whole reason there are rules: the only way we can keep this many colors on an open shelf is if nobody empties one coloring in a planter.
Coats
Two or three thin coats beat one thick one, every time. A thick coat is where you get crawling and lifted edges.
Share brushes with the brush-on glazes if you want. Just wash them properly when you are done.
Layering
Underglaze goes under a clear glaze most of the time, and that is what the right half of every test tile on this page is showing you.
Left bare it stays matte and chalky. Under clear it deepens and gains a little gloss. Neither is wrong, and both are on the tile so you can choose.
Food and safety
Amaco rates the Velvet line lead free. Under a food safe clear glaze, an underglazed pot is as safe as the glaze over it.
Bare underglaze is not a food surface. If a piece is going to hold food or drink, put a clear over the decorated area.
Clays that suit Velvet Underglaze
Underglaze reads truest on a light body, because it is a colored slip and the clay under it shows through in the thin places.
Common questions about Velvet Underglaze
What is underglaze for at The Clay Hole?
Detail work. Sgraffito, carving, illustration, line work, lettering and washes into texture. If you are drawing, you are fine. Solid coverage needs a main instructor's approval first.
When do I apply underglaze?
On raw clay, leather hard or bone dry, before the piece is fired. Not on bisque.
Do I have to fire underglaze before glazing it?
Yes. Every piece of underglaze goes through a bisque before any glaze touches it, no exceptions. Unfired underglaze lifts off on the brush and contaminates shared glaze and dipping buckets. Bisque is free, so this costs you time and nothing else.
Which membership level covers Velvet Underglaze?
Black Level, because these are the most expensive bottles per ounce in the building. Members at any level are welcome to buy their own and bring them in.
How many coats of underglaze?
Two or three thin ones. A single thick coat is where crawling and lifted edges come from.
What do the two halves of the test tile show?
The left half is the underglaze fired with no clear over it. The right half is the same color under a clear glaze. That difference is usually bigger than people expect.
From The Clay Hole University
More info about Velvet Underglaze below, but first... Everything we teach about glazing, written down and taught properly. These are the glaze lessons, and they are a small corner of a library that runs from centering your first pot to selling your work.
UnderglazeHow to Use Underglaze: Techniques, Rules and Firing
UnderglazeMishima: How to Inlay Slip and Underglaze into Carved Lines
UnderglazeWipe-Away Texture: Underglaze and Oxide Washes on Bisque
GuideGlaze Brushing Techniques, Coat by Coat
GuideGlazing Big and Intricate Pottery Faster
GuideGetting the Most Out of the Mega Glaze Tool
GuideMaking, Logging and Dialing in Test Tiles
GuideGlaze Problems, Causes and Fixes
GuideGlazing on the Wheel for Even Coats and Clean Bands
GuideOxide and Carbonate Washes
GuideWhen to Use Celadon Glazes
GuideHow to Use Dipping Glazes
The Velvet Underglaze test tile pot
This family does not have a test tile pot. The colors and results come out close enough to what the book shows that a pot would not tell you much more, so work from the printed Glaze Bible and the tile above.
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.


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