Matte

20 glazes / Mayco

Twenty matte glazes from Mayco's Stoneware line. Solid shades at one end and glazes that move and break at the other.

This is the shelf to raid when a gloss would fight the form. A matte surface stays quiet and lets a good pot be the thing you notice.

Cone 5/10Bisque to Cone 046 studio favorites

Matte by the numbers

20glazes on our shelves
6at Yellow Level
14at Purple Level
17good on texture
6studio favorites

Every Matte glaze we have in house

Hover any tile to see a pot fired in it, or tap once on a phone.

Jump straight to one

20 to choose from

Order
Alabaster glaze test tileA pot fired in Alabaster
Alabaster

MaycoMatte

🟨 Yellow Level

Tile #12

A soft off-white matte with warmth in it rather than a cold white. On our tile the raised lettering barely separates from the field, which makes it a quiet background.

Amber Quartz glaze test tileA pot fired in Amber Quartz
Amber Quartz

MaycoMatte

🟨 Yellow Level

Tile #18

Good on texture

A golden tan matte with a sandy, granular look. Breaks lighter and drier over the raised lettering.

Azurite glaze test tileA pot fired in Azurite
Azurite

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #14

Good on texture

A deep navy matte, mottled rather than flat, breaking to a lighter blue across the relief.

Black Matte glaze test tileA pot fired in Black Matte
Black Matte

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #4

Good on texture

A flat black with a dry surface and very little sheen. Even across the tile with almost no break.

Black Walnut glaze test tileA pot fired in Black Walnut
Black Walnut

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #2

A very dark brown matte that breaks warmer and redder on the raised edges. Reads almost black in the field.

Himalayan Salt glaze test tileA pot fired in Himalayan Salt
Himalayan Salt

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #9

A pale cream matte with faint pink and gray flecks through it. One of the softest colors in the line.

Leather glaze test tileA pot fired in Leather
Leather

MaycoMatte

🟨 Yellow Level

Tile #6

Good on texture

A dark warm gray-brown matte. On our tile the relief lifts to a lighter taupe, which is where the leather comparison comes from.

Lemon Meringue glaze test tileA pot fired in Lemon Meringue
Lemon Meringue

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #10

Good on texture

A soft yellow matte with mottling and white variegation through it. Mayco built three of this line, Weathered Blue, Storm Gray and Lemon Meringue, to change with coat count: one coat shows more color, extra coats increase the mottling and white variegation.

Lilac Matte glaze test tileA pot fired in Lilac Matte
Lilac Matte

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #13

Good on texture

A pale lavender matte, opaque and flat, with very little break over the relief.

Macadamia glaze test tileA pot fired in Macadamia
Macadamia

MaycoMatte

🟨 Yellow Level

Tile #5

Good on texture

A pale wheat cream matte, warmer than Alabaster and a shade deeper.

Pink Matte glaze test tileA pot fired in Pink Matte
Pink Matte

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #15

Good on texture Studio favorite

A dusty salmon pink matte, opaque and even. Muted rather than sweet.

Rainforest glaze test tileA pot fired in Rainforest
Rainforest

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #20

Good on texture

A very dark green matte that breaks to a lighter olive over the raised lettering. Nearly black in the flat field.

Riptide glaze test tileA pot fired in Riptide
Riptide

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #17

Good on texture

A teal green matte with heavy mottling and lighter variegation across the surface. Busier than Wintergreen or Satina Patina beside it.

Rusted Iron glaze test tileA pot fired in Rusted Iron
Rusted Iron

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #7

Good on texture Studio favorite

A dark red-brown with a metallic cast and a mottled, corroded look. Sits at the glossier end of a matte line.

Satina Patina glaze test tileA pot fired in Satina Patina
Satina Patina

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #16

Good on texture Studio favorite

A soft blue-green matte with a patina-like mottle through it. Mayco call it Satin Patina.

Storm Gray glaze test tileA pot fired in Storm Gray
Storm Gray

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #11

Good on texture Studio favorite

A light gray matte with cloudy mottling and white variegation. Mayco built three of this line, Weathered Blue, Storm Gray and Lemon Meringue, to change with coat count: one coat shows more color, extra coats increase the mottling and white variegation.

Weathered Blue glaze test tileA pot fired in Weathered Blue
Weathered Blue

MaycoMatte

🟨 Yellow Level

Tile #8

Good on texture Studio favorite

A soft dusty blue matte with mottling and white variegation across it. Mayco built three of this line, Weathered Blue, Storm Gray and Lemon Meringue, to change with coat count: one coat shows more color, extra coats increase the mottling and white variegation.

White Matte glaze test tileA pot fired in White Matte
White Matte

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #3

Good on texture

A clean flat white matte. Opaque and even, and a quieter background than Alabaster or Macadamia, which both carry warmth.

Wintergreen glaze test tileA pot fired in Wintergreen
Wintergreen

MaycoMatte

🟨 Yellow Level

Tile #19

Good on texture

A pale sage green matte, quiet and even, with only a slight break over the relief.

Wrought Iron glaze test tileA pot fired in Wrought Iron
Wrought Iron

MaycoMatte

🟪 Purple Level

Tile #1

Good on texture Studio favorite

A near-black brown matte that breaks to a warm brown on the raised edges. Darker than Black Walnut, and the closest this line gets to black without being Black Matte.

Pots decorated with Mayco Matte glazes at The Clay Hole pottery studio

How the Matte line works

Application thickness is the key to making mattes work. Mayco say it plainly and our tiles agree: a thin coat on a matte reads as a mistake, where a thin coat on a reactive gloss reads as variation.

Many of these break over texture and rims, revealing a second color underneath. That is why a carved pot in Rainforest or Wrought Iron looks like more work than it was.

Coats

Two to three even coats on cone 04 bisque. Even is the word that matters. Mayco intend these for cone 5 to 6 and say they stay stable at cone 10.

Layering

Built to layer with the rest of the Mayco Stoneware line. Many break over texture and reveal a secondary color, so a carved or stamped surface gets more out of these than a smooth one.

Food and safety

Mayco list their Stoneware glazes as dinnerware safe when used as directed, except where they mark otherwise. Anyone selling functional ware should test their own finished work.

Mayco page for the line

Clays that suit Matte

Clay body changes the result more than people expect on this line. A darker body pulls the light mattes down, and a speckled body reads through the paler colors.

Blocks of clay in the studio at The Clay Hole The complete guide to clay bodies What each body is made of and how it behaves under a glaze. The clay bodies we stock at The Clay Hole The clays we carry Every body on our shelf, with bag sizes and prices.

From The Clay Hole University

More info about Matte 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.

Glaze Brushing Techniques, Coat by Coat GuideGlaze Brushing Techniques, Coat by Coat Glazing Big and Intricate Pottery Faster GuideGlazing Big and Intricate Pottery Faster Getting the Most Out of the Mega Glaze Tool GuideGetting the Most Out of the Mega Glaze Tool Making, Logging and Dialing in Test Tiles GuideMaking, Logging and Dialing in Test Tiles Glaze Problems, Causes and Fixes GuideGlaze Problems, Causes and Fixes Glazing on the Wheel for Even Coats and Clean Bands GuideGlazing on the Wheel for Even Coats and Clean Bands Bubble Glaze with Dish Soap GuideBubble Glaze with Dish Soap Mixing Your Own Glazes: What It Actually Involves GuideMixing Your Own Glazes: What It Actually Involves Making a Glaze Catcher GuideMaking a Glaze Catcher Oxide and Carbonate Washes GuideOxide and Carbonate Washes When to Use Celadon Glazes GuideWhen to Use Celadon Glazes How to Use Dipping Glazes GuideHow to Use Dipping Glazes How to Use Underglaze: Techniques, Rules and Firing UnderglazeHow to Use Underglaze: Techniques, Rules and Firing Mishima: How to Inlay Slip and Underglaze into Carved Lines UnderglazeMishima: How to Inlay Slip and Underglaze into Carved Lines Wipe-Away Texture: Underglaze and Oxide Washes on Bisque UnderglazeWipe-Away Texture: Underglaze and Oxide Washes on Bisque
Browse all 170+ lessons and guides
Browse every glaze and underglaze we carryAll Mayco glazesFind one on our shelves
Test tile pots lined up on the glaze shelves at The Clay Hole

The Matte test tile pot

Every glaze family on our shelves has its own test tile pot, and it is the fastest way to decide what to put on a piece. It is a fired pot wearing the whole family, one numbered tile per glaze, on a surface built to show you what that glaze actually does rather than just what color it is.

Look for Mayco Matte written on the rim. Each glaze on this page carries its tile number, and the numbers run around the pot.

One trick worth knowing

Some glazes tell you loudly that they run. Others hide it. Look at how the brushed lines fired: crisp edges mean a stable glaze, and edges that went soft and fluid mean it moved, and it will move on your pot too.

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.

Download the Glaze Bible PDF