Various Families
67 glazes / Mayco
Sixty seven Mayco stoneware glazes that sit together on one shelf rather than in one Mayco line. Classics, crystals, mattes, the two clears and the texture glazes are all in here.
Various is our grouping, not Mayco's. Every page here names the Mayco line that glaze actually belongs to, and carries its real Mayco code so you can find it in its book.
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Various Families by the numbers
How the Various Families line works
A flat opaque gloss sits on this shelf next to a glaze that cracks on purpose and a glaze that grows crystals. Nothing else in the Bible mixes that much behavior into one row.
Mayco intends the stoneware range for cone 5 to 6 and says it stays stable at cone 10. Our glaze kilns run cone 5½, so every tile here is ours at our cone.
Coats
Two to three even coats on cone 04 bisque unless a glaze's own page says otherwise. Let each coat dry before the next.
The texture glazes are the exception. Magma and Mudcrack build their surface from thickness, so thin coats give you nothing.
Layering
Mayco designs this range to layer, and many of these break over texture to reveal a second color underneath.
The crystal and float glazes are their own effect. Covering one defeats the point of buying it.
Food and safety
Mayco lists its stoneware glazes as dinnerware safe when used as directed, except where it marks otherwise.
The texture glazes are the ones to watch. Mayco recommends Mudcrack and Magma for decorative surfaces only, because of the surface they create.
Clays that suit Various Families
Clay body moves these more than most lines. A darker body pulls the pale glazes down and a speckled body reads straight through the translucent ones.
Common questions about Various Families
Why is this one family instead of several?
These are grouped by our shelf rather than by Mayco's line names. Every glaze page here lists its real Mayco code so you can look it up in its catalog.
How many coats?
Two to three even coats, except the texture glazes, which need thickness to work at all.
Which of these run?
The floats and the crystals move most. Check the individual page and leave clearance at the foot.
Which are not dinnerware safe?
Mayco recommends Mudcrack and the Magma texture glazes for decorative work only.
What cone do you fire these to?
Our glaze kilns run cone 5½, inside Mayco's intended cone 5 to 6 range.
Is there a test tile pot?
Yes, this shelf has its own numbered pot, and the tile numbers on these pages match it.
From The Clay Hole University
More info about Various Families 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.
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
GuideBubble Glaze with Dish Soap
GuideMixing Your Own Glazes: What It Actually Involves
GuideMaking a Glaze Catcher
GuideOxide and Carbonate Washes
GuideWhen to Use Celadon Glazes
GuideHow to Use Dipping Glazes
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
The Various Families 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 Various Families written on the rim. Each glaze on this page carries its tile number, and the numbers run around the pot.
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.


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