Amber Quartz
SW-173
Amber Quartz is a matte brush-on glaze from Mayco's Matte line, fired cone 5 to cone 10.
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The quick version of Amber Quartz
What this glaze does
A golden tan matte with a sandy, granular look. Breaks lighter and drier over the raised lettering.
Clays that suit Amber Quartz
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.
Applying this glaze to your work
Application thickness is the whole game with a matte. Two to three even coats on cone 04 bisque. Thin spots on a matte read as thin spots, not as an effect.
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
Mayco Stoneware glazes are built to layer. Many break over texture and reveal a second color underneath, which is where this line earns its keep.
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.
From The Clay Hole University
More info about Amber Quartz 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
Firing Amber Quartz
Mayco intend the Stoneware line for cone 5 to 6 and say it stays stable and pleasing at cone 10. Our glaze kilns run cone 5½, so the tile here is the color at our cone.
None of this is yours to manage. We handle everything on the kiln side, and every glaze on our shelves can be fired safely in our studio.
Common problems with Amber Quartz
Why is my surface uneven?
Coat thickness. Mattes show it more than a gloss does. Two to three even coats.
Why did the color break lighter on the edges?
That is the line working as intended. Mayco design many of these to break over texture and rims.
Food and function
Mayco list their Stoneware glazes as dinnerware safe when used as directed, except where they mark otherwise. Test your own finished work if you sell functional ware.
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.
Our test tile pots
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.
- 1Find the pot The brand and family name are written on the rim. This glaze lives on the Mayco Matte pot.
- 2Find the tile This one is tile #18. The numbers match the ones in the Glaze Bible.
- 3Read it properly Look at what the glaze does across all four textures, not just what color it is.
What to look at on the tile
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 the Mayco Matte Family
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.
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.
More ways to pick a glaze
Membership levels that may use this glaze: Yellow, Purple & Black
Not sure whether this glaze suits what you are making, or how it works with our system here? Ask an instructor. That is what we are here for, and a two minute conversation at the shelf beats a fired pot you did not want.
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.