Amethyst
V-381
Amethyst is a matte underglaze from Amaco's Velvet Underglaze line, fired cone 05 to cone 10.
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The quick version of Amethyst
What this underglaze does
Amethyst fired on our test tile two ways. The left half is the underglaze on its own, matte and chalky the way bare underglaze reads. The right half is the same color under a clear glaze, which deepens it and adds a little gloss.
Clays that suit Amethyst
Underglaze reads truest on a light body, because it is a colored slip and the clay under it shows through in the thin places.
Applying this underglaze to your work
Two or three thin coats, not one thick one. At The Clay Hole underglaze goes on leather hard or bone dry clay, never on bisque, and the piece is bisque fired before any glaze touches it.
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.
From The Clay Hole University
More info about Amethyst 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
RakuRaku Firing: Techniques, Tips and How It Works
Firing Amethyst
Applied to raw clay and bisque fired to cone 04 before any glaze goes on. Amaco rates the Velvet line from cone 05 all the way to cone 10, so it holds its color through our cone 5 and a half glaze firing.
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 Amethyst
Why did my underglaze lift onto the brush?
It was not bisque fired first. Every piece of underglaze goes through a bisque before any glaze touches it.
Why does the color look chalky?
That is bare underglaze. The right half of the test tile shows the same color under a clear glaze.
Why did my line bleed?
Usually a coat that went on too thick, or a clear brushed over it too aggressively.
Food and function
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.
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.
Our test tile pots
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 the Amaco Velvet Underglaze Family
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.
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.
More ways to pick a underglaze
Membership levels that may use this underglaze: 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.