Cactus
1438
Cactus is a glossy brush-on glaze from Spectrum's Floating line, fired cone 4 to cone 6.
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The quick version of Cactus
What this glaze does
An olive yellow-green that breaks to a paler green on the high points. Quieter than the name suggests.
Clays that suit Cactus
Spectrum name the clay body as one of the three things that decide the fired look, alongside thickness and cone. A darker body pulls the pale ones down.
Applying this glaze to your work
Two to three coats for full coverage on cone 04 bisque. Spectrum are specific about that number, and a thin coat on a floating glaze loses the float entirely.
Two to three coats for full coverage on cone 04 bisque. Spectrum are specific about that number, and a thin coat on a floating glaze loses the float entirely.
Layering
Spectrum recommend overlapping their glazes for new results, and say the fired look depends on firing temperature, glaze thickness and the clay body underneath.
These already layer themselves, which is the point of the series. Spectrum still recommend overlapping their glazes for new results, and thickness and clay body both move what you get.
From The Clay Hole University
More info about Cactus 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 Cactus
Spectrum rate these for cone 4 to 6 and fire their own samples at cone 5. 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 Cactus
Why does mine look different from the tile?
Thickness and clay body. Spectrum name both as the things that move the result, along with the cone.
Why is the color uneven?
These are reactive by design. Two to three coats gives full coverage; the variation is the glaze doing its job.
Food and function
Spectrum say most of their cone 4 to 6 stoneware glazes are lead free and dinnerware safe. Some of the reactive ones carry an ACMI cautionary label because of copper or vanadium in the wet glaze, which makes them unsuitable for young children or anyone pregnant to handle. Wet only. Fired and cooled, that is not the concern.
Spectrum say most of their cone 4 to 6 stoneware glazes are lead free and dinnerware safe. Some of the reactive ones carry an ACMI cautionary label because of copper or vanadium in the wet glaze, which makes them unsuitable for young children or anyone pregnant to handle. Wet only. Fired and cooled, that is not the concern.
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 Spectrum Floating pot.
- 2Find the tile This one is tile #8. 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 Spectrum Floating Family
Spectrum's 1430 series, and we carry the whole thing. All twenty four colors, 1431 through 1454.
Floating is not a technical term. Spectrum named the series for what it looks like: one color appearing to sit above another without you layering two glazes to get there.
Every one of these is doing two things at once. A ground color and a second color drifting over it, out of a single jar. Spectrum fire their own samples at cone 5 and say the cone moves the result. Our glaze kilns run cone 5½, so what you see on these tiles is the color at our cone rather than theirs.
More ways to pick a glaze
Membership levels that may use this glaze: 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.