Crackerjack Brown

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🟪 Purple Level

Crackerjack Brown is a glossy brush-on glaze from Mayco's Stroke & Coat line, fired cone 06 to cone 6.

GlossyOpaqueCone 06/6
Available at The Clay HoleYes
Test tile
Fired pot
Stroke & Coat family
Find it on the glazes shelves Shelf 5, Row 3
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The quick version of Crackerjack Brown

TypeBrush-on glaze
FinishGlossy
OpacityOpaque
Shows textureNot especially
Glaze fire toCone 06/6
Bisque toCone 04

What this glaze does

A bright caramel brown with real orange in it. Warmer than Camel Back or Java Bean, and the relief lifts lighter and more amber.

Clays that suit Crackerjack Brown

Works on any of our bodies. On a speckled body the specks read through, which some colors benefit from and some fight.

Mayco notes that some colors go more transparent at mid-range, so a light color over a dark body will not cover the way the tile suggests.

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.

Applying this glaze to your work

One coat reads translucent and lets the clay show. Two to three coats gives solid color. Let each coat dry before the next, and remember it fires glossy without any clear over the top.

Across the Stroke & Coat line

Apply to cone 04 bisque, or straight onto greenware or wet clay. Let each coat dry before the next.

One coat reads translucent and shows the clay. Two to three coats gives flat opaque color. Mayco recommends two to three for full coverage.

It fires glossy on its own. You do not need clear over it.

Layering

Does not move or blend into a neighboring color, so hard edges and lettering stay where you put them. Intermixable with the rest of the line if you want to mix your own shade.

Before you commit a pot

Stroke & Coat colors do not move or blend into each other. You can butt two colors together or layer them without losing the edge, which is the whole reason the line exists.

The colors are intermixable, so you can mix your own shades from what is on the shelf.

Two of ours, Grapel and Orkid, are made with chrome-tin pigments. Mayco warns those can haze under a zinc-bearing clear glaze.

From The Clay Hole University

More info about Crackerjack Brown 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

Firing Crackerjack Brown

Mayco rates Stroke & Coat from cone 06 to cone 6, with most colors holding to cone 10. Our glaze kilns run cone 5½, so the tile on this page shows what the color does at our cone.

If you are a member here

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 Crackerjack Brown

Why is mine patchy or see-through?

Coats. One coat is meant to be translucent. Two to three is where the color goes solid.

Do I need clear glaze over it?

No. It fires glossy on its own.

Food and function

Mayco lists Stroke & Coat as food safe and dinnerware safe when used as directed. If you are selling functional ware, test your own finished work on your own clay.

Across the Stroke & Coat line

Mayco lists Stroke & Coat as food safe and dinnerware safe when used as directed.

As with anything on our shelf, if you are selling functional ware, test your own finished work on your own clay.

Test tile pots lined up on the glaze shelves at The Clay Hole

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 Mayco Stroke & Coat Family

Sixty colors, and the line most members reach for first. Mayco calls Stroke & Coat its Wonderglaze and it earns the name: it goes on wet clay, greenware or bisque, and it fires to a gloss with no clear glaze over the top.

It is heavily pigmented and it does not move. Two colors brushed up against each other stay where you put them, which is why it is the line for drawing, lettering and hard edges.

One coat is translucent. Two to three coats is opaque. That single fact decides most of what a Stroke & Coat pot looks like. Mayco rates the line from cone 06 all the way to cone 6, with most colors holding to cone 10. Our glaze kilns run cone 5½, near the top of that window, so every tile on this page shows the color at our cone rather than at the cone 06 chip in Mayco's book.

All Stroke & Coat glazesAll Mayco glazes
Stroke & Coat family

More ways to pick a glaze

The Mega Glaze Tool Every glaze we carry, filtered by level, color, sheen and more. The Glaze Finder Type a name and see exactly where it sits on our wall. Clay Hole University Glazing lessons, from brushing to dipping to layering. Download the PDF The whole printed Bible, in one file.

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.

How membership levels work Back to the Glaze Bible
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 PDF