Desert Sage Shino

MBG061

⬛ Black Level

Desert Sage Shino is a satin brush-on glaze from Coyote's Shinos line, fired cone 5 to cone 6.

SatinOpaqueTexture-friendlyCone 5/6
Available at The Clay HoleYes
Test tile
Fired pot
Shinos family
Find it on the glazes shelves Shelf 2, Row 7Tile #16 on the Shinos pot
Show me where

The quick version of Desert Sage Shino

TypeBrush-on glaze
FinishSatin
OpacityOpaque
Shows textureYes, good on carving
Glaze fire toCone 5/6
Bisque toCone 04

What this glaze does

Varying from a sagebrush green to a dark reddish brown. Coyote call it one of the most popular glazes in the Shino line, and the natural green and brown tones sit well on most work.

Clays that suit Desert Sage Shino

A shino breaks where it thins, so the surface of the pot matters more here than the color of the clay.

On textureThis is what the line is for. Carving, throwing rings, impressed pattern and a crisp rim all pull the brown out. A smooth pot gives you the flat color and little else.
Any body worksThese are opaque, so everything from #16 Porcelain to Berlin Gray will carry them.
Buff bodies52 Buff and Speckled Buff sit naturally with the earth tones running through this line.
Worth knowingCoyote say crystals can form in the liquid glaze if it is stored below 65F, which explains an odd looking jar that has been somewhere cold.
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

Coyote call the Shinos user friendly, and they are: easy to apply and not runny.

Thickness is the control. The color is sensitive to it, breaking brown where the glaze runs thin, which is why these look best over texture and along a rim.

Across the Shinos line

Coyote fire these between witness cone 5 and witness cone 6, which is where our kilns run.

Thickness is the whole control. Thin breaks brown, thick holds the color. On a textured pot that happens by itself, which is why Coyote say the Shinos are at their best over texture.

Layering

Coyote built this line to go over things. The Shinos work over texture and over other glazes, and Coyote's own Gloss series is designed partly as a base for them.

Before you commit a pot

Coyote designed this line to go over things, including their own glazes. Their Gloss series doubles as a base for the Shinos, and several of the sixteen have a specific partner Coyote name themselves.

Butterscotch produces a furred pattern over a Gloss glaze. Sunrise is recommended over black. Cedar is recommended with black, and Blue is recommended against a bright color like Buttercup.

From The Clay Hole University

More info about Desert Sage Shino 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 Desert Sage Shino

Coyote fire these between witness cone 5 and witness cone 6, which is where our glaze kilns run.

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 Desert Sage Shino

Why is mine one flat color?

Nothing for it to break over. A shino needs texture, carving or a rim to show what it does.

Why is the brown so strong?

The coat went thin there. Breaking brown where thin is the effect, not a fault.

Why did my jar look crystallised?

Coyote say crystals can form in the liquid glaze if it is stored below 65F.

Food and function

Coyote have their recipes reviewed by an independent toxicologist and none of them use lead. They ask that you test your own finished ware for food safety, since the clay body and firing both affect the result.

Across the Shinos line

Coyote have their recipes reviewed by an independent toxicologist and none of them use lead.

They ask that you test your own finished ware for food safety, because the clay body and the firing both change the result.

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

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.

  1. 1Find the pot The brand and family name are written on the rim. This glaze lives on the Coyote Shinos pot.
  2. 2Find the tile This one is tile #16. The numbers match the ones in the Glaze Bible.
  3. 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

Broad vertical textureA broad open surface. Shows the color at full strength, and whether the glaze travels down it.
Shallow textureA shallow swirl stamp. Shows whether light carving still reads once the glaze is on, or fills in and vanishes.
Deep textureCut lines. A deeply rough texture stripe. Shows where the glaze pools, how it breaks, and how dark it goes in the recesses.
Wipe-away textureGlaze wiped back to bare clay. Shows what the edge does where the coat runs thin. Find this wiped away on the tile's number.
One trick worth knowing

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 Coyote Shinos Family

A shino breaks brown where it thins. That is the whole idea, and it means the glaze draws every carved line, every throwing ring and every edge on the pot.

Coyote have been selling the original of these since 2002, and they now run to sixteen colors on our shelf, all doing the same trick in different places on the color wheel.

Sixteen glazes, fired between witness cone 5 and witness cone 6. Coyote make these in Albuquerque to get gas-firing depth out of an electric kiln, and they are unusually easy to live with for a glaze that moves this much: easy to apply, and not runny. What changes the result is thickness, not luck.

All Shinos glazesAll Coyote glazes
Shinos 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 Glaze Bible PDF The whole printed Bible, in one file.

Membership levels that may use this glaze: 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 Glaze Bible PDF