Licorice

MBG140

Step one: undercoat
🟪 Purple Level

Licorice is a glossy brush-on glaze from Coyote's Texas Two-Step line, fired cone 5 to cone 6.

GlossyOpaqueCone 5/6
Available at The Clay HoleYes
Test tile
All six overcoats
Fired w/o the overcoat
Texas Two-Step family
Find it on the glazes shelves Shelf 2, Row 4Tile #1 to 6 on the Texas Two-Step pot
Show me where

Friendly studio tip for this glaze

If you want the spots to be the whole point, start here. Black is the highest contrast ground in the set, so whatever you put over it reads hardest. Marshmallow over Licorice is about as loud as this line gets, and Sea Mist over it is the quietest thing that still obviously works. Tiles 1 to 6 on the board are all Licorice, in overcoat order.

The quick version of Licorice

TypeBrush-on glaze
FinishGlossy
OpacityOpaque
Shows textureNot especially
Glaze fire toCone 5/6
Bisque toCone 04

What it does with a partner

Loading the pairings.

Based on the two you last chose

1

Undercoat on bisque. Two or three brushed coats, or one dipped. Let it dry completely.

2

Overcoat on top. Two or three coats, over all of it or only part of it.

3

Fire and stand back. The top glaze pulls away and the one underneath breaks through in spots.

Thickness is the dial, and no photograph can show it. Coyote says the thicker the glaze goes on, the larger the spots get. Its optimum is two coats under and three over. The full explanation lives on the family page.

What this glaze does

A true black, glossy and even. The highest contrast ground of the six, which is why it is the one to reach for when you want the spots to be the whole point.

Clays that suit Licorice

Applied over cone 04 bisque. Any of our clay bodies works, and the undercoat covers the body well enough that what is underneath matters less than the thickness of what you brush.

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

Goes on the bare bisque, so this is the coat that has to be even. A thin patch here turns into a patch with no spots later, because there is nothing underneath for the overcoat to pull away from.

Across the Texas Two-Step line

Undercoat first, on cone 04 bisque. Two or three brushed coats, or one dipped, dried all the way through before anything else touches it. Then the overcoat.

Thickness is the dial here, and no photograph can show it. Coyote says the thicker the glaze goes on, the larger the spots get, and less regular with every extra coat. Their optimum is two coats under and three over, and they say you should experiment from there.

Layering

Pair it with any of the six overcoats we stock: Birch, Blue Moon, Clementine, Marshmallow, Sea Mist, Texas Rose. Every one of those pairings is on this page. It also works over glazes outside the family, which Coyote encourage you to try.

Before you commit a pot

Cover all of the undercoat or only part of it. A partial overcoat gives you a hard edge between solid color and oil spot on the same pot, which is worth doing on purpose.

It is not sealed off from the rest of the shelf either. The same pull-away effect turns up over plenty of glazes outside this family, so if a combination is calling to you, put it on a tile and find out.

From The Clay Hole University

More info about Licorice 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 Licorice

Coyote makes these for cone 5 and 6 in an electric kiln. Our glaze kilns run cone 5½, right in the middle of that.

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 Licorice

Why did I get no spots?

You need both halves. An undercoat or an overcoat on its own fires as a solid color.

Why are my spots tiny?

Thin glaze. Coyote says the thicker it goes on, the larger the spots get.

Why is it uneven across the pot?

That is the effect working. Thickness varies as you brush, and the spots follow it.

Food and function

Rated for functional ware by Coyote, and the oil spot surface is glassy rather than open, so it wipes clean the way an ordinary gloss does.

Across the Texas Two-Step line

Coyote has the Texas Two Step glazes independently certified non toxic and dinnerware safe. Test your own finished work if you sell it.

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 Texas Two-Step pot.
  2. 2Find the tile This one is tile #1 to 6. 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 Texas Two-Step Family

Twelve glazes that are really one system. Six undercoats, six overcoats, and thirty six combinations between them.

Oil spot is normally a cone 10 trick. Coyote built this line to get the same effect at cone 5 and 6 in an ordinary electric kiln, by having the top glaze pull away as it melts and letting the one underneath break through in spots.

Two glazes, one over the other, and the kiln does the rest. Three moves, then the detail that decides how it turns out.

All Texas Two-Step glazesAll Coyote glazes
Texas Two-Step 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