Sunrise

1446

🟪 Purple Level

Sunrise is a glossy brush-on glaze from Spectrum's Floating line, fired cone 4 to cone 6.

GlossySemi-translucentTexture-friendlyCone 4/6
Available at The Clay HoleYes
Test tile
Fired pot
Floating family
Find it on the glazes shelves Shelf 3, Row 11Tile #22 on the Floating pot
Show me where

The quick version of Sunrise

TypeBrush-on glaze
FinishGlossy
OpacitySemi-translucent
Shows textureYes, good on carving
Glaze fire toCone 4/6
Bisque toCone 04

What this glaze does

A pale peach-pink with lavender clouding drifting through it. A close relative of Fuzzy Peach on the shelf.

Clays that suit Sunrise

Spectrum names 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.

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

Two to three coats for full coverage on cone 04 bisque. Spectrum is specific about that number, and a thin coat on a floating glaze loses the float entirely.

Across the Floating line

Two to three coats for full coverage on cone 04 bisque. Spectrum is specific about that number, and a thin coat on a floating glaze loses the float entirely.

Layering

Spectrum recommends overlapping its glazes for new results, and says the fired look depends on firing temperature, glaze thickness and the clay body underneath.

Before you commit a pot

These already layer themselves, which is the point of the series. Spectrum still recommends overlapping its glazes for new results, and thickness and clay body both move what you get.

From The Clay Hole University

More info about Sunrise 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 Sunrise

Spectrum rates these for cone 4 to 6 and fires its own samples at cone 5. Our glaze kilns run cone 5½, so the tile here is the color 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 Sunrise

Why does mine look different from the tile?

Thickness and clay body. Spectrum names 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 says most of its 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.

Across the Floating line

Spectrum says most of its 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.

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 Spectrum Floating pot.
  2. 2Find the tile This one is tile #22. 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 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 fires its own samples at cone 5 and says 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.

All Floating glazesAll Spectrum glazes
Floating 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