Yellow

🔥 Raku

Yellow is a satin raku from Spectrum's Raku line, fired cone 06.

SatinOpaqueCone 06
Available at The Clay HoleYes
Test tile
Raku family
Find it on the glazes shelves Shelf 6, Row 2
Show me where

The quick version of Yellow

TypeRaku
FinishSatin
OpacityOpaque
Shows textureNot especially
Glaze fire toCone 06
Bisque toCone 04

What this glaze does

Yellow on our shelf, fired as raku. What the reduction can is packed with changes this more than anything you brush, so the same glaze gives a different pot every firing.

Our sheet records it as yellow, black, satin.

Clays that suit Yellow

B-Mix with Grog, 52 Buff, or Berlin Gray. Those are the three bodies we raku on.

Raku clay is not optional. The pot goes from around 2000 degrees to open air in about four seconds.

Use one of these threeB-Mix with Grog, 52 Buff, or Berlin Gray. Those are the bodies we raku on. A piece on anything else does not go in the firing.
Why grog mattersThe coarse particles give the thermal shock somewhere to go. A smooth, tight body has no give and cracks on the way out of the kiln.
Build for itSoften interior corners, reinforce seams with a blended coil, compress the floor. Narrow necks and sealed forms trap steam and are the ones that burst.
Decide earlyThis is the one firing where the making decisions happen weeks before the glazing does.
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

Spectrum sets these up for brushing and says they can be poured or dipped if thinned a little with water.

Peak temperature matters here. Spectrum recommends most of the series to a peak around 1700 to 1750F and a subset around 1600 to 1650F, and notes that different combinations of peak and reduction temperature give different results.

Across the Raku line

Spectrum sets these up for brushing and says they can be poured or dipped if thinned a little with water.

Peak temperature matters here. Spectrum recommends most of the series to a peak around 1700 to 1750F and a subset around 1600 to 1650F, and notes that different combinations of peak and reduction temperature give different results.

From The Clay Hole University

More info about Yellow 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 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 Yellow

Spectrum fires this series anywhere from 1600F up to cone 06, which is 1850F, then cool to about 1600F before the pot comes out red hot and goes into the can.

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 Yellow

Why did mine come out a completely different color?

What the can is packed with decides. Spectrum gives the clearest example anyone publishes: the same glaze reduced in newspaper can come out a beautiful blue, and reduced in sawdust can come out metallic copper.

Why does my piece look like nothing happened?

Usually a thin coat, or a short reduction. Spectrum sets these up for brushing and says they can be poured or dipped if thinned a little with water.

Why are there marks where the tongs were?

Tong marks are part of a raku surface rather than a fault in it.

Can I put water in it?

No. The body stays porous, so water passes through over hours.

Food and function

Raku is not food safe and never will be. Not with a sealer, not with a liner glaze.

The body is fired hundreds of degrees below vitrification so it stays porous, the glaze is crazed, and raku glazes carry copper and other metals. It is not watertight either: water passes through the body over hours, so a raku vase full of flowers is a slow leak on your furniture.

Spectrum adds that although none of these contain lead, many are over the copper threshold and are considered toxic in the liquid state. That is a handling concern in the glaze room, which is another reason this shelf is workshop only.

Across the Raku line

Raku is not food safe and never will be. Not with a sealer, not with a liner glaze.

The body is fired hundreds of degrees below vitrification so it stays porous, the glaze is crazed, and raku glazes carry copper and other metals. It is not watertight either: water passes through the body over hours, so a raku vase full of flowers is a slow leak on your furniture.

Spectrum adds that although none of these contain lead, many are over the copper threshold and are considered toxic in the liquid state. That is a handling concern in the glaze room, which is another reason this shelf is workshop only.

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.

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: Raku

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