AMACO Glaze Combinations: Potter’s Choice Layering Chart

How the AMACO glaze combinations chart works

The chart is a transcription of AMACO’s layering flyers. Each flyer takes one base glaze and shows it under a set of Potter’s Choice top glazes, with a photo of the fired result. We’ve listed every combination on the flyers for four Potter’s Choice bases and three Potter’s Choice Celadon bases, 174 in all.

Search works on codes, names and colours, so “PC-23” finds every combination with Indigo Float, whether it’s the top or the base, and “green” finds everything we’ve placed in the green group. The base glaze filter shows one flyer at a time. Pick any combination and the result panel shows its coat count, cone and the clay AMACO used.

The swatches are our approximate reading of the main colour in AMACO’s photo of each combination. Layered glazes rarely have a single colour, since they break over edges, pool in recesses and run, so a swatch can only hint at the result. Use it to shortlist, then look at AMACO’s flyer and make your own tile.

Which AMACO glaze combinations are on the chart?

The chart covers all published combinations on seven AMACO flyers: 25 combinations over PC-12 Blue Midnight, 25 over PC-20 Blue Rutile, 25 over PC-29 Deep Olive Speckle, 24 over PC-59 Deep Firebrick, and 25 each over the Potter’s Choice Celadon bases C-1 Obsidian, C-10 Snow and C-11 Mixing Clear.

The Potter’s Choice flyers were fired on AMACO Buff Stoneware #46 and the celadon flyers on AMACO White Stoneware No. 11, all at cone 5 to 6. The clay makes a real difference: the white stoneware shows the celadons clean and bright, while the buff body warms everything up and shows through where glazes break thin.

We left out one tile. On the PC-59 Deep Firebrick flyer, one entry is labelled as being over PC-29 Deep Olive Speckle, but its base cup is clearly Deep Firebrick. Rather than guess which part of the label is right, we’ve left it off the chart.

How many coats for AMACO layering?

AMACO’s flyers give the coats for each base. Over PC-20, PC-29 and PC-59, apply two coats of the base and two of the top. Over PC-12 Blue Midnight, apply one thick coat of base and three of the top. Over the celadon bases, C-1, C-10 and C-11, apply three coats of base and three of top.

Let each coat dry before the next, as the flyers say. Brushing gives you the most control over thickness, which is what the coat counts assume. If you dip, one dip is not the same as one brushed coat, so make a test tile to see how your dipping compares with AMACO’s brushed results.

The coats change how far a combination moves. More coats on top usually mean more running and more of the top glaze’s colour, so stick to AMACO’s count for your first tile, then adjust. Keep the bottom centimetre or so of a piece clear of glaze while you’re learning how a combination behaves.

Favourite AMACO combinations and what to expect

Some of the most striking results on the flyers come from pairing contrasting glazes. In AMACO’s photos, PC-20 Blue Rutile over PC-59 Deep Firebrick breaks into blue and purple-red streaks, and PC-30 Temmoku over the same base turns a deep, glossy red. PC-33 Iron Lustre over PC-29 Deep Olive Speckle gives a rich rusty orange.

The celadon flyers are a good place to start if you like clean, glassy colour. Over C-10 Snow, the top glazes sit as bright bands with white below, such as PC-25 Textured Turquoise in vivid green-blue. Over C-1 Obsidian, almost everything becomes dramatic against near-black, from PC-48 Art Deco Green’s pale blue to PC-57 Smokey Merlot’s magenta.

Remember that these descriptions come from AMACO’s photos, not our kiln. Your clay, your coats and your firing will move the result, so think of the flyer as a direction, not a promise. A combination that disappoints on a buff clay can come alive on white, and the reverse, so it’s worth testing a favourite on both.

Testing AMACO combinations in your own kiln

Fire a test tile for every combination you plan to use. Use your own clay, apply AMACO’s coat count, and fire at your normal cone 5 to 6 schedule. A vertical tile with some texture shows both running and breaking, the two things that make a layered glaze interesting.

Label the back of each tile with the codes, the order, the coats and the date. Many potters keep a ring of test tiles beside their glaze buckets so they can hold a tile up next to the piece they’re about to glaze. A thick base coat that looks right raw can still run, so give each tile space on the shelf and a cookie under it.

If you don’t have a kiln, our kiln firing service in Mordialloc fires mid-fire glazes at cone 6, which matches AMACO’s flyers. Our guide to AMACO Potter’s Choice glazes explains the range in more detail.

Common mistakes with AMACO layering

The most common mistake is reversing the order. Over and under are not interchangeable, and the second glaze listed always goes on first. The second is using too many coats of a runny top glaze, which can glue a piece to the shelf.

The third is firing too hot. AMACO tested at cone 5 to 6, so a cone 7 firing or a long hold will make combinations move further than the flyers show. And finally, don’t judge a combination from one tile. Fire two or three in different parts of the kiln before committing a whole set of work.

It also pays to stir every jar thoroughly before you start. Potter’s Choice glazes carry the materials that make them break and float, and those can settle in the jar, so an unstirred glaze may fire flatter than AMACO’s photo. Keep the lids tight between sessions, since a glaze that has thickened goes on heavier than the coat count assumes, and a thick coat of a fluid glaze is exactly what runs onto the shelf.