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Glaze is where most beginners lose good pots. A beautiful mug can come out of the kiln stuck to the shelf, crawling, or rough and dry. Usually the cause is not your skill but a mismatch: a glaze made for a different temperature, applied too thin or too thick, or a color that behaves wildly differently on your clay than on the chip.
So the best glazes for pottery beginners are the ones that forgive. They're commercial glazes rated for the cone your kiln fires, with clear coat counts on the label and a food-contact rating you can trust. The color comes second.
Below are seven commercial glazes and sets from AMACO, Mayco and Speedball, sorted by what each does best. Every cone rating, coat count and food-contact rating comes from the maker's own product pages.
Quick picks
- AMACO Potter's Choice PC-20 Blue Rutile: Best mid-fire line overall. Best for cone 5/6 potters who want depth and endless layering.
- Mayco Stoneware SW-112 Tiger's Eye: Most forgiving cone 6 glaze. Best for first glaze firings where you want movement without disasters.
- Mayco Stoneware Clear SW-001 (Gallon): Best clear glaze. Best for covering underglaze designs, lining mugs and dipping.
- AMACO Celadon C-20 Cobalt: Best for carved and textured work. Best for showing off trimmed lines and stamps.
- Speedball Mid-Fire Glaze Sample Set: Best starter set. Best for testing twelve cone 5–6 colors before buying full jars.
- AMACO Teacher's Palette TP-01 Coal Black: Best low-fire glaze. Best for earthenware, classrooms and painterly color at cone 05.
- Mayco Stroke & Coat SC-10 Teal Next Time: Best for painting designs. Best for brushwork, from cone 06 up to cone 10.
Comparison table
| Glaze | Best for | Firing range | Finish | Coats (per maker) | Food-contact rating (per maker) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMACO Potter's Choice PC-20 | Mid-fire depth, layering | Cone 5–6 | Fluid, variegated | Test on your clay | Line food safe except PC-4, PC-9, PC-64 |
| Mayco SW-112 Tiger's Eye | Forgiving first firings | Cone 6 ox, cone 10 reduction | Gloss, breaks brown to amber | 1–2 for browns, 3–5 for movement | Dinnerware safe |
| Mayco SW-001 Stoneware Clear | Lining, covering underglaze | Cone 6 ox, cone 10 reduction | Clear gloss | Label instructions | Dinnerware safe |
| AMACO Celadon C-20 | Texture and carving | Cone 5–6 | Glossy, transparent | 3 coats in AMACO's layering charts | Food safe (line) |
| Speedball Mid-Fire Sample Set | Testing many colors | Cone 5–6 | Varied | Varies by color | Speedball advises your own dinnerware testing |
| AMACO Teacher's Palette TP-01 | Low-fire color | Cone 05 | Gloss | Label instructions | Dinnerware safe, AP |
| Mayco Stroke & Coat SC-10 | Brushwork and designs | Cone 06–10 | Gloss without clear | 2–3 for full opacity | Dinnerware safe |
"Food-contact rating" means the maker's own label when fired as directed. It doesn't replace testing your own ware, especially if you layer glazes or sell your work. More on that in the buying guide.
The best glazes for pottery, reviewed
AMACO Potter's Choice PC-20 Blue Rutile: best mid-fire line overall
Who it's for: potters firing cone 5 or 6 stoneware who want the "reduction look" (variegated, flowing, breaking color) from an electric kiln.
AMACO says it designed Potter's Choice "with the potter in mind," and the line is built around the way most beginners fire. AMACO designed it for optimal results at cone 5/6 on bisque fired to cone 04, and it bills the series as giving reduction effects in an oxidation (electric) firing. AMACO also publishes layering charts showing how Potter's Choice glazes combine with each other and with its Celadon and Shino lines. That makes the line easy to build a palette from.
Blue Rutile is AMACO's own example of a top seller. AMACO describes it as an active, complex glaze that flows light blue where thick and breaks brown where thin. AMACO also calls it "very fluid." That's the one beginner caution here: leave extra bare clay at the foot until you know how far it moves on your clay. On food safety, AMACO lists all Potter's Choice glazes as food safe except PC-4 Palladium, PC-9 Vintage Gold and PC-64 Aventurine.
Pros
- Built for electric cone 5/6 firings, the most common home-studio setup
- Huge range of colors that are designed to layer
- AMACO publishes layering results you can copy
- Most of the line carries a food-safe rating
Cons
- Blue Rutile is fluid, so it can run on vertical pieces
- Results shift with thickness and clay body, so test tiles are a must
- Three colors in the line aren't food safe
AMACO Potter's Choice Glaze PC-20 Blue Rutile (Pint)
by AMACO
Mayco Stoneware SW-112 Tiger's Eye: most forgiving cone 6 glaze
Who it's for: beginners who want a glaze with visible movement and depth but don't want to scrape it off a kiln shelf.
Tiger's Eye is unusually well documented. Mayco says it breaks from a glossy deep brownish-red to a frothy amber depending on thickness. One to two coats give browns and reds, and three to five coats give more movement and color variation. The key line for beginners: Mayco states the glaze will not run off your ware during a cone 6 oxidation firing. It also notes that Tiger's Eye gently merges with a neighboring glaze, and suggests SW-104 Black Walnut as a partner.
Mayco's Stoneware chips are fired on white clay at cone 6 oxidation and cone 10 reduction, so the glaze also works if you later move to a gas kiln. Tiger's Eye carries Mayco's dinnerware-safe icon on its product page, and it's sold as a pint or as a 10 lb dry mix.
Pros
- Mayco says it won't run off ware at cone 6 oxidation
- Clear coat-count guidance on the maker's page
- Works at cone 6 electric and cone 10 reduction
- Dinnerware rating from Mayco
Cons
- Earthy brown-red palette won't suit everyone
- Color still varies with clay body and thickness
- Thicker applications turn more opaque and lighter brown
Mayco Stoneware Glaze SW-112 Tiger's Eye (Pint)
by Mayco
Mayco Stoneware Clear SW-001: best clear glaze
Who it's for: anyone who decorates with underglaze, wants a clean liner inside mugs and bowls, or wants to show off a speckled clay body.
A good clear glaze is the most useful jar in a studio. Mayco says its Stoneware Clear preserves and enhances the surface of your work. Like the rest of the Stoneware line, its chips are fired at cone 6 oxidation and cone 10 reduction, and Mayco notes that clay body, thickness, firing and temperature all affect the result. SW-001 carries Mayco's dinnerware-safe icon. Mayco sells it as a pint, a gallon or a 10 lb dry mix (SD-001). The gallon is the size we found on Amazon. It's more than you need for brushing a few liners, but it's the right amount if you plan to dip, and it keeps if you seal the jar.
Mayco also lists related clears, including a Zinc Free Clear and a Matte Clear, if your underglazes or clay react badly to the standard version.
Pros
- Dinnerware rating from Mayco
- Gallon size suits dipping
- Works over underglaze and on speckled clays
- Cone 6 and cone 10
Cons
- Clears show every application flaw, so thickness control matters
- Mayco warns that clear dipped too heavily pools around stilt marks
- A clear can craze on a poorly matched clay, so test on your body
Mayco Stoneware Clear SW-001 (Gallon)
by Mayco
AMACO Celadon C-20 Cobalt: best for carved and textured work
Who it's for: potters who trim, carve, stamp or texture their work and want the glaze to show it off.
Celadons are transparent glazes that pool in low spots. A carved line or stamped pattern reads darker where the glaze gathers and lighter on the high edges. AMACO describes its Celadons as glossy, transparent and 100% mixable, made to pool and add vivid accents to textured and carved surfaces. They're rated cone 5–6 on cone 04 bisque and marked food-safe.
AMACO also shows them under Potter's Choice glazes in its layering charts, using three coats of each. C-20 Cobalt is the deep blue in the range. AMACO also offers C-11 Mixing Clear if you want to lighten any color. Because they're mixable, you can blend two Celadons to get a custom shade.
Pros
- Pools beautifully over carving and texture
- Food-safe line, rated cone 5–6
- Colors can be mixed together
- Designed to layer under Potter's Choice
Cons
- Transparent, so it shows clay color and flaws underneath
- Looks plain on smooth, untextured surfaces
- Pooling can be uneven if application is uneven
AMACO Celadon Glaze C-20 Cobalt (Pint)
by AMACO
Speedball Mid-Fire Glaze Sample Set: best starter set
Who it's for: potters who don't yet know what they like and want to test a dozen glazes on their own clay before buying full jars.
Speedball sells this set on Amazon as twelve 4 oz jars of assorted Mid-Fire glazes. Speedball rates its Mid-Fire line for cone 5 and cone 6, the range most home electric kilns fire. Its FAQ says the glazes can go to cone 10, but that many will look different at that temperature. It recommends bisque firing to cone 05/04 and making a test tile on your own clay body. Coat counts vary by color. Speedball's Dragon Stone, for example, calls for 2 coats for mostly blue and 4 for maximum red mottling.
The listing doesn't name the twelve colors, so check the photos if you're after a particular look. On food safety, Speedball doesn't make a blanket claim. It asks you to run your own dinnerware testing before using a glaze on functional pieces. That's sound advice for any glaze, and doubly so for sample colors you'll layer and combine.
Pros
- Twelve colors for the price of testing
- Cone 5–6, the most common home-kiln range
- Small jars are ideal for test tiles
- Maker guidance on bisque temperature and coats
Cons
- 4 oz jars are for test tiles and small pieces, not full sets of mugs
- Colors not named in the listing
- No blanket food-safe rating; you test your own ware
Speedball Mid-Fire Glaze 4 oz Sample Set (12 Jars)
by Speedball
AMACO Teacher's Palette: best low-fire glaze
Who it's for: potters firing earthenware at low temperatures, classrooms, and anyone who wants bright, painterly color.
If your studio fires low-fire clay, mid-fire glazes won't melt. Teacher's Palette is AMACO's answer for that range, and TP-01 Coal Black, sold by the pint on Amazon, is its black. AMACO lists 24 liquid gloss glazes that fire to cone 05 (1888°F, 1031°C) on cone 04 bisque. They're completely intermixable, with each other and with AMACO's Teacher's Palette Light line, so you can mix custom colors. AMACO also says they can be layered without bleeding, which suits majolica-style brushwork.
AMACO describes the line as AP certified, lead free and dinnerware safe. Because they're low-fire glazes on porous earthenware, functional pieces should be treated more gently than stoneware. See our guide to stoneware vs earthenware vs porcelain.
Pros
- Made for the low-fire range many schools and studios use
- Fully intermixable colors
- Layers without bleeding, good for painted designs
- Dinnerware safe and AP certified, per AMACO
Cons
- Won't work in a cone 6 glaze firing
- Low-fire earthenware ware is more porous than stoneware
- Brighter, flatter look than variegated mid-fire glazes
AMACO Teacher's Palette TP-01 Coal Black (Pint)
by AMACO
Mayco Stroke & Coat SC-10 Teal Next Time: best for painting designs
Who it's for: potters who like to paint patterns, lettering and illustrations, or who fire at more than one temperature.
Mayco calls Stroke & Coat "the industry's most versatile glaze," and the specs back it up. Mayco says it can be applied to wet clay, earthenware bisque or stoneware bisque, and fired anywhere from cone 06 to cone 10 in oxidation or reduction. Teal Next Time is a heavily pigmented, viscous color. One coat is translucent, and Mayco suggests two to three coats for full opacity. It fires to a gloss without a clear glaze, and at cone 6 Mayco notes no color change.
It comes in 2 oz and 8 oz squeeze bottles and pints. The small bottles make it easy to buy several colors for decorating without committing to pints of each. The product page shows Mayco's dinnerware-safe icon.
Pros
- One glaze from cone 06 to cone 10
- Works on wet clay or bisque
- Gloss finish without needing clear
- Small squeeze bottles for decorating
Cons
- Flat, even color rather than flowing effects
- Needs 2–3 coats for opaque coverage
- Not a full-coverage dipping glaze
Mayco Stroke & Coat SC-10 Teal Next Time
by Mayco
Buying guide: how to choose glazes for pottery
Start with the cone your kiln fires
Glaze is matched to temperature, not to taste. Ask your studio or firing service which cone they fire, or check your own kiln's program. Then buy only glazes rated for that range.
- Cone 06–05 (low fire): AMACO Teacher's Palette, Mayco Stroke & Coat, Mayco Foundations. Mayco shows its Foundations line at cone 06 on white earthenware.
- Cone 5–6 (mid fire): AMACO Potter's Choice and Celadon, Mayco Stoneware, Speedball Mid-Fire. This is where most home potters with electric kilns land.
- Cone 10 (high fire): Mayco's Stoneware line and Stroke & Coat also list cone 10 results.
Your clay must match too. Our stoneware vs earthenware vs porcelain guide covers that.
Read the food-contact rating, not the "non-toxic" seal
The ACMI AP seal tells you a glaze is safe to handle as a wet product. It's not a food-safety rating. Mayco states plainly that AP and CL seals don't mean a glaze is suitable for dinnerware. AMACO likewise says a glaze's food-safe status isn't determined by AP or CL certification.
Look for the maker's food-contact label instead. Mayco now uses "Suitable for Dinnerware," "Suitable for Dinnerware with Clear" and "Decorative Use Only." It explains that dinnerware-suitable glazes are chemically durable, smooth and compliant with FDA guides on lead and cadmium release when fired as directed. Two more cautions, from Mayco and Digitalfire:
- Mayco notes it isn't illegal for ware to contain traces of lead or cadmium, as long as release tests fall below FDA limits. Mayco also says it doesn't use lead compounds as ingredients. Coyote says none of its recipes use lead.
- Digitalfire's Tony Hansen documents glazes that don't leach alone but do when layered. If you layer glazes on food surfaces, test the combination.
Liquid, dry or sample size?
- 4 oz to 8 oz jars: for test tiles and small decorative work.
- Pints: the standard for brushing. A pint covers a good number of mugs at 2–3 coats.
- Gallons and dry mix: for dipping. Dry glaze is cheaper to ship but you mix it with water. Coyote notes that its dry glazes aren't labeled non-toxic because of the inhalation risk, and recommends a NIOSH-approved respirator when mixing.
Fluid vs stable glazes
Fluid glazes (like Blue Rutile) give beautiful movement and are the ones that run onto shelves. Stable glazes (like Stroke & Coat, or Tiger's Eye, which Mayco says won't run off ware at cone 6) are safer for first firings. Start with one stable glaze and one fluid one, and learn the difference on test tiles.
Brushing or dipping glazes?
Brushing glazes contain gums that keep them workable, so coats go on smoothly. Coyote designs its glazes for both brushing and dipping. AMACO notes that its dry-mix dipping versions behave differently from brushing glazes and can be harder to layer. If you plan to dip, buy the dipping version or confirm the glaze is suitable.
Test on your own clay
Every maker in this guide says so. Mayco fires its chips on white clay. AMACO shows Celadons on white clay. Coyote recommends test pieces for every new color or combination. A glaze that's pale blue on white stoneware can turn green or brown on a speckled buff body.
For step-by-step application, read our how to glaze pottery guide. If you don't have firing access yet, start with how to start pottery as a beginner, and see our small pottery kiln guide for kilns that reach cone 6 on household power. For combinations once you're comfortable, try our pottery glazing ideas. And make sure your bisque is right first: see bisque firing explained.
How we chose
We didn't fire these glazes ourselves. We built this list from the makers' own product pages and technical guidance (AMACO, Mayco and Coyote), including their published cone ranges, coat counts, food-contact ratings and safety pages, plus Digitalfire's reference material on glaze safety. We favored glazes with clear application instructions, a maker-published food-contact rating, and a firing range that matches the electric kilns most beginners use. We covered both mid-fire and low-fire so every beginner has a match.
FAQ
What glaze is best for beginner potters?
A commercial brushing glaze made for the cone your kiln fires. For cone 5/6 stoneware, AMACO Potter's Choice and Mayco's Stoneware glazes are the most common starting points. For low-fire clay at cone 05/06, AMACO Teacher's Palette or Mayco Stroke & Coat are easier choices. Always fire a test tile first.
Are store-bought pottery glazes food safe?
Many are, but only the colors the maker rates for food contact, and only when fired as the label says. AMACO lists all Potter's Choice glazes as food safe except PC-4, PC-9 and PC-64, and Speedball asks you to run your own dinnerware testing on its Mid-Fire glazes. Layering, underfiring and contamination can change results, so test before you sell.
What is the difference between low-fire and mid-fire glazes?
The temperature they mature at. Low-fire glazes melt around cone 06–05 (AMACO lists cone 05 at 1888°F), while mid-fire glazes melt at cone 5–6 (2167–2232°F per AMACO). They aren't interchangeable. A low-fire glaze fired to cone 6 can run or burn out, and a mid-fire glaze fired to cone 05 stays raw and rough.
Is it better to buy a glaze set or individual pints?
A set of small jars is the cheapest way to test many colors. Speedball, for example, sells a Mid-Fire sample set of twelve 4 oz jars. Once you find a glaze you love, buy it by the pint for brushing or by the gallon for dipping.
Can I mix different glaze brands?
You can layer and combine brands, but test first. Each glaze has its own melting behavior and expansion, and AMACO notes that dipping glazes behave differently from brushing glazes when layered. Digitalfire also warns that layering can change how a glaze leaches. Keep untested combinations off food surfaces.
Verdict
If you fire cone 5/6, start with a pint of Mayco's Tiger's Eye for a forgiving first result, a Mayco Stoneware Clear for liners, and one or two AMACO Potter's Choice colors to learn how fluid glazes behave. If you fire low-fire earthenware, AMACO Teacher's Palette and Mayco Stroke & Coat cover almost everything. Whichever you choose, match the cone, read the food-contact label and fire test tiles before you glaze a whole set.