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Exploring PHASE glazes

Introduced in 2024, our Phase Glaze line is one to keep on your studio shelves! These cheerfully colored opaque glazes for cone 5-6 develop a subtle mottling where they’re thick. They’re stable when used alone. When layered with other glazes, they can flow dramatically.

The colors in the Phase Glaze line are:

  • PG-24 Night Rain
  • PG-42 Teal Drift
  • PG-55 Floating Lavender
  • PG-54 Lunar Pink

The Phase glazes, PG for short, are opaque, even at one coat, with just a small amount of break on texture. Even on darker clay bodies like Amaco Milk and Dark Chocolate clays, the PG glazes show brightly.

Phase glazes on Amaco Dark Chocolate Premium Clay. Rims and edges are left unglazed to show the color of the clay.

When applied in three coats, these glazes develop a mottled appearance. This mottling is the phase separation that gives Phase glazes their name. Phase separation is when the glaze melts in two distinct and separate glass forms in firing, creating a float. Phase separation can be seen on other glazes, like PC-20 Blue Rutile, where the glaze is blue where thick and brown or beige where thin.

PG-42 Teal Drift label tile. You can see the mottling in the areas where the glaze has pooled in the texxture.

Phase glazes are food-safe, lead-free, and great for both cone 5 and cone 6. They are versatile and functional for a variety of uses.

Use Phase Glazes alone for an opaque color or try layering! Here are some examples: 

2 coats PG-56 Floating Lavender over 3 coats SM-11 White Satin Matte, fired to cone 6.


2 coats PG-42 Teal Drift over 2 coats PCF-16 Aurora Breeze, fired to cone 6.

Layered over Celadons, even Obsidian, the PGs show up brightly, even with a single coat. 

2 coats Phase glazes over 2 coats C-1 Obsidian Celadon, fired to cone 6. From left, Floating Lavender, Teal Drift, and Night Rain. Fired to cone 6.

Phase glazes can also be used as a base for other glazes. My tip when layering is not to go too thick with PGs or you may have some bubbling.

PG glazes are also great for the Peacock technique, where dots and swoops of glaze are applied in a way that creates an arrangement like peacock feathers when the glazes run. To create the Peacock glaze effect use dots of a Phase glaze, swoops of PC-17 Honey Flux, and cover the whole surface with PC-56 Ancient Copper. Fire to cone 6.

1. Use a graphite pencil to create a guideline on the curved area of the bowl. I put the bowl on a banding wheel and turned it while holding the pencil in place to make the line.

2. Apply evenly spaced dots of Phase Glaze (I used PC-42 Teal Drift) along the guideline. I applied the dots in 2 coats with a small brush.

3. Apply “swoops” of a Potter’s Choice Flux glaze or PC-17 Honey Flux with an applicator or brush. If using a brush, make sure to apply 2 coats.

4. Apply 2-3 coats of PC-56 Ancient Copper over the entire bowl.

5. Fire to cone 6.

Phase glazes can also be intermixed for variations of the colors. Below is an example of PG-42 Teal Drift mixed with PG-55 Lavender Float in equal parts.

The Phase Glazes also work well when refired with overglaze decals and lusters.

Try them out! Tag AMACO on socials and let us know how you like them by using #howiamaco or #amacophaseglaze

Happy glazing!