Community Resources
We feel so lucky to get to do what we love every day! And it’s all because of the support of our amazing ceramics community!
Stay up to date with our blog articles, podcast, and newsletters below!
If you didn’t know, Ceramic Materials Workshop is a small business.  Our mission is to provide our community with a solid understanding of their glazes and clay to make your studios the best that they can be.  In order to do that, we do all of our testing, research, editing and production in house.  If you find our content helpful, please consider supporting our mission by taking some of our online courses or supporting us via our Patreon.  Our team thanks you for your consideration!
Commercial Ceramic Stain Research
Stop guessing and start choosing stains with confidence. CMW’s newest digital e-book – Stain Spectrum – is a research-driven visual reference library built from two years of rigorous testing by the Ceramic Materials Workshop team. Inside, you will find visual references for 90 ceramic stains, documented within a controlled system to isolate and showcase the true nature and effects of each individual stain.
Each stain is shown through a consistent testing matrix designed for clear, side-by-side comparison. We held the clay body, fit-adjusted base glaze systems, and application method constant—then varied the conditions that actually change color: Cone 6 vs Cone 10, oxidation vs reduction, stain loading from 2.5% to 10%, and thin vs thick application (one dip vs two dips). The result is a practical studio tool for artists, students, and educators who want more predictable outcomes and fewer wasted tests.
Free Courses
Batch, please!
Learn how we mix and batch a glaze!
Self Absorbed
Learn more about clay body absorption and why it’s important.
Glow Up!
Rose shows you how to make a glow in the dark glaze.
Make a Plaster Slab
Learn how we make a plaster slab for testing.Â
CMW UMF Calculators
UMF glaze calculators are designed to assist potters in formulating glazes with specific surfaces and textures in mind. At their core, these calculators utilize the concept of Unity Molecular Formula, which represents the molecular ratios of the materials in the glaze. By inputting the desired materials and their respective proportions, you can generate custom recipes that perfectly align with your artistic vision.
Commercial Clay Body Profile Testing
Over the past several years, the CMW team has collected and tested scores of commercially available clay bodies.  The results are meant to help our students understand how these clay bodies perform to make their studios the best that they can be. Click below button to find results of the bodies that have been tested to date. We plan to add additional profiles as we continue to test additional clay bodies.
Free YouTube Course Content
The CMW Blog
Behind the Scenes of What We’re Working on!Â
Ware: Custom Manufactured Commercial Glazes for Ceramics
For many ceramic artists, studios, and manufacturers, glaze is where vision and uncertainty meet. You may know the exact color you want, the surface you want, and the way you want the finished work to feel. But getting from that idea to a fired result often means...
Stains in Ceramics
In ceramics, color has a reputation problem. Raw oxides drift, break, bloom, fade, crystallize, and occasionally lie to you outright. They respond to temperature, atmosphere, thickness, chemistry, and timing like a moody organism with opinions. Stains were invented to...
Bisque: Why Your Pottery Needs a “First Bake”
Have you ever wondered why potters fire their work twice? It seems like a lot of extra time and electricity, right? If you’ve ever felt the urge to skip straight to the shiny, colorful "finished" stage, you aren’t alone. But in the world of ceramics, the bisque firing...
For Flux Sake Podcast
Listen to Our Latest Podcast Episodes.
Ep 128 – Can I use ash from a volcano in my glaze?
To start today’s explosive episode a listener writes in wondering about using ash from Mt. St. Helens in a glaze. The gang also talk about best cleaning practices for keeping pets and children safe in a home studio, and methods for reducing pinholing. LIVE SHOW: Would...
Ep 127 – What materials should I buy to start mixing glazes?
We love questions from our educator friends. Today’s episode starts with a question from a high school teacher who wondered what the best materials are for starting a glaze lab. The gang also answer a question about cleaning up clay with soap and take a trip to...
Ep 126 – Is it best to use the medium or fast fire setting on my kiln?
Have you ever wondered what the firing rates are for the pre-programmed kiln schedules in modern kilns? In today’s episode the gang talk about the differences between slow, medium, and fast on Bartlett controllers, and how the rates affect glaze outcomes. They also...
The Megan Whetstine Memorial Scholarship
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