Ware: Custom Manufactured Commercial Glazes for Ceramics

Beginners Guide, Glazes, Informative

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 repeated testing, inconsistent outcomes, and a lot of time spent troubleshooting.

Ware is built to make that process easier.

Created by Matt and Rose Katz of Ceramic Materials Workshop, Ware is a custom manufactured commercial glaze service for ceramics. It is designed to help artists, makers, studios, and manufacturers get glazes matched to the color, surface, and firing range they actually want. By combining glaze chemistry, materials research, and real studio experience, Ware makes custom glaze development more practical, more accessible, and more reliable.

What Is Ware?

Ware helps turn an idea into a usable glaze.

A customer can start with a color in mind, a photo that inspires them, or a specific surface goal. From there, Ware develops custom ceramic glazes matched to the desired look, cone, and finish. The goal is simple: reduce guesswork, shorten the testing cycle, and help makers spend more time making work.

This is glaze chemistry without requiring every customer to do all the chemistry themselves.

How Ware Works

The process is built to feel straightforward.

First, the customer starts with inspiration. That could be a color, an image, or a surface idea.
Next, Ware formulates the glaze around that goal. Each glaze is developed to match the target color, finish, application method and firing range.
Then the glaze is batched by Ceramic Materials Workshop and shipped directly to the studio. Whenever possible, Ware plans to ship dry, making it more environmentally friendly and practical for customers to mix and use with the guidance provided.

After testing, future batches can be troubleshooted and refined. If a glaze needs to be glossier, slightly adjusted in color, or is crazing and needs to be better fitted to a clay body, Ware is built to support that process.

Why Custom Commercial Glazes Matter

Glaze is one of the hardest parts of ceramics to control because it depends on the interaction of color, surface, clay body, firing, and application. For many makers, that makes glaze one of the most frustrating parts of the process.

Ware is designed to reduce that frustration.

For individual artists and studios, Ware offers a way to get custom pottery glazes without building a full glaze lab from scratch. For production potters and manufacturers, it offers a more direct path to custom manufactured commercial glazes for ceramics that are built for real working conditions.

In short, Ware helps customers spend less time struggling with glaze and more time making.

Where Ware Begins

Ware is launching in 2026 starting with glossy glazes in the cone 4 to cone 8 range, with plans to expand into more temperatures, textures, effects, and underglazes over time.

The larger goal is to become a go-to ceramic surface resource for makers at every level.

Built by Matt and Rose Katz

Ware is built by Matt and Rose Katz, the founders of Ceramic Materials Workshop.

Between them, they bring over 60 years of combined experience in the studio, the lab, the classroom, and ceramic manufacturing. That matters because Ware is not just about chemistry on paper. It is about making commercial glazes for ceramics that work in real studios and real production settings.

Ware is built on a simple idea: your work should match your imagination.

For ceramic makers who are tired of guesswork, repeated tests, and disappointing glaze results, Ware offers a better path forward.

Interested in more? Watch CMW’s LIVESTREAMS on YouTube

On March 25th, we launched Ware to the public at NCECA. Now, we’re sitting down to show you exactly how this platform helps ceramic artists, production potters, and manufacturers get custom results without the guesswork.

Matt has gone LIVE on the Ceramic Materials Workshop (CMW) YouTube channel to break down the Ware workflow — from choosing your target color to refining your final fired results.

Watch the livestreams NOW and don’t forget to subscribe so you won’t miss the next one!

 

Ready to dive deeper?

Loved learning about ceramic glazes? Want to go even deeper? Check out our Workshops & Courses, now available in Spanish, or YouTube Channel where Matt breaks it all down, myth-busting and Stull chart included!

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