Glazes

The main importance of a majolica glaze, no matter what the firing temperature, is that it will stay put in the firing. Any movement, or running will pull the majolica decoration with it, and the “painted” work will be ruined. The second importance of a good majolica glaze is it’s opacity. This is especially true if you are using a red, tan or brown clay body and not using a white slip between the clay and the glaze.
The following recipes are provided for majolica glazes at low temperature, as well as high.

•A common problem with painting stain on top of raw glaze is that the watery stain mix “washes” some of the fragile raw glaze and the surface, after firing, will have a dry, smeary quality. To avoid this, the glaze can be made less powdery and fragile by adding some liquid CMC or gum arabic to the mix. (1/2 cup per 5 gallon bucket of glaze). To make the CMC liquid, add 1 heaping T to 1 pint hot water; shake well and let stand overnight.

•Another VERY common problem with majolica glaze is crawling. Applying the glaze too thickly is the main reason for this.
Evenly applying the glaze is also crucial. Majolica glazes are designed not to melt and flow like normal gloss glazes, therefore drips and over-dips of the glaze are not “forgiven.” Typically, one should apply a majolica glaze a bit thinner than the average glaze coating.