Glaze type · Base glazes & colours
Majolica
Across 116 published recipes: mostly cone 04 and cone 03, fired in oxidation and reduction; Glossy, opaque.
Materials that define it
Share of recipes containing each material, and the typical amount when present. Materials link to their reference pages.
| Material | In recipes | Typical | Half of recipes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zircopax | 83% | 11.11% | 9.01–15% |
| EPK | 73% | 10.6% | 6.5–13% |
| Ferro frit 3124 | 66% | 66% | 51–76.1% |
| Bentonite | 48% | 2% | 1.9–2.3% |
| Silica | 47% | 14.3% | 10–21% |
| Nepheline syenite | 39% | 8.15% | 6.2–16.71% |
| Tin oxide | 31% | 5% | 4.8–9% |
| Whiting | 25% | 7.22% | 5–11.61% |
| Kona F-4 feldspar | 21% | 16% | 14–18.75% |
| Ferro frit 3134 | 20% | 27.27% | 12.9–37.8% |
| Ball clay | 16% | 8.33% | 7.1–10.1% |
| Kaolin | 16% | 13.5% | 10.05–29.48% |
| Gerstley borate | 12% | 14.25% | 9.9–26.74% |
| Barium carbonate | 12% | 3.33% | 3.08–4% |
Typical fired chemistry
Median oxide analysis (weight %) across the recipes that report one, with the interquartile range. Silica and alumina set the melt; the fluxes and colorants make the family.
| Oxide | Median | Half of recipes |
|---|---|---|
| SiO2 | 51.77% | 49.12–53.59% |
| Al2O3 | 11.48% | 9.76–13.33% |
| B2O3 | 8.54% | 7.42–10.04% |
| Na2O | 4.39% | 3.73–5.08% |
| K2O | 1% | 0.54–1.47% |
| CaO | 9.5% | 8.16–10.53% |
| ZrO2 | 6.66% | 5.71–8.75% |
| SnO2 | 4.3% | 4.03–8.59% |
What potters should know
Historic majolica glazes are tin-opacified over a red body; keeping tin under about 4% and topping up with zirconium avoids chrome-tin pinking.
Related types
Questions
- What is a Majolica glaze?
- In 116 published recipes, Majolica glazes are mostly fired to cone 04 and cone 03 in oxidation and reduction, with a Glossy, opaque result. The defining materials are Zircopax, EPK, Ferro frit 3124, Bentonite, Silica.
- What cone is Majolica fired to?
- The most common cones in published recipes are cone 04 and cone 03; the full distribution is on this page. Atmosphere matters as much as cone for this family: oxidation and reduction.
- What is the typical chemistry of a Majolica glaze?
- Median fired analysis: SiO2 51.77%, Al2O3 11.48%, B2O3 8.54%, Na2O 4.39%, K2O 1%, CaO 9.5%. Treat these as the centre of a range, not a target — the same family spans different fluxes and cones.
Sources. Every figure is a statistic computed by Claybench over 10,859 glaze recipes compiled from publicly shared community recipe collections (snapshot 2026-02-27); no recipe is reproduced. Colour-chemistry notes are paraphrased from Linda Arbuckle's Ceramic Materials handout.
Colorant and flux notes touch on materials with handling hazards (barium, cobalt, chrome, manganese, lead in historic recipes). Read each material's page and its supplier SDS before mixing; test any food surface.
Claybench checks a glaze against your clay body and cone before it lands on a plan
Recipes, materials, hazards and cone fit — the same reference behind this page, inside the studio planner.