Glaze type · Base glazes & colours
Yellow
Across 199 published recipes: mostly cone 6 and cone 10, fired in oxidation and reduction; Glossy, opaque.
Atmosphere
oxidation 59% · reduction 34% · neutral 5% · salt & soda 2%
Surface
Glossy 37% · Matte 25% · Semi-glossy 21% · Satin matte 9% · Satin 9%
Transparency
opaque 54% · semi-opaque 35% · translucent 8% · transparent 2%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silica | 68% | 20% | 14–24.3% |
| Dolomite | 46% | 13.58% | 8.56–19.33% |
| Whiting | 46% | 8.85% | 6.12–16.58% |
| EPK | 44% | 14.3% | 8–21.7% |
| Rutile | 42% | 6% | 4–7% |
| Bentonite | 34% | 2% | 2–2% |
| Kaolin | 31% | 11% | 7.04–23.2% |
| Red iron oxide | 29% | 3% | 2–3.68% |
| Titanium dioxide | 23% | 8% | 4–10% |
| Nepheline syenite | 23% | 28% | 20–41.25% |
| Talc | 22% | 5.69% | 2.5–13% |
| Ferro frit 3134 | 19% | 19.96% | 12.93–25% |
| Gerstley borate | 19% | 17.84% | 11.88–24.97% |
| Potash feldspar | 19% | 38% | 24.6–50% |
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 | 47.59% | 40.16–52.7% |
| Al2O3 | 11.26% | 9.48–13.39% |
| B2O3 | 3.89% | 2.59–5.94% |
| Na2O | 2.48% | 1.51–4.09% |
| K2O | 2.1% | 1.02–4.11% |
| CaO | 7.45% | 5.68–10.88% |
| MgO | 2.03% | 0.38–3.44% |
| TiO2 | 3.21% | 0.08–7.47% |
| Fe2O3 | 0.71% | 0.18–1.88% |
What potters should know
Iron reads yellow to olive in high-alkaline glazes; stronger yellows usually come from stains.
Related types
Questions
- What is a Yellow glaze?
- In 199 published recipes, Yellow glazes are mostly fired to cone 6 and cone 10 in oxidation and reduction, with a Glossy, opaque result. The defining materials are Silica, Dolomite, Whiting, EPK, Rutile.
- What cone is Yellow fired to?
- The most common cones in published recipes are cone 6 and cone 10; 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 Yellow glaze?
- Median fired analysis: SiO2 47.59%, Al2O3 11.26%, B2O3 3.89%, Na2O 2.48%, K2O 2.1%, CaO 7.45%. 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.