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Opulence Glazes


Opulence Glaze is manufactured by Mid-South Ceramic Supply Company on The Clay Lady’s Campus in Nashville, TN
Opulence Glaze has been on the market since 1988 delivering great results in Cone 6 electric kilns. Now introducing Opulence Glaze for Cone 6 reduction firing in gas and wood kilns! The Clay Lady’s Campus artists, students and Cone 10 customers have been successfully firing Opulence in our gas and wood kilns to Cone 6. Less firing time and less fuel for amazing results!
Opulence Glaze was developed by Dr. Richard Eppler, the foremost glaze chemist in the world, and Tom Turnbull. Manufactured by Mid-South Ceramic Supply Company, sales started in 1986 with the goal to give potters access to quality glaze results with the brillance and clarity to match any in the ceramic industry. A potter did not need to be a chemist, one only needed to add water.
Today, these same high standards are continued as new glazes are being developed by Joseph McDaniel, the glaze technician at
Mid-South Ceramic Supply Company, manufacturer of Opulence Glaze, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Since this time many commercial glazes have joined the market, yet Opulence still stands out as the best dipping glaze available. Another advantage that was foremost in development, Opulence Glaze can be blended and/or used as a base glaze so to give each potter their own individual, signature glazes. Also, there is no question about the food safety of the glazes.
Now available in 5 distinctive finishes in both brushing and dipping, Opulence Glaze stays in the forefront of the commercial glaze industry. Each glaze is backed by Mid-South Ceramic’s commitment to education, quality, and best results.

Frited vs Felspathic Glaze

by Joseph McDaniel

Several glaze companies will Frit their glazes. This is the act of melting the glaze into glass and grinding the glass back into a powder.

This is done for several reasons: to make manufacturing and production easier and more consistent. However, Potters have been using the natural flocculation of un-frited, or felspathic, materials for ten thousand years to ensure good quality and consistent results.

Frited materials need extra gums and suspension agents to ensure the glaze does not settle quickly and can be applied to the pottery in a way that is familiar. This leads to an artificial feel in application and inconsistent results when pottery is dipped in a fritted glaze.

Opulence Glaze is a felspathic glaze.

Over the course of 30 years, we have been making our glazes just like our ancestors did all those years ago. We have spent time perfecting the blending process to ensure a consistent result without having to compromise on the natural quality of our glaze materials.

This is not to say that we don’t add gums and suspension agents to our glazes, but we add to the natural flocculation of the glaze leading to consistent results that feel like you made the glaze yourself. As artists, we want to make a glaze that feels like we made it in our studio, not manufactured.

This is why Opulence Glaze has been and will always be manufactured to be the top-rated dipping glaze line with brushable options.