Amazing Glaze: Techniques, Recipes, Finishing, and Firing by Gabriel Kline Review (2026)

What the book covers

Amazing Glaze runs 176 pages and combines glaze recipes with the techniques, finishing methods, and firing considerations that determine how those recipes actually turn out on a finished piece. Rather than presenting a plain list of formulas, the book walks through how application method, layering, and firing schedule affect the final surface, which matters because the same glaze recipe can look noticeably different depending on how it is applied and fired. This structure suits a potter who wants to understand why a glaze behaves the way it does, not just a formula to copy, and it makes the book more useful as a reference for troubleshooting an unexpected glaze result.

Who needs dry materials and a scale

Working from glaze recipes in a book like this means weighing out dry glaze materials, usually a base of feldspar, silica, and a flux along with colorants, rather than opening a pre-mixed bottled glaze and applying it directly. That requires a gram scale accurate enough for small batches, a set of dry materials, and somewhere safe to mix them, none of which come with the book itself. Potters who already work this way, mixing their own glazes from raw materials, will find the recipes directly usable. Beginners who only use bottled, ready-to-apply glazes from a craft store will need to invest in equipment and materials separately before the recipes in this book become practical to use.

Finishing and firing context

A glaze recipe on its own only tells part of the story, since the same mixture can turn out glossy, matte, crazed, or clean depending on how thick it is applied and what firing schedule it goes through. By including finishing and firing information alongside the recipes, the book gives potters a way to diagnose why a glaze did not turn out as expected, whether the issue was the recipe itself or how it was applied and fired. This kind of troubleshooting context is often missing from books that are purely recipe collections, and it is one of the more practical reasons to choose a book like this over a simple formula list.

Depth versus a beginner-friendly format

Because the book links recipes to technique and firing rather than keeping things simple, it asks more of the reader upfront than a book aimed purely at beginners using bottled glaze. That depth is the book's strength for potters ready to mix their own materials and troubleshoot results, but it also means someone brand new to pottery, who has not yet started mixing glazes from scratch, may find the content more useful once they have some studio experience under their belt. It fits better as a second or third pottery book, once a potter already understands basic glazing and wants to move toward mixing and adjusting their own recipes.

Who should buy this book

This is a strong pick for potters who already mix or plan to start mixing glaze from raw dry materials and want recipes paired with the finishing and firing knowledge to use them well. It suits studio potters looking to expand beyond a shelf of bottled glazes and start developing more control over their surfaces. Potters who only ever use pre-mixed, ready-to-apply glaze and have no plans to weigh out dry materials will get less immediate value from this book, since its recipes are built around that raw-material process rather than around bottled products already on the market.

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