Katie B Ceramics

Katie B Ceramics 🇳🇿 NZ Ceramic Artist
🫶 Helping you find your glazing style
✨️ Sort your glazing in 27 days: www.katiebceramics.com/glaze

04/09/2026

I was spending more money on glazes and enjoying glazing less every time I opened the kiln 👇

I’m a potter who has cried over ugly pots, blamed myself for every failed firing and bought far too many new glazes hoping the next jar would finally fix everything.

Save this because these 7 small shifts helped glazing feel creative again:

1. I stopped trying to make every pot saleable. Some pots became experiments from the beginning, which gave me permission to try the idea I would usually talk myself out of.

2. I stopped buying glazes based on beautiful manufacturer photos. A little controversial, but those photos show one glaze, on one clay, applied by someone else’s hands and fired in their kiln. Now I only buy a glaze when I know what job it could do within my existing collection.

3. I chose one variable for each experiment. I might test thickness, order or placement, while keeping everything else the same. This gave me results I could actually learn from.

4. I started repeating promising failures. If one tiny overlap looked beautiful, I tested that exact section again instead of dismissing the entire pot as ugly.

5. I gave every glaze a personality before designing the pot. Knowing which glaze would anchor, move, float, break or create an effect made the design feel far less like an expensive guessing game.

6. I planned the empty spaces too. Leaving clay exposed, giving a Mover somewhere to travel and resisting the urge to cover every centimetre made my designs feel more considered.

7. I measured progress by what I understood. A pot could come out completely hideous and still teach me exactly what three thick coats, a reversed layering order or a different clay body would do next time.

Glazing became creative again when every kiln opening stopped having the power to decide whether I was talented ❤️

Which shift do you need most right now? 👀

Hi, I’m Katie, an imperfect potter from New Zealand, and I help potters understand how their glazes behave so they can create more intentional, repeatable results without needing an advanced understanding of glaze chemistry 🎉❤️ so lovely to meet you

02/09/2026

Some of the silliest little things I do in my studio have saved more pots than any beautiful glaze combo I’ve ever found on Pinterest 🙃

Glazing has so many tiny variables hiding inside it, and the smallest habits can completely change what comes out of the kiln.

SO here's the info!!! 👇

1. I shake or stir my glaze halfway through because the ingredients settle while I’m working, which means the consistency can slowly change as I make my way down the jar.

2. I wait until my brush begins to drag before loading it again because three coats can look wildly different from one person’s hands to another. That slight drag tells me the brush has released the glaze and is ready for another generous load.

3. I photograph the disasters because they give me clues about thickness, placement, glaze order and movement. I record everything while I can still remeber what I did, even when the result is so ugly I would quite like to pretend it never happened.

4. I make a sacrificial pot because glaze behaves differently when it meets real curves, rims, texture and gravity. Sometimes a slightly wonky little pot has to go into the kiln first so the pieces I love can live.

And 5. I give every glaze a job before it touches the pot. I decide which glaze will create stability, which will move, and which will bring variation, texture or a focal point.

So yes, I shake jars like maracas, hoard photographic evidence of my failures and occasionally send an innocent pot into the kiln as tribute.

and I swear it works!!

Save this for your next glazing day, and tell me the slightly ridiculous studio habit you swear by 👇

Hi, I’m Katie, an imperfect potter from New Zealand, and I share what I’ve learned about glazing so you can understand your glazes, design more intentional combos and open the kiln feeling excited about what you made ❤️

30/08/2026

Hope this helps someone out there!! Save for when you need it most ❤️ if if you need any more help with your glazing, have a look at my page, you might find something there that's of use to you!

21/08/2026

I’ve wanted to make this for such a long time.

And tomorrow, it’s finally yours ❤️

The Glaze Personality Method came from years of glaze tests, combos I loved but couldn’t replicate, too many screenshots, too many glaze purchases, and that constant feeling that oh my goodness there HAD to be a better way to understand what was actually happening.

Eventually, I stopped asking which glazes look good together?

And started asking WHY do they work together?

And that really was the question that changed everything for me.

Tomorrow I get to share the whole method with you.

A 95 page pdf. Structured over 27 days. Five glaze personalities. 20 templates to use with any colour or brand. And just everything I wish I’d understood when I was learning to glaze.

The Glaze Personality Method launches tomorrow, Saturday 22 August 9am NZST. That’s Friday at 5pm in New York, 2pm in Los Angeles and 10pm in London, and Saturday at 7am in Sydney.

If you’re on the waitlist, keep an eye on your inbox. You’ll get 15% off for the first week.

Thank you for letting me be part of your glazing journey ❤️

The fastest way to get better at glazing might be to stop buying glazes for a minute 🫣Glaze dopamine is a real thing. Hu...
17/08/2026

The fastest way to get better at glazing might be to stop buying glazes for a minute 🫣

Glaze dopamine is a real thing. Hundreds of glazes stacked in front of you, all promising beautiful, professional, groundbreaking results that are just magical? I mean who are we to resist?

But the boring AF truth is this: I learned far more when I stopped asking "What should I buy next?" and started asking "What else can this one glaze do for me?"

There are just so many impacts on glaze behaviour- thickness, placement, texture, clay, layering-- there are so many possibilities we can tap into.

So here's my challenge to you: choose one glaze, test it in three or four different ways, and write down what actually changed. You might surprise yourself.

If you need a bit more support on this, my glazing workbook is finally launching this coming Saturday as a method that gives you a process for understanding these behaviours, rather than collecting random combos online.

I am absolutely freaking out about it but so excited to finally get it into your hands. If you're not already on the waitlist comment LIST, my automation will send you the information ❤️

Do you have a love-hate relationship with any glaze on your shelf? Let me know in the comments!

13/08/2026

Steal my testing process 👇

This is my favourite way to test glaze combos -- one form, so much info. Save this to come back to!

1. Use a pencil to mark zones on your form, inside and out (some people use tape, I quite like a little overlap for a bonus combo)

2. Write the names of the glazes you’re testing on the outside in designer liner or underglaze pencil

3. Glaze each section in your different glazes, but only go halfway down the outside

4. Cover the glazes in your cover glaze that you're testing. You can test 2 different topper glazes on one form like I've done here, one inside one outside

5. Leave a gap on the outside where you don't totally cover the glaze, that'll show you how it travels (mine got completely covered!)

6. Fire!

I'm obsessed with how this mystery glaze topper turned out! I would categorise it as an Effect glaze with a strong secondary personality as a Mover, which gives me a lot of information with how I can use it next!

Thank you decoupage. vintage. shabbychic for sending these to me to try.

Which combo is your favourite? I'm so torn!

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