Underglazes

[GreyBird]

What's do you think is best brand of underglaze to get?

[Min]

I like Spectrum and Crysanthos. Also like Speedball, mainly for their price, but I find their colours a bit harsh and they don't have as extensive a colour palette as Spectrum and Crysanthos.

[Gabby]

I use Amaco Velvet underglazes, but they don't have many of the colors I would prefer.

[yappystudent]

I've only tried a few brands but settled on mostly Duncan concepts because they do a few things reliably well: intermixing, -I have a nearly complete palette of oranges, greens, browns, grays, mauves, etc; also working well up to cone 6 albeit with differences in finish. They get a satin finish at ^5 so I can skip the overcoat. The colors are bright with a few exceptions: I can't achieve a magenta (the chip at the store looked pretty good) probably thanks to not venting my kiln. Purples, pinks of any kind are bit more puce/mauve ranged but still pleasing. Certain colors on black clay at ^6 are very dramatic, they remain stable and don't blister over black clay.  

Amaco Velvet Bright Red is the most vivid true red I've found and I think they know it because the price is high.

I've also used Fireshades which are like an economy A. Velvet. When I need a basic velvet matte in a primary color I go to the Fireshades first. My tests showed they're also stable up to cone 6 over black clay but unlike the Duncan's remain matte. 

[neilestrick]

I use Speedball. Their prices are great, and I like their colors. The red and royal blue tend to bubble the clear glaze a bit at cone 6, but all of the other colors hold up just fine. I have not seen any color shifting like I do with the Velvets. The Speedball colors are very intense, so I often cut them with other colors or white, or use a colored transparent glaze over them to tone them down. At $12/pint instead of $25/pint, I'm willing to do a little extra mixing to make them work. Plus they come too thick and need to be watered down, so really they're more like $8/pint.