Most commercially made clear glazes pair beautifully with Kiwi Underglaze. Occasionally, a clear glaze may react by softening the colour or causing a little bleed. This usually happens when the clear glaze is fired at the hotter end of its range. For best results, use a clear glaze that’s a good match for your clay body and firing temperature, and test on a small piece first.

Our underglaze contains a small amount of flux, so out of caution, we don’t officially recommend firing directly on the shelf in case it sticks. That said, we (and plenty of our customers) do it all the time without any trouble! If you’d like to give it a go, we suggest testing on a small tile first — just to be sure.

Colour is brightest when clear glazed and fired to cone 3-6 (from 1180°C / 2150°F to 1225°C / 2240°F). The full firing range is cone 04–9 (approximately 1050–1260°C / 1920–2300°F), so you’ve got plenty of flexibility depending on your clay and glaze combo.

If you’ve finished your Kiwi Underglaze masterpiece with a durable clear glaze and fired it to the appropriate temperature (105 -1260 Celsius /1920 - 2300 Fahrenheit), congratulations—your creation is ready to shine at the dinner table! However, if you’ve opted for a matte finish without a clear glaze, we don’t recommend using it for food. Matte surfaces can be more prone to scratching, which could lead to bits of underglaze coming loose.

Kiwi Underglaze is a lead-free zone! Always has been and always will be.

Some of the fiery reds and oranges contain encapsulated cadmium, where the cadmium is safely bonded with zirconium silicate — making it over 1,000 times safer than free cadmium.

We also use silica, the ingredient that gives your finished glaze its strength and shine. It’s amazing stuff, but best kept out of the air — which is why our liquid formula keeps dust (and risk) to a minimum.

Kiwi Underglaze is designed for the midfire range, but performs across a wide span of temperatures. Like all ceramics, colours shift with heat — the boldest, brightest tones appear around cone 3-6. That’s where they really pop!

Our underglazes are for pottery pros, passionate hobbyists and budding artists alike, but make sure the kids are supervised when using them. Having them test out whether yellow underglaze is banana flavoured isn’t going to be the best of fun!

Not necessarily! Fired unglazed to around cone 06 (1000°C / 1800°F) or higher, Kiwi Underglaze develops a lovely velvet matte finish — perfect for sculptural or decorative work. For the brightest colour and food-safe surfaces (like dinnerware), we recommend applying a clear glaze.