How to Adapt a Milk Frother to Mix Glaze Tests A genius tip to reduce glaze splatter and make small-batch ceramic glaze testing easier! Mike Jabbur

Ceramic glaze testing is so important for potters. It helps them understand their materials, which leads to glazes that suit their work and vision. But when you have limited studio time, it can be the last thing you want to spend time on in the studio. That's why it is helpful to make the ceramic glaze testing process as easy and convenient as possible. Mixing up small test batches can be a great way to make glaze testing less onerous. 

In this excerpt from the Ceramics Monthly archive, Mike Jabbur shares a brilliant tip to make glaze testing on a smaller scale a breeze. It also helps reduce mess! – Jennifer Poellot Harnetty, editor

If you have ever made your own glaze-test batches, you’ve probably been frustrated by how much the glaze splatters when you mix it. It’s common to mix 100-gram test batches in large Solo cups, even though the volume of the glaze fits in much smaller cups (see 3) (I buy mine in larger quantities through restaurant suppliers without the straw-hole in the lid). The problem with this smaller size is that an immersion blender doesn’t fit into the cup and would displace too much of the liquid anyway. 

I discovered that I could use my smaller cups if I used a milk frother to mix the glaze. I found some milk frothers on Amazon (1), but they don’t have enough power. Then I realized that the wand can be removed from the mixer and fitted into my studio drill (2). This milk-frother wand/drill combination gives me plenty of power without causing splattering or displacing any of the liquid (3, 4). Problem solved!

You don’t necessarily need lidded cups, but the lid is helpful if you’re mixing your tests over several days and you don’t want them to dry out. I have found that students often take several days to get through a series of tests, and so they’re especially helpful in the classroom. I also sometimes make additional glaze blends based on the initial fired results. Keeping the glazes wet throughout the firing process means you can quickly add more oxides or stains after the firing without necessarily mixing more base glaze—lids are helpful!

If you work at an academic institution, you likely have hazardous waste disposal services. After testing, we dump our remaining glaze tests into a separate plastic bucket for proper disposal, then rinse and re-use our cups and lids.

**First published in 2022.