# The Best Ways to Track Your Pottery Glaze Results

Cluster: Workflow & Tracking
URL: https://claybook.studio/blog/track-pottery-glaze-results/

# The Best Ways to Track Your Pottery Glaze Results

A beautiful glaze combo means nothing if you cannot find it again. Tracking glaze results is how test tiles become a personal library instead of a box of mysteries.

This guide compares the usual systems and shows a practical workflow you can stick with. For tile-making basics, pair it with [How to Make and Use Glaze Test Tiles Effectively](/blog/glaze-test-tiles/).

## What you actually need to remember

At minimum, every useful glaze record includes:

* Exact glaze names and brands or studio codes
* Clay body and cone
* Application method and thickness
* Layer order for combos
* Firing notes if known
* Result comments and a photo
* Link to the physical tile ID

Without those fields, you are collecting souvenirs, not data.

## Option 1: Notebook

**Pros:** Fast in a messy studio, no battery, satisfying to sketch beside.

**Cons:** Hard to search. Easy to lose. Photos live elsewhere. Spills happen.

Notebooks work if you are disciplined with an index page and consistent codes. Many potters start here, then outgrow the page-flipping.

## Option 2: Spreadsheet

**Pros:** Sortable, filterable, great for thickness grids and inventory-style minds.

**Cons:** Awkward for photos, clumsy on a clay-covered phone, easy to abandon formatting.

Spreadsheets shine for comparing many tests at once. They feel cold for everyday project logging.

## Option 3: Generic notes app

**Pros:** Always in your pocket, supports photos, quick capture.

**Cons:** Pottery notes drown in life notes. No clay or glaze structure unless you invent it. Search depends on whether you typed the same words every time.

Fine for temporary capture. Weak as a long-term glaze library.

## Option 4: Dedicated pottery app

**Pros:** Built around projects, clay, glazes, and results. Faster search than flipping notebooks. Photos and notes stay with the work.

**Cons:** Only helps if you open it consistently (true of every system).

Claybook sits here: a pottery-first place to log glaze stacks, attach outcomes, and find them later without reconstructing history from memory. More on that in [The Best Pottery App for Tracking Your Projects, Clay, and Glazes](/blog/best-pottery-app-for-tracking/).

## A workflow that survives busy studio days

1. Label tiles before glaze day
2. Write the planned stack on a quick note while glaze is wet
3. Fire with your normal work when possible
4. Read the tile with clear criteria from [Reading What a Test Tile Tells You](/learn/reading-what-a-test-tile-tells-you/)
5. Practice the grid habit with [Interpret a Full Grid of Test Tiles](/practice/interpret-a-full-grid-of-test-tiles/)
6. Log keepers with photos the same day you unload

Delay is the enemy. Unload day energy is peak honesty.

## How to rate results without drama

Try a simple scale:

* A: repeat as-is
* B: good with a thickness or order tweak
* C: interesting but not for functional ware yet
* D: retire

Add one sentence of why. “Ran at belly on vertical dip” teaches more than a star rating alone.

## Connect tiles to pots

When a mug uses a tested combo, reference the tile code in the project log. That bridge is how [Why Test Tiles Are Non-Negotiable](/learn/why-test-tiles-are-non-negotiable/) becomes daily practice, not a slogan.

Planning colors? The [surface preview](/guides/surface-preview.html) can help you think. Your logged fired results remain the authority.

## Search beats memory

Ask yourself which system answers these fast:

* “What sat under the satin white on those speckled mugs?”
* “Did this blue crawl on our studio clay?”
* “Which liner did I use with the tenmoku-style exterior?”

If the answer is “I would have to flip for twenty minutes,” upgrade your index. A dedicated app is usually faster than notebooks once your library grows.

## Starter kit for this month

* Make or reclaim 15 test tiles
* Log five single glazes you already love
* Log five overlaps you are curious about
* Tag each with clay and cone
* Reuse one A-rated combo on a real pot and link the records

That is enough to feel the payoff.

## Takeaway

Notebooks, spreadsheets, and apps can all work. The best system is the one you update on unload day and can search when inspiration returns. For most potters, a pottery-first tracker like Claybook beats archaeology through old sketchbooks, especially once glaze combinations multiply.