Post #550881 by MadDogMike on Sun, Aug 29, 2010 9:23 AM

Bai, hopefully some of the more knowledgeable people will pop in too but here's what I have found;

The more matte a finish is, the more porous it is and is not considered to be food safe. Food particles and bacteria can get embedded in the pores in the glaze. It is best to use a glossy glaze inside the mug and then you can decide how daring you want to be with the outside. I see lots of mugs with matte finish on the outside, I doubt there is any real bacteria risk. One option that's would be rather radical is to switch to high fire clay. As I understand, after about cone 5 or 6, (not 05 or 06) the clay shrinks enough in firing that it is food safe even without glaze.

Underglazes are fired and wash fine but are very porous. You can use underglaze then coat it with clear satin glaze, that really increases your color options.

Some of the Duncan Courtyard Glazes and Designer Glazes have a less glossy finish, I like the Courtyards but Duncan had some formulation problems with the Designer Glazes, I have been hesitant to buy any new ones because I'm not sure they got that fixed.

As far as honey glaze, check out Duncan's Envision Butter Toffee

And the Duncan Envision NEON Red is pretty bright

Hope that helps

Mike