Sheffield Pottery

Nickel Oxide Black

$52.65

Unit price: per

SKU : RMNICOXIB

Item Class Raw Materials

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Product Description

A colorant for soft grays, browns and muted greens, and for toning down colors that are too bright.

You must test before you use it, at any scale. Raw materials, mined or man-made, are not consistent. Color, strength, particle size and chemistry can change from one bag to the next and from one supplier to another, even when the name on the bag stays the same. Before you use this material in a glaze, slip or clay body of any size, mix a small test batch, fire it on your own clay in your own kiln, and check the results.

What it is

A black powder. On its own, nickel gives quiet, earthy colors: grays, tans, browns and olive greens. Potters often add a little to soften a color. In some glazes, especially ones high in zinc, it can give blues or purples instead, so test carefully.

Getting started

Start at 0.5 to 1% (half a gram to 1 gram per 100 grams of dry glaze). Most glazes use 3% or less.
Mix it in well and sieve the wet glaze through an 80-mesh screen to avoid specks.
Nickel colors shift a lot with the base glaze and the firing. Fire test tiles first.

For glaze formulators

Black nickel oxide, a higher oxide of nickel that converts to NiO during firing.
Refractory: higher amounts push glazes toward matte and dry.
Base matters: magnesium bases give greens and tans; high-zinc bases can give blues and purples; with cobalt it gives grays and gray-blues.
A common colorant in crystalline glazes.

Safety

Nickel compounds may cause cancer if inhaled and often cause skin allergies. Wear a NIOSH-approved respirator (N95 or better) and gloves when handling it dry. Clean up with a wet sponge, not a broom.
Avoid nickel glazes on food surfaces unless the finished glaze has been lab-tested.

Sizes & pricing

Size	Price	Per lb
1 lb	$52.65	$52.65	Add to cart
5 lb	$250.50	$50.10	Add to cart
10 lb	$476.00	$47.60	Add to cart
25 lb	$1,127.50	$45.10	Add to cart
50 lb bag	$1,879.00	$37.58	Add to cart

Full bags mix and match. Every full bag in your order, of any raw material, adds up. That total sets the price of every bag. Smaller sizes don't count.

This bag's price stays the same at every level, but it still counts toward your full-bag total.

Prices from our October 23, 2026 price list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Glaze and clay recipes go by weight, not by volume, and they don't count water. Each ingredient is a share of the dry total. 2% means 2 grams for every 100 grams of dry ingredients. For a 500-gram batch, that's 10 grams. Colors and opacifiers are often listed as extras on top of a recipe that adds up to 100, written like "+2" or "add 2%." Weigh those the same way: 2 grams for every 100 grams of the base recipe. A digital scale that reads to 0.1 gram makes small amounts easy.

A test tile is a small piece of the clay you use, glazed and fired just like your real work. Raw materials vary from bag to bag, and results also change with your clay, how thick you apply the glaze and how your kiln fires. A test tile is the only way to know what you'll get before you glaze a whole batch of pots. Write what's on each tile on the back (an underglaze pencil works), and keep notes so you can repeat what works.

Yes, whenever you handle the dry powder. Fine dust is the main hazard with most raw materials, and some can harm your lungs over time. Wear a NIOSH-approved respirator (N95 or better) while you weigh and mix. A basic dust mask that isn't N95-rated won't protect you. Once a material is mixed with water, dust is much less of a problem, but wipe up spills with a wet sponge before they dry, and mop instead of sweeping. Don't eat or drink while you work, and wash your hands afterward. Check each product's Safety section for anything extra that material needs.

Nickel Oxide Black

1 Pound