Soluble salt work
Soluble salts are just the water-soluble forms (nitrates, chlorides, and sulfates) of the metals that give color in ceramic glazes. They can be used like watercolor to paint directly on a clay surface (without any glaze), and can give quite unusual effects. I became interested in these effects in 1976, and even had a beginning soluble salt platter accepted for a show at the Transamerica building in San Francisco in 1978. It wasn't until 1989 though, that I began serious experimentation in some depth. That year a Norwegian professor of art, Arne Aase, published his book "Water Colour on Porcelain", and his thorough research of soluble colorants immensely widened my interest.
I continued to experiment with solubles, intermittently, for quite a while, and two years ago I decided to begin using them more and more in my work. This March I will give a slide/lecture presentation on water-soluble colorants at the NCECA meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana. Below are several newer pieces, some of which I will use to illustrate my talk. All the newer pieces are made with Southern Ice translucent porcelain, and fired to cone 10 in my gas kiln. Please email me if you have questions or would like to ask about availability.
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