Soluble Glaze Ingredients

While most glaze chemicals are insoluble in water, there are no rules saying you can't use soluble salts.

Rheology Modifiers

• Magnesium Sulfate
  • Mainly used as a flocculant. Not a meaningful source of magnesium.
• Iron Sulfate
  • Iron sulfate is a strong flocculant. From my personal experience, it feels just as effective as magnesium sulfate, gram for gram.

Metal Sulfates

Metal sulfates are interesting as they are colorants like metal oxides and carbonates, but their location in the glaze and on the pot can be controlled with evaporation. Metal sulfates can be dissolved in water and sprayed on top of glazes or dissolved into the glaze itself. Wax resist applied on the wet glaze will prevent sulfates from crystallizing, so you can "paint" designs onto the glaze.

• Copper Sulfate
  • Can be used to turn blue Jun glazes red and purple.
• Iron Sulfate
  • My supply of iron ochre appears to contain iron salts. I have not yet confirmed which salts they are.

Alkali Compounds

• Sodium Chloride
  • Table salt. May be useful in simulating salt firings in a gas or electric kiln (but beware of the chlorine gas!)
• Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate)
  • Used in American Shino Glazes as a flux and for carbon trapping
• Lithium Carbonate
  • Slightly soluble glaze ingredient.
• Borax
  • Sodium-boron compound.

Created 2024-02-09. Updated 2024-02-09.

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