Sodolite Stone , Unexpected Results

[Kaolinwasher]

I got some sodolite from minnesota lapidary supply  in princeton MN . It has lots of sodium in it and chloride it has about 37 % silica and 24% soda and 31 alumina  almost no iron  so i took a small chunk that is the blue stone in the bowl and i fired it to 2300 and it salt glazed the inside of the bowl  now since i have a cross draft kiln this is good as i can make some pedestals with the stone and place it close to the pots and it will look like its been in a wood firing  the sodolite  looks dark but it has no iron in it  i think its the soda blackening the alumina  its actually a dark red  kinda interesting

[tinbucket]

Where did you get the idea to but this and fire it in a kiln? I' love seeing fired tests of possible glaze materials. Aside from the addition of soda, how would this give you different results than placing a small bowl of salt next to your pots in the kiln?

[Kaolinwasher]

I got the Idea , from just seeing how a new stone melts 1st  so i will take a small pice of stone and put it in a little sagger dish and fire it with the rest just to see how it melts  i put this in the bowl and figured it may volitize  and it did , i think it may be better than salt because it has a longer time to vaporize in the kiln with out destroying my kiln and i can place it close to any pot and get the effect  so its got some potential 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

I've heard of some soda fire-ers putting little flash pots of bicarb in and around some pots they know are in dry spots in the kiln. It helps get more flashing, or even glass on the pots and saves on refires. Since your rock is 1) not pulverized and 2) a chloride which is more volatile than bicarb, it stands to reason it would behave similarly.