wood firing with salt question

[rockdovestudios]

I've had this idea every time I go to the beach and it finally dawned on me I could ask the clay internet. Can you soak a biscuit fired piece in salt water, let it get bone dry, and then fire it and have flashing/salt glaze? ideally a wood fired kiln to max out the texture/flash.

I've had this idea for a few years now, and I can't test it because I'm in a community kiln at the moment.  from what I've read once you add soda/salt to a kiln it's going to stay a bit of a soda kiln forever. 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

I’ve done a version of this, and no, you don’t get flashing. Soaking the piece and saturating the extra flux right into the bisque makes it bloat. In a soda/salt firing, the sodium vapour is only reacting with the surface of the pot. 

That said, if you’re handy with a sprayer, you could  spray your pieces with a soda ash or bicarbonate mix, and that could  approximate the look. The trick is to have some knowledge of how to simulate the look of a kiln draft depositing the vapour.
 

On a technical note: Soda ash and bicarb are both much less volatile in the kiln than salt is. They both need to be dissolved in water to be introduced to the kiln effectively, because they rely on the steam for movement. And lots of experienced potters will refire pieces in electric kilns for a variety of reasons with no unusual wear and tear on the kiln. The amount of sodium vapour coming off of a piece or 2 is going to be no different than a glaze with neph sye in it. 

 That said, the owner of the kiln is entitled to final say on how their equipment is used,, and what goes into it. Definitely ask what parameters they want you to stay within for any experiments. Some things are doable if reasonable precautions are taken.