Cobalt

I started using Cobalt at the very beginning of my ceramic career. I was learning Mayolica then, in Italy from my first teacher Teresa Rosa in Ivrea.

There I experimented with the difference of strength and effects I could get by simply suspending it in water and painting with it. I used Cobalt carbonate (a pale purple powder) or Cobalt Oxide (a black powder) at the raw state. I had to believe that even if my marks were almost invisible while I was applying it to the white glaze surface of the pots they will be very deep blue once fired.

I progressed in my studies and discovered the many uses Cobalt has in Ceramics.

I used it as a stain in glaze recipes or just diluted to paint on glaze, I used it to colour the clay in agateware, and as a colour for digital transfer in silk-screen techniques.

I love the deep colour and the crystals that appear when I use it in my crystalline glazes, or the running patterns that form as a surprise when the glazes run into each other.

I can paint the sea and the landscape of the Mediterranean in the magic of the fire.