There are several different ways of making `Lustre`. The pieces in this exhibition all involve the process of Reduced In-glaze Lustre – a complex specialized technique to form on the surface of a glaze a film of metal (usually gold, silver or copper) or an iridescent sheen.

If the glaze is saturated with a salt or fine particles of the metal then an opaque surface results and dilutions of the metals produce iridescence or isolations of individual colours from the multi-coloured iridescence. I find silver the most versatile and as well as making solid silver surfaces it can make a range of delightful blues, turquoise, greens, yellows and orange and very rarely an amazing jewel-like emerald. Copper is the most reliable and in addition to the familiar bright copper a range of reds and purples. Gold used on its own is the most problematic. It…