Because so few artists use or even know about uranium glazes now, old bottles such as these sometimes present surprise disposal problems when studios are cleaned out.
Before Melstrom owned them, they were in the possession of a radiation safety officer at the Texas Department of State Health Services, slated for official disposal as radioactive waste. These raw ceramic underglazes containing uranium are a gift from William Melstrom, who made the vase pictured above. It registers 38,000 CPM on a 2″ pancake GM tube, making it among the hottest pieces of pottery in my collection. At right is a hand-thrown and hand-glazed decorative bowl from an unknown artist containing a typical “uranium red” glaze. The fluorescent light yellow glaze on this vase clocks in at 2200 CPM on a 2″ pancake GM tube. His adventuresome report on obtaining uranium compounds in France to formulate his glazes is a must-read. Melstrom is one of very few contemporary artists who have gone to the lengths required nowadays to work with uranium. Especially interesting is a vase made in 2010 (left) that is representative of the work of crystalline-glaze artist William Melstrom, who has a studio in Austin, Texas ( photo courtesy of Mr. Here are two examples of handmade ceramics. Uranium-glazed artistic pottery is hard to come by, in contrast to the mass-produced (and mass-collected) Fiestaware and similar.
As always, if you have something radioactive and in need of a good home, I buy and trade all the time. Today’s long menu includes more radioactive pottery, more radioactive vacuum tubes, smoke detectors, a couple lesser-known radioactive elements, and a few interesting odds and ends.
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