Oil Spotting Effects with Celadon Snow!

Create a mottled appearance by layering two glazes in a way that the base glaze “bubbles” through the stiffer top glaze.

Use C-10 Snow layered over specific glazes to create a mottled appearance, also called “oil spot” in ceramic glaze language. Glazes that work as a base layer are very “active” in firing, creating bubbles that push through the stiffer Snow glaze and then heal, creating these spots. You can use this technique in a variety of ways to get beautiful effects.

Some base glazes that work with Snow to create an oil spot:

C-27 Storm

C-49 Rainforest

PC-56 Ancient Copper

PC-59 Deep Firebrick

There are other glazes that work as well, but these are known to reliably create oil spotting when used under Snow.

You can use oil-spot with simple layering, but you can also use it to create images!

I used the oil spot technique to represent water on this plate, and a vinyl cut-out as a mask to create the image of a koi.

Materials:

White Stoneware plate

Vinyl adhesive material

scissors or a vinyl cutter

C-27 Storm

C-10 Snow

C-55 Poppy

C-5 Charcoal

Fan brushes

Needle tool or Exacto knife

Steps:

Either use a Cricut template or scissors to cut out koi fish from vinyl. I used scissors.
Apply vinyl cut out to a smooth white bisque plate. Smooth with a soft rubber rib or fingers to ensure good adhesion.
Use a fan brush to apply two to three coats of C-27 Storm. Let it dry completely.
Remove vinyl from plate (Use a needle tool or Exacto to lift the edge).
Use a fan brush to apply 2-3 coats of C-10 Snow. Let it dry completely.
Use C-55 Poppy and C-5 Charcoal to make spots on the koi fish.
Fire to cone 5-6.