Have you wondered how ceramic pieces are decorated? Continue reading to see how I carved leaves on an oil bottle, one way to decorate ceramics.

First, I had to make this bottle for oil, and it was my first time making this type of bottle. I’ve wanted to make these for a long time, but I wasn’t sure I could. I finally took the plunge, no more wondering. I slammed 1 1/2 pounds of clay on my pottery wheel, centered the clay, opened up the center, then pulled it up and shaped it into a narrow-neck bottle. I am glad I bit the bullet and made a bottle. I won’t shy away from making more. Next time, I’ll video the making process.

Adding Colours To White Clay Slip

Now that it was made, I had to decide how to decorate it. I decided to paint a coloured slip on the body of the bottle, then carve branches of leaves hanging down to represent olive tree branches. After all, it is an olive oil bottle.

First, I need to make coloured clay slip, from my bucket of white clay slip. I poured 2 cups of white clay slip into my blender, used for clay, not food, then I added about 2 teaspoons of Mason ceramic stain and turned on the blender, mixing thoroughly. I made several colours and stored them in containers with lids for future clay projects.

Decorating An Oil Jar

I painted a coat of teal green slip on the leather hard bottle and let it dry until it had no sheen. Then, I painted on a second coat, then a third coat.

I divided the bottle into three sections for the tree branches. I started at the top and carved a set of branches with my narrow-pointed carving tool. Then, I switched to my round carving tool for the leaves. I carved one side of a leaf, then the other side. At the end of a leaf, I twisted the carving tool to create the leaf’s point. I continued carving leaves on the branches until they were full. I went back to my pointed carving tool and carved stems to join the leaves to the branches.

Watch how I carved this bottle in my YouTube video below.

When I finished carving the branches and leaves, I decided the top needed olives. I painted the olives with the same green slip. I handmade a stopper for the bottle and then painted the nob teal green.

I hope this inspired you to decorate your creations with clay slip. Show me your decorated pottery.

I have many pieces of pottery for sale. The blue button below takes you to my pottery shop here. The orange button below takes you to my pottery shop on Etsy.

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