Friday, September 29, 2017

One Hit Wonder

I love butter dishes. Maybe because I love butter?
I just wish I could be successful at making them. A few years ago a made quite a few and I only had one the I could sell. The others warped or cracked.


The rejects all got the hammer, except for this one that I kept for myself. You can see in the photo below that there is a crack along the join. It's been in constant use for years. I hardly notice the crack anymore.


This summer I started another round of butter dishes, but wasn't happy with any of them. They all ended up in the reclaim bucket.


Each year, when we are at the League of NH Craftsmen's show, I spend some time in Tom White's booth drooling over his butter dishes. He makes some simple dishes, but he also makes some that look like buildings and barns. Many years back he had butter dishes that were churches with steeples. To this day I regret not buying one. This year Tom mentioned that someone should put on a butter dish exhibition. I agreed that it would be a great show. I better get busy perfecting a butter dish... because I want to be ready for that!

You can check out Tom White's pottery here.

5 comments:

  1. There's nothing like real butter! I can't even see the crack in your butter dish. Very nice!

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  2. Oh yes, I have made more imperfect ones than anywhere near perfect...but am using one that looks like an Airstream trailer...not decorated that way (which would be cute) but that huge! Love the idea of a show of them! And I do like yours with the little handles and legs! It speaks love of butter, which is what they all should.

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  3. Such a dilemma these pots are. We have made covered ones with thrown lids and people ask for more. It's not the making, it's the firing in two parts. We tried making a form for them, that worked but then never got back to figuring out the lid. Then there are the one that you fill and keep in water- copyright law here- and I just don't get those at all. Too much work. So, I made myself a small one that we use all the time and maybe, like you, I'll get back to making them for real later.

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    1. I don't get all the hype about the French butter dishes. We have one that Jeff made years ago and never use it. I put out a half stick of butter at a time, leave it on the counter in the covered dish... it has never gone bad. I also find many buyers want a covered butter dish but don't want to pay the price. They are a LOT of work!

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