Butter Dishes

My latest obsession is butter…making containers for butter, that is. I went to a workshop at NCECA in Kansas City and saw a demonstration on stretching a thrown disk into an oval that looked like it would be fun/easy to do. Ha! Fun, definitely, but the challenge has been getting that circle into an even oval that is the appropriate length for a stick of butter. Since clay shrinks significantly and the walls of the cover also take up space, this is requiring major mathematics on my part! (Did you know a stick of butter is 5″ x 1″?)  But butter dish #1 was successful. Butter dish number 2 was made in a different way, opening the clay lump into a small ring and also a larger hump in the middle to form the lid walls. When soft leather hard both the little ring and the wall ring are stretched to an oval or rectangle. The ring is attached to a slab to make the dish bottom. Another slab is shaped and attached to the lid walls to make the cover. Dish # 2 also fits the butter. Dishes #3 and 4 are ready for the bisque but I am afraid #3 will require some trimming of the butter stick to fit. I think #3 will end up being the one I keep for me to use!

I should take some pictures of the process…although that’s a bit tricky when I’m covered with clay!