Butter Dish, wheel-thrown and altered

The method of making these butter dishes is a new discovery for me. From a single piece of clay, I throw two circular forms, one inside the other, both without a base. While the clay is still soft, I wire them off the board and alter the open circles into this oval shape. The larger oval becomes the bottom, with a floor added on when it has become leather hard. The smaller oval has a ‘roof’ added when it is leather hard and a thrown handle. A standard size butter pat fits in perfectly and there is a hole so that a butter knife can be left in if desired. (I hate other people’s crumbs or worse still, marmite smears, in the butter!)