A Gallery of Butter Bulbs™ in textures and glazes. My take on French butter keeper design.

My current stock of Butter Bulbs can be seen here, and can be contacted for custom orders which I can do occasionally via bdpottery.com. Thanks for visiting!

This is a sampling of glaze combos that I've created on my Butter Bulb™ design. Some are such pleasant surprises!

Glaze is about more than color. Glaze character is opacity, translucency, color, flow, stability, smooth texture, rough texture to name a few. Blistering, crawling, crackling, pinholing are words that describe characteristics considered both as faults and as exciting individuality, depending on circumstance.

The clay, the shape and texture of the form inform my choice of glaze as well as how I will apply it. The clean, graphic nature of my design can be unforgiving of flaws and requires precision when it comes to applying the glaze. I'm quite particular in their fit so I fire them together. Errant glaze could glue the two pieces into one paper weight, rather than a two part Butter Bulb™! One never knows till the pieces are pulled from the kiln, if the glaze, in its molten state, created something unplanned.

French Butter Keepers
Butter Bulbs™ by Barbara Dunshee

Yellow with Red Dot
Butter Bulbs™ by Barbara Dunshee

White with Red Dot
Butter Bulb™ by Barbara Dunshee

Wave texture, Blue with Aqua Dot.
Butter Bulb™ by Barbara Dunshee

Ray pattern, Rust Brown with Aqua Dot.
Butter Bulb™ by Barbara Dunshee

Rustic White with Rust Brown Dot.
Butter Bulb™ by Barbara Dunshee

I've loved the idea of French Butterdishes for years, long before I made ceramics myself. Soft butter, yes! But, I didn't like the way they looked. It took me another 5 years, of designing, abandoning and revisiting before I had a design vision I liked. In fact, I love my design now. I give them all a big happy dot on top and rounded parts that look lovely and feel comfy to hold. And finally, the butter chamber is bulbous, rather than the traditional straight cylinder. That holds the butter in even better so it doesn't fall into the water in the bottom chamber. This is why I've named my design Butter Bulb™!

Watch my YouTube Video video of the easiest way to fill the Butter Bulb™
My medium version of a French butter crock holds one stick of butter (1 stick = 1/2 cup = 4 oz = 113 grams)
My large version holds two sticks of butter (2 sticks = 1 cup = 8 oz = 226 grams).
Available through my Etsy shop!

Other colors available only as MADE TO ORDER. Please allow 6-8 weeks prior to shipping.
( browse my "sold" section at my Etsy shop )

How the Butter Bulb™ holds the butter and the water.

My take on the French Butter Keeper. French Butter Dishes keep butter soft AND fresh on the counter top. Fill the top with butter, fill the bottom with water and the water will create enough of a seal to keep the butter fresh at room temperature. It feels sweet in the hand, very ergonomic. My design is a shallow version of the typical French Butter Dish cylinder for better butter access. I call mine "Butter Bulbs™". Nice for serving goat cheese or other soft spreads too, though I would keep those in the fridge till serving.